This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are entirely the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 Matthew Rogers (mateo102583@yahoo.com). All rights reserved.

The tiny, fuzzy orb floated freely in an alien world. It sat patiently waiting, as it had been programmed to do. For, although the orb was a world of its own and held within it great potential, it was only half of the equation; it was incomplete. So, it sat, waiting, as the watcher above it observed.

Suddenly, the orb was covered in a deluge and was thrown about by the current. But what’s this? The orb is no longer alone in its alien world. Thousands of invaders swarmed about the orb, but none approached it. The orb was as alien to them as the world they now found themselves in. No, it is not what they were looking for; they do not recognize it.

The orb too decided that these invaders were not what it was looking for. They did not hold the key to completing the equation; they did not have what the orb needed. So, the orb continued waiting and ignored the invaders.

Then darkness engulfed the alien world, and a new element found its way into the makeup of the orb and invaders alike. Light returned to the alien world, but it was different. The orb and invaders regarded one another again; this time, they did not look so alien to each other.

And the invaders approached the orb, and the orb accepted the invaders and their half of the equation. Then, one invader, stronger and faster than the others contacted the orb and was welcomed into it. Two became one, then two again. Then four and then eight. The equation was complete; two alien halves, in an alien world, become one.

And above, the watcher observed this miracle of his own creation, and he reveled in his own accomplishment. My God, he thought, we’ve done it. Dear God, what have we done?

Carrie Fawkes was sitting on the edge of her bed. No, not her bed, the bed. She looked around the small, white, windowless room. She had to continually remind herself that nothing in here was hers, but in the past few months, she had developed a sense of familiarity with this place. That did not negate the fact, however, that this was a prison, and she was a prisoner. She then looked down at her swollen abdomen and gently stroked her hand over it, sensing the movements of the child growing inside of her. No, she thought, not just a prisoner, an experiment.

An experiment for what, God only knew, or at least that’s how it seemed. Not a word had been spoken to her about what was being done to her. Not a word. The daily examinations were carried on in almost complete silence. The only time one of the “doctors,” as she referred to them, ever spoke to her was to tell her to raise up to listen to her chest or to hold out her arm to take her blood pressure. After a while she stopped trying to ask them questions about what they were doing altogether. There was no point; she never got any answers. She had also stopped resisting them because the drugs they had used to sedate her in the beginning were powerful and made her sick for days afterwards. That and her expanding figure made it nearly impossible to put up a fight.

How had this happened to her? Many times she had asked herself this question. How could a reasonably smart 18-year-old vixen like herself be stupid enough to get into a mess like this? She almost started to go into her usual self-hatred mode, but stopped. It doesn’t matter now, she thought. None of that matters now. She didn’t know what these people were going to do to her or the child. She had to find some way out of this place, somehow. Everything was just so hopeless, though. What could she do? She put her head in her hands and began cry softly as she prayed. She had not prayed for so long, but now she prayed more deeply that she ever had before. She pulled her legs up onto the bed and curled them up as close as she could to her. She laid her head down on the white pillow and continued to cry softly and pray, until she fell asleep.

Not far from where Carrie lay sleeping in an uneasy slumber, Donald H. Pardus sat looking out his office window, trying to rub the throbbing pain out of his forehead. How inconvenient this is, he thought. He turned back to the big screen television that sat off to the right side of the office in an intricately hand-crafted wooden console. The panther aimed the remote control at the screen and watched as the green volume bar began to expand towards the right. The female squirrel newscaster on the screen became audible once more.

“And continuing our coverage of today’s top story: Dr. Daniel Leapman was taken into custody this morning pending and investigation by federal agents that he and members of his staff at the Leapman Fertility Clinic have been conducting illegal research in the field of fur cloning.” The screen switched to video footage of a middle-aged male white rabbit being escorted into a police car amidst a sea of cameras and microphones. He tried to conceal his face with his handcuffed arms. “Agents have declined to comment on whether or not Dr. Leapman has actually cloned a fur embryo; however they did admit to seizing several unknown frozen embryos that may have been used in cloning experiments. Authorities are looking into the origins of these embryos as well as other test materials seized at the Leapman Clinic.”

Pardus hit the power button on the remote and threw it down on his desk as he sat up. He retrieved a glass of gin from the mini-bar next to the TV console and sat back down at his desk. He took a little glass bottle from a drawer and poured two aspirin into his hand. After he had downed the pills, the buzzer on his intercom sounded.

“Yes?” asked Pardus, rubbing his head. He was expecting to hear the voice of his secretary, even though he really wasn’t in the mood for trivial business matters.

“It’s Johnson, sir,” replied the box.

“Enter.”

A second later, a badger in a black business suit almost as well tailored as Pardus’ entered the room and approached the desk.

“Sir,” said the badger. He obviously had more to say, but Pardus spoke before he had a chance to continue.

“It seems, Johnson,” began Pardus, “As though Dr. Leapman has had a little run in with the authorities.”

“I’m aware of that sir,” stated Johnson. “I was on my way to tell you.”

“You may also be aware that if any of the materials we supplied to Leapman get linked back to us, we will have a run in with the authorities ourselves.”

“I’ve already got the men on it sir. We’ll make sure all documentation concerning our sale with Leapman is destroyed. There will be no evidence that we supplied him with the embryos.”

“Good,” said Pardus. He sat for a moment and thought before he continued. “I also want you to begin preparing everything concerning our little project to be moved to a more secure location. I doubt this incident with Leapman will blow over quickly enough, and with things getting so close to completion, I don’t want to take too many risks.”

“Very well sir,” Johnson acknowledged with a slight nod of his head. “We’ll have everything moved out by the end of the day.”

“Very good Johnson.” Pardus almost motioned for him to leave just as a though entered his mind. “Oh yes, how is the girl; I haven’t checked in with the team today.”

“They say it could be any day now sir,” replied Johnson.

“All the more reason to act promptly I suppose. Thank you Johnson; you may go.”

Johnson nodded in acknowledgement and left the room. Pardus turned around and looked out his window. How inconvenient, he thought. Being this close, he couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong. This was the deal of a lifetime and he would be damned if he was going to let anything screw it up. He rubbed his head once more. How inconvenient.

It was a bright and sunny spring day in the countryside. The air was warm but not too hot. A soft breeze blew through the valley, and the occasional, puffy cloud drifted across the azure sky. The perfect day for frolicking through the rolling meadows. Which is exactly what Carrie was doing.

She skipped along, laughing and giggling, turning the occasional cartwheel as she went. She finally came to the big hill that was covered in wild flowers. At the bottom of the gentle slope, she saw the old farmhouse with its white siding and green shutters. It had seen better days, sure, but Carrie wouldn’t have changed one single thing about it.

She saw a faint line of white smoke rising from the backside of the house; the kitchen. She ran down the hill in anticipation of the possible treats that awaited her inside. She leaped onto the large, covered porch and threw open the flimsy screen door.

As soon as she entered, though, the joyous feeling she had left her. The house had a sickening empty feel to it. There were no sounds of life, no smells coming from the kitchen, just a deafening silence. Carrie began searching for any signs of life.

“Grandma? Granddad?” she called out. There was no response.

She frantically ran from room to room, continuing to call out for her grandparents and continuing to hear nothing but silence. She came to a closed door, the last room to check.

But as she opened the door, she was thrown back by the intense heat of the flames. She turned around to go back but suddenly found she was not in the farmhouse anymore; she was in her house, the old house. She heard an infant crying.

She turned back to the flaming doorway and saw the crib with the fox toddler standing up in it. He continued to cry between the fits of coughing.

“Jacob!” Carrie cried out. She tried to reach for the frightened kit, but the flames kept her back.

Suddenly, the fire flared up and she was forced to turn away; she fell to her knees and covered her eyes with her arm. When she looked back up, she was no longer in the flaming hallway. Now she was in her living room floor surrounded by a pile of broken glass. She looked at the arm she had shielded her eyes with; it was covered in dozens of tiny, bleeding cuts.

She looked up but was suddenly struck back down into the broken glass. A powerful stinging sensation began pulsating across her face. She stayed on the floor but managed to open her eyes.

The tall, lumbering fox stood above her. His eyes were blood red, and Carrie could smell the whisky on him from where she was.

“Ungrateful little bitch,” he mumbled; his speech was very slurred.

Carrie tried to stand to her feet, but the big fox slapped her again and she fell flat on her face. She started crying.

Her sobs were quickly drowned out by a loud rumbling sound from all around her. The rumbling soon turned into laughter; deep, bellowing laughter. Carrie found herself in the middle of a black void. Two flaming golden orbs began looking down upon her. The flames grew stronger and higher with each laugh. Carrie continued to cry until she found herself engulfed in the flames, at which point she yelled out and woke up.

She sat up suddenly. Her heart was racing, and cold sweat was running down her face; tears were in her eyes as well, and she was panting heavily. She placed her hand on her belly, feeling the movements of the kit inside her. Her heart rate and breathing began to slow. She heard the door being unlocked and snapped her head around to see who was entering.

She was surprised to see only one person, a male mountain lion, walk through. Usually she was accompanied to the examining room by two large orderlies. She didn’t quite recognize this man to begin with, but she thought she had seen him in the exam room once or twice. He was carrying a large paper bag under his arm. She also noticed that he looked rather nervous. He kept looking back over his shoulder as he entered the room and closed the door slowly.

“Who are you?” Carrie asked timidly as she stood to her feet. Her shifted center of gravity forced her to take an extra second to balance herself.

“My name is Leonard Cougar, Miss Fawkes,” he said quickly and quietly. “I’m here to help you escape. Quickly, put these on.” He set the paper bag down on the bed. Carrie examined the contents and found a light pink blouse, a pair of maternity jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes.

Carrie was confused for a moment. She could hardly believe what was happening. She had a thousand questions to ask this man, but she could not speak.

“Who… What’s going… I…”

“I’m afraid questions will have to wait for later,” he whispered. “Right now we have to go. The guards will be here any minute to take you in for an examination, and then you will be moved to another facility. If we are to make it out of here we have to leave now.”

Carrie could hear the urgency in his voice and quickly changed into the clothes. As she finished, Leonard cracked the door open and stuck his head out.

“Okay,” he said, “The coast is clear. The guard shouldn’t be back this way for several minutes. Just stick right behind me and stay quiet.”

Carrie nodded and swallowed as she felt the tension growing. They made their way down the hall, sticking close to the wall. Leonard heard some voices from up ahead as the came to an intersection and motioned for Carrie to duck inside a nearby storage closet. He squatted outside the closet door and pretended to tie his shoe as two chatting lab technicians continued on their way down the intersecting hall. As soon as he was sure they were gone, he opened the closet door and motioned for Carrie to come out.

They continued on their way down the hall and went through the stairwell door at its end. At the bottom of the stairs they exited out into a parking lot. Carrie squinted from the seemingly intense sunlight. Being in a windowless room for nearly nine months had caused her eyes to become very sensitive to natural light. Leonard noticed her distress and offered her a pair of sunglasses from his vest pocket. She thanked him, and they hurried on to a small brown Volvo. Leonard opened the trunk and motioned for Carrie to get in. She hesitated and gave him a weird look.

“I’m sorry Miss Fawkes,” said Leonard, “But you’re just going to have to trust me. There’s a guard post at the exit we have to go through. Please. As soon as they discover you’re missing they’re going to lock the place down. We have to hurry.”

“All right,” Carried conceded; she nodded and swallowed hard.

Leonard assisted her as she stepped into the tiny trunk, taking caution of her pregnant abdomen. He gently closed the lid and hopped into the driver’s seat. At the guard post he tried to act as calmly as possible. He was sweating bullets and there was a noticeable tremor in his voice. Luckily, the guard was too distracted watching a baseball game on the tiny television in his booth to pay any real attention to the nervous cougar. He pushed the button to open the gate and murmured something to the effect of “Have a good evening.” He noticed briefly the car turning to the left and was soon enthralled in his game once more.

Once Leonard was several blocks away from the laboratory, Loenard pulled over behind a gas station and let Carrie out of the trunk. He held the door open for her as she got into the front passenger seat. Within 10 minutes, they were on the freeway, heading away from the big city.

Neither one of them spoke for sometime. Exactly how long was unknown; the clock in the old Volvo was broken. Both Carrie and Leonard just sat with their eyes looking almost exclusively straight ahead. The tension was still high, and Leonard kept glancing at the rearview mirror. Slowly he began to relax, and he finally let out a long sigh. The city was gone now, and they were heading through one of the more rural parts of the state. Vast tracks of farmland and forest lined the sides of the freeway. Carrie spoke up first.

“So just who the hell are you anyway?” she asked bluntly.

“I’m a lab technician for Pardus Biotechnologies, a medical research company,” replied Leonard.

“Pardus,” Carrie paused for a moment. Then her eyes suddenly lit up in realization. “He was the panther in the limo that picked me up off the street that day.”

Leonard nodded. “Donald H. Pardus. A billionaire in the biotech industry who has been under government investigation more than once for certain activities.”

“Activities?”

“I didn’t know it when I started working for him, but Pardus isn’t exactly the most decent businessman around. He’ll sell to the highest bidder, regardless of who that might be. Odds are, most of the countries out there with biological weapons got them from him. Only problem is, he’s got this special security team that makes sure nothing can be traced back to him. The investigators have never been able to prove anything.”

Carrie took this in and began to ask Leonard more about Pardus when she felt her baby kick. It caught her off guard and she took in a quick, deep breath. Leonard noticed.

“You okay?”

Carried nodded as she rubbed her stomach. “I’m fine,” she replied, “Guess I’m not the only one excited.” She paused and continued. “So what did they want with me; why did they do this to me?”

Leonard shook his head as he answered. “I honestly don’t know. I’m only a lab tech; they never told us anything. Most of us are kept in the dark about a lot of things. We were just given big pay raises and told to keep our mouths shut or else; hasn’t been the first time that’s happened. I didn’t even know you were being held against your will until a few weeks ago when I was contacted by Dr. Steinwulf. He told me about Pardus’ more-than-shady history and convinced me to help him free…”

Leonard suddenly stopped speaking; his eyes became glued to the side view mirror. Weaving in and out of traffic behind him were three big, black SUVs. He immediately recognized them.

“Oh my God,” he breathed in disbelief, “They found us.”

Carrie quickly turned her head around and saw the same SUVs making their way towards them. Her heart began to race and she was starting to feel sick at her stomach as the fear of returning to the room and its horrifyingly unknown future washed over her.

Leonard saw the sign for the upcoming exit and moved the car into the far right lane. He tried to speed up, but his Volvo was no match for the super charged vehicles pursuing him. Before he knew it, the SUVs had surrounded them. One was directly behind him, one to his left, and the other was racing ahead to get in front of him.

To Leonard, time seemed to slow down. The exit’s off-ramp had already come upon them. Too late to get off. They were probably going to force him off at the next one. He had to do something now. At the very last second, he turned hard to the right, sending the car rocketing up the unpaved hill at the end of the off-ramp. He narrowly avoided hitting the guardrail at the edge of the overpass, but managed to stabilize the car and sped down the curvy two-lane county road into a heavily forested area.

It took a moment for Carrie to regain herself. Her breathing began to slow to normal as did her heart rate. She instinctively placed her hand on her stomach and felt the kit moving inside of her, which calmed her even more.

“Who were they?” asked Carrie, her voice still shaky.

“Pardus’ security team,” answered Leonard continually looking back and forth between the road and rearview mirror. “It’s like he’s got his own army at his disposal. I think we lost them though.”

No sooner had he finished saying that, Leonard saw a single SUV appear from around a curve behind them. It must have been the one right behind me, he thought. He tried to go faster, but the tight curves in the road made it difficult. He and Carrie were thrown from side to side as he tried to navigate the bends without slowing. The SUV was having similar trouble, but was still maintaining a steady distance from the Volvo.

As the vehicles were rounding a large curve, the coyote sitting in the front passenger seat of the SUV pulled out a handgun and leaned out the vehicle’s window. He took aim for the Volvo’s tire, but just as he fired, the SUV ran off the side of the road and roled over as the driver over compensated for the loss of control. The gunman’s arm had been thrown upwards, and the bullet impacted through the rear window of the Volvo.

Leonard flinched slightly as he felt the hot projectile penetrate his back. He stared for a moment off into space in a type of trance as thousands of broken fragments of memories were suddenly replayed in his mind. He then looked down at the growing red circle on his vest and collapsed on the steering wheel. Carrie tried to gain control of the car, but her short legs were unable to reach the break petal from where she sat. She braced herself as the Volvo went off the side of the road and down a small hill. The car finally stopped when it ran into a shallow creek at the bottom of the hill.

Carrie moaned as she tried to move about in the wrecked car. She didn’t seem to be severely hurt, but her left wrist was beginning to throb. She tried moving it, but found it sore to the touch. She also must have had a cut on her forehead because she could feel the blood trickling through her fur. The baby. Her heart almost stopped. What about the baby? She began to move her hand across her stomach searching for signs that the baby was okay. At last she felt a subtle kick, and she was able to breathe again. Her thoughts turned to Leonard.

He was struggling for breath, and his back and chest were covered in blood. She tried to rouse him, but he did not respond. She tried desperately again, and his eyes snapped open. He coughed, bringing up blood. He tried to speak.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “You reminded me of my Jessica. I left her and her mother so long… Please, please forgive me.”

“Shhh,” hushed Carrie as she stroked his headfur.

“Go,” he wheezed, “Go, before they come back. Hide. Find Steinwulf… He’s got… He’s got all you…”

“Who’s Steinwulf,” she asked him, “What’s he got?”

He did not reply. She shook him again, but he did not respond. Tears began to well up in Carrie’s eyes at the realization that Leonard was dead. She stroked his headfur one last time and hobbled out of the car. Heeding his last words of advice, she made her way into the forest, looking back only once.

It was nearing dusk as Will Laveur made his way down the winding road in his Jeep. He had been driving all day and was starting to get tired. Cramming for exams two nights before and partying all night after the tests were over had taken it out of him. Add to that an eight-hour drive, and you had yourself one exhausted raccoon on your hands. But, he was almost home, and his own bed would be awaiting him when he got there. It would be good to be back home for a while, he thought. A year away at school out of state is certainly fun, but home will always be home.

Besides, it would beat hanging around campus all summer with Becky and her new boyfriend, Pierre, everywhere. He still couldn’t get over it. A pair of high school sweethearts like Becky and him who go off to the same college together and even discuss something as serious as marriage, break up after she falls for the smooth talking French student who, to top it all off, is a skunk. A skunk. Becky had been the raccoon gal of his dreams and she goes after a skunk with an accent. Kind of makes one wonder how she’ll get those four kids she always wanted by marrying a member of another species.

Forget it man, he mentally yelled at himself. He needed to take Luke’s advice and forget about the whole thing and just move on. If she would dump him just like that, she wasn’t worth lamenting over. Will agreed in theory, but still, he found it hard to shake the whole thing just like that.

But for all its faults, home was where he had rather be. He continued on with other trains of thought as he drove with the sun slowly sinking into the horizon in the west.

It had been hours since Carrie left the wreckage of the Volvo, and Leonard. She tried not to think about it too much. Right now she had to figure out what to do next. She had been walking through thick forest. She felt well enough hidden. Unfortunately, she did not know where she was. She could have been miles from anywhere and her feet were beginning to kill her. She dared not stop, however. It was getting dark, and she had to find some help and soon.

She finally gave in to her aching feet and paused to catch her breath. She sat down on a log and tried to take off her shoes, but her feet were too swollen, and the sneakers stayed where they were. Her wrist was more swollen now, and it hurt her to move it too much. The cut on her head had stopped bleeding, and she could feel the dried blood that was caked in her fur. Her entire body ached, and she was very tired.

Despite this, though, she put her hand to her belly and began to rub it. She felt her child move and seemingly respond to her action. She managed to crack a smile.

“It’s okay,” she said, “We’re safe for now.”

These words were unconsciously intended to comfort her more than they were the unborn kit. She looked around her. It was getting darker by the minute. She had to get going. Despite the intense soreness of her feet and aching of her body, she managed to force herself up and continue onward.

She eventually reached a break in the trees. It was a steep hillside that lead down to a road. The hill was bare and covered with loose rocks. It looked foreboding, but if she were to make it down to the road, she had to do it here. As she began her descent, she saw a pair of headlights through the trees several yards down the road. As she looked towards the lights, she lost her footing and slid down the hill. She managed to stay on her feet most of the way down as the small rocks beneath her feet rolled with her. Near the bottom of the road, though, she fell onto her back and rolled onto the pavement just as the Jeep swerved to avoid her. The Jeep stopped several yards up the road, but Carrie lay, unconscious, where she landed.

Will put the vehicle into park, and put this head in his hands. His heart was racing a mile a minute. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply and slowly to calm himself. Then the realization struck him. That was a person. Somebody just fell down that hill and I may have hit them. He looked in his review mirror, and in the dim glow of twilight, he could make out a figure laying in the road.

“Oh hell,” he quietly exclaimed.

He took a flashlight out of the glove compartment, and raced towards the figure on foot. Her back was turned to him, but before he reached her, he could make out that she was a female red fox; pretty young too, maybe a few years younger than him. As he got to her, he stopped dead in his tracks. She was pregnant.

“Oh God, no.”

He got to her side and knelt down. He reached out to touch her shoulder. As soon as he did, though, she woke up, startled. She was disoriented and tried to crawl away. Will held her still.

“It’s all right,” he assured her, “Your okay.”

She tried to speak, but she was still disoriented.

“You’re going to be okay,” Will reasserted, “We’ve just got to get you to a hospital.”

He bent down to pick her up. She tried to resist, but was too weak to stop him. He carried her in his arms to his Jeep and gently set her down in the passenger seat. He strapped her in. He wasn’t able to think of anything else as he put the vehicle into gear. “Hospital” was programmed into his mind. Gotta get to the hospital, he thought. Gotta get home.

It was the end of his shift, and Dr. Mark Raccoon was signing out at the ER’s front desk. It was late, and the emergency room was sparsely populated at the moment. As he was filling in the time, he noticed someone’s name a few lines above his in the sign-in column. He grinned and set his brief case down on the desk. He looked around for a moment and smiled again when he saw the one he was looking for. She was restocking a crash cart in one of the curtain areas. Her back was turned toward him, and he made his way over to her. As she stood up to get more supplies off of the bed next to her, Mark slid his hands around her waist.

“Nurse Raccoon,” he whispered in her ear, “I need your assistance.”

She was startled for only a brief moment. She immediately recognized the voice and touch of her fiancé. She grinned and continued to stock the cart.

“It’s still Nurse Laveur to you buster,” she said coyly. She turned around to face him. They kissed gently. “That is, until you make up your mind about setting a date.”

“Hey,” he replied, “I’ve said anytime is good for me. I say we go right down to city hall one day after work and do it there.”

She snorted and smiled as she returned to her work. “Men,” she stated, “You all have no sense of romance. I could just see it: Both of us going downtown to get married in scrubs.”

“I’ll wear a tie if you want.”

She looked at him with an expression of humor and shock. He started chuckling.

“I’m sorry Laura. Couldn’t help it.”

Laura shot him a dirty look. He propped his elbow on the edge of the cart.

“Okay,” he conceded, “How about June? You were talking about then a few weeks ago.”

“That’s only next month.”

“Late June then. We could do it on the summer solstice. Longest day of the year.”

“And shortest night.”

“Oh yeah. Hadn’t considered that. How about we wait till December then.”

Laura put the last of the supplies away and turned to face him. She pointed a finger at him. “No way pal; you said June and we’re sticking with June.”

“All right, all right. I guess I’ll just have to make due with a short wedding night.”

She leaned closer to him, putting her arms on his shoulders and around his neck. She looked up at him with a smile.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured him, “I’ll make it a memorable experience for ya.”

Mark’s eyes widened, and he began to chuckle again. She grinned, and they leaned in to kiss each other. But, no sooner had their lips touched than the door to the ambulance bay flew open. A raccoon entered carrying an unconscious, heavily pregnant, dust covered vixen in his arms.

“Somebody help me here!” he yelled, trying to keep from dropping the vixen.

“Will?!” Laura exclaimed as she rushed over to her younger brother. Mark and two nurses with a gurney were right behind her.

“Will, what happened? Are you all right?” Laura asked.

“I’m fine,” he replied as he laid the vixen down on the stretcher with the help of Mark and the nurses, “But she needs help.”

“What happened to her?” inquired Mark, taking out his stethoscope and listening to the girl’s chest. “Let’s get her to exam room one.”

“She fell down a hill on Blue Spruce Road,” he answered following the gurney, “I almost hit her when she rolled out into the street. Oh God is she going to be all right?”

“Good breath sounds and heart rate,” Mark commented as he continued his examination going down the hall. When they entered the exam room, he and the nurses gently transferred her to the bed. Mark turned his stethoscope to the girl’s pregnant belly. “Fetal heart rate sounds good, but let’s get a monitor in here anyway. What’s her name?”

Will looked confused and helpless. “I-I don’t know,” he stammered, “She was barely conscious when I found her. I just… I just picked her up and… and…”

Will was breathing heavily and shuffling from side to side. He looked down at the floor. He put a hand to his forehead and started rubbing it through his headfur. Both Mark and Laura could see the distress he was in. They glanced at one another, and Laura nodded, understanding what Mark wanted her to do. She put her hand on Will’s shoulder and guided him through the door into the hallway. She sat down with him on a bench in the waiting area.

Will was bent over with his head down near his knees and his hands clasped behind his neck. Laura stroked his shoulder.

“It’s all right Will,” she gently assured him, “Mark’s going to take care of her. She’s going to be fine. So what exactly happened?”

Will raised his head up. “I was just driving along, and when I came to that curve with the big hill next to it, I saw her sliding down it. I didn’t see her until I was right up on her. I swerved to avoid her when she rolled out into the road. Scared the crap out of me. I took her to my Jeep and came here.”

“And she didn’t tell you anything?”

Will shook his head. “No, she was out the whole time.” He paused for a moment and asked, “What was she doing out there in the first place? There’s nothing out there for miles.”

“I don’t know,” replied Laura, “But after Mark gets through in there, we’ll try our best to find out who she is. Okay?”

Will nodded.

Laura put her hand on his shoulder again. “I’ve got to go help Mark. Are you going to be all right?”

“Yeah,” Will sighed, “I’ll be fine.”

“If you need anything, I’ll just be right down the hall, but you should stay out here for now and rest.”

Will nodded once more, and Laura headed back down the hallway into the exam room. Before going in, she looked back at Will. He had his head in his hands and was staring down at the floor. A male otter in nurse’s scrubs walked past her.

“Jason,” she called.

“Yeah?” replied the otter.

“Will you keep an eye on him for me,” she asked pointing to Will, “If he wants anything, make sure he gets it.”

“No problem,” replied the otter as he continued on his way down the hall.

Laura looked at Will once more, then went to help Mark.

Pardus still couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He made Johnson repeat it several more times, and each time he still found it hard to comprehend. Johnson was standing in front of the desk, hands behind his back. Pardus was in his chair sitting at a right angle to the badger. He was rhythmically drumming his fingers, wearing down the polished oak of the desk.

“Tell me what happened,” Pardus demanded in a cool tone.

“Again sir?” asked Johnson.

“Again.”

“Well sir,” Johnson began for the fourth time, “It appears as though Leonard Cougar, one of the lab technicians working on the project, helped the girl to escape.”

“How?”

“It seems as though he smuggled her off the premises. When we discovered she was missing, we checked and saw that Cougar was the last one to leave the parking garage. We went in the direction the guard thought he saw them go. A gas station attendant said that he saw a car matching Cougar’s pull behind his station and pull away moments later with another passenger. He said they were heading in the direction of the freeway.”

“Then,” Pardus motioned with his hand for Johnson to continue even though he knew exactly what he was going to say.

Johnson was getting more nervous now. He swallowed hard before he continued. “Well sir, we got onto the freeway. Two vehicles went south, and three went north. The vehicles heading north spotted Cougar’s car and proceeded to surround it. However, he exited the freeway at the last moment, and only one vehicle was able to pursue. It followed them some distance down an isolated county road. One of my men tried to shoot out the tires of the car, but just as he did, the vehicle ran off the road and flipped over. When the rest of us arrived, we found Cougar’s car off in a ditch. Evidently the bullet struck him in the chest; he was already dead.”

“And what about the girl,” said the panther still looking straight ahead.

Johnson swallowed hard again. “There was no sign of her sir.”

Pardus raised the hand he had been drumming with and used it to rub his forehead. Johnson continued.

“The driver of the vehicle was alive when we found him; he’s down in the infirmary now. Unfortunately, the passenger was killed.”

“Yes, how unfortunate,” said Pardus. He wanted somebody to blame for this. The trigger-happy gunman would have been perfect, but it seemed he had been denied the benefit of it.

“We cleaned up the crash site,” Johnson continued, “Cougar’s body is in the morgue right now, and his car is in the underground garage. What should we do with…”

“Destroy both,” Pardus interrupted before Johnson could finish his question.

“Yes sir,” acknowledged Johnson.

“Do you have any idea where the girl might be,” replied Pardus turning now to face the badger. His eyes seemed to be darker in color than their usual pale gold. It looked as though they were turning red. Johnson swallowed hard once more.

“Well sir, there wasn’t much in the area of the crash. It’s mostly forest with a few criss-crossing back roads. There are a few small towns several miles away. She could have picked up a ride somewhere. We’re currently looking into that.”

Johnson paused for a moment and turned his eyes away from the panther’s. Pardus picked up on his hesitance.

“Is there something else Johnson,” inquired Pardus.

Johnson sighed softly before answering. “Yes sir, there is. Dr. Steinwulf has turned up missing as well. He didn’t show up this morning, and after everything that happened today, we tried to contact him at his apartment, but no one was there.”

Pardus thought for a moment. “So then,” he started, “It would be safe to assume that the good doctor had a hand in all of this.”

“Yes sir,” replied Johnson, “That’s what we believe.”

Pardus turned his chair around and looked out the window. The sun had gone down many hours ago, and the city lights could be seen going in all directions for miles. He had been right about Steinwulf. This definitely complicated matters even worse. Steinwulf was his head researcher; if he had gone AWOL…

Pardus quickly turned back around to face Johnson. He leaned forward and pointed a finger at the badger.

“You’ve got 24 hours to find the girl and Steinwulf,” he stated as-a-matter-of-factly, “I want the girl alive. As for Steinwulf, I don’t care. Just be sure you get to him before he has a chance to do anything. Understood?”

Johnson straightened up as though he was being called to attention. “Yes sir. We’ll deal with this promptly sir.”

“You had better,” growled Pardus, “Otherwise I will have to find myself a new head of security. Now get going.”

Johnson nodded in acknowledgement, turned, and left the office.

Pardus turned back around to face the city lights. This was not going well at all. I’m screwed unless I get that girl, he thought. He turned to the drawer where he kept his bottle of aspirin. He discovered, however, that the little glass bottle was empty. He threw it across the room hard enough to hit the door. It shattered into a thousand pieces, flying in all directions. He sighed heavily.

“I’m screwed.”

Will had been allowed back into the exam room after Mark finished checking the young vixen over. Laura had encouraged him to go on home, but he insisted upon sitting with her for a while. He had watched while they bandaged her wounds. The cut she had on her forehead was really the only one that needed serious attention, four or five stitches, but even that had only looked worse that it was because of the dried blood around it. Her left wrist had been sprained, and it was now resting in a velcro brace. She was still unconscious, though. He had asked Mark about this, and he said that there were no signs of any head trauma. His opinion was that she was just fatigued and that the best thing to do was to let her wake up on her own.

This being said, he sat down in a chair next to her bed and waited. Nurses periodically came into the room to check her vitals. Sometimes it was Laura bringing him something to drink and begging him to go home. He continually refused. This cycled continued into the early hours of the morning. Eventually, Will surrendered to his own fatigue and quietly dozed off in his chair.

One minute he had been staring at the young vixen and her deep red-orange headfur, and the next he was being startled by a hand touching his shoulder. The touch jolted him like an electric shock, almost knocking him out of his chair. It took a second for him to remember where he was, but the sight of his sister standing over him and the young vixen on the bed in front of him instantly jogged his memory.

“Go home Will,” Laura gently commanded as her brother leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands.

“What time is it,” asked Will stifling a yawn.

“Quarter after three,” replied Laura. She pulled another chair up next to Will’s and sat down.

“I’ve been here this long,” he said, “I might as well wait some more.”

“Why are you doing this? You don’t even know this girl.”

Will thought for a moment. Why was he doing this? Laura was right; he didn’t know this girl, so why should he exhaust himself like this by staying with her. Mark said that there was no way from her injuries that he could have hit her, so he didn’t have an obligation because of that. But he did. Was it because she was pregnant? Was she a young damsel in distress in a delicate condition who needed rescuing? Was it because she was cute?

No, he thought trying to dismiss that last thought from his mind. No way. Never. But… She was cute. Still, he couldn’t explain why he was still there.

“I don’t know,” he truthfully explained. “Besides, Mom and Dad are still in Europe. If I went home, I’d just stay up all night by myself wondering how she was.”

Laura looked at her younger brother. Though she didn’t understand his reasons either, she could see that staying was important to him. “All right,” she conceded, “But I want you to…”

Laura’s speech was cut short by the sound of soft moaning. Will heard it too. They both looked towards the bed.

For a brief moment as Carrie woke up, everything that had happened to her, the examinations, the experiments, the white room, even the pregnancy all seemed like a dream to her. For an instant she expected to wake up and be back home in her own bed. But as soon as she noticed the hospital bed and IV in her arm, she panicked. A sick, horrifying feeling swept over her; it hadn’t been a dream; she was in the white room again, strapped to a bed. Then she noticed her swollen stomach. They had really done it to her; she didn’t just imagine it.

She felt the urge to run away. This had to be a dream; she had to still be asleep. She tried to get up, but felt herself being forced back down. She saw a figure standing over her, saying something, while another turned and ran away, through a door. Finally her senses came back to her, and Carrie saw that she was not back in the white room. This looked like a real hospital room. And the figure standing over her wasn’t one of the orderlies in white coats. He was a raccoon, probably not much older than her. He was speaking to her.

“Everything’s all right. You’re okay.”

The sound of his voice calmed Carrie more than his words. It was relaxing and reassuring. She looked into his deep blue eyes. They were like two oceans set in the black fur around them. They had a tranquilizing effect on her.

“You okay?” he asked. She was half sitting up, and his hand was still on her shoulder where he tried to keep her from getting up.

Carrie nodded in reply.

The raccoon smiled and sighed in relief. “Good, good”

“Where am I?” she timidly asked.

“You’re in Evergreen City Hospital. You had a nasty fall down a hill a few miles from here. Do you remember that?”

Carrie nodded. “Yeah, I saw a car coming, and I tried to get down to it, but I guess I slipped.” She stopped and looked at the raccoon more closely. Her eyes were hooked onto his again. “You were there. I remember you picking me up and carrying me.”

The raccoon was about to answer, but just then two more raccoons, a male and a female, entered the room. The female was dressed in pink scrubs, probably a nurse, and the male in green ones with a white lab coat on, probably a doctor. The sight of the white lab coat made her nervous, but she was able to maintain herself.

“Well,” said the doctor, “Looks like somebody decided to wake up.” He leaned over and examined her forehead. When he moved away, Carrie reached up with her hand and realized that the cut on her forehead had been bandaged. She also noticed for the first time that her left hand was in a brace of some sort. She tried to raise it up, but it was still very sore. She grimaced at the pain.

“Your wrist was sprained in the fall,” the doctor informed her, “And you’ve got a fairly deep gash just above your right eye. Nothing too severe though.”

Carrie nodded slightly. She then thought about her baby. She put her good hand on her belly and asked, “What about…”

“Your baby?” finished the doctor. “Don’t worry. As far as we can tell, your child is perfectly healthy. I would like to do an ultrasound, though, just to be on the safe side. Oh, and I’m Dr. Raccoon by the way.”

Dr. Raccoon extended his hand to Carrie. She took it and shook it lightly. “Carrie,” she replied.

“Well Carrie,” the doctor began, “Could you tell us why you were out in the middle of the forest at night?”

Carrie froze for a moment. What was she going to say? These people seemed nice enough, but she didn’t know them. What if those men were still after her? Could she trust these people? What if this doctor worked for that Pardus guy, or at least knew him? No, she couldn’t tell them the truth, but she had to say something.

“I… I got kicked out by my father,” she finally confessed. Not the truth, but not really a lie either, she thought. It was the best thing she could come up with, and it was probably the best thing to say at the moment too. However, it was still hard for her to lie to someone like that. She could only hope it was convincing enough.

“How long ago was this,” the doctor asked crossing his arms.

He believes it, Carrie thought. She continued, “A couple of months ago. After that I stayed with a group of friends, that is, until they got evicted from their apartment the other day. I was trying to hitch a ride to go see some other friends of mine, but the guy wanted money from me for the ride and dumped me off where I was when I told him I didn’t have any.”

“And you don’t have anywhere else to go,” asked the nurse, “No boyfriend or anyone like that?”

Carrie shook her head. She thought about the nurse’s words. She really didn’t have anywhere to go. Before it had been different. Now, she had men after her, and she had the child to consider. She looked down at her belly again, and the full severity of her situation hit her. She didn’t know what she was going to do next. It wasn’t the first time she didn’t know, but this time, she actually knew, felt, and thought about it. She was alone now. She suddenly felt scared. Her eyes began to water, and she began to shake.

The nurse took a tissue from a box next to the bed and handed it to Carrie. She also put her hand comfortingly on the vixen’s shoulder.

The doctor took out a pad of paper and a pen from his pocket. He began writing something as he spoke. “There’s a privately funded shelter for unwed mothers here in town. Nurse Laveur and I have helped out a few girls through it before. It’s completely confidential, so no one can find you if you don’t want them to. They’ll help you out with things like how to care for your baby if you choose to keep it and other things like finding a job or going back to school.” He tore off the paper with the address of the shelter on it and handed it to Carrie. “I want to keep you here for the rest of the night for observation and that ultrasound I talked about, but in the morning we can have you taken to the shelter if you’d like.”

Carrie sniffled a few times and nodded. “I’d like that, thank you.”

“I’ll have a technician come in a few minutes to do the ultrasound, and after that, we’ll let you rest.” As soon as he finished speaking, the doctor yawned deeply.

“Speaking of rest,” said the nurse who was still at Carrie’s side, “You should get some yourself Mark. You’ve been on since six this morning.”

Mark yawned again. “Your right.” He turned to Carrie. “I’ll take a look at the ultrasound tape tomorrow night when I get back on and contact you at the shelter day after tomorrow. You don’t happen to know how far along you are, do you?”

“Carrie was still drying her eyes. “Not exactly.”

Mark nodded. “Well, you seem to be close to full term. When I contact you, I’ll also set up an appointment for you to visit the OB clinic. Don’t worry, it’ll all be covered by the shelter.”

Mark yawned once more. “I’d better get out of here,” he said.

“You should go too Will,” the nurse said to the younger raccoon who had been standing off to the side. He was about to speak out in protest, but the nurse cut him off again. “No arguments this time. You need to get some sleep. She’s fine and we can handle everything from here.”

Will decided that now there was no point to arguing and turned to go out with Mark.

“Come on,” he told Will, “I’ll buy you a cup of coffee for the trip home.”

They both soon left the hospital and went to their respective homes. Mark had no trouble getting to sleep, but Will sat on his bed for several more hours, thinking about the events of the night. He couldn’t get the thought of Carrie out of his head. He eventually fell asleep in his clothes.

As for Carrie, she too got little sleep. The ultrasound technician came by and performed the scan. He gave the baby a clean bill of health, which put Carrie’s mind at ease a little bit more. When the technician asked her if she wanted to know the sex of the baby, Carrie thought for a moment, but decided not to know. She didn’t know why she didn’t want to know although she asked herself why not. Maybe it was just enough to know her child was healthy, and that’s all she cared about right now.

After the scan was finished, Carrie curled up on her side and tried to go to sleep, but troubling thoughts kept entering her mind. What if they found her? What would they do to her? To the baby? She even began asking herself questions she had asked thousands of times before. What was the point of all this? Why had they done this to her? What did they want with this child they had given her?

Her mind eventually grew tired of these questions, and she was lulled to sleep by the soft, almost rhythmic movements of the kit inside of her and the thought of that raccoon’s blue eyes. Despite all the questions she had and the turmoil her mind was in, she slept more soundly than she had in a long time.

It was after noon before Will finally got out of bed. He had been awakened hours earlier by the sound of his phone ringing. It had been Laura calling him from Mark’s place checking up on him. He mumbled something about being all right, and she let him go. He turned the ringer on his phone off. Since it was the only one in the house he could here, he was assured an uninterrupted rest. He laid back down on his bed, still fully clothed, and dozed back off.

Now he was awake enough to realize the state of discomforting hunger he was in. He had not eaten since lunch the day before, and his body was letting him know. He was finally compelled by his rumbling gut to make his way out of his basement bedroom and up to the kitchen for something to eat. He had to settle for frozen waffles when what he really wanted was a good ol’ bowl of cereal, but with his parents still on vacation and his sister living at Mark’s, there wasn’t a drop of milk in the house. He toasted his waffles and sat down at the breakfast table. He had meant to get some milk on his way in yesterday, but he had had the encounter with the young vixen.

Carrie, he thought recalling her name. He suddenly found himself thinking about her red-orange headfur and her green eyes. Her eyes. When she first woke up, she was disoriented, and he had tried to help calm her down while Laura got Mark. Her eyes had been like two emeralds, the deepest green he had ever seen. When she looked at him her eyes had locked with his. He had meant to tell her that he had taken her to the hospital; however, there was something about her look, her eyes that had made him stop. For a moment, his mind had gone blank. He had drowned in her eyes. Before he could do anything, though, Mark began talking to her, and he couldn’t get a word back to her again. He had wanted to stay, but Laura had been pretty adamant about it, and after seeing how upset she was, he thought it would be best for him to go.

Sadness, he thought. Was that what he had seen in her eyes? It could have been sadness, but it also could have been fear, or joy, or maybe even all three. It was so complex that he couldn’t quite put it entirely into words. There was something about her, though… Something special.

He reached down with his fork for another bite of his waffles, only to find that they had gone cold. He decided he didn’t feel like finishing them and headed back downstairs for a much needed shower. After he dried off and got dressed, he decided he would go pay Luke a visit.

As per usual for a weekday afternoon, the tiny 24-hour FastFoto shop was deserted. It was situated in the middle of a strip mall that also housed a third-rate nightclub, a tattoo parlor, a liquor store, and a number of empty stores that helped add to the evacuated feeling of the place.

So, it was no surprise that Lucas Gherwing was trying to play basketball with a wad of paper and a trashcan when Will walked through the door. With the door chime having been broken off long ago, Will made his way silently up behind the brown bat whose back was turned to the front of the shop. Luke was getting ready for another shot.

“Gherwing takes the ball,” he said, trying to impersonate an announcer. “He shoots!” He sent the paper wad flying through the air. It hit the trashcan dead on.

“He scores!” finished Will.

Luke turned around suddenly and saw his old friend standing on the other side of the counter.

“I never could understand why you didn’t try out for the team in high school,” commented Will, “You were actually pretty good.”

Luke shrugged his shoulders. “Eh. I hate competition. I like doing my own thing. That’s why I joined the photo club instead.”

“You were the photo club.”

Luke raised his index finger up. “My point exactly.” Will started laughing; Luke chuckled. “So what are doing back in town?” he asked, “Get tired of Ashton and leave after only a year?”

“Nah,” said Will as he leaned up on the counter, “We’re out for the summer; exams were day before yesterday. When does Evergreen let out?”

Luke leaned opposite Will. “We still got two more weeks. I had classes earlier this morning.”

“I was asleep until about an hour ago.”

“Lucky coon,” replied Luke. Will chuckled at his reaction. “So,” began Luke, “Anything eventful happen on your way back up from the big university, or was it eight hours of wholesome boredom?”

“Well…” Will rolled his eyes to the side.

Luke leaned forward slightly. “Ooh, I’ve got to hear this. Come on; out with it.”

Will considered it for a moment. “Well… Oh, all right. Here’s what happened…” He then began to retell the events of the previous night. Everything from the near miss on the hill to Carrie waking up. Luke was silent through the whole thing.

“Wow,” he said after Will finished, “That is one interesting sequence of events.” He paused for a moment. “So, exactly how much do you like this girl?”

“I didn’t say I like her,” Will protested, “I don’t even know her.”

“But you do like her. Don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Sure you do, I can see it in you. I’ve got the power, remember?”

Will rolled his eyes at realizing what the bat was talking about. “Luke, you don’t have any powers. You’re not psychic.”

“Hey,” Luke defended, “Remember when I told you about that day your sister came in here with one of her girl friends, and she was talking about the new doctor at the hospital? I could tell then that she had it for him. All she was doing was talking about little minor things about him like general appearance and education, but I knew she really liked even before she did. And now look at them; they’re engaged. How are Laura and Mark by the way?”

“Still engaged,” Will replied dully. “But you’re way off on this one.”

“How so?”

“It just wouldn’t be possible.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” began Will, “For starters, she’s pregnant, so there’s probably another man already in her life. And even if there wasn’t, she’s going to have some pretty big changes in her life soon.”

Luke nodded. “Okay,” he conceded, “Okay, that’s a possibility, but just a possibility.”

“And second,” Will continued, “If it wasn’t for that, nothing would ever be able to work out between us because she’s a fox and I’m a raccoon.”

“Oh come on,” whined Luke, “Don’t pull that speciesist crap on me.”

“Hey,” stated Will, “I’m not a speciesist. The fact that we’re friends should prove that. I just don’t think intimate mixed species relationships ever work out. There’s just too much pressure put on them by society. Did I ever tell you about my cousin Jules?”

Luke shook his head.

“A few years ago, my family went down to my grandmother’s for Christmas. Everybody was there: aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody. My cousin Jules was going away to school then, and he showed up later than everyone else. With his new girlfriend Ginny.”

“So?” asked Luke.

“Who was a genet,” continued Will, “My grandmother nearly passed out when she found out. It was the quietest, most solemn Christmas dinner ever. People in my family just don’t accept it.”

“You’re still upset over Becky, aren’t you?” asked Luke.

“No,” protested Will, “Well, maybe a little, but that’s got nothing to do with this.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Will thought for a minute. Why was he acting this way? Why couldn’t it ever work out between him and Carrie? There really was no reason why he shouldn’t give it a try at least. So why was he trying to find one? Could it have something to do with Becky? No, he told himself. It couldn’t. Or could it? He rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Luke saw the distress on his friend’s face. Will wanted to say “go”, but something inside of him way saying “no,” something was holding him back. Becky. He was still hurting from her. He thought about what to say.

“You’re probably right,” he said, “A romantic relationship is probably out of the question right now, for her anyway. But you know what?”

“What?”

“From what you said about her, it sounds to me like she could use just a friend at this point. You told me she said she was all alone with nowhere to go. Why don’t you go see her at that shelter she’s at? Do you know where it is?”

Will nodded. “Yeah. I worked there one summer doing lawn maintenance.”

“Then go pay her a visit. Sit with her, talk to her. Hey, she’s pregnant, go get a bite to eat with her if you feel bold enough. Be her friend, let her know that someone out there cares about her. What have you got to lose?”

Will thought for a moment. A friend? He might could do that. Just someone she can talk to, someone she felt cared about her. Why not?

Laura slowly opened the heavy door. The room was silent except for the steady beeping of the heart monitor. She opened the door only just enough to slide in, and she took extra care not to damage the fresh-cut flowers she carried in her arms. She made her way across the dimly lit room to the vase sitting on the small corner table. She removed the dead, brown flowers from the vase and replaced them with the fresh ones.

“There,” she said finessing the new floral arrangement, “Much better.”

She then turned to the bed sitting in the middle of the small room and the young, unconscious female wolf laying on it. Laura reached out and gently stroked the wolf’s brown headfur, careful not to interfere with the plastic tube feeding oxygen into the wolf’s nostrils. She pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down.

“Hey Samantha,” Laura began, “It’s me, Laura.” The wolf remained unconscious.

She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Listen, I know I haven’t come to see you lately; things have been really hectic trying to get that goof of a fiancé of mine to set a date.” Laura paused once more. “Look, this girl came into the ER last night, and… she reminded me of you in a lot of ways; pregnant, scared, doesn’t have anybody. I…”

Laura was interrupted as the door opened and a doe in floral print scrubs stepped in.

“Oh, Laura,” the doe said in a soft Irish accent, “I didn’t know you were here. I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll come back later.”

Laura stood up. “Oh, no, that’s all right Katherine. I have to be getting back to the hospital soon; I’m on tonight.” She paused slightly and looked back at the wolf. “No change with her, I suppose?”

Katherine shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not.” She sighed. “Such a pretty girl; even in this state.” Laura stroked Samantha’s headfur again. Katherine continued. “Why do you do this Laura? It’s been over a year now.”

“I know,” said Laura turning to face the doe, “But I can’t help but feel responsible for her. That night…” Laura stopped, unsure of how to go on. She shook her head and finally said, “I’m sorry, I have got to go.”

Laura made her way past Katherine and out the door without saying another word.

“Poor girl,” was all the doe could manage as she watched the raccoon walk briskly down the echoing hallway.

The sun was starting to get low on the horizon by the time Will finally made it out to the shelter. He had stayed and chatted with Luke for a while longer. Luke brought the subject of seeing Carrie up only once more, as Will was leaving. Will knew exactly where the shelter was, but it was several more hours before he got there. He had driven around town, thinking about it all. Nothing new crossed his mind, just the same thoughts and questions that had occupied him before. After having to refuel his Jeep, he decided that he had done enough thinking, and made his way to the shelter.

The shelter was located on the east end of Evergreen where the official city limits ended and an upper-middle class residential area began. The sunlight was partially obscured by the enormous old growth trees lining the front yards of the various houses on both sides of the streets. It gave Will the sense of being in a calm place, a refuge of sorts. Even though he had been down the street many times before, he still had to keep his eyes peeled for the right street number. The shelter was not marked, and the trees did an excellent job of concealing the houses as well as the sun. He soon found the right place and parked on the street.

He made his way to the door of the Victorian inspired house. He raised his finger to press the doorbell, but stopped short of it and clenched his hand into a fist. His stomach was in a knot. Why am I doing this, he asked himself. She probably doesn’t even want to see me. He paused. Suddenly the image of the vixen looking into his eyes came to him. Those beautiful green eyes, how sad and desperate they looked. He took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell quickly.

An eternity passed, and an elderly female calico colored cat appeared at the door. She wasn’t too terribly old, though. Her long headfur, which was tied back into a single braid, was only gray around the edges and showed much of its original deep brown. She wore a simple blouse and ankle length skirt, but she carried herself with a certain air of class; when not in action, her hands were neatly clasped in front of her, and she walked very lightly on her feet.

“Hello Mrs. Hale,” greeted Will with a slight bow of his head.

“Why Will,” she replied, “It is so good to see you again. How have you been?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “Well, can’t really complain. Made it through my first year at Ashton all right.”

Mrs. Hale smiled and motioned for him to enter. “That’s good to hear. How are your parents doing? I didn’t have a chance to ask Laura about them this morning when she called.”

“They’re in France right now actually on a sort of second honeymoon.”

They walked down to the end of the foyer that opened up into the main room. The place was huge. Will remembered Mrs. Hale once telling him that it could comfortably accommodate twelve to fourteen mothers and their babies at any given time.

“Oh my,” Mrs. Hale commented, “That sounds romantic.”

“Yeah, they had been wanting to do it for a long time, but up until now, both were just too busy getting Dad’s practice set up.”

“Well, it’s good to hear that they finally get to relax for a change; they both work so hard.” Mrs. Hale paused for a moment. “But I take it your not here to catch up on things.”

“No,” Will admitted, “I wanted to see how Carrie was doing today.”

Mrs. Hale sighed. “I’m afraid the poor dear has been terribly down and out today. Most girls usually are when they first come here, but she’s hardly even left her room or spoken to anybody at all. I’ve handled some pretty tough cases before, but with her, it’s almost like she’s scared of something. She seems anxious and nervous. I’ve tried talking to her about what’s bothering her, but she won’t open up.”

“Do you mind if I see her?” asked Will.

“I don’t see why not,” Mrs. Hale pondered, “Maybe you can help her to feel better. I’ll show you to her room.”

She led will into the main room. While the front yard was sufficiently shaded, the back of the house received plenty of sunlight. On the other end of the room, Will saw a young rabbit fem sitting in a rocking chair. She cradled her baby in her arms as she rocked slowly in the late evening sun, softly humming. Will couldn’t help but pause for a moment and admire the beauty of the mother and her child. He smiled faintly, and rejoined Mrs. Hale before she noticed his absence.

Carrie was sitting in the rocking chair next to her bed. No, she thought, it wasn’t really her bed, just the bed she was going to sleep in. But, then again, it wasn’t like the bed in the white room. She didn’t feel totally safe in this place, but at the moment it was all she had, and it was more than what she did have in the white room. She didn’t feel relaxed enough to call anything about this place hers, but for the time being, it would have to do.

She looked around her. The room was small, but there was enough space in it for a bed, dresser, crib, changing table, and rocking chair. She looked down at her belly. She put her braced hand to it and, through the overalls she was wearing, could feel the kit moving. Then she realized something. She was not going to have her baby in the white room or anywhere else in that place; she was going to have it out here. For the past nine months, she had only worried about what was going to happen to the baby as soon as it was born. She had been certain they would take it away from her. Now, she was going to be taking care of it. She was going to be a mother.

The feeling of being all alone suddenly hit her again. She didn’t know what she was going to do for herself, much less her child. She could feel her eyes beginning to burn, and she shut them. Everything felt so hopeless.

“Carrie?” asked a voice from her doorway. It was Mrs. Hale.

“Yes?” she replied.

“There’s someone here to see you.”

Then the raccoon from the hospital walked into view.

Will could tell that she had been crying; her green eyes were very red. “Uh, if it’s a bad time,” he nervously began, “I can go. I didn’t mean…”

Carrie interrupted him. “No, no,” she said getting up, “It’s okay, I was just sitting here… resting.” She almost couldn’t believe that he had come to see her. She looked into his blue eyes, his ocean blue eyes with their tranquilizing effect. She could see he was tense, as was she.

They stood looking at one another for a moment, each one’s eyes locked onto the other’s. Mrs. Hale saw the effect they were having on one another.

“I’ll let you two be alone,” she said, excusing herself.

Will and Carrie continued looking at one another for another moment. Will broke the silence first.

“Here,” he said motioning to the rocking chair, “Sit down. You can’t be too comfortable standing.” She sat down on the edge of the chair while he sat on the corner of the bed. “Carrie, isn’t it?” She nodded. “My name’s Will by the way. I was there last night when you woke up.”

“I remember,” she replied, and after a pause added, “You were also the one who took me to the hospital, weren’t you? You saved my life.”

Will didn’t exactly know how to respond. “Well, I just couldn’t leave you out there. I-I did what anyone would have done.”

“But then you stayed at the hospital.”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I mean, it really freaked me out; I wanted to know that you were going to be okay. I…”

Carrie cut him off. “Thank you,” she said, “For everything you did.”

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome, of course,” Will replied.

There was an awkward silence.

“Listen, uh,” Will began; he frantically searched for something to say. “There’s this… this great little Chinese place not too far from here. I was wondering, that is, if you were hungry… You know, maybe if you wanted to get something to eat, we could go get something.”

“Oh, I’m afraid we’ve already had dinner,” answered Carrie.

“Oh, uh, what about desert then? There’s an ice cream parlor even closer.”

Carrie could see the look in his eyes. He wanted to do something nice for her so bad. She started to feel sick. He doesn’t deserve this, she thought. He doesn’t need to get mixed up in all of this.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, “I just don’t feel up to it right now.”

“Oh, no problem,” said Will disappointed. “I understand. I mean, you just got settled in here and you’ve obviously got a lot of things to do still.” He got up and started moving backwards towards the door. “And besides I should be going too so, I guess I’ll see you around sometime.” He turned and walked out the door.

It was like he had been wounded, and was trying to hide his injury. Carrie quickly got to her feet and over to the door. Will was half way down the hall already.

“Wait up,” she called to him. He stopped and turned to face her. She thought for a moment, “What kind of ice cream?”

Will seemed to perk up. “Almost anything. Thirty-one flavors, I think.”

“Think they have rocky road?”

Will smiled. “Yeah, that’s my favorite kind actually.”

Carrie smiled back at him. “Really? Mine too?”

Will smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Small world I guess. You sure you want to come.”

“Yeah,” replied Carrie, “Let me straighten up, and then I’ve just got to sign out downstairs.”

“Okay,” said Will still smiling, “I’ll be right here.”

Carrie smiled back and then proceeded to get ready. After signing out, she followed Will to his Jeep. He helped her get in, and they were off. Mrs. Hale was standing on the front porch, smiling, as she watched them leave.

Pardus was talking on the phone when Johnson buzzed to enter his office. He was let in and stood silently as his boss finished his conversation.

“Of course General, of course. My team says that it could be any day now. Yes, I will be sure to let you know as soon as it happens. Yes, yes, I will be sure to keep you informed. Adios.”

Pardus set the receiver down, and leaned back in his chair. His right elbow was resting on the arm of the chair, and he was rubbing his temple with the corresponding hand. He spoke to Johnson without looking at him.

“That was our client,” he said, “And as far as he knows, the project is still going as expected.” He paused for a moment. “However, soon I will have to tell him something. I would prefer to tell him that we have the infant and are ready to deliver the proof he wants. Please tell me that I will be able to tell him that.”

“You just might sir,” replied Johnson, “We checked police stations and hospitals in towns near the crash site. Last night at around 9:30 p.m., a young, pregnant vixen named ‘Carrie’ was brought into the emergency room of a hospital in Evergreen, 15 miles from the crash. She was released this morning to an undisclosed location.”

“That doesn’t help us much if we don’t know where she is, now does it, Johnson?” Pardus asked sarcastically.

“Well sir,” Johnson continued, “One of the men had the idea to check the phone records of the hospital, and he found that a call was made to a private residence just a few minutes before the girl was discharged. He traced the number and did a little research; it turns out she’s staying at a maternity shelter in Evergreen.”

“Excellent work Johnson,” said Pardus, “I want her back here tonight.”

“I recommend using a small team sir, myself and perhaps one other. We can pose as police and take her from the shelter without too much resistance. By the time anyone realizes what’s going on, we’ll be long gone.”

Pardus nodded. “All right, but what about Steinwulf?”

“I’m afraid we still haven’t found him sir. There’s no trace of him.”

Pardus thought for a moment. “Get the girl, and keep looking for Steinwulf.”

“Yes sir,” Johnson acknowledged. He turned and left the panther’s office, closing the big doors behind him. He let out a heavy sigh. He had a job to do, whether he liked it or not. He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing.

The ice cream parlor was only a mile or so from the shelter. It was situated between the Evergreen Recreation Center and Ranger Park. The rec center was mostly a collection of various sports fields and playgrounds, and the park was a wooded area with patches of open lawn and winding walking trails. It was a prime spot for an ice cream parlor to be located; business was plentiful during the warm months of the year. And today was no exception.

Will and Carrie had to wait in line several minutes to order their two rocky road sundaes, but since most people preferred to enjoy their treats outside with the last hours of daylight, they had no trouble finding a seat. They took a booth on the side of the parlor facing the rec center; through the large picture window, a group of kids could be seen playing soccer. Will and Carrie sat in relative silence for a few moments before Carrie spoke up.

“So,” she began, “Do you know Mrs. Hale really well, or something?”

Will looked up at her from behind his spoon. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, visitors aren’t generally allowed at the shelter from what they told me this morning, so how did you convince her to let you come see me?”

Will shrugged slightly. “My family kind of knows her. My sister volunteered at the shelter before when it was first started, and I worked there mowing the lawn one summer.”

“Why did she start it in the first place?” asked Carrie, “The shelter, I mean.”

“Well,” Will thought, “From the way I understand it, after her husband died, their daughter started getting into all sorts of trouble like drugs, alcohol, sex, stuff like that. She ended up getting pregnant, and when Mrs. Hale found out, they got into a big fight, and she ran away. She was found dead in an alley a month later. After that, Mrs. Hale set up the shelter to help out girls in the same situation as her daughter.”

“I guess running away from home’s the best way for a kid to screw her life up, then huh?” Carrie solemnly commented. She set her spoon down and stared out the window.

Will felt a knot form in his stomach. “I didn’t mean anything,” he apologized, “I’m sorry.”

Carrie continued to look out the window. She watched the children playing soccer a few yards away. She turned her attention back to Will. “No, don’t feel sorry for me,” she replied, “I really have screwed my life up.” She paused. “More than you can imagine.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Will commented, “I mean, you’re in the shelter now, and they’re great at helping girls out with fixing things up. Laura’s told me about girls who go in there with nothing and leave with everything; a job, an education, everything.”

Carrie was shaking her head. “No,” she said, “No it… it’s more complicated than that.”

Will was perplexed. He could tell something was bothering her but couldn’t understand what. “How?” he asked.

Carrie lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes. She wanted to tell him so much. She felt she had to share this with someone, but she was afraid. He was the only nice person she had known in a long time. She wanted to trust him. She took a deep breath and looked back up at him.

“It began about a year ago,” she started. She turned back to the window. “I…” She suddenly froze mid sentence. “Oh God, no…”

Will got worried. “What? What is it?”

“We’ve got to get out of here!”

“What!? Why?”

Before Will could get an answer, Carrie started to get up. He followed suite. She grabbed him by the hand and started leading him towards the door. Will was still baffled by Carrie’s actions; he couldn’t think straight enough to ask her anything else or even stop her until they were outside.

Half way to his Jeep, he stopped and forced her to do the same. “What’s going on,” he demanded, “Why are you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw why Carrie was so anxious. On the other side of his Jeep two men, a badger and a tiger, dressed in black suits had been standing several yards away and were now running in their direction.

“Run!” yelled Carrie.

Will, although still uninformed, could sense the danger and complied. He and Carrie ran at top speed into the park. The two men were quick to follow.

They started down one of the walking trails. They had a good head start on the men, but Carrie couldn’t keep up her initial pace. Will saw her slowing and holding her belly and had to think of something fast; the two men were closing in on them. The wooden bridge up ahead caught his eye. He grabbed Carrie’s hand and guided her down a shallow embankment along the side of the trail.

They then made their way under the bridge and up the stream it was built for. Will was a few steps ahead of Carrie. The streambed was rocky and Carrie fell, face down into the water.

“Will!” she cried, reaching out for him with her arm.

Will was to her rescue immediately and helped her navigate the stony stream. They came to a near vertical bank that led to the road ten feet up. There was a large storm drain from which the stream flowed. Only darkness could be seen inside of it.

“Here,” said Will holding out his hands to help Carrie up, “Trust me. Just don’t stop!”

Will helped her climb into the drain. As soon as she was in, he began to climb up himself. When he had made his way up, he turned around to see the badger running through the stream only a few yards behind him. He hurried on into the dark pipe.

The pipe was too narrow for him to stand up in comfortably, but that was the farthest thing from his mind at the time. He led Carrie by the hand deeper and deeper into the darkness. The cold, ankle-deep water trickled around their feet.

“Where are we going?” she asked frightened. Even with her vulpine eyes, she could not see anything. She gripped tightly to Will’s hand.

“It’s around here somewhere,” he said. “Here! This way!”

Set into one side of the pipe was a straight, vertical shaft with ladder rungs embedded in the wall. Carrie could see tiny pinholes of light up above; a manhole cover. Will started up the ladder.

“Stay right behind me,” he commanded Carrie. In the dark she nodded, and as soon as there was enough clearance, she was heading up too.

Will pushed the heavy metal cover aside to expose the fading light of dusk to the dark underworld. He checked to see if the coast was clear and hoisted himself out of the hole. Carrie was right behind him and half way out when she suddenly felt something pulling her back down. She screamed.

Will grabbed her by the arm and held on with all his might. He could see the badger beneath Carrie; he had his arm around her ankle. Carrie desperately pulled herself upwards, trying to break loose of her captor’s grip. She began kicking frantically with her free foot. The badger endured three direct blows to the head, and the fourth sent him plummeting down into the water below.

Will pulled Carrie up the rest of the way and got her to her feet. They had emerged on the sidewalk in front of the ice cream parlor, and he helped her to the Jeep. Will pealed out of the parking lot and sped off into the approaching dusk.

Moments later, the badger pulled himself out of the manhole and onto the pavement. He stood up just as his tiger companion came running along from the woods. He regarded the badger, who was soaking wet and cradling his arm.

“The Jeep’s gone Johnson,” said the tiger.

Johnson shot him a dirty look. “Really? I hadn’t noticed,” he replied sarcastically.

The tiger’s cell phone began to ring inside his coat pocket. He answered it and then held it out to Johnson. “It’s the boss. He wants to talk to you.”

Johnson sighed and reluctantly took the phone.

The sun had finally set by the time Will pulled into his driveway. It was over a twenty minute long drive from the park on the other side of town, but Will and Carrie had spent it in total silence. This had mostly been due to shock. Will had also been nervous about someone following him; he had kept switching his eyes back and forth between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. Now that he had reached home, he felt relatively safe for the moment. His house was situated in the midst of a forest of evergreens, and other traffic seldom used the long narrow road. If anyone had been following them, Will would have seen them coming a mile away. As far as he could tell, they were safe.

He cut the engine off and really looked at Carrie for the first time the whole trip. She had her arms folded across her chest and was looking down at the floorboard. She was shivering. Will realized her wet clothes and the cool air from the ride had chilled her to the bone. He got out and went around to her side to help her out.

“Come on,” he said gently, “We need to get you dried off.”

Without a word, she got out and followed him to the back of the house. The back yard was a very steep slope, and they descended a flight of stone stairs built into the hillside. At the bottom was a concrete porch, and right above it was a wooden deck attached to the main floor of the house. There was a door on this underside of the house as well. It was dark inside and Will fumbled around the side of the wall for a moment. When he found the switch, the light revealed this to be his bedroom.

Carrie followed him out another door on the opposite wall. There she found a hallway that ran perpendicular to the door and a flight of stairs directly opposite the door. She stood there for a moment as Will headed down the hall. He opened a closet door and rummaged around for a minute. He came back to her with some towels and clothes in his hands.

“Here,” he said handing the items over to Carrie, “You can change in there.” He pointed to the bathroom door down the hall.

Carrie nodded and closed the door behind her. Will went back to his room and sat down in the big armchair next to his bed. He sat only on the very edge of it; he was bent over with his head in his hands again. He stayed like that for several minutes until Carrie came back into the room.

“What should I do with these?” she asked referring to the wet overalls and towels in her hands.

Will looked up at her. She was now dressed in the flannel pants and sweatshirt he had given her. The pants were an old pair of his sister’s and had an elastic waist in them, and the sweatshirt was one of his dad’s. It was dark green and had the Ashton University logo on it’s front. It was quite large on her, but gave just enough room to accommodate her pregnant figure. “There’s a laundry basket at the foot of the bed,” he replied, “I’ll go put them in the dryer later.”

She set the damp items in the basket and sat down at the head of the bed near Will. She removed the now wet velcro brace and set it on the bed next to her. She tried flexing her wrist, but it was still rather tender. There were several more moments of odd silence; neither one looked at the other. Will finally spoke up.

“So exactly who were those guys?” he asked looking up at Carrie.

Carrie continued to look away. “It’s a complicated story,” she replied, “I doubt you’d even believe me.”

“Trust me,” Will said flatly, “I’m open to just about any explanation at this point.”

“I don’t really know who they are,” explained Carrie.

“Don’t give me that,” Will said angrily, “Who the hell were they!?”

Carrie’s eyes began to burn and water; she began to sniffle. Will sighed and mentally kicked himself in the ass. He got up and sat down next to Carrie on the bed. He gently took her right hand in his.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I didn’t mean to yell. I just… I… I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

Carrie looked down at his hand around hers and then to his eyes. He sincerely was sorry. She nodded, and her tears began to dry up. “I’m not sure who they were,” she said between sniffles, “But I have a pretty good idea though.”

“Who do you think they were?”

Carrie took a deep breath. “About a year ago, I ran away from home. My old man was a drunk and he used to beat me and my mom around a lot. He even broke my nose one time.” She rubbed at the small scar on her muzzle.

“Sounds horrible,” interrupted Will.

“It wasn’t always so bad,” Carrie continued, “When I was younger, things were pretty good. We used to visit my grandparents out in the country a lot. My grandmother would show me how to bake cookies and taught me a bunch of Irish lullabies. Granddad used to tell me stories about growing up in the ‘30s and fighting in World War II. He even gave me his old dog tags the last time I saw him.” She paused for a moment. “But then there was the fire. I was about 10, but my little brother Jacob was only two. He died of smoke inhalation.”

She paused again. Will could tell it was hard for her to think about. He secured his grip on her hand and laced his fingers with hers. She continued.

“After all that, my father started drinking more, and my mom just lost her mind. She’d get real depressed and then seem to perk up as though nothing was wrong. Sometimes after my father would come home drunk and angry, he’d beat her around, and the next morning she would be as happy as ever, cooking breakfast for us.

“Of course the old man would only get really angry if he had lost a job, which happened often. Most of the time he would just pass out in front of the TV. Then one night he came home late as drunk as ever and as angry as hell. He had lost his job for getting drunk on his lunch break. He was yelling and screaming at us, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I yelled back at him and called him a worthless excuse for a father and a husband. He slapped me across the face, and I fell into the glass coffee table.” She held out her arm, indicating the series of tiny scars. “That night I grabbed some stuff and just left.

“I stayed with some friends, or at least people I thought were friends, for a few weeks before they got evicted from their apartment. After that I was on the street. A few days later, the cash I had left was gone, so I started begging. One day I was in the downtown part of the city, in front of this huge building, asking people for change, when this security guard comes out and starts yelling at me. I turned around and was about to bolt when I ran into this panther in a business suit. The guard came running along, but the panther said he would take care of things. He told me his name was Pardus and that the building we were in front of was his. He said he’d like to help me out, give me something to eat, some new clothes, that sort of thing.

“I didn’t trust him; he had this look about him, something with the way he smiled; this huge grin full of razor sharp teeth. And his eyes; they were like golden flames, sinister, evil. But I was desperate; I hadn’t eaten in a couple of days. He had just gotten out of a limo parked on the street, and he told me to get in, so I did. We drove around to the back of the building, and he showed me into a little waiting area. He said he would send somebody out to see what I needed. I waited there for a minute, but I got so nervous I started for the door we came in. Before I could get out, though, two big guys in white coats grabbed me. Someone came up and gave me a shot in the arm that knocked me out. The last thing I remember was Pardus, smiling.” She shuddered at the memory. “The next thing I remember was waking up tied to a bed in a white room.”

“That’s why you were so scared last night in the hospital,” commented Will, beginning to understand.

Carrie nodded. “Then these ‘doctors’ would come in and examine me. I tried to fight them at first, but they would give me something to knock me out. Whatever they gave me made me sick for days afterwards. Eventually I just gave in.”

She stopped and stared down at the floor. Her eyes watered again, and she began to sniffle. Will placed his arm around her shoulder and held her close.

“It’s okay,” he said comfortingly.

She strained to continue. “A-a few weeks later, I… I noticed my cycle was off. I knew it had to have been them because it had been months since… since I had been with a guy. I kept asking them what they had done to me, but… But…”

She broke down and began to cry. She grabbed onto Will’s shirt and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Oh God, Will, I’m… just… so… scared right now,” she sobbed.

Will put his other arm around her and held her closer.

“Shhh,” he whispered to her, “It’s okay now.”

He gently rocked her until he heard her stop crying. When he looked at her, she was asleep. He didn’t want to wake her, so he gently slid next to his pillows and leaned against the wall, holding the young vixen. He too soon fell asleep.

Johnson was standing at attention before Pardus’ desk. Had been for nearly ten minutes. Pardus sat with his elbows on the desk, fingers laced. He had his head leaned forward so his nose just touched his hands. He was not happy.

Every time Johnson had tried to ask the panther what he wanted, Pardus would simply raise a finger, and Johnson would be silent once more. Johnson was beginning to wonder how much longer his boss would keep him waiting; his neck was getting sore, and the bumps on his head weren’t helping the matter. Finally Pardus spoke up.

“You incompetent imbecile,” he stated coolly.

“Sir, I…” Johnson began.

“Shut up!” Pardus interrupted. He set his hands down on the desk. “Do you have any idea how much trouble we’re in because you couldn’t catch a little pregnant girl?”

“Sir, she kicked me in the head,” Johnson defended, “And I nearly broke my arm when I fell.”

“I’m going to break a lot more than that if you don’t start doing what I pay you to do.” Pardus paused. “While you were out screwing up, our client called again. It seems things are not going well down under, an unexpected revolution or something, and he has decided to push things ahead of schedule.”

Johnson said nothing.

“He will be here the day after tomorrow, and he believes he will be leaving shortly thereafter with the girl, still carrying the child if necessary. He has also raised his offer by 50%. Do you know what I told him?”

“No sir,” Johnson replied.

“I told him that everything will be ready for his arrival and that everything will be arranged as it was agreed upon in our contract. Do you know what that means?”

“No sir.”

“It means you have 36 hours to find the girl or a bump on the head and a sore arm will be the least of your worries. Understand?”

“Yes sir!”

“Good now I…” Pardus was cut off by the intercom buzzer. “What is it?” he demanded. Johnson couldn’t make out what the voice on the other end was saying. “Very well come in.”

The large wooden doors opened, and the tiger who had accompanied Johnson stepped through. He approached the desk.

“Sir,” he began, “One of our search teams returning from the other towns near the crash site just spotted Dr. Steinwulf at a gas station outside of Evergreen and followed him into the city.”

“Finally, some good news,” commented Pardus.

“However, sir,” admitted the tiger, “He parked his car in a municipal parking garage and proceeded through the downtown area on foot. He was lost in a crowd of club-goers.”

“Damn!” exclaimed Pardus. He slammed his fist into the desk, knocking over several items. “Okay,” he said regaining some composure, “I don’t care how you do it, I just want Steinwulf out of the picture, now!”

“Yes sir,” responded the tiger, “Also sir, I managed to get a partial license plate number off of the Jeep the girl got away in. We’re running it now. I recommend sending a team to the residence it turns up; it might be helpful to find out who it was that was helping her. We could get to her through them.”

“All right,” admitted Pardus, “See what you can do. Just keep me informed.”

“Yes sir!” The tiger then turned and left the office.

“As for you,” said Pardus turning back to Johnson, “I want you to make sure they eliminate Steinwulf, but your primary job is to get the girl back here before the General arrives.”

“Yes sir,” replied Johnson.

“Good, now go.”

With that Johnson turned and left the room, closing the doors behind him.

The lights were still on when Carrie woke up, but she could see sunlight coming through the small window in the outside door. She was on Will’s bed; he was laying next to her. She turned to study his face, careful not to disturb him. She looked over every inch of his face, his gray cheekfur, his rounded ears, the black mask around his face under which lay those ocean blue eyes.

She recalled what had happened the night before. He had been there for her. He gave her a shoulder to cry on when she needed it. For some reason she felt completely safe right there with him. Nothing else mattered. The whole world was right there. It was a moment she could have lived in forever, she thought. Except she had to pee really, really badly.

Reluctantly she eased herself out of his embrace. Evidently he was a sound sleeper. She then made her way down the hall to the bathroom. When she finished, she went back into the room and examined it.

It seemed uncommonly tidy for a guy’s room. There were a few clothes lying around on the floor, but other than that it was spotless. The books on the bookshelves were all neatly arranged. The computer desk was free from clutter. However, the room did have a lived in feel about it. The adornments on the walls gave it a certain personality. There was a dartboard, movie posters, maps, and even swords hanging here and there.

Carrie noticed some picture frames on the dresser and walked over to it. One was of Will and a bat, a friend most likely. They were standing next to each other posing for the picture; they each had their fingers in the shape of “rabbit ears” behind the others head. Carrie grinned at the scene. The next frame held a picture that looked like it was taken on a family vacation several years before. There was a cabin and a lake in the background with four raccoons posing, two children and two adults. She could tell the boy was Will, and the girl was his sister Laura. The two adults had to have been their parents. Carrie sighed and set the frame back down carefully. The third and final picture contained a female raccoon in a pink sundress. It had obviously been professionally made. She was posing next to a white picket fence with a flower in her headfur. For a moment she thought it was Laura, but no, it wasn’t. This was a different girl. A girlfriend? Carrie set the picture back down and tried to dismiss that final thought from her head. It bothered her, although she consciously couldn’t tell why.

She continued her investigation of Will’s room. She looked back over at him; he was still sound asleep. She came to the closet. It was open, and she noticed the full body mirror on the inside of the door. She looked at herself for a moment. There had been no mirrors in the white room, so she had not seen her full self since it all began. She turned to view her profile. She put a hand on the top of her swollen belly over the large sweatshirt and glided it down. She had not realized just how large she had grown over the months. She lifted the shirt to reveal the true shape of her figure. She ran her fingers through her soft, though slightly thinned, white belly fur. She looked from her mirror image down to her actual belly now. She placed a hand on top of it and the other one beneath it. She could feel the kit inside her moving around.

It must have been the security she felt being with Will, the feeling of safety she had that made her think: “I’m going to have a baby; I’m going to be a mother.” It took a second for the thought to sink in, but it was true. Of course, it had been true now for nearly nine months, but now it finally hit her. Before, she knew that when she gave birth, they would have taken the child from her. For that reason, she had not felt like a mother, merely a vessel. She did care about the child and what would happen to it, but she never felt a deep bond with it. Now, she would not give birth in the white room, and the kit would not be taken from her. She was going to have to take care of it. It was no longer a matter of making sure it would be safe, she had to provide that safety. She was going to be responsible for another living person. This was her child. She was lost in these thoughts for quite sometime.

Suddenly there was a noise from upstairs. Carrie jumped and ran to Will. She shook him.

“Will!” she whispered, “Will, wake up!”

Will was startled the shaking, and it took him a second to recall his surroundings. Seeing Carrie, however, immediately reoriented him. He was also quick to recognize the look of fear on her face. He sat up quickly and faced her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked putting a hand on her shoulder, “Are you all right?”

“There’s someone upstairs. Listen.”

Will turned his attention to the sound of footsteps coming from above his head. It sounded like someone was on the deck trying to get in the back door.

“Who is it?” Carrie asked.

“I don’t know,” Will replied honestly, “Stay here.”

He got up and headed for the door leading to the hallway. He stopped at his closet and pulled out a baseball bat. He then made his way up the stairs. Carrie stood in the doorway for a moment and then cautiously followed Will’s path.

Will slowly opened the door at the top of the stairs and looked to make sure no one was nearby. The door exited into another hallway, and he slowly tiptoed down it towards the living room. He heard noises coming from the kitchen; someone was opening the sliding glass door that led to the deck. He stayed close to the wall separating the living room from the kitchen; he was now only a few feet away from the open entryway to the kitchen. He heard the door being slid closed. The intruder’s footsteps were louder now. Will could see an indistinct shadow cast on the wall by the morning sun. He raised the bat high, ready to swing. He took a step forward to confront the intruder.

Laura screamed at the sight of her brother with the baseball bat. Will was quick to stand down from his attack stance and let out a big sigh. Laura had her hand to her chest.

“You scared the living daylights out of me Will!” she yelled, “Just what do you think you’re doing? You could have killed me!”

“Sorry, thought you were somebody else,” he replied.

“Who else would I have been?”

Will shook his head. “Nevermind. What are you doing here?”

Laura was calmer now, but she still held the offensive. “I’m here trying to figure out what happened to you last night. I’ve been calling the house for hours.”

Will raised his head and closed his eyes. “The phone ringer. I forgot to turn it back on yesterday.”

Laura continued. “I would have come over here sooner, but the ER’s been packed all night with victims from a big fight at a club. I got a call from Mrs. Hale last night; she said that after you left, two men claiming to be detectives showed up asking about Carrie. When you didn’t come back, she called me wondering if I had seen either one of you.” At that, Carrie walked up from behind Will. “Well,” Laura said, “I guess that solves that mystery.”

“It’s a pretty long story,” replied Will.

Laura sighed. “Nevermind that now. There was also a strange guy that showed up last night in the middle of all the mayhem, a wolf. He had this weird accent; said his name was Doctor Herman Steinwulf. He had a few cuts from the club riot, and I took care of him. He asked me if a young pregnant vixen had come into the hospital in the past day or so.”

Laura looked at Carrie, as did Will. Carrie looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I told him that there had been a girl matching that description in the night before. He seemed real excited about it. He asked me if I knew where she was. It all seemed pretty odd, and I didn’t want to say anything, so I told him I wasn’t sure where she was. Then he asked me if I could get a message to her. I told him sure.” Laura fished in her purse and retrieved a piece of paper with writing on it. She handed it to Carrie. “He gave me the name of a motel in town and a room number. He said he wanted you to meet him there today and that it was of the utmost importance. Do you know what this is about?”

Carrie shook her head. “Not exactly.”

Laura shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what he wanted, but if you don’t know who he is, I’d stay away from him. Like I said, it just seemed… odd.”

She paused for a moment and looked down at the floor briefly. Will could tell that something else was on her mind.

“What is it?” he asked.

Laura sighed. She looked at Carrie. “Mark also wanted me to find you.”

“Me?” Carrie asked perplexingly, “Why?”

“He wants you to come in and see him about the ultrasound.”

“Why? Is something wrong with the baby?” asked Carrie; there was noticeable fear in her voice. She put her hands to her stomach as though to protect her child.

Laura lightly shook her head. “He didn’t say. He just wants you to go see him as soon as possible.”

Carrie continued to hold her belly. She had a blank look of shock on her face. Will leaned over and put an arm around her shoulder.

Carrie was scared now, more than she had been any other time in the last few days. She did not face the danger as well now, only the baby did. Her baby, she thought. Her baby.

The exam room was cold, but neither Carrie nor Will noticed. Carrie was sitting on the exam table while Will paced back and forth. It had been nearly 15 minutes since Laura had left to go find Mark, and they still had not returned. Carrie kept stroking her gravid belly through the now dry overalls she had changed back into, but Will’s pacing was beginning to get on her nerves.

“Could you please stop doing that?” she asked without looking at him, “You’re making me nervous.”

Will stopped mid pace, and turned to her. “Sorry,” he said. She glanced up at him briefly. “I just wish they would get back,” he continued, “Seems like they’ve been gone forever. I mean how long does it take to…”

He was interrupted when the door to the room opened and Laura and Mark entered hauling a pushcart with a TV and VCR on it.

“Sorry it took so long,” Mark apologized, “Took us a while to find this thing. Someone forgot to put it back in the lounge.”

He situated the cart in front of the exam table where everyone could see the screen. He took a video tape he was carrying in his hand and pushed it into the VCR. Will stood next to Carrie. The TV screen was static for a moment, then flickered to life with the grainy black and white image of Carrie’s baby.

“All right,” Mark began. He was addressing the entire group, but directed his speech towards Carrie. “Now as you can see here, this is the ultrasound taken of your baby the other night. Now, the technician who took this gave the baby a clean bill of health, and at first glance I would say the same thing.”

“So there is something wrong,” said Carrie. Will put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Well,” Mark continued, “Not necessarily. Heart rate and everything like that are good; however, I noticed that some things were a little strange.”

“Like what?” asked Will.

“Here, let me show you.” Mark fast-forwarded the tape for a few seconds and paused it. “Okay, here is the baby’s head. Now, normally a vulpine fetus this developed has a slightly narrower skull; here it’s at least a centimeter wider than it should be.” He indicated the area of the baby’s head with his index finger. “Also, the ears are unusually rounded for a fox, and the tail is significantly shorter.”

“So what does this all mean?” demanded Will.

Mark looked at him with an almost helpless expression on his face. “I honestly don’t know,” he admitted, “I know it’s very unprofessional of me to say that, but I really have no idea what this is. Form the enlarged head, I might say it was a genetic defect like Downs Syndrome, but that wouldn’t explain the ears and tail. Anyway I can’t tell something like that just from an ultrasound; I’d have to do some more tests.”

Carrie had tears rolling down her cheeks, and she began to sniffle. She was still holding her belly. “What did they do to you,” she blurted out. She began to sob quietly.

“What are you talking about Carrie?” asked Laura, “Who did what to whom?”

Will pulled Carrie close to him. She was engulfed in her own world now. Her thoughts were only on her baby. She was scared, upset, mad, and worried all at once. Will looked at Mark and Laura.

“You guys got some time?”

He then began to explain everything that had happened to them the night before. He included the things Carrie had told him too. Mark and Laura sat quietly in disbelief the entire time. They finally spoke up.

“That’s incredible,” said Mark.

“That’s horrible,” said Laura.

“This guy, this panther, you said his name was Pardus, right?” asked Mark. He directed his question towards Will, but Carrie nodded in response. “As in Donald H. Pardus?”

Carrie looked up at him. “Yeah,” she said recalling the name, “That’s it. He said he was Donald Pardus. Why?”

Mark reached into the vest pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a small two-tablet packet of aspirin, and handed it to Will. “Read the bottom line,” he instructed.

“Manufactured by Pardus Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Pardus Biotechnologies Inc.,” Will read aloud in amazement.

“Donald H. Pardus is one of the biggest tycoons in the medical research industry,” Mark explained, “He also makes a pretty good living selling the medicine he develops too.”

“We should go to the police with this,” said Laura.

Will shook his head. “No. If those guys that chased us through the park yesterday were really cops… I mean for all we know this Pardus could have all sorts of influence with the authorities.”

“Well,” protested Laura, “We just can’t sit around and do nothing. We have to find somebody, tell somebody about this.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Carrie?” Will asked, “Do you still have that paper Laura gave you?”

Carrie sniffled and pulled the paper out of her chest pocket. “Yeah, here it is,” she said.

“Will?” Laura asked suspiciously.

“You said this guy Steinwulf wanted to meet Carrie today, right?” he asked.

“It’s too dangerous Will,” protested Laura, “It might be a set up.”

“I don’t think so,” said Will, “You said this guy came in injured last night from the club fight. It doesn’t make sense that he would go through that just to do this.”

“Still,” Mark added, “It could be dangerous.”

Will nodded, “I know, but this guy’s probably the only one who can give us any answers.” He turned to Carrie. “It’s up to you. You’re the one he wants to see.”

Carrie thought for a moment. She was scared and confused. They wouldn’t stop until they found her. They had done something, some sort of experiment on her and her baby. She wanted to run away and hide from anyone who had anything to do with this, but Will was right, this was the only way to get any answers. She didn’t want to, but she had to.

“All right,” she agreed, “I’ll go. I want to get to the bottom of this too.”

“I’ll go too,” Laura volunteered.

“Laura!” protested Mark.

“They’ll need someone to help make sure it’s not a trap,” she explained. Mark was about to protest again, but she stopped him. “I’ll be fine. I’ve already met this guy. He’s a little weird, but didn’t really seem dangerous.” She moved closer to him. She then added almost jokingly, “Besides, I took that self-defense course. I can take care of myself.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said, “But I guess there’s no talking you out of it, is there?”

“Nope,” she replied almost smiling.

“Okay, just one thing. If I let you do this, we get married as soon as possible, whether it be church or court house. Deal?”

“All right, deal.” With that, they kissed. “C’mon,” she said to Will and Carrie, “we’ll take my car.”

Will helped Carrie off of the table, and they followed her out the door.

Mark sat down on the bed after the trio had left. He sighed, wishing there was more he could do.

Will, Carrie, and Laura were at the motel half an hour later. It certainly wasn’t the Hilton, but it was suitable for weary travelers to rest for the night, for businessmen to get a good night’s sleep, and for other purposes that were in mind with the invention of hourly rates. It was also a good place for clandestine rendezvous of other kinds as well. Although it is unlikely this type of meeting had ever taken place before, neither at this motel or else where. Which is why the trio was apprehensive about the whole thing. None of them knew quite what to expect.

Carrie was the most timid of all. She had nearly been recaptured twice, and now she may be walking back into the white room voluntarily.

Will kept Carrie close to his side, which comforted not only her, but him as well. He was determined not to let anything happen to her, and as long as she was close by, he felt like he was doing his self-appointed job.

And as for Laura, she was still assimilating everything that had been relayed to her by Will and Carrie. She still felt she had no idea what was going on, but was determined to help her little brother in anyway she possibly could.

Now they stood in front of room 47. Will double checked the number with the one written on the piece of paper Laura had given Carrie. It was indeed correct.

“This is it,” he said aloud, “Now what?”

“I guess we knock,” suggested Laura.

At that, Will raised his fist to the door and pounded four times. A second later, the sound of the deadbolt being unlocked could be heard. The door then slowly crept open an inch.

“Yes?” came a quiet timid voice. Will immediately recognized it as a German accent. His psychology professor at Ashton was from Munich.

“Dr. Steinwulf?” asked Laura, “I’m Laura Laveur; I treated you at the hospital last night. I brought someone to see you.”

Behind the raccoon, the gray wolf could see who she was referring to. The pregnant vixen was unmistakably Carrie Fawkes. He closed the door completely, undid the chain lock, and reopened the door to let the trio in. As they entered, they were all immediately stunned by the automatic handgun Steinwulf held in his hand. He closed the door and rebolted the locks. When he turned around, he noticed the stunned looks on everyone’s faces. He immediately set the gun down on the night table.

“Sorry,” he said apologetically. He spoke perfect English, but he still had a very heavy accent. He was a gray wolf, not quite six feet tall; however, his frame was somewhat thin, so he looked taller than that. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and khaki slacks, both of which were wrinkled; he had evidently been wearing them for several days. Behind his wire-frame glasses were two red, swollen eyes; it was also apparent he had not slept soundly in several days as well. “Since this whole ordeal started, I thought it best to start carrying some form of protection. Please Miss Fawkes, sit down; you must be uncomfortable.” He pulled out one of the chairs at the small table near the window. Carrie sat down. Will stood next to her with his arms crossed over his chest.

Steinwulf turned to Laura. “Thank you Miss Laveur for bringing her. I owe you a great debt. And may I ask who you are?” He motioned towards Will.

“I’m Will,” he replied, “I’m Laura’s brother. I’m also the one that found Carrie.”

“Then I am also in debt to you sir.” He turned to Carrie once more. “And Miss Fawkes, certainly you must have a thousand questions?”

“Yeah,” began Carrie, “Like who are you and what’s been going on?”

“Well,” Steinwulf said as he took a seat on the corner of the bed. Laura took the other chair at the table, and Will remained at Carrie’s side. “To answer your first question, I am Doctor Herman Steinwulf, and until the other day I was a head researcher at Pardus Biotechnologies. Your second question is going to require a little more explanation. Have you ever heard of Project Mendel?”

Carrie shook her head then looked at Will and Laura. Both shrugged their shoulders.

“I’m not surprised,” Steinwulf continued, “Thirty years ago the government of the old Soviet Union began a secret scientific study in the field of cross-species reproduction, that is to say, producing a hybrid offspring from parents of two otherwise genetically incompatible species. They never succeeded in achieving their goal over the two decades they ran the project, and shortly after the fall of the Soviet government, the information concerning the project mysteriously disappeared. Unknown to the rest of the world, it was secretly sold to my former employer, Donald Pardus. He gave it to his genetics research team, which I was the head of, to pick up where the Russians had left off.

“It was actually amazing to see how far the Russians had gotten in their research. The technology just didn’t exist at the time to actually produce a hybrid embryo. But after eight years on our own, we finally succeeded. It was truly amazing to view it under the microscope. A revolution in science and the way we view life itself. Of course, it was only with laboratory animals that were still very similar to begin with; a mouse and a rat for example. Over time, however, we refined our work and were soon able to combine creatures as different as cats and dogs, literally.”

“I wonder what a catdog would look like?” Laura unintentionally asked out loud.

“I wouldn’t know,” shrugged Steinwulf, “We never received approval from the government science authorities to gestate any of the embryos. Last year, we were working on drafting a report to request approval to go ahead with that stage of the research; however, before we could finish it, Mr. Pardus told us to start preparing the research data for use on fur embryos. It was a shock to say the least; we were still years away from that kind of work, but he ordered us to do it, so we did.”

Steinwulf paused momentarily as though what he was about to say was still news to him. “I suspected that something was going on that we didn’t know about. I didn’t want to say anything for fear of losing my job; I had seen it happen before. So I kept my suspicions to myself and did as I was instructed. Then one evening, I went home to my apartment and found a strange folder sitting on my coffee table. Inside was all the information about what Mr. Pardus and his ‘shadow’ researchers were really doing. After reading it, I ran to the bathroom and vomited.”

“What was he doing exactly?” Will asked, arms still crossed.

“Evidently,” Steinwulf continued, “He had found a buyer for the research. Whoever left me the folder must not have known who; there is only a brief mention of an individual referred to as the ‘General.’”

“So how do I fit into all of this?” demanded Carrie. She had been holding her abdomen during Steinwulf’s account, and she continued to do so. “What does he want with me and my baby?”

“It seems the ‘General’ wanted proof that the research worked on furs,” Steinwulf continued. Will and Carrie both looked down at her pregnant belly. “However, there was a shortage of eggs in the national donor bank, and it would have been hard to find a voluntary surrogate for the procedure. One of the researchers jokingly commented to Mr. Pardus that it might be easier to kidnap a girl and harvest her eggs.” Carrie lowered her head and closed her now watering eyes. Will placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Laura slowly shook her head in disbelief. “It seems he took that suggestion seriously.”

“So you’re saying Carrie’s baby is a hybrid?” asked Laura, “Part fox and part… what?”

Steinwulf shook his head lightly. “I am afraid I do not know. The folder only said that several embryos were created and that the healthiest one was implanted. I presume the others were put into cold storage.” He turned to Carrie, who still had her eyes closed and was holding her belly. He got down on his knees in front of her. “Miss Fawkes,” he said taking her hand, “Please forgive me. Had I known what Mr. Pardus was planning to do with my research, I would have destroyed it. Please forgive me. I… I…” He couldn’t think of what to say next. But there was no need to say anything. With a simple nod of the head, Carrie acknowledged him.

Steinwulf rose and walked to the other side of the room, rubbing his head and mumbling something in German. Laura had leaned over and hugged Carrie around the shoulders. Will moved over to Steinwulf and spoke. “So, now what do we do?”

Steinwulf turned to him. “Now, we turn Mr. Pardus over to the authorities. Here.”

He pulled a brief case from beside the nightstand and laid it on the bed. From within, he produced a jewel case with a CD in it. “This disk contains all the information that was given to me in the folder. I have an identical disk with me and the originals in a safe place. I want you to keep that in case something happens to me. I am going back to the city today to turn everything in to the FBI office there. I came here first to make sure Miss Fawkes was all right.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Will.

“It is too dangerous for Miss Fawkes to return to the city right now. I want you to stay here in Evergreen with her where it is safe.”

“Yeah,” began Will, “Uh, I’m not too sure about that.”

“What do you mean?”

A couple of guys we’re pretty sure were Pardus’ men chased us down last night in the park.”

“Verdammen,” cursed Steinwulf, “I was afraid of that. I received a phone call last night from an anonymous person saying that Miss Fawkes was in the Evergreen City Hospital. The mysterious caller also informed me of Mr. Cougar’s fate. I decided to get here as quickly as possible. I was asking a gentleman for directions to the hospital when I got caught up in that riot. I had suspected that the one who gave me the folder worked for Pardus, but I had no way to verify it.” He sighed and thought for a moment. “Here.” He handed will a cell phone from the brief case. “Go some place safe, out of Evergreen. I will call you on this after I have gotten the information to the authorities.” He began to close the briefcase but stopped to put the gun laying on the nightstand inside. He smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t want to forget this, now would I?”

Will raised and eyebrow at the wolf’s comment and tucked the phone away in his pants pocket.

“Oh yes!” he exclaimed, “I almost forgot.” He pulled a small manila envelope out of the briefcase. He walked over to Carrie and handed the envelope to her.

Carrie took the beige packet and immediately noticed the lump in it. There was something familiar about it, and she quickly poured the contents into her hand. Her eyes grew wide in astonishment at the sight of the simple metal bead chain and thin metal plates.

“My grandfather’s dog tags!” she exclaimed, “How did you… I mean… Th-they took these from me the day it all began.”

Steinwulf smiled at the sight of Carrie’s reaction. “I figured that was what happened. They were in the mysterious folder as well.”

Carrie examined the tags closely. They were exactly the same as when she last saw them. She held them tightly in her fist, next to her heart. She then looked up at Steinwulf. She hoisted herself out of the chair and put her arms around the wolf’s neck to hug him. Steinwulf was somewhat caught off guard by the young vixen’s action but gently placed a hand on her back to return the gesture.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest.

“Sie sind sehr willkommen,” he replied in the same whisper, “You are very welcome.”

While the revelation inside room 47 was taking place, the occupants of a big, black SUV parked on the other side of the street had just made a discovery of their own in the motel’s parking lot. The tiger in the passenger seat moved the binoculars from his face and studied the inconspicuous burgundy sedan with his normal, yet still superior, eyesight.

“That’s it,” he said, “Plate number matches up. Should we go in and get him?”

They had arrived only seconds before and didn’t see anyone enter or leave any of the rooms.

The badger in the driver’s seat regarded his partner. “Too risky. He probably checked in under an assumed name, and we can’t just go barging in every room in the place until we find him. We wait.”

With that, the tiger reached into the back seat and pulled out a stainless steel briefcase. He opened it and began to work with its contents.

The badger looked at him and said, “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“The boss said he wants Steinwulf out of the picture by any means necessary, didn’t he? Besides, this will make it nice and quick.”

“I think he wanted things to be done a little more discrete than that.”

“I asked the boss myself; he said if we get a chance to use it, go for it.”

As the tiger continued working with the contents of the briefcase, the badger dialed a number on his cell phone. “Sir,” he spoke into the phone, “It’s Johnson. Did you authorize… But sir, I… Yes sir. Yes sir, but I just… Yes sir. Very well sir.” He sighed as he hung up. “Here,” he said to the tiger, “I’ll do it. If the boss wants it done, I’ll make sure it’s done right. If you screw this up, it’s my ass that’ll fry.”

The tiger handed Johnson the assembled metal disk. Johnson put the hand held device in his coat pocket and put on his sunglasses. He got out of the vehicle and made his way across the street towards the burgundy sedan.

“Geez,” the tiger said to himself, “All that fuss over a little car bombing. What a grouch.”

Johnson returned a few minutes later

“Well that took long enough,” the tiger remarked sarcastically.

I wanted to make sure the detonator was set right,” Johnson replied, “The second he turns the ignition…”

“Boom,” the tiger finished.

Johnson looked at him for a second. “Yeah. Let’s just get outta here before we start looking too suspicious.”

“Don’t you want to make sure it works?”

“No. It’ll work. Always has before.” He started the vehicle and pulled out into traffic, heading away from the motel.

Steinwulf was putting on his plaid sports coat and the others were getting up, ready to leave when Carrie spoke up.

“Why?”

Steinwulf turned around to face her.

“Why are you helping me?” she asked. She looked at her swollen abdomen. “Helping us?”

“To atone for my family’s sins,” he replied, “My grandfather was a scientist too. He just had the misfortune of living in Germany the same time the Nazi party rose to power. He was given a choice: work for the Nazis or watch his family be executed. They made him do horrible things to innocent people. He tried to help some of the victims escape once, but was shot in the back. My grandmother, father, uncles, and aunt would have been killed too had the Allies not taken Berlin the following week.

“Since then, there has been a stain on my family’s name. No one would listen to the story of my grandfather’s heroic death; they would only hear about the awful experiments he was forced to perform on people. Because of that, no major university in Germany would accept me. I had to move to America to complete my doctorate. I wanted so desperately to become a scientist like my grandfather and make discoveries that would help people.

“When I found out you were being held against your will and experimented on with my research, I was sickened. Suddenly all the rumors about me being from a family of monsters and murderers seemed true. I had to do something, so I enlisted the help of Mr. Cougar in freeing you. His death is on my hands now, but I will not allow anymore suffering to come of this. That is why I must go to the authorities now, and you must go away from here to some place safe. As I said, I will contact you through my cell phone as soon as I have turned everything over to the authorities.”

Steinwulf then led them out the door. Laura had parked her newer model station wagon right in front of the room, but Steinwulf’s car was on the opposite side of the small lot under some shade trees. The trio was buckled up and ready to go while Steinwulf was still making his way to his burgundy sedan.

Laura was just about to pull out into the street when they heard the explosion. Carrie screamed, Laura slammed on the breaks, and Will jumped out to see what had happened. There was no mistaking the burning wreckage at the far corner of the lot as that of Steinwulf’s car. Will was soon joined by Carrie and Laura as they looked on in disbelief and horror. Motel guests and bystanders also gathered around to see what had happened. Will wanted to get closer to the car to see if Steinwulf was alive, but the flames were too hot; then he saw a piece of burning cloth float back down and land a few feet from him. He went to it an immediately recognized it as the coat the gray wolf had been wearing. He was dead. There was no doubt about it.

Will was about to say something when a ringing noise started coming from his pocket. He pulled out the cell phone Steinwulf had given him only moments before. Carrie and Laura looked over his shoulders at the ringing phone. Will finally answered it.

“Hello?” he asked. He stood for a moment in silence and then turned the phone off.

“Who was it?” asked Carrie, “What’d they say?”

“They said, ‘Don’t go home; they’re waiting for you there.’ Then they hung up.”

“Now what?” Carrie was looking between the two raccoons.

“Right now we need to get outta here,” said Laura motioning for the other two to get into the car. They took her advice, and soon the trio was heading away from the catastrophe, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

“Okay,” Laura thought out loud, “If we can’t go home, where do we go? Mark’s place?”

“No,” replied Will, “Steinwulf was right; we need to get out of Evergreen for now. What about the cabin? It’s several hours off of the major highways; no one would think to look there.”

“Okay,” Laura agreed, “Then what?”

Will looked at the disk Steinwulf had given him. “Then we turn this over to the FBI or somebody else that can protect Carrie and put this Pardus away.” He turned to Carrie who was sitting next to him in the back seat. “Don’t worry; we’ll figure this out.”

Carrie nodded and turned to look out the window. A fire engine whizzed past them, undoubtedly on its way to the motel.

Will stared at the disk again. Maybe I should have stayed on campus this summer, he thought. He turned and looked at Carrie, who was still staring out the window. He studied her deep red-orange head fur again and could just barely see the edges of her emerald-green eyes. He smiled slightly. Then again…

The Laveur’s vacation cabin was situated in one of the more mountainous areas of the countryside on the edge a large lake. The three-hour drive took most of the late afternoon. The trio stopped only a few times to gas up and then several more times at Carrie’s insistence to answer the call of nature. The last half hour or so of the trip covered mainly narrow, barely-paved country roads. Sunset was still several hours away, but dark clouds rolled in and it soon began to rain heavily.

Laura was at the wheel. Fortunately, she knew the way to the cabin very well, so she was able to find her way through the darkness and rain. Will was again in the back seat with Carrie. Most of the trip had been taken in almost complete silence. Everyone was in his or her own world of contemplation.

Will moved the disk and case around in his hands, trying to imagine how someone like Pardus could do the things he had done to a girl like Carrie. The more he thought about it, the more the tiny flame of hatred for the panther grew in his mind. After a while, he decided he had had enough of this line of thought. He looked over to Carrie. She was looking out the window even though there was nothing to see due to the rain. She unconsciously fiddled with the dog tags that she now wore around her neck, moving them between her fingers. She suddenly stopped and put her hand on top of her belly. She took a quick breath and let it out.

“What’s wrong?” asked Will, “You okay?”

“Just gas,” she replied without looking at him, “I’ve been getting it a lot lately.” She paused for a moment. “And no, I’m not okay.” She turned to face him as she spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“Gee, I don’t know. In the past three days two men have died trying to help me, I nearly got killed in a car wreck, I’ve almost been captured by a crazy businessman, and his henchmen are still after me. And to top it all off, my baby turns out to be the biggest science project of the century. So no, I’m not okay. I…”

Carrie was stopped short as she felt a powerful burning, cramping sensation course through her abdomen. She leaned forward and moaned loudly as the pain continued.

“Carrie!?” Will exclaimed. He unbuckled his seat belt and put his arms around her. “Laura!”

Laura looked back at her brother’s cry. When she saw Carrie, she immediately knew what was going on. “Hold on,” she said, “We’re almost there.”

Within minutes, they were at the cabin. The rain was still pouring and thunder was now audible in the distance. Laura pulled up as close to the front porch as she could, but there were still several feet of open sky between the car and porch canopy. Will jumped out and ran to the other side to help Carrie, who was still catching her breath after the first big contraction. He guided her to the cabin’s front door. Laura took the key from underneath the welcome mat and unlocked the door.

The cabin had a pleasant, nostalgic smell to it. Even though Will and Laura had more urgent things on their minds, tiny flashbacks from their childhoods popped in and out of their thoughts. The bare timber walls seemed to hold as much of the past as the mind did. But reminiscing would have to wait.

After hitting the light switch, Laura led the way to the big bedroom at the back of the cabin, the one her parents used. Will and Carrie were right behind her. She immediately started digging through the closet and produced a set of clean bed sheets. She quickly laid them out on the naked mattress and promptly made her way down the hall to the kitchen to retrieve the first aid kit. That’s one advantage of having an MD for a father, she thought. There’s always a fully stocked first aid kit around.

She also set two pots of water on the stove and began boiling them. She took a pair of kitchen shears out of a drawer and put them in one of the pots. She also took the shoelaces out of an old pair of sneakers from the laundry room and tossed then in as well.

While Laura was off doing that, Will was helping Carrie onto the bed. He put several pillows behind her back to allow her to sit up.

“Are you comfortable?” he asked.

She had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly. She replied to him by merely nodding.

He nodded back and then said in a reassuring tone, “Okay. I’m gonna go help Laura; I’ll be right back.”

He turned to go when she grabbed hold of his wrist. He kneeled beside her. She looked at him with her emerald-green eyes. He could see fear in them.

“Please don’t go Will,” she begged, “I’m so scared right now.”

He took her hand in his. He looked at her with his ocean-blue eyes and the tranquilizing effect they had on her. “All right; I’ll stay right here.” He then moved the strands of long, red-orange headfur that had fallen out of her ponytail away from her face with his hand. “Don’t worry. Laura’s done this before. She trained as an OB nurse before moving to the emergency room.”

Then, as though on cue, Laura entered the bedroom carrying the first aid kit. She set it down on the chest at the foot of the bed and opened it.

“Okay, Carrie,” she said in a professional tone, “I’m going to need to take a look at you now to see how far you’ve progressed.” She addressed Will next. “You should wait outside for this Will.”

Will looked at Carrie; he was still holding her hand. He put his other hand around hers as though to doubly reassure her. “Laura’s right. I should step out while she does this. I promise I’ll be right back in as soon as she’s through. Okay?”

Carrie nodded. “Okay,” she repeated. With that, Will reluctantly got up and made his way down the hall.

While Laura helped Carrie undress, Will wandered around in the living room. He suddenly found himself surrounded by the past. His grandfather had had the cabin built almost 50 years ago, so his father, like himself, had grown up spending summers and holidays here. Will felt he was connected to this place somehow. His first memory was of watching the sunrise over the lake through his bedroom window. He couldn’t have been more that two years old, but he remembered that event so clearly. For him, this place was a place of beginnings. And now, it was about to add one more to its long, rich list.

Will walked over to the sliding glass door that led to the outside deck. The rain was still pouring, and lightning could be seen off in the distance. What little light that did make its way through the thick clouds was fading fast as dusk approached. Despite this, Will stood and stared out into the darkness. He wanted to think about what it was he was going to do next; he wanted to figure out how he was going to get to the authorities with the information Steinwulf had given him. He wanted to know how he was going to make those responsible pay for what they had done. He wanted to think about all of this, but he couldn’t. His mind wouldn’t allow him to move beyond what was happening at the moment. He had to make sure Carrie was all right first. He turned and headed back to the bedroom.

He was just outside the door when Laura called for him from inside. “Okay Will, you can come back in now.”

Without missing a step, Will made his way to Carrie’s side. She was now covered up with a sheet to her chest, and she was a little more reclined. Her overalls were draped across a chair in the other corner of the room; she still had the light pink blouse on. Laura was removing a latex glove from her hand.

“What took so long?” Will asked as he took Carrie’s hand once more.

“Her water just broke,” replied Laura, “And she’s almost six centimeters dilated. She’s probably been contracting all day without realizing it.”

“It’s felt like I’ve had gas all day,” Carrie offered.

Laura nodded. “That’s it then.”

“So how much longer do you think it’ll be?” asked Will.

Laura shrugged her shoulders. “Could be an hour from now; could be tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Carrie was about to speak up, but was interrupted by the start of another contraction. Will sat on the edge of the bed and put his arms around her for support.

Gotta make sure she’s all right first, he thought. Gotta help her now.

Carrie’s labor progressed on into the stormy night. It was tough on her without the aid of any pain medication. Will gave her a shoulder to lean on and backrubs to help sooth the pains, which grew closer and closer together. He only left her side to get her ice water or when Laura would accompany her to the bathroom.

As for Laura, she was busy trying to prepare everything. The scissors and shoelaces she had been boiling were now neatly laid out on a towel on the trunk at the foot of the bed with another towel carefully draped over them. She had also set out to collecting as many clean towels as she could find. She kept going over her mental checklist, making sure everything was in place, but there was something that kept bothering her, something she felt she had to let the other two know about.

Carrie was in the middle of another contraction. She was laying on her side, facing away from Will, and he was rubbing her lower back through the bed sheet in an attempt to ease the pain. Carrie moaned softly as the sensation of pressure in her lower body continually increased. This was a particularly strong one, and she was beginning to wonder if it would ever end. Fortunately, it did.

She rolled back onto her back. She leaned her head back with her eyes closed and breathed heavily. “Okay,” she sighed.

“That one over?” Will asked.

Carrie nodded. “Yeah,” she replied. She opened her eyes and looked at Will. Her emerald-green eyes were surrounded by spider webs of red veins. She was exhausted. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this Will.”

There was a sense of desperateness in her voice, as though she was begging him to make it stop. At that point, he would have if he could have. But, all he could do was offer comforting words. “I know,” he whispered softly to her, “But you’re doing real good, and you’re almost there.”

“The last two were a little over a minute and a half apart,” Laura interjected. She donned another glove from the first aid kit. “I need to take a look again.” She helped Carrie prop her legs up. Due to the privacy the sheet provided, Will remained in the room and gently stroked the worn-out vixen’s headfur. “You’re at about eight and a half centimeters Carrie. After a few more contractions, it’ll be time to start pushing.” She then turned to Will. “I need your help with something for a second Will.”

Will looked at Carrie. “Don’t worry I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Just don’t be too long,” she begged him, “I can’t do this without you.”

He looked at her with his deep blue eyes. “I’ll be right here with you,” he said as he got up to follow Laura down the hall.

As soon as he got into the living room, he could tell that something was bothering Laura. She stopped in the middle of the room and stood facing away from him, looking out into the rainy darkness.

“Laura?” he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something that’s been bothering me Will,” she began, “Something that Mark said back at the hospital this morning.”

“What?” Will was starting to get nervous.

She turned to face her brother. “Carrie’s a pretty small girl, and he said that the baby’s head was larger than normal for a fox, and…” She trailed off.

“And you’re worried about it being too large,” Will picked up. He understood Laura’s concern perfectly well, but he could also sense that something else was bothering her. “What else?”

Laura hesitated before continuing. “I saw something like this happen when I was in the OB. The baby’s head was too big and the mother’s pelvis was too small. The baby died and the mother almost did too. She went into a coma, and… and now she’s a vegetable in a long-term care facility. I decided to transfer to emergency medicine after that. I just couldn’t handle something like that involving a mother and baby again.”

“I never knew about this,” said Will.

“No one did; not even Dad or Mark. Will, I… I just don’t think I can take seeing something like that again, especially with Carrie.”

Will approached his sister and put his hands on her shoulders. “Laura, you’re the only one here who knows what to do. She won’t admit it, but Carrie needs you more than me right now. You’re all she’s really got.”

“That’s my point Will, if something happens, it’ll be my fault. I don’t know if I could live knowing I killed Carrie or her baby. I… I just don’t know.” Laura turned away from Will again and started to rub the back of her head.

Will was unsure of what to say. He had never seen his sister upset like this before. Usually, she was the one to give advice; now he had to say something. “You can’t think like that Laura; you can’t worry about every bad thing that might happen. What happened before was out of your control. It was just one of those one-in-a-million type things. Look, maybe what Mark saw won’t have any effect on the delivery; he never said anything about it.” He walked around to face her. “You may not think you can handle this, but I do.”

Laura contemplated his words. He continued. “You’re the best damn nurse I know. Heck, you could probably do the job of most doctors from all the stuff Dad taught you.”

Laura knew what he said was true. She had caught things before that seasoned doctors had missed. “But still Will, I’ve never felt so responsible for someone’s care before.”

Will sighed. “Join the club,” he said. He walked over to the coffee table where he had laid the disk down earlier. He picked it up and studied it again. “I stayed with Carrie in the hospital the other night because I felt responsible for almost hitting her, but there was something else too. I can’t explain what it was, but somehow I felt I had to help her more than that. I had no idea this is what was in store for me. Had I known all of this before hand, I might not have gotten involved, but now I know I’ve got to help her no matter what, and you know you do too.”

Laura was about to speak up again to rebut Will’s confidence in her abilities, but was interrupted by a scream.

“Will!” cried Carrie from down the hall. Both raccoons rushed to her aid.

Carrie was laying on her side in the fetal position. Her face was contorted with pain; her eyes were shut tight with tears running down her cheeks. Will sat down on the bed and put her head in his lap while vigorously rubbing her back.

“It hurts Will,” she mustered through the intense pain, “It really hurts this time.”

He offered her his hand; she grabbed onto it tightly for reassurance. “I know,” was all he could offer, “I know.”

He comforted her through the remainder of the contraction. When it was over, Will noticed Carrie was weeping quietly. He stroked her headfur. Laura put on another glove and looked at Will. Understanding what she meant, he spoke to Carrie in a hushed tone.

“Laura’s got to take a look now, okay?”

She nodded in response

Will looked at Laura again. “Do you need her to…”

“No,” replied Laura, knowing what he was going to say, “She can stay on her side for now.” Laura gently raised the sheet enough to examine Carrie. “Okay, Carrie? You’re at ten centimeters now. On the next contraction, I want you to start pushing as hard as you can. Will, help her roll back over.” Will did as Laura ordered. “All right Carrie, when the pain starts, I’ll start counting; keep pushing until I get to ten, take a breath, and push again. Do this for as long as the contraction lasts.”

Carrie nodded; she looked at Will with tear-filled eyes. He looked back at her with his tranquil, sturdy eyes that seemed to say, “I’m here for you.”

Carrie’s breathing suddenly quickened, and she shut her eyes tight. She let out a small scream. “It’s starting!” she yelled.

Will moved in behind her to help her sit up a little bit.

“Now push!” Laura commanded. She began to count slowly.

Despite the pain and fatigue, Carrie put forth all of her strength towards pushing. Suddenly nothing else mattered except for getting the baby out. She could hear Laura counting and Will encouraging her, but it was like they were miles away. She was in a world of her own where she was in control. It was all up to her now. She heard Laura yell “ten,” and exhaled every particle of air in her lungs, then immediately inhaled once more and began pushing through the pain again. At the sound of “ten,” the pain began to ease, and she stopped pushing. She momentarily returned to the outside world. She leaned her head back onto Will’s chest.

“Okay,” praised Laura, who was now sitting on the foot of the bed, lowering the sheet slightly, “A few more like that and you’ll be there.”

“Hear that,” said Will, “You’re almost there. All you got to do is keep it up.”

Carrie shook her head. “I don’t think I can,” she panted, “I… I… Oh God!” Another contraction started; Laura commanded her to push, and Will supported her.

Laura counted. “Four! Five! That’s it Carrie! Come on! Six! Seven! I can see the head now! Harder! Eight! Nine! Ten! Okay, take a breath. And one! Two!”

Carrie suddenly screamed out in pain.

“What’s wrong!” cried Will.

“Dammit!” exclaimed Laura, “She’s tearing; the baby’s head’s too big! It’s stuck in the birth canal!”

Laura worked feverishly to free the kit; Carrie continued to scream in agony. Will suddenly felt helpless again, as he did in the hospital. All he could do was support Carrie and give her a hand to squeeze. He heard Laura swear again. He saw her hand reach over for another towel; it was covered in blood.

Suddenly, Carrie grew very quiet. Will looked down at her; she was unconscious. He tried to wake her up.

“Carrie!?” She did not stir. He shook her gently, still nothing. “Laura!”

Laura barely noticed his cry, however; her mind was trained on another task at the moment. Will suddenly felt a deep, sickening feeling in his stomach. He tried desperately to wake Carrie up, shaking her and yelling her name. Still she did not respond.

“No, no, no, no…” Will begged, “Come on Carrie, wake up!” He held her limp body in his arms. Tears began to well up in his eyes. “Please, please don’t do this to me.” He was sobbing now. “I love you.” He gently kissed her forehead and rested his cheek on her soft headfur.

For a moment, Carrie didn’t know where she was. She felt so different that she became completely unaware of her surroundings. There was no more pain, no more fatigue. All the fear and worry were gone too. She felt strangely content. She then opened her eyes without really opening them. She was still in the cabin. She could see Will and Laura. It wasn’t as though she was floating above them; rather, it was like she was there right next to each of them simultaneously. She felt the sadness inside Will and the intense concentration and fear inside Laura.

She also saw herself, lying on the bed in Will’s arms, but felt only pain and fear there. But there was also someone else she was with in the room, her baby. There she felt innocence, hope, and something else. She couldn’t comprehend it exactly, but with her child, she saw a part of herself and all of her ancestors. There was one piece that stood out a little more from the rest, however. She didn’t know who it was, but as she got closer to it, she felt a strong familiarity with it. She suddenly realized who the presence was and reached for the chain around her neck only to discover she could not. She looked again to the presence inside her child.

She wanted to be closer to it, but suddenly found herself being pulled back to herself in the room. She didn’t fight it. Everything around her grew dimmer, and all she could see was her exhausted face. It looked foreign to the way she felt now. Then just before her perception of everything around her disappeared, in a familiar voice she heard the words, “I love you.”

Will’s tears slowly rolled down his gray cheeks into Carrie’s red-orange headfur. His soft sobbing was suddenly drowned out by a gentle groaning. Will opened his eyes and looked down at Carrie. Her eyes opened as well and met his. The sinking feeling in his stomach immediately evaporated.

“Carrie?” he whispered with a feeling of disbelief and joy.

“Will,” she replied in a soft yet strong voice.

“Carrie!” Will’s voice was now entirely joy. He was grinning from cheek to cheek. She managed to return a small smile. It quickly disappeared, however, and she started breathing heavily as the pain suddenly returned. She let out a small scream.

“The head’s almost out!” cried Laura, “Just one more big push Carrie!”

Carrie managed to take in a deep breath and started bearing down as hard as she could. Will supported her as she leaned up. Laura began counting.

“One! Two! Three! Come on! Keep it up! Four! Five! Six! Keep going! Keep going!”

Carrie grinned her teeth as she pushed. She put every last bit of strength into it. When Laura reached “ten,” Carrie yelled out with all her might as a new pain struck.

“Here come the shoulders!” announced Laura, “Stop pushing Carrie! Stop pushing!”

Carrie groaned as she felt one last bit of pain. She panted as Laura instructed Will. He reached over and laid a towel across the vixen’s abdomen. Then Carrie heard what she later described as the most beautiful sound she had ever heard: the wailing cry of her baby.

She saw Laura raise the crying, wiggling red bundle up from between her legs and set it gently onto her stomach.

“It’s a boy!” Laura cried as she began to wipe the newborn clean. As soon as she was finished, she reached for the shoelaces and scissors on the trunk. She tied off the umbilical cord several inches from the kit’s body and again an inch farther away. She then began to cut the cord between the two laces but stopped. She looked at Will. “Do you want to do it?”

Will wasn’t sure what to say. “Sure,” was all he could manage. He reached over and took the scissors form Laura’s hand. He looked down at Carrie’s son. He exhaled and cut the last physical tie between child and mother.

Laura then wrapped the baby up and presented him to Carrie. She instinctively cradled him in her arms. She looked down at him, and he began to coo, instinctively recognizing who she was. Despite the lingering pain, Carrie began to cry with tears of joy.

“Hey there,” she whispered, “Welcome to the world.”

When it was time to deliver the afterbirth, Carrie handed her son to Will. He sat next to her on the bed. When Laura announced she was finished, Will turned to Carrie to return the baby to her, but Carrie had drifted off into a deep, peaceful slumber. Will and Laura did not disturb her, knowing how much she deserved her needed rest.

Carrie was awoken the next morning by the warm feeling of sunlight on her face. She had been laying facing the bedroom window, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that the sun had just made it over the mountains on the other side of the lake. She felt very content where she was, and it took her a moment to recall the previous night. For a second, it all seemed like a dream, but when she reached out to place a hand on her gravid belly, she noticed it was missing. Everything that had happened was clear in her mind now, so she wasn’t frightened, rather she just wondered where everybody was.

She sat up and slid her feet off the side of the bed. When she stood up, she discovered she was still sore and weak from the delivery. With the sheet still wrapped around her, she slowly made her way to the chair her overalls were draped across, wincing in pain the entire way. She sat down in the chair to slip her legs in the overalls one leg at a time and painfully stood up again to pull them up. As she fastened the straps, she noticed how baggy they were on her now. She would have laughed at that had it not hurt to do so. She then carefully made her way out into the hallway.

She stayed close to the wall in the hallway and kept a hand on it to support herself. Each step was an effort, and when she got to the living room, she had to stop and catch her breath. She looked around but didn’t see either Will or Laura anywhere. She was starting to get worried but then saw Will standing outside on the porch with a bundle in his arms. He kept looking down at her son and then back out over the lake, as though he was pointing out the scenery. Carrie walked to the sliding glass door using the back of the couch as a stationary crutch. She opened the door and came up behind Will. He turned at the sound of the door opening.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were up,” he said in a surprised voice, then added, “You shouldn’t be on your feet yet. Here.” He motioned her to a wicker couch underneath the porch’s canopy. There was a wet plastic cover on the deck next to it; he had evidently removed it earlier exposing the dry couch underneath. He used his free hand to aid her in sitting down; she moaned slightly. He sat next to her.

“Let me hold him,” she said referring to her son. Will gently handed the half-sleeping infant to Carrie. She looked down at her son and smiled. She then noticed the light blue blanket he was wrapped in. It was small and thickly quilted; a baby’s blanket. “Where’d this come from?”

“Believe it or not, it’s one of my old baby blankets. Laura found it last night after you fell asleep.”

“Aww, I bet you were a cute baby,” Carrie joked. Will smiled, slightly embarrassed. “Where is Laura?”

“She left a few minutes ago for this little general store a few miles down the road to get some things for him,” he said referring to the kit. He paused for a moment and then continued. “We figured out something earlier though.”

“What’s that?”

“We think we know what his other half is.”

Carrie’s ears perked up. “Really? What?”

Will cracked a smile. “Look at him.”

Carrie looked down and studied her son’s appearance closely. He had mostly red fur with a white underbelly like a normal red fox, but then he had a darker patch of fur around his eyes; it was almost black in color.

“Oh my God,” Carrie whispered, “Are you saying he’s…” She trailed off.

“Look at his tail too,” Will instructed her.

Carrie gently unwrapped the blanket enough to look at the kit’s tail. It was red with a white tip, again like a fox’s; then there were also black rings running along it as well.

“He’s a raccoon,” Carrie uttered in disbelief.

“I think he’s technically a foxcoon,” offered Will, “One hell of a coincidence, huh?”

“I’ll say,” commented Carrie. She bundled her son back up; he stirred only slightly. Carrie paused for a moment and then said, “There’s something I want to ask you Will.”

He was looking at the sun rising over the mountains. “Sure,” he said without a second thought.

Carrie hesitated again to word her question the way she wanted. “Did you mean what you said last night?”

Will looked at her with a confused look on his face. “Did I mean what?”

“Last night when I passed out, I… I mean, it was really weird; I could still sense everything that was going on in the room. I can’t explain it exactly, but before I came to again, I heard you say that you loved me.”

Will was taken aback by this. He could feel his cheeks getting hot underneath his fur. He started rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, oh, that. Well, uh… I, uh… That is, I…” Will tried to collect himself. “Um, yeah, I meant it. I mean, I…”

“I love you too Will,” said Carrie, “I have ever since the other night in the hospital when I saw you looking over me. And ever since then, I’ve felt safe with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I have. I’ve never felt that way around anyone else before.” She looked up into his eyes. “You have the handsomest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” Will asked.

“I saw a picture of a girl on your dresser, and I thought she was somebody special to you.”

“Oh, Becky. Yeah, we were involved for a while, but it’s over now.” He paused and looked and her, finally realizing he knew what he had just said was now true. “You have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen too.”

They became lost in each other’s eyes.

“I love you Carrie,” whispered Will.

They leaned in closer to each other, their lips about to meet… When the baby started crying.

Both of them smiled and chuckled for a second. Carrie started rocking the upset newborn to comfort him.

“I almost forgot,” Will said, “Laura said that if you woke up before she got back, you might have to feed him.”

“I’m not sure how,” admitted Carrie, “I’ve never done this before you know.”

“Well, if you’re not too shy, she told me how to show you.”

“All right,” agreed Carrie, “He’s gotta be starving.”

“Let’s go inside where it’s more comfortable.” Will helped Carrie up and guided her to the living room.

Carrie gently rested on the couch. Will stood next to her and was about the turn to go when Carrie spoke. “Where’re you going?”

“I thought I’d go in the kitchen and tell you what to do from there; you know, give you some privacy.”

“I don’t mind it if you’d stay,” replied Carrie, “Unless you just don’t want to. But I’d really like the company.”

Once more, Will couldn’t think of what to say exactly. “Um, all right; if you want me to.” He sat down next to her.

“So what do I do?” she asked.

Will had a nervous twitch in his voice, but was able to cover it, mostly. “First you need to undo your overall strap and unbutton your shirt.” Carrie got the strap okay with her free hand, but fumbled with the blouse buttons. “Here,” Will offered. He undid the first few buttons, fumbling on a few himself. Carrie giggled.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll think of you as a doctor,” she said jokingly.

Will cracked a smile. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to feel like I’m intruding upon something I shouldn’t.”

Carrie looked him in the eyes. “Trust me; you’re not. So what next?”

“Well, you need to cradle him next to you like this, and support his head like that, and let him have at it”

Carrie held her son as Will had instructed and held his tiny head up to her breast. As he began to suckle, she let out a small yelp.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s got a mouth full of brand new teeth.”

“Ouch.” Will paused for a moment and watched Carrie as she nursed her son, admiring the beauty of the mother and her child. Then a thought entered his mind. “Have you thought about a name for him yet?”

Carrie looked up from her son to Will. “You know what?” she realized, “I haven’t. Up until the other day, I didn’t think I was ever going to get to see him. I have no idea what to name him.”

Then, as though sensing what was going on, the kit started grabbing randomly with his hand, finally seizing the dog tags around his mother’s neck.

“What was your grandfather’s name?” asked Will.

“Thomas,” she replied.

“‘Thomas’ is a good name.”

Carrie looked down at her son. “Okay, Thomas it is then.”

Will looked down at the newly named infant. “It’s nice to meet you Thomas.”

Thomas grunted and continued feeding. Both Will and Carrie laughed.

“I guess he’s busy at the moment, huh?” said Will.

Carrie looked back down at her newly named son. Thomas, she thought. For some reason, it seemed very appropriate. She couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but there was something about him that subtly reminded her of her grandfather.

The three of them remained on the couch for several more minutes in content silence. Thomas had finished, and Carrie was refastening her shirt buttons when she heard a car pull up in the gravel driveway outside.

“Sounds like Laura’s back,” she said.

Will had a worried look on his face, though. “That doesn’t sound like her car,” he said. Carrie returned his worried look and securely held Thomas close to her. Will got up to see who had arrived. “Stay here.”

Will walked briskly to the front door and looked out the tiny semicircle window near it’s top. Outside he could see a black SUV sitting in the driveway. The driver side door opened, and Will ran back to Carrie. She stood up immediately.

“It’s them!” cried Will.

“Oh God!” returned Carrie, “What do we do?”

Will heard heavy footsteps on the front porch. His mind was running a mile a minute. He quickly tried to think of what to do. His eye caught the closets on both sides of the fireplace. He pointed Carrie to one of them and said, “In there!”

He opened the door, and she squeezed in between some heavy winter coats. Will closed the door and headed for the other closet. He grabbed the brass fire poker from its rack on the hearth before he hid, however. He heard the front door open as soon as the closet door latched.

Johnson pushed the front door to the cabin open slowly. His gun was in his hand as he scanned the room. Seeing that it was clear, he motioned for the others to follow him in. The tiger and hyena behind him slid inside the door and down the hallway, scanning each room as they went.

Johnson put his gun back into its holster underneath his black coat. He eyeballed the room momentarily, secretly admiring its rustic feel. He spotted the hyena and tiger walking up the hall towards him, and stood awaiting their report.

“Found a laundry basket full of wet, bloody towels in the back bedroom,” the tiger announced, “And these.” He held up a pair of women’s panties with his index finger. Johnson took them and studied them. The tag revealed them to be maternity underwear.

“She was here,” he stated, “And she’s given birth.”

“What do we do?” asked the hyena.

“You,” he pointed to the tiger, “Come with me. We’ll search the surrounding woods.” He turned to the hyena. “And you stay here and look over every nook and cranny of this place. I want that girl and the infant.”

The hyena nodded sharply in acknowledgement. Johnson went back out the front door with the tiger on his heels. The tiger slammed the door shut behind them.

The hyena began his search of the cabin. He started to head down the hall again but stopped when he noticed a sound coming from somewhere in the living room.

In the closet, Carrie had been silently standing in between the coats, trying not to breathe too heavily. Thomas, on the other hand, was becoming more vocal as he protested the cramped conditions and the fear he sensed in his mother. He began cry. Carrie tried desperately to quiet her son.

The hyena drew his pistol from his coat and crept towards the closet door, the source of the sound.

Will had heard the front door close and then Thomas crying. He had to risk taking a look to make sure Carrie and the baby were all right. He raised the poker, ready to use it if necessary. He silently opened the door and saw the hyena, gun in hand, about to reach for the other closet door.

Without a second thought, he made his way up behind the hyena. He raised the poker as high into the air as he could and brought it down on the back of the hyena’s neck with as much force as he was capable of exerting. The hyena fell onto the floor, unconscious.

Will let the poker hit the ground and took the gun out of the hyena’s hand; he stuffed it in the front waist of his pants. He opened the closet door; Carrie screamed and jumped. Thomas was sill crying.

“It’s okay,” Will reassured her, “Come on, we gotta hurry.” He gave her a hand as she stepped over the unconscious hyena.

“What do we do now?” asked Carrie as she tried to comfort Thomas. He quickly calmed down and stopped crying.

“Schaeffer’s Landing is on the other side of the lake; there’s a sheriff’s office there,” Will explained, “If we can get to the boathouse at the dock, we can take the fishing boat there.”

Carrie silently nodded. Will turned and looked out the sliding glass door to make sure no one was standing right outside. The coast was clear. He motioned for Carrie to follow him.

“Just stay right behind me,” he told her. She again nodded to acknowledge him and tightened her grip on Thomas.

The cabin was surrounded on three sides by forest; the lake made up the fourth side. The cabin was situated on a hill, about 20 yards from the water’s edge where the boathouse lay. Will and Carrie moved quickly down the porch steps and made a straight line for the dock. As soon as they were both inside the boathouse, Will closed the rickety wooden door.

The tiny fishing boat was suspended from the ceiling by a system of ropes and pulleys. There was a rope extending from the system down towards the floor; it was tied to a hook on the wall of the boathouse. Will untied this rope and gently lowered the boat into the water. He then unlocked the door to the water and let it swing free.

He turned to Carrie and held out his arms. “I’ll hold him while you get in,” he said referring to Thomas.

Carrie handed her son to Will. Will securely cradled Thomas in his arm and helped Carrie into the boat with his free hand. He then handed the baby back to Carrie. Will was starting to lean down to get into the boat himself when the dock door was suddenly thrown open.

The badger was standing there. Will drew the gun from his waist and aimed it at the intruder. The badger returned the favor at almost the same moment. There was a brief eternity as the two stood, regarding one another. All, including Thomas, were silent.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” trembled Will.

“Feeling’s mutual kid,” the badger replied coolly.

“Just let us go.”

“Believe me, I wish it was that simple, but it ain’t. Put the gun down.”

“Like you said, ain’t that simple.”

The badger was about to respond when he suddenly heard a voice from behind him yell, “Johnson! Look out!”

Johnson turned to see his tiger partner with his gun drawn. Johnson tried to yell out, but could not be heard over the explosion of the gunshot.

Will didn’t even have time to react to the initial hit; the impact threw him back, and he lost his balance. He barely missed the side of the boat and fell into the dark water.

“Will!” Carrie cried out at the top of her lungs, “Will!”

Thomas began to cry again.

Johnson turned to regard the tiger. He was still standing with his pistol in his hands.

“You idiot!” Johnson yelled, “Why’d you do that?”

“He had a gun,” defended the tiger, “I thought he was going to fire.”

Johnson was going to say more to chastise the tiger, but decided not to. “Just get the girl. I’ll tell the boss the job’s done.”

“I bet he’ll be glad to hear that,” remarked the tiger.

“That I’m sure of,” replied Johnson; he was only half paying attention to the tiger as he walked back to the cabin. He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing.

The tiger reached down and grabbed hold of Carrie’s arm. She didn’t resist, however. She just cried along with her son. No hate, fear, or worry, just pain; the pain normally associated with the loss of someone close, only infinitely deeper.

She was escorted to the black SUV where the tiger forced her into the back seat; he climbed in next to her. The badger soon came from the cabin’s front door with the hyena hanging onto his shoulder for support. Both got into the front seats; the hyena groaned. They were soon headed back down the road. Carrie looked back with tears running down her face.

The next thing Will remembered was pain. His right arm felt like it was going to fall off at the shoulder. The next thing he remembered was being wet and slimy. He crawled his way through the muddy shore and out of the lake. He managed to stand up and started towards the cabin.

But he pain was excruciating. He started to stumble as he walked. Each step he had to catch his balance. He tried to cradle his injured arm, but the slightest movement sent lightning bolts of pain through him that made him want to throw up.

As he got nearer to the cabin, everything began to spin. Staying upright was almost impossible. He made it to the back porch steps, but he fell over onto them when he tried to step up. He cried out upon impact. He lifted his good arm up in an attempt to somehow pull himself to the door, but things were spinning even more now and growing dimmer.

Will wanted to move but couldn’t. He tried to keep his eyes open, but they would not obey him. The last thought that went through his mind was the image of Carrie holding Thomas to her breast and the soft smile on her face. Will then drifted off into darkness.

Will suddenly sprang back to life when the pungent scent of the smelling salts hit his nose. He was laying down and tried to sit up, but immediately regretted it. A new wave of pain began to pulsate through his left shoulder. It wasn’t as bad as before, but it still took his breath away. He shut his eyes tight with the pain and felt a hand take hold of his other arm to help him up.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in the cabin’s main bedroom. He was sitting in the same bed Carrie’s son had been born on not 12 hours before; the blood-stained sheets were still in place on the mattress. Carrie, he thought. He automatically began to look around the room, hoping to see her. Instead, he saw Laura standing in front of him and someone else at his side: Steinwulf.

He was taken aback at the site of the gray wolf. “I thought you were dead,” he said. He grimaced again as he tried to move his arm.

“I could almost say the same thing,” Steinwulf replied in his accent, “Fortunately, your sister here knows quite a bit about triage medicine.”

Will looked down at his injured shoulder for the first time. Laura had bandaged it more than adequately. The bandage on the top of his shoulder had a small, oblong, red spot across it. His shirt had been removed, and the fur around the wound had been shaved off. While studying it, he unintentionally moved his arm, sending a fresh bolt of pain through the wound. He let out a small yelp.

“Here,” Laura said handing him a couple of pills and a glass of water, “Take these.”

“What are they?” asked Will as he took the pills and downed them with the water.

“Pain killers,” replied Laura, “I got them for Carrie. They should take effect in a few minutes or so. Luckily the bullet didn’t hit any major blood vessels, but it did partially tear the ligament at the top of your shoulder. It’ll eventually need some minor surgery to heal properly, but you should be fine for right now.”

Will turned to Steinwulf. “How’d you find us here?”

“My guardian angel again,” Steinwulf began, “When I got into my car, there was a note that read ‘BOMB’ in big bold letters on the steering wheel. As soon as I jumped out, the car exploded. The force of the explosion threw me into the bushes. I decided to get out of there as quickly as possible. I didn’t know what to do at first. I walked around for a while. I knew I had to get back to the city and get the original files to take to the authorities, so I went to the bus station and bought a ticket.

“It was late when I got there, and the bus didn’t leave for another hour, so I sat down in the waiting area and unintentionally dozed off. When I woke up, there was a new ticket and a note sitting in my lap. The note read, ‘The girl is here. Get to her before we do.’ The ticket was for Schaeffer’s Landing. I boarded the bus and was here just before sunrise. I ran into your sister in town at the drugstore.”

Will took all of this in, then said, “They’ve got Carrie.”

“We know that,” Steinwulf admitted, “When I met Laura, we immediately headed back here. On the way, the phone I gave you was sitting in the back seat and started ringing. I answered it. The voice on the other end gave me directions to an abandoned airfield not far from here. Before I could ask anything, he hung up. I am most certain it was the same person who has been helping us out all along.”

Will tuned to get up off the bed. As he set his feet on the floor, he said very quickly and plainly, “We’ve got to go get her. Hand me my shirt.”

“Will,” Laura said commandingly, “No.”

Will regarded his sister. “What’d you say?”

“I said we’re not going to get anymore involved with this.”

Will was shocked. “How can you say that? Don’t you care about what happens to Carrie and Thomas?”

“Thomas?” Laura repeated.

“Yeah, you know, the baby you brought into the world with your own two hands last night.” Will was starting to get angry. “She named him after her grandfather.”

“Of course I care,” Laura defended, “It’s just that there’s nothing more we can do. We have to get the police in on this.”

“That might take too long,” rebutted Will, “If they’re taking her to an airfield, they might be ready to leave the country. We have to do something now!”

“I must agree with your brother,” Steinwulf apologized to Laura, “We now have very little time to act.”

Will groaned as he stood up. He faced Laura and looked down into her eyes. “I’ve got to get her back Laura. I love her.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Laura responded in half denial.

“Yes I do. And I can tell that you know I do.”

“It’s way too dangerous Will,” Laura said desperately.

“I know, but I’ve got to do this. I don’t want you coming along anyway. Where’s the phone?”

“Here,” offered Steinwulf. He handed the cell phone to Will, who handed it to Laura.

“I want you to call the sheriff; tell him that something’s going on at that airfield.”

Laura accepted the phone. “But Will...”

“I’ll be all right,” Will interrupted. He put the hand of his good arm on her shoulder. “I’m not you’re little brother that needs to be looked out for anymore.”

“Sure you are.” Laura reached up and hugged Will around the neck, careful of his injury. “If I can’t talk you out of it, just promise you’ll come back, all right?”

“I will,” he promised.

Laura handed him his shirt and helped him put it on. She then handed him a piece of cloth that had been tied into a loop, a sling. “Here,” she said as she helped him put it on, “If at all possible, try to keep that arm still or it could start to bleed again.”

“I’ll try. We’re going to need your car, too.” Laura took the keys out of her pocket and handed them to Will. He turned to Steinwulf. “Let’s go.”

Laura stood on the front porch as they drove off down the gravel driveway. She didn’t want Will to go, but she knew he had to. He had to get Carrie back or… She didn’t want to think about the other possible outcomes. She just looked down at the cell phone and started dialing.

The airfield was situated a few miles north of Schaeffer’s Landing. It was the longest level spot in the mountains, several hundred square yards in size, making it the perfect location for such an installation. In the past, it had been used extensively for transporting goods and people in and out of the area; however, with the improvement of the local highways and rail lines in recent decades, the old airfield just wasn’t as important as it once was. It was simply abandoned and nearly forgotten by most, which made it the perfect location for clandestine activities.

The black SUV pulled off of the tiny, tree-secluded, country road onto a bumpy dirt drive. After a few minutes, it found it’s way into the large, level clearing that was the airfield. There were dilapidated rusty metal hangers, shacks, cars, and planes scattered here and there around the field and a short dirt runway. There were also two other things that stood out from the rest of the scenery: a long, black limousine and a medium-sized unmarked tanker truck. The SUV pulled up next to its alien companion vehicle and came to a halt.

Johnson exited the vehicle first. He walked over to the limo and leaned over to the tinted rear window. The window slowly descended into the door, and Johnson spoke to the occupant in the dark interior. He nodded several times and headed back towards the SUV. The limo window ascended to its original position.

Johnson went to the rear driver side door and opened it. Carrie squinted her eyes at the harsh midday sun. Without a word, the tall badger motioned for her to step out. She did so, still holding her son in her arms. She folded the top corner of the blanket over his head to block the unrelenting sunlight. It was unseasonably hot for late spring; Carrie could see shimmering waves on the far edges of the dirt runway and dried grass field. Johnson took her by the arm and escorted her to the limousine.

As they approached, the rear door opened and a tall, black figure stepped out. Carrie gasped at the realization of who it was. He grinned with his sharp, white teeth and glared at her with his fiery golden eyes.

“Well,” Pardus began, “It’s so nice to see you again Carrie. You’re doing well, I hope.” He reached out to move the blanket from Thomas’ face. “And I see you have someone with you.”

Carrie turned to prevent Pardus from moving the blanket. “Don’t you touch my baby, you monster!” she hissed at him.

Pardus reached out quickly and pulled the blanket back despite Carrie’s protest. “Amazing,” he said coolly, “Just as the simulations predicted: a living fox/raccoon hybrid. I must say, I secretly had my doubts; the odds of both you and the child surviving to this point were only about 65%. I was just going to turn you over to the General and let him do with you as he wished, but I might decide to keep you around myself. You would make an excellent breeder.” He reached out to hold her chin, but again, she turned her head in protest. He grabbed her forcefully, pinching her mouth closed. “We’ll just have to work on this attitude of yours.” He released her muzzle and turned back to the limo. “The General should be here shortly. I recommend you say goodbye to your precious baby; it’s the last you’ll see of it, other than perhaps a clone in the laboratory.” He turned to the tiger. “Make sure that tanker’s ready. The General will be expecting to be refueled and back in the air as soon as possible.”

Pardus got back into the black limo without looking back at Carrie. The young vixen looked on with tears in her eyes and slight lingering pain in her jaw. Thomas had started to cry. She covered his head back up and began to rock him gently.

“Shh,” she softly whispered in between her own quiet sobs.

Johnson took hold of her arm again and guided her back to the SUV. The other occupants, the tiger and hyena had exited the vehicle. She was alone with her son. She began to softly sing an old lullaby to him. As she sang, her voice took on a bit of an Irish accent as her grandmother’s did when she would sing to her. She continued to sing as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sheriff Brown strolled into his office, followed by the two gentlemen. The large grizzly sat down at his desk; the chair groaned under the bear’s weight. He leaned back with his hands behind his head and regarded the ferret and bobcat in front of him. Both wore neatly tailored suits and had a professional look about them befitting their positions as Federal agents. The sheriff had the utmost respect for other law enforcement agencies, that is, as long as they stayed out of his county.

“Now, Agent Ferret,” the grizzly began with the strong country inflection in his voice.

“It’s Ferris,” the ferret calmly corrected him.

The sheriff grinned. “Of course, I apologize. As I was saying, whoever sent you fellows out here, sent you out on a wild goose chase. There ain’t a thing that goes on in this county without me knowing about it. Besides, the worst offense we’ve ever see around here is the occasional drunken brawl; certainly nothing involving terrorists.”

“Ortega Garra, commonly referred to as the ‘General,’ is no ordinary terrorist,” the bobcat informed the sheriff.

“Agent Morrison is correct,” Ferris added, “The General is the leader of a rebel group that’s been directly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Central America in the past few years, including one on an American embassy. He’s also had his hand in nearly every armed conflict in the area for some time now as well.”

“But what makes you boys think he would be involved in something up here then?” asked the sheriff.

Ferris continued. “Our department received intelligence that the General has been negotiating a deal with an American corporation. We’re not sure who, but we do know that a meeting between the two parties is supposed to take place in this area sometime within the next month. We think he will be arriving by means of a small airplane he owns.”

The sheriff grinned again. “Well, I hate to rain on your parade boys, but we ain’t had an airport around here in nearly twenty years. The old airfield’s just a patch of overgrown weeds now that the state highway’s come through here.”

“We would still appreciate it if you could give us a hand in staking out the area,” Morrison requested.

“Well,” the sheriff continued, “I’d love to boys, but you see, I’m kind of understaffed at the moment; I only got two deputies. Now, maybe if…” The sheriff was interrupted by the ringing phone on his desk. “Excuse me a minute fellows.” He answered the phone. “Sheriff’s office. Who? Laveur? Oh yes, the doctor’s family. Y’all own that cabin up on the other side of the lake, don’t ya? So what’s the problem?” His mouth hung open. “Say what now? Do you know what exactly? Okay, I’ll head right on out there to check it out.” He set the receiver back down.

The two agents looked at one another, then back at the sheriff. The sheriff still had a look of shock on his face. He stood up and walked over to the coat rack where he donned his jacket and hat.

“I hope you boys don’t mind a quick stop before we go check out that airfield,” he said, “Looks like you intelligence might of been off by a little bit.”

The station wagon sped down the tiny country road at autobahn speeds. Steinwulf was at the wheel. Will would have normally protested such dangerous behavior, but he was too busy thinking about what he was going to do. His mind kept coming up blank, however. He had no idea what he was going to do. He was going to get Carrie back; that’s all he could come up with.

The car suddenly slowed down and Steinwulf spoke up.

“According to the caller,” he said, “The next right will take us directly onto the airfield.” He pointed to a gravel road that could just be seen through the trees up ahead.

“All right,” Will replied, “Pull over here; we’ll walk the rest of the way. Maybe we can sneak in.”

Steinwulf nodded. “Then what?”

“I have no idea,” Will said matter-of-factly.

Steinwulf lightly shrugged his shoulders. “Sounds like a plan to me.” He pulled the car over onto the side of the road.

The two got out and started making their way up the dirt trail. They stayed close to the trees and tried to be as quiet as possible. Will occasionally winched with any stray movement of his arm. He stopped once to check and make sure the wound wasn’t bleeding again. Fortunately, the red dot in the center of the dressing remained at its original size.

“Are you all right?” Steinwulf asked panting. The day was hot and the trek was up a steady incline.

Will nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just hurts when I move it too much. I… Listen.”

Steinwulf could hear a low humming noise from off in the distance. He recognized it immediately.

“A plane,” he said, “We must hurry.”

Will forgot about the pain once more and ran up the remaining stretch of road with Steinwulf right on his heels.

They reached the top of the hill and came to the huge clearing that was the airfield. There was a limousine and the SUV parked next to each other several yards away and a tanker truck on the other side of the runway. Up above, the silhouette of a small two-engine plane could be seen in the distance.

Will pointed to a rusted pickup truck chassis halfway between their position and the vehicles. They bent over and snuck through the tall grass. They crouched down behind the truck.

The hum of the plane’s engines grew louder, and the silhouette grew larger as it came in for a landing. The plane was just above the trees at the end on the field now, and as soon as it was clear of them, it began its final descent. The sound of the engines suddenly changed as the pilot throttled down. The propellers kicked up dust as the aircraft hovered just a few feet above the dirt runway. More dust billowed into the air as the tires made contact with the ground. The plane rolled along for several more feet until it came near the parked vehicles. It came to a halt, and the pilot shut the engines down.

Will and Steinwulf looked on.

Carrie had soothed Thomas to sleep by the time the plane had landed. She watched as Pardus got out of his limo and stood in front of his men like a squadron leader standing in front of his troops. She also saw one of the men, the tiger, coming in her direction. She looked down at her slumbering son and began to get a sickening feeling in her stomach. She tried to think of something to do, but she was too nervous to concentrate.

The tiger opened her door and motioned for her to get out. She reluctantly obeyed. He held her by the arm until they were with the rest of the group. There were only five including Pardus. The three from the cabin and a skunk, presumably the driver of the limo; however he was dressed in the same identical suits the others were wearing.

The plane had just stopped its engines, and a door on the side slid open. Three men with rifles stepped out. Carrie saw Pardus’ men tighten up, but their boss glanced at them with a commanding look in his eye that made them ease up just a little. After the riflemen had taken their positions around the exit of the plane, a large, muscular jaguar in green military fatigues stepped out. He grinned at Pardus; his smile was as unsettling, maybe even more so due to his long gold incisor. He extended his hand and spoke to Pardus.

“Ah, Señor Pardus,” he greeted the panther in a heavy Hispanic accent, “It is so good to see you again.” They shook hands.

“It’s good to see you again as well General,” Pardus replied.

“I hope that my early arrival has not caused you too much inconvenience.”

“Of course not General. As a matter of fact, our schedule was pushed ahead as well.” Pardus motioned for the tiger to come forward with Carrie. Pardus drew back the edge of the blanket that was covering Thomas’ head.

“Aye,” the General whispered as he studied Thomas, “I am impressed Señor Pardus. It is just as you promised: a hybrid child. Of course, I will have my doctors study it in further detail once I return home.”

“Of course,” Pardus agreed.

“But I am still very impressed.” The General turned and waved for one of the riflemen, a rat, to come forward. He had a briefcase in his hand that he handed to the General. “So, here is the payment we agreed upon, plus my generous bonus for arriving early.

Pardus opened the briefcase. It was full of foreign currency. Pardus closed it and handed it over to the skunk standing to his left. The skunk took it and walked towards the limousine.

“And here is all the information and materials you will need to create your own hybrid.” Pardus handed over a metal briefcase of his own. The General opened it to reveal a foam rubber interior with compact disks and tiny vials of chemicals neatly tucked into precisely cut holes. “And the child too, of course,” Pardus added.

The rat behind the General walked up and began to take Thomas from Carrie’s arms. She protested violently. Thomas began to cry.

“No!” she cried, “Please don’t take him! Please!” She struggled against the tight grip of the tiger. She sobbed as she continued to plead for her son. She continued struggling even after the rat had taken Thomas. Carrie collapsed on her knees, crying as the tiger still maintained a tight grip on her arms.

Will and Steinwulf watched on in horror at the sight before them. They both crouched back down behind the truck chassis.

“Okay,” said Will, “We need some sort of distraction.”

“Like what?” asked Steinwulf, “We don’t have anything.”

Will thought for a second. “You still got that gun on you?” Steinwulf pulled the pistol from its holster underneath his coat. “Let me see it.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Steinwulf as he handed the weapon to Will.

“See that tanker truck over there? There’s got to be at least a couple hundred gallons of gas in that thing if they’re refueling the plane. That’ll distract them for sure.”

Steinwulf regarded the truck. It wasn’t very large, like the ones used by airports for refueling jets. The driver climbed out and walked over behind a decaying shack, most probably to urinate. It seemed like the only option they had at the moment.

“Are you sure you can hit it? It has to be almost 100 meters away.”

“I used to blow my whole weekly allowance at the arcade when I was a kid. Last time I checked, I still had the high score on Sharpshooter.”

Will braced his right arm up on the edge of the truck bed. He closed his left eye and took aim. Everything around him suddenly slowed down. All he could hear was his own breath. He gently squeezed the trigger and shut his open eye.

Carrie was still on her knees crying when the explosion hit. It was a deafening sound followed immediately by a wave of intense heat. Everyone was taken off guard momentarily but was on their highest alert almost instantly. The riflemen began scanning the sky for possible aerial attackers. Pardus’ men looked along the tree line, ready to draw their weapons. Even the tiger had released his grip on Carrie and allowed her to fall to the ground.

Then one of the men yelled and pointed in the direction of the explosion. The driver of the tanker had been engulfed in flames and was running around frantically. The tiger, skunk, and hyena from Pardus’ group ran to his aid.

Carrie looked up at the rifleman that was holding Thomas. Without a single conscious thought, she grabbed her son from the stunned soldier and started running as fast as she could.

“Stop her!” Pardus ordered. Johnson was quickly in pursuit.

Carrie didn’t know where she was going; all she knew was that she couldn’t stop. There was a cluster of buildings ahead of her. She zig-zagged through a junkyard of rusted cars and planes. She navigated the patches of weeds that grew along the ground and up the sides of the decaying vehicles. She turned behind a small hanger and slid inside through a split in the sheet metal exterior.

Even though the hanger was small, it echoed like a cavern. Carrie sprinted along the wall of the dark interior with her soft steps on the concrete floor echoing slightly. She crouched down behind some barrels. Thomas was still crying, and his howls bounced back and forth along the resonating curves of the hanger. Carrie tried to quiet her son, fearing that he would unintentionally give away their hiding spot. She held him close to her and gently rocked him back and forth.

Suddenly the sound of a squeaky door opening made her jerk her head towards the front of the hanger. Soft footsteps started making their way onto the concrete floor. Carrie’s heart jumped up from its already accelerated pace, and she slowly turned to sneak back out the way she came in. She stayed crouched down then stood up as she was about to slide out the hole in the wall. As soon as she did, though, she almost fell back as an arm reached out from the side and grabbed her. She let out a quick yelp.

“It’s just me,” came a familiar voice. Will stepped out from the shadows.

“Oh my God! Will!” Carrie exclaimed in joy. She then noticed the homemade sling his left arm rested in. “Oh my God, are you all right?”

Will nodded. “I’m fine, but we got to get out of here.” They started making their way to the hole when a voice called out to them from the darkness.

“Hold it,” it commanded followed by the sound of a handgun being cocked. “Turn around.”

Will and Carrie stopped dead in their tracks and did as the voice ordered. When they turned around, the badger, Johnson, was standing a few feet away from them. He had his gun aimed on them at first but then lowered it to his side.

“Just who are you?” demanded Will.

“Nobody,” Johnson replied, “A shadow.”

“You’re the one that called and warned us not to go home, aren’t you?” Will said finally recognizing the badger’s voice, “And I bet you’re the one that’s been helping Steinwulf too.”

“I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet, kid.”

“Why’d you do it?”

Johnson shook his head. “You don’t know me or the boss, kid. He hired me because I’m good at what I do. He wants a situation cleaned up, I make sure there isn’t a trace of evidence left. He needs something that’s impossible to get, I have it on his desk the next day gift-wrapped. And if somebody screws him over, I make sure they don’t do it again. Assassin may be one of my job titles, but I do have a certain code of honor I abide by. I don’t ever hurt innocent people, especially children. The boss went too far with her.” He nodded his head in the direction of Carrie. “I had to make it right.”

“But why all the secrecy? Why not just help Carrie out of there from the beginning?”

“I couldn’t. Like I said you don’t know the boss either. Everyone who works for him is fiercely loyal. If anyone even suspected I was up to anything… I said I was good at what I do, but I’m not the best. He would have eventually found me, and I would have been dead before I knew he was there.”

A loud blast rang out through the echoing hanger, followed by the ring of a single shell casing hitting the floor. At the same time, a red cloud exploded from Johnson’s chest. He looked down at the bleeding hole in him. He smiled at it momentarily and seemed to chuckle. The smile quickly faded from his lips. He then fell to his knees and collapsed on the cold concrete floor, dead. The blood continued to pour from his fatal wound.

“Correct,” came another voice from deeper within the shadows. A pair of glowing, golden eyes moved forward until their owner became visible. Pardus stood over Johnson’s body. A faint trial of smoke rose upwards from the barrel of the pistol in his hand. “What a shame,” he said looking down at Johnson, “Years of training wasted.” He sighed and then turned to Will and Carrie. “Outside,” he ordered waving his gun in the direction of the door. He circled around them and aimed them through the open door at the front end of the hanger.

Pardus forced them back to the vehicles. The heat from the burning tanker could still be easily felt from across the field. Will and Carrie stood close to each other, and Will put his arm around Carrie’s shoulder. Pardus looked back and forth between them.

“Well now,” he smirked, “Don’t you two make a cute couple.”

“Go to hell,” Will spat. He stared Pardus directly in the eyes.

“You know,’ Pardus began coolly, “Both of you have made my life quite difficult the last few days.” He pointed the pistol directly at Carrie. “Especially you.”

Will stepped directly between Pardus and Carrie, still staring the panther in the eyes. “I won’t let you hurt her anymore.”

Pardus smiled at Will’s ultimatum. “My dear boy, I would never dream of harming such a beautiful little vixen like her. Yes, she has proven to be troublesome from the beginning, but I believe she will still be useful to me. The fact that she was able to carry that child to term shows me she will make an excellent vessel for future experiments. No, it would be a waste to kill her now.” He then turned the gun on Will. “You on the other hand serve no purpose at all. Besides, if I’m not mistaken, you’re the one responsible for dragging this out as long as it has. Killing you would undoubtedly put an end to most of my problems.”

Pardus’ finger tightened on the trigger. Will continued to stare, unblinkingly into the panther’s eyes. Carrie protectively placed a hand over Thomas’ head and closed her own eyes; a tear rolled down her cheek.

As the shot rang out, Pardus fell to the ground. Will felt the bullet zip past his ear and looked down at his would-be executioner on the ground with the gray wolf on top of him. Pardus lost his grip on his gun, and it fell several feet away.

Steinwulf looked up at Will and Carrie. “Run!” he yelled, “Get out of here!” They heeded his advice and sprinted in the direction of the road leading off of the field.

Pardus was momentarily stunned, but quickly regained his senses. “You!” he growled at the sight of his attacker. He pulled his fist back and punched Steinwulf across the side of the head. The wolf fell to the ground, out cold.

Pardus grabbed his gun and scuffled to his feet. His long teeth glinted in the bright sunlight. His golden eyes were almost completely red. His blood was boiling beneath his skin. He was enraged. He became aware of nothing but the two figures running in the distance. He aimed the automatic pistol right at the back of the raccoon’s head. The shot was lined up precisely. Then suddenly, it was gone, replaced by a large black wall.

Pardus’ other senses began to return to him. First he noticed the intense wind that surrounded him, followed by the whirling sound from above. Finally, he saw the large white letters “FBI” on the side of the helicopter hovering in front of him.

The side of the helicopter slid open; a canine agent within trained his weapon on the panther. “Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head!” the agent yelled.

Pardus stood there, breathing slowly and heavily. His arm dropped to his side, but he did not let go of the gun.

“Drop your weapon now!” the agent ordered again.

Pardus continued to just stare and pant with a look of disbelief on his face. He swore out loud and let his pistol fall to the ground. The agent stepped off of the helicopter, followed by three others. Pardus slowly raised his hands and placed them behind his head. The agent kept his own handgun trained on Pardus as he stepped behind the panther and handcuffed him.

The other agents darted across the field and intercepted Pardus’ men as they were helping their badly burned comrade to the other vehicles. They immediately surrendered their weapons and complied with the agents’ orders.

Will and Carrie had continued running in the direction of the road. Before they could get to it, however, a black and white SUV with police markings and a blue sedan came speeding onto the field. The police vehicle stopped in front of them, but the sedan continued on in the direction of the plane.

Laura emerged from the SUV’s passenger side door and sprinted to meet Will and Carrie. She threw her arms around Will’s neck.

“Thank God you’re all right!” she cried as she buried her face in his uninjured shoulder. She turned to Carrie and embraced her just as tightly as she did her brother. Tears began to well up in Carrie’s eyes as she was enveloped in the emotion conveyed in Laura’s hug. “How’s the baby?”

“I think he’s fine,” replied Carrie trying to wipe the tears from her cheeks, “A little scared maybe, but that’s all.”

Thomas grunted slightly as Carrie readjusted her grip on him. She carefully supported his head and stroked his soft headfur.

On the other side of the field, Agents Ferris and Morrison tried desperately to follow the plane, which had powered up its engines and was now attempting to take off with all hands onboard. Ferris was behind the wheel of the blue sedan, but the car wasn’t able to keep up with the twin-engine plane as it ascended above the dirt runway. It was soon up and over the tree line.

Ferris stopped the car and got out. He stood with a look of aggravation on his face as he watched the General flee into the light blue sky.

“What about the chopper?” the ferret desperately asked Morrison who was now out of the car as well.

Morrison shook his head and looked back down the field. “They just shut off their engines; besides they have the other ones with them.”

“Dammit!” yelled Ferris. He collected himself and said, “All right get onto headquarters; see if they can start tracking him.”

The bobcat nodded and pulled out his cell phone. Ferris looked back in the direction of the now barely visible plane and just slowly shook his head.

As Will, Carrie, and Laura were standing around each other, Steinwulf slowly came up to them. He was rubbing the side of his head.

“You okay?” asked Will.

“Yah, I just feel like I was hit in the side of the head with a bowling ball,” the wolf groaned, “I am sure it will, as you might say, ‘hurt like hell’ in the morning.” When he pulled his hand away his temple, he noticed it was covered in blood. He felt again and discovered a small cut caused by the blow.

Laura moved over to him and said, “Here, let me take a look at that.” She studied the small, but fairly deep, cut. “Sheriff?”

The portly grizzly was nearby, talking to one of the agents from the helicopter and turned at the sound of his name. “Yeah?”

“Do you have a first aid kit on you?” Laura asked.

“Yeah, it’s in the back of my car,” he replied in his deep drawl.

Laura guided Steinwulf towards the vehicle. “Let me get something on that real quick.”

They were soon on the other side of the SUV, leaving Will and Carrie alone.

A few yards away, the agents from the helicopter had Pardus and his men sitting on the ground, handcuffed; they were being read their rights. The subordinates seemed to hang on to every word the agents were saying to them, but Pardus showed little interest. He did not look at the agent. He kept his eyes lowered with a submissive look in them. Then suddenly the panther raised his head up and looked across the dry, dusty field. Will and Carrie were looking at him. Pardus’ eyes instantly flared back up with their golden flames. He snarled at them, his powerful, razor-sharp teeth glinting in the intense sunlight.

Goose bumps ran down Carrie’s back, and she reassuringly tightened her hold on Thomas as Will put his free arm around her shoulder. The raccoon stared Pardus in the eyes, but the panther was unrelenting in his rage-filled glare. An agent, unaware of the exchange going on, lifted Pardus to his feet by his shackled arm. The panther kept his visual lock on the young couple until he was out of sight.

Carrie then looked down at her son; he cooed slightly as he tried to snuggle closer to his mother. “I can’t believe it’s over,” she said continuing to look down at Thomas, “It feels like I’m waking up from a long nightmare.” She looked up at Will. “What do I do now?”

“Now?” pondered Will, “Now we go home.” He guided her in the direction of the police vehicle towards Laura and Steinwulf.

“Home,” Carrie repeated, and for the first time in a very long time, she knew where that was.

Carrie put the Jeep into park and shut the engine off. She sat for a moment, regarding the houses that lined the straight, narrow street. She then looked out the passenger window at the house she had stopped in front of.

“You sure about this?” asked Will. Carrie refocused her vision and regarded the raccoon in the passenger seat.

“No,” she admitted, “But I have to do this.”

“If you want, I can say out here while you do it.”

Carrie shook her head. “No, I need you for this; I don’t think I could do it alone.” She paused once more. “Let’s go.”

She opened the driver’s door and stepped out onto the wet pavement. Will got out on the passenger side, cautious of his left arm, now resting in a proper sling. He was also careful of the canvas top that adorned his Jeep. Once to his feet were on the sidewalk, he observed the overcast sky that had made use of the top necessary. Carrie walked over to Will’s side carrying Thomas in his baby carrier. The tiny foxcoon infant was still asleep from the long car ride.

“I think I’d better hold him while you go up,” Will suggested, “Don’t want to give them too many surprises at once.”

Carrie silently nodded and handed the carrier to Will. He gripped it firmly with his right hand.

Carrie took a deep breath and began walking towards the front door of the house. It seemed like it took forever to reach the front steps. Carrie had been trying to rehearse what she was going to say all day, but she was never able to come up with anything. She did not know what was going to happen when the door opened; she was truly walking into the unknown.

She hesitated as her finger reached for the doorbell. She looked back at Will. His blue eyes gave her a look of encouragement. Carrie pressed the bell and waited.

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged vixen. Her deep red headfur was graying around the edges, and her emerald green eyes looked tired and aged as well. But upon opening the door, her drooping eyes immediately lit up.

“Carrie?” she asked with a sound of disbelief in her voice, “Is that you?”

“Mom!” Carrie cried out as she threw her arms around her mother. She began to sob.

“We thought we’d lost you forever dear,” Carrie’s mother replied, trying to hold back her own tears, with little success.

“Oh Mom, I’ve missed you so much,” Carrie sobbed. She looked over her mother’s shoulder and saw the tall fox standing a few feet away. She pulled away from her mother as the fox approached. “Hi Dad.”

Her father stood in front of her for a moment, silent. Then he leaned over and gently put his arms around his daughter and began to cry.

“I’m so sorry Carrie,” he bawled, “I’m so sorry.”

Carrie began to cry again as well. “It’s okay Daddy,” she choked.

Father and daughter remained locked in each other’s arms for what seemed like and eternity. Carrie pulled away from the embrace and said, “There’s somebody I’d like you two to meet.”

She motioned for Will to approach, and she gently lifted Thomas out of the carrier and cradled him in her arms.

“This is your grandson,” she said, “Thomas.”

“What’s wrong with his face?” asked her mother, studying the faint black mask around the infant’s eyes.

“It’s a very, very long story,” Carrie replied with a slight smile on her face. Her parents motioned for her to come in and Will followed right behind. And for Carrie, her life was complete once more.