Blessed are the Bleeders ( still in progress ) by Kylen Christine Miles Alethia, Renegade, Beldin, Chavaleh, Dash, Luna, Tarheel, Hotshot, Snitter, Target, Noelle, Pandora, Purchic, Rio, Jedore, Valid, Stargazer, Tossle, North, Nighthunter, Meh- lee, Hilt, Gunshell, Zinc, Snipes, Guhrare-o, Rev and all related to the Perris Park Institute (c) Kylen Christine Miles All Road Rover names (c) Warner Brothers and rightful owners Huntress (c) Greywolf Lupous The Warwolf (c) Marc "Warwolf" Weinstein Cleo and Ramses (c) Katalin Bakonyi Warwolf battle sequences arranged and courtesy of Marc "Warwolf" Weinstein Thanks to the Everton Family who named Twitter and Tsing-Tao Questions, comments, and concerns please feel free to e-mail Kylen at Exilo@hotmail.com A NOTE ON PRONOUNCIATION "Chavaleh" - ( Haw vah leh ) or "Chava" for short - ( Haw vah ) "Purchic" - ( Purr cheek ) "Tsing-Tao" - ( Sing - tow ) " tow" as in ryhming w/ "now" "Jedore" - ( Je door ) "je" as in the sound of a "j" If you would like to see your character in this work, e-mail me Original poetry to Blessed are the Bleeders including "Remnants of the Day", "The Dance", "Choked Roses" and others available upon request "Cold, stale- the winding road Of pavement thick with tarmac Flowers disappear under a shroud of black Of barefoot feet come in the morning Out of the hooded glare of trees Pads a girl in mourning Her cry could shatter the breeze Heed I not this warning Blood flowed from open wounds Did I not see her stagger You who turns away Carry her conscious in your swagger Her eyes are now my own Her wounds- this fire inside me My body is now her home Now the wind can I see Be still, bleeders red Dance with another instead Don't you know that you are dead O bleeders, so blessed" - Kylen Christine Miles "There happened a dog come into our shed. ( Taboo, taboo ) He hadn't a name and he's sure to be dead. ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) He wagged his tail and nothing he knew Of the wonderful things that the whitecoats do. ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney. )" - Richard Adams "Stop being so ridiculous," Alethia demanded. She was sitting Indian-style with her hands palm up on her legs. Her index fingers and thumbs were pressed together lightly and her eyes were closed. Huntress let out another giggle. She was sitting across from Alethia, facing her, and in the same awkward position. The others, Hunter, Colleen, Exile, Blitz, Shag, Cleo and Ramses sat just the same, all in uniform lines around Huntress. Hunter opened his right eye slowly and peered out at his sister, trying his hardest not to let a little smile slip to his lips. "Sorry," Huntress replied in a breathy whisper. As soon as Alethia was back at peace Huntress settled to laughing again. The smile that had been on Alethia's face slowly dissipated. She even turned it upside down when she began to hear Ramses begin to join in on the fun. Pretty soon the two of them had Hunter and Colleen laughing as well. "Stop it..." Alethia said, her eyes flying open. Hearing her mock irritation Hunter exploded into full laughter. Alethia glared at him and then jumped to her feet. "All right, I've had it with you! You all said you could sit in a session and be entirely mature about it-" "Sorry, Alethia, but meditation is only for a select few," Hunter smiled, standing up. "The intelligent few that actually walk this earth," Alethia said, curling a lip in exasperation. Huntress stood up as the rest began to, as well, still laughing. "And you," Alethia said, pointing her out, "you ruined my session. This is your fault. I try to help you guys find some inner peace and a little dreamy flying and you can't even handle it. I'm through with all of you." "Ah, don't be so hard, Timothy Leary," Colleen smiled. She delighted in watching the Japanese Spitz grow irritated since she so rarely did. "It's for some, and not for others. I think you are just going to have to find some other Heartchildren." "Find?" Alethia asked, standing up herself, "they can be made. You have just to teach them the ways. I taught Renegade a little, and we could have continued..." Alethia droned off, remembering her long ago murdered lover, the akita, Renegade. Hunter felt a slight uneasiness and warned everyone to keep their mouths shut with a sharp glance. The others nodded and slowly left the room, ducking their heads as they left. Alethia could hear every one of them resume their laughing once outside. Hunter hung back, watching the others leave. Alethia turned her eyes to him. "It worked for you once. What happened?" she asked him. "Me?" Hunter chuckled lightly and then turned towards her, running his tongue along the side of his dry nose. "You told me you felt it once," Alethia said, bending over and hooking her fingers on the giant floor mat. She carefully pulled it up and set about folding it. Hunter helped her by latching himself onto the other end. "You said during one of my sessions- you said..." "I'm afraid I never quite understood why this bothers you so much," Hunter sighed, keeping his eyes down. "There are a lot of things you don't understand," Alethia retorted. Hunter looked up in surprise. Her voice had changed. "You've been so different lately," Hunter said almost accusingly, straightening up. "What's going on? Why have you been like this? Alethia, I want to know. I'm your friend, and I worry about you. I always worry about you." "Always worrying about crazy Alethia!" Alethia raised her voice, her eyes growing dull with her anger. "Always! Why...oh, forget it! No, don't...I...uck!" Alethia closed her eyes and then ducked her head in disgust. Hunter watched her, slightly confused. "Alethia, I'm sorry. Are you angry with me?" "No, not at all." Alethia slowly lifted her head, opening her heavy eyelids. She turned her beautiful, delicate, sharply-featured face towards him, her eyes glistening. "I am disgusted only with myself. I have let ridiculous things get to me." Realizing her soft descent back towards her normal nature, Hunter relaxed a little and then bent back over to continue to fold up the mat. "All right then, kiddo," Hunter said without raising his head, "what are these ridiculous things bothering you?" Alethia chuckled a little lightly and then shook her head, letting her flow of silvery/white hair float around her shoulders. "Not going to bother you with that, Grasshopper," Alethia replied, returning to her end of the mat. "Just some more visions..." "Uh oh," Hunter voiced, looking up. He immediately dropped the mat for the umpteenth time and slowly advanced towards her. Alethia watched him with wide eyes. "Now, you know better. We talked about this. I always want you to discuss your visions with me. Come on, now, we've been through this a hundred times. You have come through with your insights again and again. You have predicted things again and again." "I don't want to say..." Alethia said, pulling back her ears and backing away, keeping a wary eye on Hunter. "Alethia..." "These are riddles!" Alethia shouted desperately. She had backed herself up against a round pillar towards the back of the room. She let out a small sound of surprise when she unexpectedly bumped into it. Hunter stopped where he was. "Riddles?" He curled a lip. "What do you mean by riddles?" "That's just what I mean," Alethia retorted, becoming a little more confident. "Even I can't read their meanings. They're confusing, they are random...and they are terrifying. A girl..." "What about a girl?" "I'm not sure. I saw it last the other night. I don't remember too well. Besides, I didn't pay much attention." "C'mon with me," Hunter said, taking her hand and beginning to lead Alethia away. However, she resisted. "No...please! I don't want to! Hunter..." Alethia raised her voice in desperation, yet Hunter was persistent. He kept tugging her across the floor, and she tried to put her feet down firmly. However, she failed in that area but kept trying to pull in the other direction. Alethia was least strongest of all the Rovers and there was no way she was going to get away from Hunter. "Alethia, come on. We're just going to have a little look..." Hunter led Alethia to the still yet-to-be-folded mat. "No! Please don't make me!" Alethia pleaded, "I don't want to see! Hunter, please! These ones terrify me!" "I'm going to be right here the whole time," Hunter said as they arrived at the mat. He walked her onto it and then turned her around so that they were facing one another. He gently put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her down into a sitting position. He then did the same and sat right across from her, their knees touching. "I don't want to do this..." Alethia trailed off, beginning to squirm in her spot. Hunter brought her to attention by moving his hands up and fixing them to the sides of her head. He held her head straight and looked her in the eyes, a look of both dominance and command on his face. "Alethia..." he said in a demanding voice. Alethia immediately silenced herself and watched his expression with wide eyes. She panted lightly, unblinking. "Relax." Alethia went stone still, her eyes still focused on Hunter. She watched him warily for a few more moments and then closed her eyes completely. She sat rigidly, letting her mind dissolve into darkness. Hunter gave it a few minutes and then said: "All right, Alethia. Do you see anything yet?" He still had a controlling hold on her head. Alethia nodded slowly, a lump in her throat. She shuddered a little and her fur began to raise in agitation. "I see a cold forest, black and dark. I can hear a stale wind blowing, carrying dead leaves through the air and then sending them spiraling down a dark path. This path- it's more a road; thick and black with a faux smell." Alethia spoke monotonously, her heart beating at changing speeds. Hunter suddenly felt her begin to tense and her arms shot out and grabbed a hold of his biceps, clinging to him. Her body began to waver with small quakings and tremors. "What do you see now, Alethia?" Hunter asked, his voice containing the elements of both surprise and anxiety- including the fear of learning. "This girl?" Alethia nodded solemnly. "She's coming down the path- out of the trees. She is limping- no, staggering uncontrollably. Oh, it's different, now, Hunter! It's different now! I haven't seen this before!" Alethia's terrified wail began to give rise to a shriek. "Sssssh, sssssh," Hunter said desperately, shaking her gently. He was afraid of the others hearing and intervening. "What's new? What's going on?" "All the times before- she disappeared before I had a real look- oh....!" Alethia began to shudder, her eyes still closed. "Come on, keep going," Hunter encouraged her. "I'm right here and it's just me. Keep going..." "Oh...." Alethia fought to keep her head up, "she's all white- but who could tell!? She's full of blood!" Alethia fell to shuddering again. Hearing this new development Hunter became worried for his Heartfriend. "Alethia- is that girl you?" "No," Alethia shook her head, "but she is like me! She has eyes full of stories- eyes that live like mine! Her heart, her mind- they move inside me every time I see her. I know her, but I don't...I....no...please...let me go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "Alethia!" Hunter cried and shook her violently. Alethia's head whipped and her eyes opened in a split second as she came back to the world at hand. She fell back from Hunter and landed on her back. Worried, he hovered over her and she looked up at him, panting. He reached out his hand to her. "No! I'm not going back! I'm not!" Alethia cried in desperation, beginning to writhe away. "No, I'm not making you," Hunter said, grabbing a hold of her and trying to control her. "Just calm yourself and sit up!" Alethia shut up and lay perfectly still. She watched Hunter move back and then slowly sat up. As soon as she was sitting again she leaned forward bowing her head and gripping her feet with her hands. Hunter was sitting on his knees in quiet wait. "That's why I set up that whole session," Alethia said in a small voice. "What, with all the others?" Hunter asked in confusion. Alethia nodded. "You've to hear me- I can't open my mind without seeing her. I can't! Every time I disappear inside my head she is there. That's why I set up a group session- in case she came back, I wouldn't be alone." Hunter sighed and slowly got up. He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration and then looked out the open doorway. Down the hall he could hear pleasant laughter and pointless jokes being cracked- some even at Blitz's expense. The familiar sounds of a more normal existence caused him to ache. "Are you all right now?" Hunter asked. Alethia nodded, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. "Here," he said, bending over once again, "let's finish folding up this mat." The two of them folded the mat carefully and then placed it in a corner of the large room. The two stood looking at one another for a short time afterward when they heard another eruption of laughter from down the hall. Hunter looked over his shoulder. "I'm going to go join the others," he said, "are you coming?" "Perhaps later," Alethia answered. "I'd like some time to myself." "If you're sure," Hunter said, shrugging his shoulders. He left her standing there. "I heard the head of the whitecoats say, ( Taboo, taboo ) `We're getting another one in today.' ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) `The tobacco man needn't waste his grub, We'll sling him into the pickling tub.' ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney. )" -Richard Adams Dinner that night was more rambunctious than normal. That could have been the fact that both Cleo and Ramses stayed for it. In the long run they decided they would go ahead and stay the night to play cards. They would assume their normal forms in the morning and return to Egypt. Alethia had been invited to play cards that night but she had promptly refused. Instead, she struck upstairs and headed immediately for her room. The others watched her, some with mild irritation. They loved their precious Alethia dearly and would be at a loss without her, but sometimes her ways were a shade annoying to those who didn't know the full extent of the stories. Hunter knew just a little more than the others. "Oh, Blimey," Colleen had exclaimed as she had helped Shag set up their large card table, "she still isn't sore about what happened earlier, is she?" "Oh, get on with it," Huntress replied, sitting herself down in one of the folding chairs and scooting it up to the table, "she was never mad about that! I've never seen her in a fit of madness." "That depends on how you define `madness'," Blitz chuckled. "Oh, stop it," Huntress scolded, lightly cuffing him, "she is not mad!" "Hey now!" Blitz said after a failed attempt at ducking, "haven't I enough abuse from Colleen?" "No," Colleen gushed in an innocent tone and shinned Blitz. Exile began to laugh. "Poor Alethia," Exile laughed, "she is forever missing a lot of fun." "Yeah," Cleo nodded sadly, "I wish she could just learn to move on." "It's not that easy," Hunter sighed, popping a soda. He leaned against the kitchen counter and lazily drank from it. His eyes were hooded and he had a hint of a glazed look. Colleen eyed him cautiously. "Well, you would know," Colleen said calmly, "she tells you more than she tells all of us put together." "And why do you suppose that is?" Blitz asked haughtily. Colleen cast irritated eyes upon him. He then became a little less brave. "She's a quiet girl," Hunter shrugged his shoulders, "besides, I thought we had all gone over this." "Gone over what?" Ramses asked, "what did I miss?" "Oh, nothing," Hunter replied, lowering his head and rubbing his temple, "just something that involves the main team here." "What he's saying is that we have all sat down and discussed what makes Alethia...well...er...Alethia," Huntress jumped in and then faltered, unsure of what else to say. "Its her whole past," Colleen said easily enough, looking at Ramses as she spoke, "you know that story, don't you?" "Oh, that whole Perris Park Institute massacre thing? Yeah. I know what you are talking about," Ramses yawned, sitting back in his chair as Shag continued to set up the game. "Imagine that, the last of her kind," Cleo clucked her tongue in pity, "the last Perrisian." "To have a whole race torn down around you- your people since childhood..." Exile's voice faltered. He had always felt sorry for Alethia and had always wished better for her than what she normally got. But, he, too, had to face the reality of no matter what she got, her past would always be there with her- whether clinging to her heart or tearing apart her soul. "Yeah, she's had bad times," Hunter said sorrowfully, putting his soda can down on the counter and slowly walking to an empty folding chair. He had felt bad about forcing Alethia to sit through the vision with girl dog. Girl Dog. She had said it wasn't her, but rather, like her. He wasn't too sure about all of this, but he sure was worried about it... "'Hunter, we're waiting for you." Colleen's voice brought him back to what was at hand. He gently shook his head and then approached the table. "Let's stop this depressing talk of Alethia," Exile said in a low voice, "I hate to talk of her as if she were some weird girl. Besides, I near choke to death on her history every timeski." The others nodded solemnly. Even Blitz tipped his head in respect. "So they laid him out on a nice glass bench. ( Taboo, taboo ) His entrails made a horrible stench. ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) And this next bit will make you roar- His s*** fell out all over the floor. ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney )" -Richard Adams When Alethia awoke the next morning her head was spinning uncontrollably. She sat up in bed and groaned, putting a hand to her aching head and pressing it in irritation. She winced at the pain and then moved her hand back down to her side. Alethia looked down at herself feebly, blinking her eyes which were clouded over with tire. She smoothed out her silk nightshirt and then sat staring at her hands for awhile. Letting out a strangled sigh, she got to her feet and walked across her room to the large vanity mirror that sat on her dresser. She put her hands on top of the smooth dresser where a framed picture sat. She picked it up and stared at it carefully. The picture was of her. She was wearing her Perris Park collar, and was dressed in her usual Perris attire- playfully short denim shorts and a tank top. In this picture she was happy, smiling a horrendously wide smile that nowadays she was unable to do. Her best friend, Noelle, the Golden Retriever, was on her left, and her other friend, Pandora the Keeshond, was on her right. In the background was Renegade- the picture taken just seconds before he had snuck up on the three of them and scared them near to pieces. Alethia knew she should have the urge to smile at such a delightful memory, but found herself on the verge of tears instead. In her mind's eye she could see Noelle behind the utility shed, on her back, her eyes closed, a trickle of blood sliding out of her open mouth. Then there was Pandora in a battle trench, on her stomach, but when rolled over, it was revealed she actually no longer had one. And then...then...then there was the box that arrived at Mission Control...that box with soaking cardboard sides and bottom...that box with a familiar yet frightening smell... Alethia fell back from the dresser against the wall behind her. She dropped the picture frame and it hit the floor, shattering. Alethia stood away from it, panting heavily, staring at the mess on the floor. She then turned her gaze to the vanity mirror, and saw the Perris Park flag on the back wall reflected in it. Her eyes widened. "What was that sound!? Alethia, are you all right?" Exile skidded into the room. He was dressed in a collared, denim shirt and jeans. He came rushing to Alethia who was still cowered against the back wall. He stopped short when he came around the end of the bed and saw the shattered picture frame. "I just dropped it, that's all," Alethia shuddered, her eyes staring through everything their gaze fell upon. "Oh..." Exile said, relaxing, "well here, I'll help you clean it upski." They both kneeled on the ground around the pile of shards of Alethia's memory. Exile turned the picture over, first. His eyes turned sad when he saw that there was now a white scar across the photo. It must have been scratched when the glass over it had shattered. "Oh, Alethia! How sad!" Exile exclaimed, cradling the photo. "Your lovely photo! It is ruinedski!" Alethia craned her neck to see the photo in his hands. Catching a glimpse of the new deformity that had grown like a cancer on the photograph of she and her Heartfriends, she gently took the picture away from Exile at looked at it with a quiet sadness. "Oh, Alethia, I am so sorry," Exile said with genuine remorse. "What's going on here?" Only Exile looked up. Hunter was standing in the doorway, surveying the scene in confusion. "Alethia had a little accident, that's all," Exile answered from his crouching position. "Is she all right?" Hunter asked, stepping into the room. "Da," Exile answered, "but you can see for yourself, if you are liking." Hunter came around the bed to where Exile and Alethia were crouched around the destroyed picture frame. Hunter hadn't seen it at all. All he had seen was Alethia in what looked like of state of devastation. He took a step forward and felt something crunch underneath the foot he put forth. He stopped, looked down and slowly lifted the toe of his boot, staring down at what he had stepped on. "Alethia accidentally broke her picture frame," Exile filled Hunter in. "The one on her dresser?" Exile nodded. "I'm really sorry, Alethia," Hunter said, bending down beside Exile. "Don't be," Alethia said, her eyes down, "it's not your fault." Hunter fell silent, uncertain of what to do. Exile, however, swept up the scattered glass in his hand. "It's still suitable for framing, you'll find that true with any treasure," Hunter smiled. Alethia looked up at him. "I'll bet anything- there should be another frame that size around here somewhere. I'll go see if I can dig up one for you." Hunter patted her left shoulder and then stood up. He quickly walked out of the room and down the hall. Meanwhile, Exile had finished picking up the glass and twisted frame and stood up. "I'll dispose of this forski you, Alethia," Exile said, beginning to leave the room as well, "and I'm sorry about your photo." "I'm honored, Exile, a thousand times," Alethia said, straightening up herself, "I think I will go take a quick shower." "All right," Exile said, and was gone. Alethia returned to her dresser and looked in the mirror once again. She saw her own sorrowful eyes reflected in them, and she stared at her long, drawn face with a bored interest. She curled a lip in disgust and then placed the scarred photograph of one of her happiest, fondest moments on the dresser. She decided to head for her personal bathroom. "O who's going to stick him together again? ( Taboo, taboo ) His ear's in a bottle, his eye's in the drain, ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) His cock's gone down to the lecture hall, And I rather think he's missing a ball. ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney. )" -Richard Adams Alethia stumbled out of her bedroom and down the hall. It was cold there, and unbearably quiet. Alethia found herself longing for the old days back at Perris Park where she had felt so at...home. She could almost hear the laughter of her dead friends, Noelle the Golden Retriever and Pandora the Keeshond. She could almost smell the human scientists and researchers approaching her with their books and cheery questions. She could almost see Renegade at the end of the hall, waiting for her... Alethia put a bald toe in a wet spot on the carpet. Surprised, she looked down to see a dark spot of red nestled comfortably among the fibers of the floor. She pulled back in disgust and looked further down the hall- it was spotted with tiny droplets of blood. Remembering her horrendous vision, Alethia quickly followed the trail down the corridor. She followed it down to Exile's end of the living quarters and saw that it stopped before his bedroom door. Exile himself was kneeling before his doorway. He had a can of carpet cleaner in his left hand and a wet rag in his other. He was angrily scrubbing away at a section of carpet near his feet, cursing under his breath. Alethia rushed up to him, worried. "Exile! What happened to you!?" she cried out. Exile looked up and then got to his feet. "What happenedski to me? Oh...I accidentally cut myself on that glass when I was taking it down the hall. I'm all right, just cleaning up the mess I made," Exile explained, kneeling back down. "You scared me near to death!" Alethia cried. "I thought something horrible had happened!" "Horrible? I am thanking you for your worries, but I am perfectly all right." "You're sure? Was it your finger?" Alethia asked, eyeing a small bandage wrapped around the tip of Exile's left index finger. "Yepski, but I'm dokey-okey," Exile said, showing her his wrapped finger briefly. "Okay," Alethia sighed, placing a hand over her heart, "I'm going to the shower, then." She began to walk away. "Don't worry, I should have this all cleaned up by the time you are out." Alethia nodded and continued on her way. "When I've gone up in smoke, don't grieve for me, ( Taboo, taboo ) For a little pink cloud I'm going to be. ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) I'll lift my leg as I'm drifting by And pee right in a whitecoat's eye. ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney )" Alethia was quick to shower and did so with a clear mind. Her senses had dulled and she found herself having trouble concentrating on even the smallest and simplest thoughts. The warm pounding of the water in the shower had near lulled her to sleep. As she stepped wet feet out onto the cold, tile floor after shutting off the water, she realized she had forgotten her clothes in her room. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she wrapped one towel around her hair and another around her body. She then carefully opened the door to her bathroom, releasing a great amount of steam into the hallway. She looked both ways as if she were about to cross a street and then made a mad dash for her room. When she arrived she tore open the door and darted inside. She rushed to her dresser and began to open drawers. "Here you are, Alethia..." Hunter's voice droned off. Alethia whipped around and pressed her back against her dresser, clutching her towel precariously. "Oh! I'm sorry," Hunter said, ducking back into the hallway, "your door was open and I..." Alethia breathed deeply and then bowed her head. However, slowly, a sly smile began to spread across her lips. Soon she was laughing. There was a moment of confused silence from the hallway. "Alethia...do I hear you laughing?" Alethia laughed even harder upon hearing this from Hunter. "I do hear you laughing. You haven't laughed in ages. It's a beautiful sound." Alethia immediately shut up in embarrassment and stood still, her bottom lip pinched underneath her teeth. There was an awkward silence. "What do you need?" Alethia finally asked, her voice carrying out into the hallway. "I found you a picture frame. I was just bringing it by and your door was open so I figured you were decent..." Hunter droned off. "Oh, how honorable! I am a thousand times honored. Just leave it outside the doorway and I will see to it after I am dressed." "All right," Hunter replied, and then Alethia saw him precariously leaning backwards through the doorway, one hand over his eyes. The other one was groping unsuccessfully for the doorknob. He finally caught a hold of it and closed it behind him. As soon as it was closed he shouted one last time through it's thick wood. "Oh, and if you hurry, you can catch Cleo and Ramses before they leave." Alethia genuinely smiled to herself and hurriedly dressed. "If you want to know who made up this song- ( Taboo, taboo ) `Twas a rollicking dog who didn't live long. ( Taboo, taboo, taboo ) His name was Kiff, he was black and white, He was burned to cinders- serve him right. ( Taboo, tabye, ta-bollocky-ay, we're all for up the chimney. )" -Richard Adams Even when cleaned up she found herself no more attentive than before. Sighing lightly to herself, Alethia opened her door and located the picture frame. She picked it up and slowly walked back towards her dresser. It looked familiar- yes, she had seen it somewhere before. But where? Shrugging her shoulders, she undid the backing and took her deformed photo and slid it inside. She then restored the backing and then set it right on the dresser. She stepped backwards and looked at it. The vicious tear was quite obvious, and she noticed this with anger. Of all things, she thought to herself in exasperation, of all things this had to be ruined. Damn me scaring myself. I shouldn't have let my mind wander- then I wouldn't have dropped it. "Alethia!?" Hunter shouted from downstairs. "Are you ready yet? You'll miss Ramses and Cleo!" "I'm coming!" Alethia shouted back as loudly as she could. She quickly adjusted her collar and then dashed down the stairs. Alethia found everyone down in the transformation room, saying final good-byes to the two Salukis. Alethia slowed down to a more normal pace and walked casually to the group of dogs. "Well," Hunter was saying, shaking Ramses hand, "we'll be seeing you next mission." "Unless it passes us up," Cleo said, half seriously with a salty flavor of humor. "When are you going to have the luges put in for us? All us agents have such a hard time getting around." "Yeah," Hunter chuckled, turning to her, "I know what you mean. It took us months to build Alethia's when she officially joined, so the only connections go out to America, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Japan. Perhaps some day I'll set up a meeting in which we all will sit down and discuss the best approach to this problem." "Well, I sure hope so," Cleo smiled, "meanwhile, we suffer." She then caught a glimpse of Alethia over Hunter's shoulder. "Well, Alethia, there you are. You should have been to our card game. I beat the pants off everyone." Blitz looked amused for a moment. Exile gave him a tortured look. "Sorry I wasn't," Alethia apologized, "but I just wasn't myself last night." "That's all right," Cleo replied, stifling a yawn. "Alethia," Hunter said, turning towards her, "I'm going to fly Cleo and Ramses here back to Egypt. I should be back in a couple hours." Alethia nodded, unsure of why he had told her. She blinked her eyes ceaselessly and stepped back when Cleo and Ramses stepped forward and into two trans-dogmafiers. Transformation was quick, and the two stepped forward on four legs. "All right, we're off, then," Hunter announced, and led the two salukis to the hangar. Alethia turned to Exile. "How is your finger?" she asked. "Huh? Oh, I told you it was nothing. It's fineski, spassiba." Alethia bobbed her head in response. Colleen watched her curiously. "Are you feeling all right?" Colleen asked, her brow furrowed, "you sure seem...normal this morning..." Alethia turned around on her sharply. "Oh! That's not what I meant to say! I couldn't think of the word! Honest! It just slipped out! Oh, now look at what you've done!" Colleen cried, turning on a surprised Blitz. "All your talk has brain-washed me! This is all your fault!" "Oh, God, no..." Blitz moaned, trying to back away. However, Colleen extended her leg in anger with a sharp accuracy and speed, catching him in the shin. Watching the two, Alethia shook her head in almost a movement of pity. She turned to Shag and Exile who were standing quietly, apparently unmoved by the normal sequence of events that had taken place. "I'm leaving," Alethia said, taking off for the hangar, as well. "With Hunter?" Exile asked in surprise. Colleen looked up in disgust. "No," Alethia said, stopping and peering at them over her shoulder, "I'm going to the Perris Park Institute." "The Perris Park..." Exile's voice trailed off in surprise. The others widened their eyes as well. "But Alethia, it has been closed down for a couple years, now," Colleen said, taking a few steps forward. "Comrade Colleen's right," Exile said with determination, "besides, what is there possibly for you? What could be interestingski you so much that you would go back to such a horribleski place?" "Horrible?" Alethia cried, "how could you call it horrible? I had a home there, and a family. I fell in love there. I danced and I sang. What made it horrible was the corruption within!" The others fell silent, and Alethia began on her way again. "'What is this?" Blitz demanded, causing her to turn around, "you have never had a desire to go back there before! So why now!? What have you seen?" Alethia became frightened and turned full front to them. "What have you seen?" Blitz continued. "What do you and Hunter know? What are you keeping from us? What does he know? What have you been telling him?" "What do you mean, `Hunter'?" Colleen asked, her expressions alternately changing back and forth. "I mean Hunter!" Blitz said, slamming a foot down. "You know whatever komisch is going on she tells him! You saw him last night! You saw the way he was!" "What?" Alethia asked with worry, her forehead rising with the widening of her eyes. "What did he tell you? What did he tell you?" "You stay out of this!" Colleen shouted, casting angry eyes on Alethia. She then turned her concentration back to Blitz. "What do you mean what she tells him?! Exactly how was he last night? You're right! The way he was last night..." "Oh, come on," Huntress jumped in, laughing in a hoarse, uncertain voice, "how was he last night? He was himself. What are you talking about?" "You know damned well!" "Why are you yelling at me?" "What is wrong with everyoneski?!" Exile cried in surprise, and then his voice settled into exasperation and it's own anger. "Why are you all arguing so ridiculously?!" "Why else do you think?" "Oh get off it, Colleen! This is all about you and Hunter!" "H*** no! This is about Hunter and Alethia!" "Oh stop it! This isn't where it began!" "You're all nuts!" "I beg to differ!" "Then do so! I'd like to see you grovel!" "Wouldn't you!?" "C'mon, guys! This is stupid!" "How did this even start!?" "I'll tell you how this started! I'll tell you! It was Alethia- hey, she's gone!" Everyone stopped their shouting competion and looked around. Indeed, during all the mirth and senseless arguing, Alethia had fled. "Now see what we've done!" Exile said, his eyes glowing with anger, "can anyone keepski their mouths from running while around her?" "Oh, forget that!" Colleen said, pushing by him and running for the hangar, "I bet she's off to the hangar!" Before Exile could protest the others pushed by him as well and joined Colleen on her chase. Exile stood dumbfounded for a moment and then joined as well. "The lorry churning through the mire, Forknew and watched all ways I ran With cloven headpiece all afire A lost dog seeks a vanished man" - Richard Adams Hunter was just helping Ramses and Cleo into the Sonic Rover when he heard pounding feet enter the hangar. Confused he turned around and his eyes widened as Alethia came streaking past him. "Alethia? Alethia- huh? What?" Hunter spun on his heels and watched Alethia speed to the Street Rover. "Alethia! Wait!" Hunter started to step forward, and before he knew it, the Street Rover was started up. He threw an arm over his eyes and backed away as the exhaust pipe let out a noxious amount of smoke and gas. He began to cough. Hunter rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them just in time to see the Street Rover hit the enormous swinging door and disappear down the tunnel. Hunter looked after it in astonishment. It was then that he heard more pounding footsteps at the entrance to the hangar. He turned around sharply as the others skidded to a halt, panting heavily. "Where's she gone!?" Blitz asked, stepping forward. The others nodded. "She sped out of here without a word," Hunter said angrily, and then he shot his hand out and grasped Blitz by his collar and pulled him up to him, "what have you done to her! What did you do!?" Hunter began to shake Blitz in anger. "What did you do to her!?" "Let go of me!" Blitz snarled, slapping Hunter's hand away. "She's gone to Perris Park, I know she has!" Colleen said angrily. "Perris Park?" Hunter asked, his face heralding surprise, "why would she go there?" "That's what we want to know!" Colleen exclaimed, coming up to him. "What has she told you!? We have a right to know!" "She must have seen something!" Huntress cried, now growing worried. She shrunk down in size and looked all about herself in paranoia. "She's seen something, hasn't she!" "Ssssshhhhh!" Hunter said in desperation, but it did little. "You know her visions are right! What has she seen!? What is going to happen to us!? Why are you hiding it from us?!" Colleen shouted, her voice changing pitch. Hunter put up his hands in exasperation. "All right, you selfish beasts! Her visions had nothing to do with you! Yes, they were terrifying and horrible, but they involved only her! Are you happy now?" "So she did tell you," Colleen said quietly. "Wrong again. That was the last thing she wanted to do. I forced her to tell me, and if you want to know the damned truth I don't feel too good about it." Colleen looked sick. "I told you," Exile said in frustration, "I tried to tell you to leave her alone. You all jump to conclusions so quickly." "Honestly," Hunter said, moving over to some nearby lockers. He opened one up and pulled put his leather jacket which he began to fit to himself. "With the way you all treat her around here sometimes I wonder why she doesn't just leave us," and then he lowered his voice, "and perhaps now, she has." Hunter then strode to a sleek, black motorcycle with big steps. He grasped the handles and threw his right leg over the seat. He situated himself on the seat and turned his head to the dumbfounded group that stood wavering in thought. "Colleen, take Ramses and Cleo home." "What?" Colleen protested, "Why? Where are you going?" "I'm going after Alethia." "Hunter, the Street Rover has light speed on it, you know. You may not catch up to her until Perris Park," Exile said. "Then so be it," Hunter remarked. He revved up the motorcycle. Colleen ran up to him. "'Wait- er, I want to go with you," she said. Hunter gave her a short look and then turned his head away. "Take Ramses and Cleo back to Egypt. That's an order." With that, Hunter made a semi-circle across the floor and then was gone. Colleen was left standing there even long after. "From Warsaw and from Babylon The ghosts will not release the lives A weary burden falls upon The groping remnant that survives" - Richard Adams It had long since grown dark outside, and Exile, Colleen, Huntress, Blitz, Shag, and Muzzle sat dismally in the family room, taking up all available couch space. The Master hung over them on his podium, his eyes dimming with worry. "They should have been back by now," Huntress said, trying to mask her worry, "they each took off this morning." "Well, it's dark, now," Colleen said in a tone no one could really identify with. "They should have been back by now." There was a noise in the hallway, and everyone turned around. Hunter drug himself into the room, his fur windblown and his jacket still on. He sagged against the door frame in tire and exhaustion. Every one jumped to their feet. "You're back!" Colleen cried out in excitement, and then she faltered, "Where's Alethia?" Hunter gave her a cold look. He was still panting and it took him awhile to regain some breath to speak. "She's gone." He moved by the wide-eyed spectators and sat himself down on one of couches. He put his head in his hands. "Gone? Gone to where?" Exile asked, coming up. "I don't know," Hunter said in a frustrated voice, his head shooting up from his hands. "Well, didn't you look at Perris Park?" Huntress asked. "Of course I did!" Hunter said, leaping to his feet. He stumbled over to the fireplace and supported himself against the mantle. He stared off without any real conviction, his eyes narrowed with anger and frustration, his mind racing with a million thoughts. "I'm not understanding this," Exile said, turning his head and whispering to Colleen. "I went to Perris Park," Hunter repeated, "but she wasn't there. All I found was a cleaned up, old, government research institute. I've been all around the cities within miles of here, Perris Park, and everywhere between! Now do you see what I mean by she's gone!?" "Rovers, this is bad," the Master said in sadness, "what have you done to yourselves?" Hunter looked obviously sick upon hearing this. "Alethia isn't one to just run off," Blitz said, "she is bound to come back." "Then you just all go on up to bed," Hunter said, his brow furrowed. He moved back towards the couch and sat back down. "I'm going to wait up for her." Exile nodded at the others and then motioned towards the stairs with his head. They all began up, Colleen in the back. She began up and only made it a few steps. She looked over her shoulder at Hunter who sat with his elbows on his knees, his hands curled around the tip of his muzzle. Colleen approached him from behind. "Hunter?" "Go to bed, Colleen." Colleen furrowed her brow in sadness. "Look, I'm really sorry about all of this happening. We're all at fault, but I'm one of the worst." Hunter was quiet. "I really wished this hadn't happened. I'd give anything to turn back the clock and watch my mouth- and tell the others the same. I'm sorry I accused you of hiding stuff earlier, also. I...love you." Silence. "Got to bed, Colleen." "Soon this distracted beast contrives His hopeless search as best he can Beyond the notebooks and the knives A lost dog seeks a vanished man." - Richard Adams Alethia's nose twitched, and she flinched. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself staring at a bare wall. Bare wall? She was bound and gagged on the floor in a corner, her head leaning against a gray toned wall. She lifted her head away from it and let out a slight moan when her neck reacted painfully. "'Well, well, she's awake," a dog said. He was sitting in the middle of the room on a chair which we was tipping precariously backwards on it's back legs. He watched her with amusement as she struggled against her bindings. She watched him with wide eyes, panting against her gag. "Ah, what's the matter?" the dog smirked, "you act as if you don't know me. We met before- at Perris Park, remember?" Alethia watched with wide eyes as he got up and approached her. She tried to shrink away from him, but in the corner there was no where for her to go. He came up and rubbed her scalp with his knuckles and then rapped them across her nose. "Imagine that- meeting up with a Perrisian at Perris Park. How odd is that?" The Cano Sapien raised his hand to his chin in fake thought. He raised his eyes to peer at the ceiling, and then a toothy grin crossed his face. He looked back down at Alethia. "But you are a special one- you are the last. Weren't the last of the Perrisian blood executed a couple of year ago? Yeah, that's what I thought." Alethia struggled with her gag, biting down on it. She snorted in rage but shrunk away in fear when the dog came toward her again. She gulped and pinched her legs together and tried even harder to disappear into the nook of the corner. "Be still," the dog laughed, petting her head again. Alethia refused his touch and the dog almost appeared angry. "You act like this is my fault," the dog said, his voice turning to what appeared to be an angrily serious voice, "I'm not the one who came snooping around Perris Park early in the afternoon. You did that yourself. Don't you know that it is shut down? Don't you know other Cano Sapiens use it from time to time, now and then? Don't you know it's best not to come snooping around when you're not invited?" Alethia struggled with her bindings once again and flopped around like a fish. The dog refocused his attention on her and laughed again. "Perhaps you didn't know," he said, clucking his tongue in pity, "but, I can't help that. As soon as I heard that car pull up- well, it didn't sound like the car of any associates of mine. So, I went out to investigate it. And, well, there you were, parked on the training grounds, just getting out. Sorry to have rushed at you like that, but you see, if I hadn't hurried like I did, you would have escaped. I enjoyed our struggle in the front seat of your car...it was fun. I haven't had that much exercise in a long time. I didn't mean to knock you out so hard. I just wanted to put you out for a few hours, but evidently, you've been out for the whole damn day. Well, what was I to do with you? Put you in the back seat and drove your nifty little car back here to my group's headquarters. So, here you are now. Oh, you..." he said, clucking his tongue again, "you should have known..." The dog came even more uncomfortably close to Alethia than he had dared before. He placed one hand underneath her head and undid her gag with the other. He then caught Alethia by surprise by licking her across the muzzle. Unmuzzled, she pulled back her lips and threw her head at him, biting his upper lip and drawing blood. She then drew her head back like a serpent and watched him with narrowed eyes. She was panting again, a trickle of the other dogs blood sliding down her twitching, agitated lips. "Damn you!" he cried, grabbing a hold of her and raising one of his hands. "Stop, Hotshot! I want to see your prisoner before you clobber her to death!" Another dog, a German Shepherd, had come up behind the offending dog and grabbed a hold of his hand. Hotshot turned around and a devilish grin crossed his face. "Ah, Tarheel! So you've heard what I've been up to today." "Yeah the front desk told me when I came in," Tarheel replied. "Oh, yes. Welcome back," Hotshot smirked. "Yes, anywise," Tarheel sniffed with boredom, "they said you brought in a girl you had found wandering around Perris Park." "Well, she had begun to wander. I caught her just leaving her car. I knocked her senseless and drove her and her car back here." Hotshot acted as if he were terribly proud of himself. "All right then, I want to see her," he pushed Hotshot out of his way and kneeled down to look at Alethia who only glared back at him. Tarheel's brow furrowed and he studied her closely. Alethia held her breath. Suddenly Tarheel reared back and leapt to his feet. He spun around and grabbed Hotshot by the collar and began to shake him violently. "You idiot! She's a Road Rover! You don't just clobber a Road Rover over the head and whisk her away in her vehicle and not expect the others to come looking for her! This has got to be the stupidest thing you have ever done!" "How can you tell she is one?" Hotshot asked, brushing Tarheel's hands away. "You could be mistaking." "I recognize her from the news!" Tarheel said angrily, "and I'll bet you..." Tarheel reached out for Alethia who was ultimately surprised in the long run. He clamped one hand harshly around her muzzle and searched her sleeveless shirt with his other hand. He pulled at her shirt collar and pulled the bottom of her shirt out from her pants. Finally he turned her short left sleeve inside out and saw there, on the hem, was a small Road Rover symbol. "See!?" Tarheel said, showing Hotshot the emblem, "She's a Road Rover!" "Oh I guess she is," Hotshot said, growing amused, "imagine that! I brought in a Road Rover!" "And I'll bet she's bugged, too," Tarheel said, and his hand shot out and he grasped the tag on her collar. He yanked hard and ripped the collar away from her neck. He then placed it underneath his boot and crushed it. "Sorry, Rover," Hotshot said, smiling at Alethia as Tarheel began to pace, "you know what happens when you're caught without your license." "We can't keep her, we can't," Tarheel was stammering to himself as he paced, "you'll have to take her back. You'll have to take her back to where you found her- the car, too. Maybe we can knock her out hard enough to where she forgets all about this..." Alethia's eyes widened. "Wait a minute," Hotshot said, "maybe we won't have to." "Won't have to what?" "Won't have to put her back. She might join us." "Join us? Don't be silly! She's a Road Rover! She doesn't go for such things." "Ah, but perhaps she will. She's Perrisian." Tarheel stopped his pacing and looked up. "Perrisian? How do you know?" "I was checking her out while she was out," Hotshot said. Alethia's eyes widened upon hearing this. "She has a tattoo in her left ear." "Has she?" Tarheel asked. "See for yourself." Tarheel approached Alethia and grabbed a hold of her ear. He peered inside, and then his expression changed with realization. "P.P.I #26410," Tarheel recited in disbelief. "She is Perrisian." "And a Road Rover," Hotshot pointed out, smiling, "making her the last Perrisian. I just now am remembering all those things I heard years ago. You know all those stories and things on the news: the last Perrisian joined the Road Rovers a few years ago. Well, this is her. She is it." "You know, Hotshot?" Tarheel said, rubbing his chin, "you just may have something." "Of course," Hotshot smiled. "She is Perrisian blood. If we extended a membership to her she just might accept." "Very possible," Tarheel shrugged, "but I would have to take her to our leader, Dace, first. Ultimately it would be up to him. I'm going to the main headquarters tomorrow morning to meet with Dash. I could take her with me." "Then you shall," Hotshot sneered, "and be sure to put in a good word for me when you get her to Dace." "Yes, yes," Tarheel nodded unimportantly. He then approached Alethia and gagged her once again. She tried to fight him, but was unsuccessful. He grabbed a hold of her and forced her to stand. Seeing as her bound legs were going to keep her from walking he lifted her up into his arms and began to walk away. "Hey- where are you taking her?" Hotshot asked. "To my room. She's going to stay there with me for the night." "Why there and not here?" "Simple, I don't trust you." Hotshot sneered after Tarheel as he carried Alethia away. "Never in a million Or so years Did we ever want to hurt you But it's not over yet" -Clarke/Bell Although she was thoroughly terrified and apprehensive, Alethia couldn't help but look about herself, astounded, as she was carried down various utility halls. As Tarheel carried her, blind to everything else that happened or hurried by- Alethia concentrating on them. There were Cano Sapiens everywhere, hurrying this way and that. They were all breeds, all colors, and all sizes. Just where was she? She knew this operation couldn't have anything to do with Parvo. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. Perhaps it was when Tarheel had spoken of Dace, their leader. Alethia knew that Parvo would never in a million years let one of his dogs hold serious rank. No, Parvo wouldn't. Shortly they came to a hallway that had doors on each sides. Still holding Alethia, Tarheel turned around and pressed his back against one of the doors. He pushed until it gave, and then he turned around and carried Alethia in. He set her down on a bed as he headed for the lights. He flicked a switch near the door quickly, and poor lighting allowed Alethia to see the room. Alethia couldn't say much about the furnishing. In fact, there wasn't really any. All there was was the bed she was sitting on and a small endtable next to it. On the other side of the room there was a small bathroom attached. No luxury. Alethia guessed these were just overnight rooms. After all, Tarheel had said they would be leaving in the morning. "Now, you don't go anywhere," Tarheel said, patting her scalp. He walked across the room towards the bathroom. He then went in and shut the door behind him, not even bothering to peer over his shoulder. Alethia watched until the door closed and she could hear water running. She then began to struggle with her bindings. Alethia twisted and turned atop the bed, emitting small grunts as she fought and writhed. She then let out a little cry of terror and surprise when she twisted and turned herself right off the edge of the bed. She hit the bare, tile floor hard, and lay stunned for a moment. Then, she began to snake her way towards the door, dragging herself across the floor. When she came to the door she propped herself up against it and lay against it's wood, panting heavily. She tried to regain her breath and then focused her attention on the doorknob. She rested her chin on the knob and tried to tighten the object between her jaw and her neck. She then attempted to move her head to the right, hopefully turning the doorknob. After many failed attempts she heard a click, and to her surprise the door gave way and fell outward. She let out a small gasp of surprise as she fell through the doorway and into the hall. To her horror she fell out at a very busy time- busy as in the hallway was buzzing with Cano Sapiens passing by. She fell at the boots of a group of seven of them who had been passing the door. They looked down upon her in amusement and Alethia looked up at them, eyes wide. "Well, well, well, well. What have we here?" the one just in front, a big, burly eskimo dog said, pulling Alethia up to her feet by the back of her shirt. He held her awkwardly, for she could not stand on her own. She watched the swinging heads of his leering friends as they turned their to one another and laughed strangely. Alethia gulped. "It looks like a girl, Rio," one of the smirking dogs said to the one holding Alethia at his head level. Alethia turned her head over her shoulder and closed her eyes. "You hear that?" Rio breathed, "That's Leed. He just learned his sexes today. We're so proud of him." "Idiot!" one of the others snarled at the dog named Leed, "he can see it's a girl!" "Quit quarreling!" Rio snapped over his shoulder. He then looked back at Alethia. "Really. There is nothing to be done with them." "She looks scared," one of the group, a smooth-looking Beauceron, said, "perhaps you oughtta just leave her alone. Who knows who she belongs to..." "Shut up!" Rio snarled, "it's obvious she's a prisoner. All tied up, right? Duh! And what's this..." Rio caught sight of Alethia's left sleeve which was still turned over from Tarheel's inspection. He studied it carefully and then spun Alethia and himself around so that he was facing the rest of his group. "Boys! Look here! We've us a Road Rover!" The other dogs smothered Alethia as they tried to all look at the symbol on the hem of her sleeve. She let out a little cry and tossed her head, squirming. Rio let go of the back of her shirt and wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders. She continued to toss her head. "Hey, Man, take out that gag," one of the dogs said in excitement, "see what she has to say." "Okay, sweetheart," Rio smirked, fussing with the gag. As soon as it was ripped from Alethia's mouth she began to yell. "Let me go you filthy mongrels! Let go of me!" The dogs laughed with amusement at the first words that shot out of Alethia's mouth. "Whoa-ho!" Rio exclaimed with a smile. "Didn't expect her to shout anything like that! See what she has to say..." He faltered off in laughter which the others joined in on. Alethia, meanwhile, began to struggle. "You'll be sorry! You're gonna be sorry! You'll not get away with this, you Heart-eater!" Alethia's voice rose to angry shrieking. "Sorry?" Rio asked, falsely interested, "And what are you going to do? Hmmmm? What are you going to do, Rover?" "They'll come for me! Hunter and the rest will come for me! You'll be sorry, then!" The others laughed, but one, the Beauceron, looked uncertain. "Who does she belong to?" the Beauceron asked. "She is obviously someone's prisoner." "Who cares?" Rio demanded, "someone fell asleep on the job. She's ours, now." Alethia let out a cry of surprise and pain as Rio turned her around and slammed her back into the wall. He held her up there and off the ground by a couple inches. She looked down in his eyes in fear, her mouth dropping. "Someone get the bindings off her legs," Rio demanded, looking over her shoulder. Alethia looked on with wide eyes. "Don't you dare..." Alethia faltered off in a quavering voice. One of the dogs came forward and begun tugging at the bindings holding her legs so tightly together. She struggled, mouthing her protest, but it did no good. "I told you not..." As soon as Alethia felt the tight binds leave her legs, she reared herself back harder against the wall and heaved her legs in and the out, striking Rio hard in the stomach. He let out a winded noise and then stumbled backwards, pressing his hands against his stomach. Alethia hit the floor and, legs freed, tried to run away. However, hours of her legs bound and underneath her weight had left them drained. She was only able to make it a few feet before she collapsed. By that time Rio had recovered and lunged like a mad animal at her. He hit the floor, landing just on top of her. Alethia cried out in pain as she felt her soft skin begin to bruise under her fur. She yelped as Rio wrestled with her, limbs free. Poor Alethia's arms were still tied behind her back, and her now free legs were pinned under the eskimo dog's ominous weight. "I'll teach you to..." Rio snarled, but was interrupted. "Rio! Stop!" Rio lay still on top of Alethia, panting. He slowly turned his head over his shoulder. Alethia craned her neck to see, and caught a glimpse of Tarheel behind Rio, clad only in his pants and belt. "Go away, Tarheel," Rio smoldered, "we found her first. She belongs to us." "No," Tarheel retorted, "she belongs to me." Rio was silent for awhile. The other dogs stood dumfounded, one still clutching Alethia's leg bindings. "Well, you've lost her. So, buck off, Tarheel." "Perhaps I'm not being blunt enough," Alethia could hear the whirring of a machine gun as Tarheel pulled it out of his belt and focused it on Rio, one eye shut, "she is MINE." Rio quickly got to his feet and turned around, facing Tarheel, who still had his gun cocked and ready. "Dace wouldn't like to hear of you pulling a gun on a fellow soldier," Rio said, screwing up his eyes. "Oh yeah? Dace wouldn't like to hear of you refusing to obey an officer," Tarheel said, his feet planted firmly on the ground. Rio looked at him in disgust. "Now get your flea-infested pelt off my prisoner." "I'm already off," Rio snarled, and came up to Tarheel, his finger extended and his face screwed up with anger. "You know, Tarheel, you're really nothing special. You just act like you are ever since Dace appointed you one of the officers. But we all know you started out at the bottom just like the rest of us. Perhaps, someday, Dace will realize that, as well." With that, Rio pushed by Tarheel. "C'mon, boys." The gang of dogs left, leaving Alethia to pant on the floor, wide-eyed. She laid her head back against the cold tile and closed her eyes. What more could go wrong? "Get up here!" Tarheel said angrily. He stood over Alethia and grabbed her up and pulled her to her feet and forced her to walk back into his room. "On the bed," he commanded. Alethia did as she was told and Tarheel rolled her over on her stomach and proceeded to rebind her legs. When he was finished he rolled her back onto her back and stood up. "You can just try that again," he said, "but believe me, you're better off in here with me than out there." Alethia sat in stupefied silence. She watched Tarheel pull a handkerchief out his back pocket and twist it up quickly in his hands. He then started walking towards Alethia with it. "No!!! No- don't! I'll stay quiet! I won't threaten you!" Alethia begged, moving her head away from the new gag. "Threaten me?" Tarheel stopped and laughed. He looked at her carefully and then put away the handkerchief. Alethia let out a whoosh of relief. Tarheel came and sat down beside her. He leaned backwards and propped himself on his arms which he put far behind himself. He kicked off his boots and then sat up. He bent over and picked up his discarded boots and tossed them across the room. Alethia bit her lip and then opened her mouth. "I am still trying to figure what sort of operation you are running here," she said carefully, blinking her tired eyes. Tarheel chuckled softly as he removed his belt. "That's for Dace to explain," Tarheel sniffed, "and tell you he will. He'll talk you ear off if you were to sit that long- but you're going to have to. He'll start right from the beginning and tell you everything about us. Perrisian..." Tarheel reached out for Alethia's ear, but she ducked away from him. He didn't persist. "Perrisian? What does my having to be Perrisian have to do with any of this?" Alethia asked. "Why is everyone making such a big deal about my being Perrisian?" "You're more likely to join us, then. That's all," Tarheel answered, running his fingers through his fur. "I don't have to tell you about what happened to your people." "My people..." Alethia murmured, her scarred photo flirting across her mind, "how does everyone know of the Perris tragedy? Even all of you?" Tarheel chuckled again and sat up straight. He looked at Alethia calmly. "Everyone knows about that- the whole world must know. It was in the news around the world, and the dogs across the terrain hung their heads for the massacre- you dogs of war. The execution of the last Perrisians- those shots were heard around the world." "'I think," Alethia said, crinkling her nose, "you are getting my past mixed up with some American history. Besides, every time- uh...everyone talks about the final execution- are you all referring to the execution done by the justice forces the day the Dogstar headquarters were stormed?" "Yes, Rover. But those Dogstar members who were executed- they were Perrisian." "They were. They defied us and turned against us." "All right, so they weren't one of you by name, but they were by blood. All those canine members of the Dogstar went through the same testing you did. They received the same injections you did. They were manipulated the same way you were. They were trained for war like you were..." "They killed my lover," Alethia said in a low voice. Tarheel fell silent. "I'm going to bed," he suddenly announced irrelevantly, "that means you do, too." Tarheel hoisted Alethia off the bed and placed her on the floor along the back wall. He turned out the light and then stood over her in the darkness. "You can try to escape again, if you like," Tarheel said, turning his back on her and climbing into the thin bed, "but I don't have time for these games. This time I might not come after you, and you will end up spending the night with guys like Rio in your pants." After that, no more words came from Tarheel. Alethia shuddered in her bindings and then lowered her head to the cold tile. She felt icy hands wrap around her heart and choke it. "Oh, my Rovers," Alethia whispered to herself, a salty tear leaving her eye and sliding down her bruised cheek, "please come for me. My Heartfriends, please, please, come for me." "And here we stand In old England's land Shattered glass on the ground There are no words To console this earth To restore old England's pride" - Clarke/Bell "Hunter! You saved my life!" "Huh? Wha- Alethia? Is that you?" Hunter sat up, a foreign pain in his chest. He propped himself up on his elbows and glanced around himself. He was- in the forest? Huh? How did he get here? "Hunter! Thank God you've found me!" "Alethia?" Hunter asked, getting to his feet. He peered all around, scratching his head. "Alethia- I can't see you!" "I'm here! Among the trees! Come on, now! You can find me! Look harder! Look, there, you can see me through there!" "No...I can't," Hunter said, scanning the trees. He squinted his eyes, looking harder. He turned circles as Alethia's voice came from all around. There came a slow rumble, and the ground began to shake. Hunter fought to keep his balance. He watched with wide eyes as a snaking, black form shot out from the protection of the trees and headed for him. It slithered underneath his feet and disappeared beyond him and stiffened. "Huh?" Hunter spoke aloud, "a road?" "A road a road a road a road a road a road a road a road aroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroadaroad ..." Alethia's voice echoed. Hunter's heart beat hurriedly. "No..." Hunter murmured, "not the road..." "Hunter, I'm coming, now. Watch for me..." "No, Alethia!" Hunter protested, backing away. Out of the trees she appeared, stepping in small strides. She was covered from head to toe with blood, but she kept walking towards him, undaunted. Hunter backed up, whining in a small voice. He shook his head from side to side in denial and stepped even further backwards. "Hunter? Hunter? What's the matter? You act surprised. Why, I told you I was coming..." "Hunter! Hunter! Hunter! Hunter! Hunter................." "................Hunter! Hunter! Hunter! Hunter!" Hunter's eyes flew open. He threw out his arms in startle. Huntress immediately leapt back in surprise. Seeing as it was only his sister, Hunter relaxed back against the couch cushions, panting heavily. He stared around in confusion. "You gave me near a heart attack!" Hunter exclaimed, getting his breath back. "Well, me too!" Huntress replied, a hand over her heart. "You must have really been having a nightmare! You almost jumped out of your pelt when I woke you up." "Uggggh," Hunter groaned, sitting up. He rubbed his temple and stared down. "What time is it?" "It's eleven-thirty in the morning, Big Brother," Huntress said, sitting down on the edge of the couch. "It's tomorrow...oh yeah, is Alethia here!?" Hunter leapt to his feet, his head spinning. His quick launch left him dizzy and he fought to regain his balance. Huntress looked sad. She lowered her eyes and looked down at the carpet. "She hasn't shown up, Hunter." Hunter stopped. He wasn't sure what emotion to express. His anger? His sorrow? His confusion? "Hunter," Huntress said, her voice shaking, "she's not come back. I'm really scared. I'm really scared for her." Hunter cast sad eyes upon his sister. She looked up at him with real defeat in her eyes. "Oh, Hunter!? What are we going to do? What's going to happen? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? It's been over a day, now! Over a day! Hunter........" "I know!" he cried, putting his hands to his head, "I know how long it's been!" Hunter choked off bitterly and turned away. He slowly began to talk to himself. "And the day had started off so well...I heard her laughing..." "Laughing?" Huntress asked, turning him around. "I thought she seemed she was in a good mood, too. We all thought so..." "Then why did you wreck it!? Why did you do this to her!?" Hunter shouted, shaking Huntress by her shoulders. Huntress pulled away, her eyes flooding with tears. "She wanted to go to Perris Park! Don't you think that's suspicious? She had to have seen something! We wanted to know!" "And I told you! It had nothing to do with you! She saw horrendous visions that involved her! She tried to tell me they weren't - she was lying to me and herself - but I know deep in my heart it was her! It was her! Even in my dream, it was her!" "Who was her!?" "In her vision- there was a dog just like her- white, beautiful, eyes alive...like her! She was all covered with blood, stumbling out of the woods- forgotten, shunned, tortured..." "Stop, Hunter! Stop!" Huntress shouted, putting clenched fists to her ears. "Stop it! I don't want to hear it!" "Imagine seeing it! I...I...I forced her to...I wish I hadn't..." Hunter choked off. His forehead was hurting- his eyebrows had jumped all over it. He stumbled back to the fireplace and slumped there once again. "How are we going to find her? How are we? What we need is a Heartchild, and the only one we have with such insight is Alethia..." "Her brother!" Huntress cried out, jumping on her toes, pulling at Hunter, "her brother! Beldin! He isn't as extreme in it as she is- but they are of blood. He's got to have a little of it in him!" "That's all very fine," Hunter said, trying to get his sister to quit pulling at him, "but I don't know where he is. He's somewhere around the world looking for the rest of their family, remember?" "Well, now he's another to look for," Huntress said, tugging at Hunter's hand, "come on, we've got to try. We can tell Persia to keep an eye out for him- use the satellites, what?" "All right, all right," Hunter said, rubbing her scalp, "let's go get the others." "Your shame is never-ending Just one psychological drama after another We are guilty- and how we ever entered into this life God only knows, we're not to sacrifice the art of love." - Clarke/Bell Alethia awoke shivering miserably. Must have kicked them Bushido covers to the floor again, she thought. Now I've to go and retrieve them. Alethia attempted to stretch her arms out over the side of her bed when she realized she was bound and lying on the cold floor. She opened her eyes and peered around, blinking in the dim light that stretched across the room. What? I'm here? It wasn't just a dream? Oh, Alethia! Wake up! Wake up! Alethia tried to struggle on the floor, but found herself unbearably sore and full of aching. She could see that the bathroom door was closed and that there was a light under the door. She guessed Tarheel was in there. Alethia thought of attempting escape again, but the leering, ugly face of Rio came back to her. She cringed and closed her eyes tightly. Her limbs felt heavy and awkward. She could feel the harshness of the bruises swelling all over her body. She could almost see their ruthless blackness stretched across her skin. Alethia felt like giving up altogether and just dying right there on the spot. The bathroom door opened, and she lifted her head from the tile. She watched Tarheel come into the room, sit down on the bed, and pull his boots on. "Where are you taking me?" Alethia asked. "'I told you yesterday. I'm taking you to see our leader, Dace. It will be a couple days of driving," Tarheel answered, studying his boots as he pulled each one on. "A couple days?" Alethia repeated, her eyes growing wide. "Uh- do you want to take me to this Dace dead or alive? Has it occurred to you that I might not make it that long with the way I've been taken care of so far?" "Yes," Tarheel answered, "but we'll just have to see how it goes." "One rule for us, for you another Do unto yourself as you see fit for your brother Is that not within you realm of understanding? A fifty second capacity of mind, too demanding? Well then poor unfortunate you, Harara!" - Clarke/Bell "I'm sorry, Beldin. This connection is really bad." "Yeah, well, that's all right. Manchuria isn't the greatest place to be connecting from, neither. What's going down, Hunter?" "Esteem, and hopes, as well." Hunter sat in a black, fabricated rolling chair before a giant screen monitor. He sat staring up from behind the desk at Beldin's solemn, cracked face. Beldin had a layer or frost crusting his eyebrows. His nose was cracked and peeling, his bottom lip split and dried with old blood. His eyes were dulled with tire. Colleen, Exile, Huntress, Blitz, Shag, Muzzle, and the Master stood behind Hunter. They concentrated on the screen, praying the tired face had some sort of answer to all of their problems. Colleen turned her head to fidget with her belt in a state of unrest. Exile turned his half- opened eyes towards her, and he formed a grim line with his mouth. "Really?" Beldin asked, opening his frozen-over eyes wide. "It's the same here. It's snowing like you wouldn't believe. I've been here for days now. I can't shove off because of the horrible weather. Downright miserable," he added quietly. Hunter nodded slowly and then blinked his eyes. "Look, I know you are already out frantically searching for the rest of your and Alethia's family, so I hate to add another to the list..." "What are you saying, Hunter?" Beldin asked, coming closer to his own monitor. He seemed to grow on the screen and Hunter pushed himself back a little ways. Colleen, her brow furrowing with guilt and apprehension, began to search her arm for an invisible flea, keeping her eyes down. "Alethia is missing-" "Missing? Alethia? How did this happen? Did she run away? Was she kidnapped? So help me- I'm already out here looking for the rest of our surviving family..." "We're not sure," Hunter said, rubbing his brow. He was at a sudden loss for words, and he chewed on his bottom lip in frustration. He soon found himself plagued by Colleen's invisible flea, for he moved his head away and stared at his self-agitated fur. "She took the Street Rover and sped out of here yesterday morning," Colleen said, stepping up. Hunter looked at her gratefully. "Alethia- run off? What brought that on? That seems strange for her..." "Yeah, well," Colleen began bravely, "it is somewhat our faults. We weren't particularly kind to her that morning..." "She had said something about the Perris Park Institute, so we figured she had gone there," Exile explained. Huntress nodded, looking at him with tired eyes. "She wasn't there? You looked?" Beldin asked, his expression changing from one identifiable form to another. "Not a sign," Hunter said. He was sitting hunched over, his jaw on his folded hands. "I looked all over the place. She wasn't anywhere in the surrounding cities, neither. She just wasn't anywhere." Beldin left his monitor for a moment and the Rovers could see him pacing in the background that had been sitting behind him gloomily. He had his head bowed down in thought and his eyebrows met in anger. He stared down at the snow and listened to the satisfying crunch it made under his heavily wrapped feet. After a few minutes he came back towards the monitor, his face full of seriousness and violent determination. "I'll leave here as soon as the weather permits," Beldin said in a panting voice, "which I hope is soon. I'll come to Mission Control. Damn..." Beldin was silent a few moments and then looked at everyone dead on. "I've just this heart-eating feeling. I am really worried. Hunter, I really can't do anything for her until I get out of here. I feel only you can find her. There's something she's left behind in you- in all of you, especially you." Beldin tipped his head in Hunter's direction, and then the screen fell to rampaging fuzz and the speakers began to hiss wretchedly. Hunter turned down the volume. The others stepped even further forward, looking at one another. Colleen watched Hunter a little sadly and then came forward. He swung around in his chair to face his friends. "She's a part of you, Hunter," Colleen said quietly. "'Perhaps more so than I like to think, but then I could be wrong, but I have to admit." Hunter looked at her as if he were going to say something out of anger, but he stopped and fell to thinking. He then looked up at her again with a renewed sorrow. "She saved our lives," he said, shaking his head. "I know she did," Colleen answered, "and to her I am forever grateful. She never had to intervene that day she did so long ago- that day years ago." Hunter bowed his head in frustration. What have you done to yourselves? the Master's words the night before pounded in Hunter's ears, what have you done to yourselves? No, Hunter thought angrily, shaking his head and baring his teeth, what have we done to Alethia? "Hunter, please," Colleen said, her voice falling to genuine begging, "find her. Find Alethia. We owe her that much." "We owe her a lot more," Exile stated. "Here comes the man With the warm and gentle hands Her name burned into his brow Light in her eyes Her back to the cries We spit upon the life it never was." - Clarke/Bell As soon as Tarheel had finished dressing himself, he bent over a duffel bag and zipped it up. He heaved it up by it's straps and then set it down on the endtable. Alethia was lying on the bed, still bound with the exception of her mouth. She drew back a little when he came towards her with his arms outstretched. "All right, here we go," Tarheel said, and then picked her up and slung her over his left shoulder. He put his left hand firmly across her back and then picked up the duffel bag in his right hand. He headed for the door, toed it open with his boot, and then began into the hall. The hall was sufficiently lighted for early morning- though there were no windows. Alethia knew scientifically that it had to be all due to the artificial lighting swinging from the ceiling, but she couldn't help but think that some of it was the love of the sun. Others were walking by as well, just as the night before. Alethia began to wonder if anyone but Tarheel ever slept. Alethia, though, refused to study the faces too well- she was afraid of her eyes meeting Rio's, should he happen by. Tarheel walked at a fast pace, striding through the corridors quickly. He pushed by those who got in his way and walked around those he'd rather not brawl with. Alethia began to feel the discomfort of her transportation. "I can walk, you know," she said bravely. Tarheel answered her without turning his head. "And run, I'll bet. I'm not stupid. If I were to cut the bindings on your legs, you'd off on me. I don't feel like chasing you down, neither." "I wouldn't run," Alethia began to beg, "my legs are much to weak from being bound anyways." "And what's your sniffing problem?" Tarheel asked, carrying her on, "I wouldn't mind for someone to carry me around once in awhile to give me a break." "A break!?" Alethia protested. "Let's give you a break by means of imprisonment a try!" "Shut up now, or I'll gag you again," Tarheel snarled. Alethia bit down on her lip in frustration, but fell silent. She could feel her whole body going numb with pain. I'd kick `im if I'd a leg free, Alethia thought bitterly to herself. She squinted her eyes and concentrated on the tiled floor passing beneath Tarheel's feet. After a few more twists and turns, Tarheel approached a giant room of some sort. There were even more Cano Sapiens here, milling back and forth. Most were male, but Alethia caught sight of a few females. She felt a bitter hate when some of the females passed by her, sneezing with laughter as they tipped their heads together and giggled, watching her with conceited eyes. Alethia raised her lips at two in particular that were hanging around a few feet from Tarheel who had paused at a desk where two dogs in significant uniforms either sat or stood. Tarheel began speaking to the dogs at the desk, whom were saying such and things about signing papers. Alethia paid little attention; she was watching the female dogs who were coming closer. "All the prisoners are so pitiful-looking," one, a flashy poodle with a complicated hairdo sneered toothily at her friend. "I would have to agree with you, Twitter," the other, a cocker spaniel, mused. "'Yep, Tsing-Tao," Twitter smiled, "and look here! What a strangely amusing looking character we have here! A pure white one with a hint of silver!" "So, honey," Tsing-Tao said, lowering her voice, "what have they brought you here for?" Alethia twitched a little and felt her heels gently knock against something. With a little bit of mind-probing she realized it was the edge of the desk that Tarheel was standing at. He was still talking, unaware of the two girls behind him. "Not possibly one of the men's toys, do you think, Twitter?" Tsing-Tao continued, looking Alethia over. "Couldn't!" Twitter exclaimed with false denial. "She's much too homely- even for our men." "I believe you're right," Tsing-Tao said. Twitter came even closer, and Alethia bunched her legs up against the desk behind herself. "No one could possibly want her..." Twitter moved forward and extended her finger, rapping her hand quickly and crudely across Alethia's sensitive nose. Suddenly, Alethia pushed off from the desk she had bunched her legs against and lurched at Twitter, mouth open. She bit her in the in the left shoulder and Twitter stumbled backwards, throwing Alethia off of Tarheel's shoulder and knocking them both to the ground. Alethia kept a fast hold on the poodle, her eyes squeezed with hate. Tarheel turned around in surprise, the dogs behind the desk leaping to their feet. The desk crashed over from the force exerted from Alethia pushing off from it, and paper and coffee was all over the floor. The room stopped- everyone dumbfounded. "Don't just stand there like idiots! Get this bitch off of me!" Twitter was shouting from the floor, beating Alethia across the back with her free fist. Tarheel stood over the felled Twitter and plunged his hand towards Alethia's back. He pulled her up by her shirt and lifted her completely off the ground. He turned her around and then slapped her hard in the face. He then crudely swung her against the top of the felled desk and roughly forced her into a lying position. Alethia, the blood of another dog, and now, her own, running from her open mouth, settled there and made no attempt to run. Tarheel seemed to sense this. What had just happened had left her tired and drained. "Stupid bitch! Stupid stupid stupid..." Twitter was mumbling as Tarheel and a few other dogs began to help the poodle to her feet. The shoulder of her shirt was torn and frayed, and blood was beginning to ooze from the spot. Tsing-Tao looked at Alethia hatefully, who was panting against the desk. The flesh on one whole side of her face was turning a splotchy red from Tarheel's stinging slap. "We can't keep prisoners like that here!" one of the desk-dogs shouted, coming towards Tarheel. "'Especially if you are going to bring them out into the open unmuzzled where there are others." "They provoked her!" an unidentified voice shouted from somewhere in the back of the crowd. No one paid attention to the voice and it went without raise again. Alethia, however, thought it sounded somewhat like that of the Beauceron the night before. "She's not staying here," Tarheel said, turning to face the desk-dog. "Hotshot signed her in yesterday and I came here to the desk to sign her out today." "Good! Good riddance!" Twitter spat, cradling her damaged shoulder, "I hope you take the white rat and drown her!" "Just give me the papers, and I'll sign her out now," Tarheel said, sweating. The desk-dog looked at him a few moments and then collected a clipboard from the floor. He picked it up and tried to smooth the bent pages. He then shoved it into Tarheel's hands and took a pen out of his shirt pocket. "Here. Hurry and get her the h*** out of here before I have her drugged and put at someone else's disposal. They can deal with her how they like before actually killing her. I imagine dogs like Rio wouldn't mind troubling themselves with that." "The cold and darkness of a criminal dawn Wrapped in blankets, gotta keep ourselves warm A child in the arms of a teenage mum Who will be there, who will be the next victim Of the criminal dawn?" - Clarke/Bell The Rovers, meanwhile, had begun the first of their search. It was, by definition, going to begin with tracing her signal. Hunter believed that was the most general field they could begin with. "Does anyone remember," Hunter said, leading the others towards their technology room, "if Alethia was wearing her collar when she left?" "I'm not sure- I don't recall it standing out for any reason," Huntress said, putting a finger to her muzzle. She looked to Exile who shrugged his shoulders when he caught her looking to him. "I think she was," Blitz said, his brow furrowed in thought, "ja, I believe so, if I think about it long enough. Usually she wears it all the time, even when we aren't." "It's because Renegade exchanged collars with her back at Perris Park," Huntress piped up. She began to squirm in her boots when she noticed the others had stopped to look at her. "What? She told me, once before." "Yeah, but what does that mean?" Blitz asked. "Well, sort of like a boyfriend girlfriend thing. They wore one another's collars back at Perris Park after they fell in love. You know, sort of like when a high school girl wears her boyfriend's high school ring on a chain around her neck? I guess ever since, Alethia has had sort of an attachment to wearing collars every moment of the day since then." "Well then, if it's that important to her, she must have been wearing her Road Rover collar when she left. Well, let's try and trace it, then." Hunter sat down to a large computer and started it up. The screen blinked with it's demand that he give the correct password. Hunter hurriedly typed something in and then frowned in surprise when the screen glowed "Access Denied". "Huh? Must have mistyped it," Hunter murmured, and then retyped the password. He threw himself back in the chair when the computer responded in the same way. "Here, let me try," Colleen said, coming up beside him. She typed in the password just as he had, but she got the same answer. "Wait a minute, Alethia was on this a few days ago, I rememberski. I walked in on her while she was using it," Exile said, putting a hand to his forehead as he tried his best to remember the details. "I believeski she said something to me about the fact that Purchic, that evil dogman, had been trying to penetrate the system from somewhere else and that she was going to have to change the password for protection. She must have never had a chance to share the new one with us." "Changed it!?" Hunter cried out in exasperation, "there are a million things it could be!" "Here, move out of the way," Huntress said, coming up on Hunter's other side. She began to type in anything she could think of that was related to Alethia. Renegade. Access denied. Perris Park. Access denied. Perris Project. Access denied. Japan. Access denied. Alethia. Access denied. Heartchild. Access denied. Collars. Access denied. "No, no," Colleen said, grabbing the keyboard away from Huntress. "That's not Alethia. This is more like her." Death. Access denied. Devastation. Access denied. Tragedy. Access denied. Hardship. Access denied. Alone. Access denied. Pain. Access denied. Misery. Access denied. Fear. Access denied. Anguish. Access denied. Hopelessness. Access denied. "Oh, come on!" Exile exclaimed, "she's not morbid! Give that here!" Exile ripped the keyboard away from Colleen and began typing himself. Faith. Access denied. Hope. Access denied. Prosperity. Access denied. Peace. Access denied. Harmony. Access denied. Love. Access denied. Joy. Access denied. Joy to the world. Access denied. Joy to the world! Access denied. Joy to the world!!!!!! Access denied. Joy to th- "Well, she ain't no barefoot, giggling fairy, neither!" Blitz barked, and pulled the keyboard away from Exile. Eyes. Access denied. Visions. Access denied. Meditatio- "Oh, come on!" Hunter exclaimed, taking away the keyboard from an astonished Blitz, "we could sit here and guess for days! There are millions of possibilities. It could be in another language, or a sequence of numbers even!" "What we should be doing is searching her room," Huntress said, "turn over everything! There might be some leads in there! There has to be! Some secret, a riddle, or something!" "Does this look like Clue!?" Colleen said. "Well, it's an idea," Exile said, coming to Huntress's defense. "Then you go a-looking for it, Sherlock!" "Come on now- there isn't another way. We've got to find something. Even the smallest thing could lead our minds to stumble across the password." "Yeah right!" "Listen! Listen to us!" Huntress cried, squeezing her eyes closed and putting fists to her ears. "We're doing it again! We're doing it again! Would you stop! Would you stop?" "Stop this!" Hunter cried, leaping to his feet in a hurry, "stop this at once!" He grabbed a hold of a gasping, disturbed Hunter and hugged her tightly. "Alethia is already gone! Who are you looking to chase off now? Huh?" Everyone immediately stopped, staring around at themselves shamefully. "He's right, you know," Colleen sniffed, "he's completely right." "I wish I had a camera!" Hunter's voice was growing hoarse with all of the shouting. "I wish I had a camera so that I could show you how ugly you all look and sound when you get like this! Why do you get like this? We never were like this before! What happened to us? Huh? What happened to us? Someone answer me!" Everyone was dead silent. The only sound was Huntress's crying muffled against Hunter's chest. The others dropped their heads in shame. "I just don't understand," Hunter said quietly, "I just don't understand. Our lives were and still are so simple and uncomplicated next to Alethia's. Things we would like to make a mountain of are actually ditches tunneling the other way compared to things of Alethia's. Yet, she doesn't act this way. Her life was near over when she was a pup, and when she was finally given a reason to go on living, that was taken away, as well. She lost her lover, she lost her people, she lost her dignity- she lost her will to live. Then she came to us. We were her reason to live. We were what made her stay. Are we going to be gone, now, too? Will another reason be lost? Well, you know what? She is my reason to live. I live to protect her. She saved my life. She saved my life when she didn't have to become involved. She saved my life when her whole reason to go on was gone. She saved my life when she was already kicked and wounded. Every day I think about what she did for me- what she did for all of us. And now, after that, I can't even help her?" Colleen had suffered through the entire speech, her head spinning in a million different directions and alternately changing speeds. "I live for all of you," Hunter continued. "As leader, I am responsible for everyone of you. As her Heart-friends, I think we owe it to Alethia to find her." "C'mon," Colleen said, beginning to walk away, "let's go search her room." "As we sail with alour flags flying Too many changes can cause us delay Each star in the sky is there for a reason Making it so bright for this time of day." - Ray Thomas "All right, Rovers," Hunter said, flicking on the light to Alethia's room, "let's get rolling." They all milled into Alethia's room and spread out. Hunter began to undo her bed. Colleen began pulling out every drawer she could find while Blitz began searching her desktops. Exile opened her closet and began to move around while Shag went through her filing cabinets. Huntress wandered about the room in a stupefied manner, looking from one place to another. She ran her hands along the walls as she passed them, staring here and there without conviction. As she began to pass by a stuffed animal sitting solemnly in a wicker chair, she thought she could catch the distinct smell of age. Curious, she followed it straight to the chair and found it's scent coming almost directly from the stuffed animal, a sad-eyed, threadbare teddy bear with a giant bow tied around it's middle. Huntress picked it up and turned it over in her hands, sniffing it's plush belly. "Hunter," Huntress began, fingering the stuffed bear, "come see this." Hunter looked up from the pulled back sheets of the bed and hurriedly strode towards Huntress with wide steps. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. Hunter approached Huntress and took the teddy bear away from her. He sniffed it carefully and then ripped away it's bow and tossed it carefully to the ground. He then reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his pocket knife. He flicked the blade out and then slit the bear from it's chest down to it's belly. Stuffing yellowed with age fell out and to Hunter's feet, but it held no interest for him. What he was looking at was a small book nestled deep into the bear's cotton gut. He pulled out the book and let the bear slip out of his hands and to the floor. The others gathered around as Hunter carefully opened the little, leather bound book in his hands. He stared at the first page, which was covered in neat handwriting. Hunter swallowed and began to read. "Life here is definitely different. But what am I saying- I've adjusted. This is my home, and these people have been my family. These fellow dogs who went through the same testing I did as a puppy are all my family. These men- scientists and researchers, who gave me my shots and made me what I am today are my family; these men who trained me for war and taught me dignity and camaraderie are my family. I only wish I decided to keep this journal as a pup, as well. Would have been a little fun to look back on my thoughts, then." Hunter then stopped and flipped forward a few pages, thumbing through them. "It's her whole life- her whole Perrisian life," Hunter mused, going through each page and scanning them with his eyes. "See what the last entry is," Huntress suggested, leaning over Hunter's arm. Hunter flipped to the very back to find a very short entry. He read it aloud in it's entirety. "And so ends this journal, for so ends my Perrisian life. I joined the Road Rovers today, and am now one of them. I have found another reason. You know what? It doesn't matter what you are. Stop trying to change yourself. Just be. I can't change my past, I can't change my present, and I just might let my future slip through my fingers. All that is left is to... be." Hunter stopped and then closed the book in his hands. He looked around at the others who looked at him in turn. "You know what?" Hunter asked, looking at them, "I think we have just found the password." "Be As a page that aches for a word which Speaks on a theme That is timeless And the Sun God will make for your way." - Neil Diamond "You're hardly worth the trouble you cause me," Tarheel snarled. Alethia was slung over his shoulder once again, this time firmly gagged. She tossed her head in frustration, causing herself to near choke most times. The corners of her mouth, stressed from the gag, had split and were bleeding. They were in a large garage- one that looked much like one one could find at a parking mall. There appeared to be more levels rather than just the one Tarheel was walking through. The levels were dull and spacious, the walls solemn and lingering. There were cars of most kinds parked here, on which ever level Tarheel had happened to bring Alethia to. Mostly there were jeeps, and a few hummers here and there. A couple utility trucks sat in the dank atmosphere, mud smeared across their bottom quarters. The only sound was the echoing of Tarheel's heeled boots as he took his steps and the muffled cries of Alethia. He walked hurriedly, breathing in and out raggedly. He appeared, under the fur, to be tired and anxious to leave. Alethia hung her head still and surrendered, herself tired. She felt drained and powerless, the sting of Tarheel's anger still stretched across her face. She stared down at the ground dismally when she caught a glimpse of a gleam of red out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she reaised her head and swiveled it to Tarheel's right side. There, parked in one of the spots along the row Tarheel was now descending upon, was the Street Rover, tagged and locked. "Mmmmph! Mmmph!" Alethia cried, closing her eyes and tossing her head. She began to struggle and squirm, calling out muffled sounds in desperation. Her bound legs writhed and nearly hit Tarheel in the jaw. "Hey! Hey! Whoa!" Tarheel dropped the duffel bag out of his other hand and struggled with Alethia's hindquarters which writhed upon his shoulder. "Stop it! Stop it, Rover!" He grabbed her at an awkward angle and brought her around to his front in his arms. She struggled and tried to escape him, her eyes on the Street Rover, sitting dejectedly in the air of echoes. "Stop it, you! Stop it!" Tarheel was hissing. He had her in his arms as if they were newlyweds and he was going to carry her across the threshold. Alethia balked away from him, releasing muffled sound after muffled sound, biting into her gag in anger. She continued to flop in his arms like a fish out of water. Tarheel fought to control her, but found it near impossible. Finding no other way to control her, he completely moved his arms out from under her, letting her drop. Alethia's smack into the horrible, stiff pavement came as an ultimate surprise to her. She hadn't expected Tarheel to let go, and now she barely moved on the ground, lying on her side, her eyes opening and closing with pain. She let out a small groan of defeat and then collapsed her head to the ground. Her left hip was smarting, and the bone was numb from the solid contact with the ground. Tarheel stood over her, panting. He looked down at her- quieted...still. Her eyes were open now, and looking across the floor to nowhere in particular. He nudged her with his toe and she slowly raised her head, her tired eyes staring at him. Tarheel stared back, dumbfounded. Her eyes were wide and bright with a leaping brilliance, and he could feel them burning him. He could feel her eyes penetrate his soul and search his entire body for his meaning- his character...him. Tarheel backed up a little. For a moment his composure was lost and he find himself irrational. "Stop it! Stop looking at me!" Alethia continued to look at him as if she had no one idea as to what he was talking about. However, he knew full well that she knew what she was doing to him. She understood and expected his reaction- she received that from everyone. Why? Tarheel thought feverishly, why do I know she receives that same reaction from everyone? Why do I know this? "Stop it!" Tarheel snarled, closing his eyes and putting clenched fists to the sides of his head, "Get out of me!!!" Alethia let him go and turned her head away. Deep lines appeared underneath her eyes and their radiance quickly dulled and faded. Tarheel opened his eyes and stared down at her, panting heavily as if he had been running non-stop for hours. He looked down on the Perrisian with a million different things running through his mind at the same time. He didn't have an idea of what to say to the strange prisoner, so he stood over the unmoving body for a long time. "Bright eyes burning like fire Bright eyes, how can you close and fail? How can the light That burned so brightly Suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes." - Art Garfunkel "All right, cross your fingers, Rovers," Hunter said. He raised his hands above the computer keyboard. The others, standing behind him in full anxiety, held their breath. Enter your name. Hunter. Name cleared. Proceed. Hunter sat in quiet wait as the computer began to beep while speeding through a variety of screens and configurations. It sounded another alarming beep and then drilled off in a strange grating tone. The cursor began to blink in the upper corner of the dark screen. Enter the password. Hunter bit down on his lower lip and straightened his back. He could feel the others pressing around him in uncertainty. Be. Processing... Hunter held his breath while the computer began to hiss once again as numbers and letters began to scream through it's faux skull. Colleen slipped her hand into Hunter's and he held it tightly. Access granted. Hello, Hunter. The group let out a small cry of relief as Hunter slouched against the back of his chair, letting his breath out with a whoosh. Then smiling with impatience, he quickly began to bring up the tracing files. "Alethia is as good as ours!" Huntress cried, hanging off of Exile after a celebration hug. "This is all very good, isn't it, Hunter?" Colleen asked, smiling at him. When Hunter nodded, his brow furrowed with determination and his lips smiling, Colleen turned her head to the screen. "We're coming, Alethia!" "Shall I run for the Master?" Huntress asked, pushing herself up on Hunter's vacant side. "Just give it a second," Hunter said as he typed away, "or you'll curse us for sure." Huntress laughed and focused her attention on the screen which blinked mercilessly. Loading tracing files. Please wait... Name of dog: Alethia. Collar code: 8976B9iu64R. Dog species: Japanese Spitz. Searching. Please wait... Hunter leaned back in his chair and put his arms up behind his head. He raised his feet up and rested them on the desk, smiling assuredly to himself. The others watched the screen with the same easiness, their spirits high and in good hope. Each wore an easy smile; this was it. In just a few seconds they would know where she was, and they could go and bring back their Alethia and apologize and never in a million years would they hurt her again. "Who's going for Alethia when we find her coordinates?" Blitz asked. "Why not all of us?" Colleen jumped in, her smile so widespread her cheeks were beginning to hurt. "And let me drive." "Are you kidding?" Hunter laughed, giving her a playful nudge, "we want Alethia to come back with us! Are you aware there is a big chance she might decline with you hanging out of the driver's side window?" "Then let me drive!" Huntress cried out in all seriousness. "I never get to drive! Hunter, you never let me drive!" "When you pass your, test, kid," Hunter said, condescendingly tousling the large tuft of hair on her head. "Don't call me kid! You make me sound so young! A little respect!" Huntress hissed, pulling away from him. Exile laughed. "All right, fine. You can be driving when I have resigned. How's that sound?" Hunter compromised. "Not any fairer! You'll turn yourself in old just to keep me from ever getting your end of the bargain!" "All right, you're right. Tough luck..." "Hunter, look at this..." Colleen said, pointing a finger at the computer screen. "Huh...?" Hunter droned off. He leaned heavily forward in his chair and stared at the screen wide-eyed and unblinking. #8976B9iu64R not responding. Signal can't be traced. Signal can't be traced. Signal can't be traced. Signal can't be traced. Signal can't be tra- The room was dead silent as Hunter slowly leaned forward and shut the system down. When the computer had declined and sat coldly, he faced forward a few seconds without any conviction. Slowly, he turned himself around in his chair and looked at the others. They were silent, eyelids lowered. "Either her collar had and accident," Hunter said dismally, "or Alethia did." "Listen children to a story That was written long ago About a kingdom on a mountain And the valley folk below On the mountain was a treasure Buried deep beneath the stone And the valley people swore They would have it for their very own." - Coven "There, and stay right where you are." Tarheel had opened the passenger side door to the cab of a utility truck. The truck was a sickly blend of green and tan with a dark green canvas stretched over it's back. He placed Alethia in the passenger seat, which stank of old, battered leather, and pulled an extra handkerchief out of his duffel bag. He blindfolded Alethia with it and the shut the door to the side, barely rocking the heavy body of the truck on it's wheels. Tarheel picked his duffel bag off the ground and then walked around the back to the driver's side of the truck. He heaved the door open and pulled himself into the seat. He took a pair of keys out of his shirt pocket and looked to see if the number engraved on them matched the number on the tag hanging from the rearview mirror. Seeing that they did, he turned on the engine and slowly pulled it out of the parking space. Alethia, bound, blindfolded, and gagged, could feel the powerful hum of the truck absorbed by her body. She was aware that they were moving now, and in the process of leaving the garage. She knew she was being taken to this mysterious Dace, at a mother base somewhere- right now she was leaving from somewhere. This Dace might want her- Tarheel felt Dace might want her. Why? Because she was Perrisian. What does anything have to do with being Perrisian? Why won't anyone explain everything to her? Why are they so secretive? Where were her Heartfriends? Alethia began to squirm a little, and Tarheel saw her out of the corner of his eye. Growing tired of it all, he growled at her. "If you start that all up again, I'll speed this truck up and then slam on the brakes, sending you through that front window. An' I don't care if I lose you under a tire. I'll just tell Dace you weren't what he wanted, anywise." A wanted what? "Arrrgh!" Tarheel exclaimed, putting his hand to his head as the words seared through his skull. He gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes as if he were suffering an ice cream headache and temporarily lost control of the vehicle. "Hell's bells!" Tarheel cried as he hurriedly looked up and grabbed the steering wheel. Being too late, he widened his eyes in terror as he smashed right into the side of a car coming in the opposite direction which had made a mad attempt to avoid Tarheel's oncoming. Tarheel was thrown over the dashboard, despite the fact he had actually been wearing his seat belt. He watched Alethia lift from her seat and go flying forward. Tarheel shot his hand out and grabbed Alethia by the seat of her pants and heaved her back into her seat before she could hit the window. Tarheel immediately stopped the truck and strapped Alethia down. He then opened his door and jumped down to the garage floor. "What the h***, Man!!!?" a Cano wearing shades said, coming towards Tarheel who had just rounded the back end of the truck. Another Cano was slowly getting out of the struck car and walking around to the side to look at the smashed-in body. "I'm sorry," Tarheel apologized, "I lost my concentration for a second-" "Geez, do you know the trouble I'm getting for this!? I just pulled in here from Midway! The frithin' car belongs to one of the lieutenants there! H*** on wheels, you are- I'll get the frithin' wrap for this one! Damned Lieutenant Snyde never liked me much in the first place- he'd love to boot me so hard in the butt I'd get a hunchback, and he'll use this as an excuse! Snitter! Would you believe this!?" the agitated dog with the sunglasses called over his shoulder at the passenger. Snitter put an arm on the hood of the damaged car and leaned forward, sneezing with laughter. "This could only happen to you, Target! I'll say ol' Lieutenant Snyde will have your a**!" From where she sat, Alethia, gagged, bound, blindfolded, and strapped, listened intently to the conversation. She tried to see the situation with her mind's eye, but her penetration of Tarheel had drained her of what weak resolve she had. "Look, I'm sorry it happened- h***, I'm sorry you were stupid enough to borrow ol' Snyde's car of anyone's. But I had some problems with my prisoner an-" "Geez, what the h*** is this!?" Target exclaimed, "you too? Bad day for prisoners, I guess." "What do you mean?" Tarheel questioned, "someone else got a prisoner?" "Yeah, you could say that," Target said, moving away. He rolled down the window of the damaged car and with Snitter's help, began to push it, steering it with his right arm. They began to slowly move it down the row. Tarheel began to follow them. "They brought one in while I was still at Midway. Took four Canoes to get that ****er in. I don't know, some wolf of some sort. Gore said it was Garou- whatever the h***. They had it muzzled an' a leather mask over it's face and eyes. Damned thing was unconscious at the time, but even in sleep it was an animal of rage." "What do they expect to do with something like that?" Tarheel asked, his curiosity definitely aroused, "at least, at Midway?" "Oh, it's not staying at Midway," Target replied, dropping his head and shaking it. "It's going on to Mother. I don't know when they're starting the move, but it's going to Mother eventually. I expect Dace will see to it, then. They aren't sure when the drugs will shrug off- and you know anyone just coming back from such a state is hard to control! And then, just imagine that thing coming off it! Uh uh, I wouldn't see to the shipment of that thing in a million years. Anyways, they don't want the beast coming roun' while they're on the road- that'll be a bout of driving worse than yours! So they're keeping `im at Midway until the drugs fall back and he wakes. Then they'll knock him out with another round and get him immediately on the road and hurry to Mother." "They haven't brought this...Gr...Gaueur...this...wolf to any of the other bases, have they?" Tarheel asked. "One before," Snitter piped up from his push-side of the car, "what was it, Target? They brought him in to Midway from...One Clocks, right?" "One Clocks or Three Clocks," Target mused, "only I don't remember too well. H***, what's with your prisoner?" "And I thought she was a handful," Tarheel said, scratching his chin in amusement. Target raised his eyebrows at "her". "Female prisoner?" Target asked, his eyes hidden behind his shades. "Yeah, but hardly a problem after I hear of this other." "Oh, I don't know," Target said, looking forward again, "if you want her in good shape - heh - you'll have to protect her from those pushy soldiers. That's some work, if you'll ask me." "Yeah, when one considers Rio," Tarheel murmured, heading back to the truck. Target heard him. "Rio? That stiff bastard still around?" Tarheel didn't answer but continued on towards the truck and hopped up into the cab. He pulled the door shut and looked at Alethia momentarily. She was still, her head turned to the front. Tarheel rubbed the back of his neck and started the truck up again. Tarheel certain that Alethia was going to behave for at least a while, concentrated on the pavement before him. Within fifteen minutes he had pulled out of the garage and out onto a road that disappeared onto a confusing one under the fitful protection of hundreds of trees. "So the people of the valley Sent a message up the hill Asking for their buried treasure Tons of gold for which they'd kill Came an answer from the kingdom: `With our brothers we will share All the secrets of our mountain All the riches buried there." - Coven Hunter paced up and down the operations room, the others blending in with the dismal walls. The Master hung above them dejectedly, his eyes dimming with defeat. Huntress glimpsed him and then whipped her head towards Hunter. "Perhaps we can give it another day..." Huntress began. "Another day?" Hunter demanded, "Isn't it odd enough that Alethia hasn't come back yet? If she were coming back at all, don't you think she would have done that by now? Something is keeping her from us...when I find out who, I'll bite them full of holes." "All right, then," Colleen said, coming up beside the pacing figure, "forget waiting another day, then. Then let's act. If she can't come to us, then we'll just have to go to her." "But how?" Exile asked, joining the second group. "The whole business is whereski our comrade is." "I don't give a frith," Hunter commented, "I'll call every tail-chasing agent we have." "Every tail-chasing..." Colleen echoed. "Hunter? Do you mean to call to everyone? Every agent here? We've over a hundred. We don't even know half of their names. Some have never spoken to us face to face." "She's right," Blitz countered, "the only times all Rovers have been together are on our recreation days, and even then we don't meet with many of them. We spend most our time as the main team on the floor with the headsets and microphones, directing the crowd." "Then we'll direct them from the floor, then. We'll be there and we'll talk over the problem. We'll listen to comments and questions from the crowd," Hunter said, stopping his pacing as he pieced it all together in his head. "'But Hunter, putting together such an event will take days. We'll lose a lot of time that we could be using to search for Alethia." "Then I suggest we get on it, now. We are starting from nowhere, anyways. Perhaps this way we'll have a better chance." Hunter spun on his heels and faced the Master. "Master? Would you start summoning all of our agents?" The Master nodded and disappeared. Hunter turned back to the others. "Come on, we've got a lot to do. Shag, Muzzle, and Blitz- listen to me. The agents will be coming in at different intervals. We'll make the meeting two days from now, that way all the agents have enough time to get here." "Hunter, we haven't luges for the agents!" Colleen was exclaiming. "Remember how Cleo was complaining about that? What are we going to do about getting all those dogs here from all over the world in just a day after this?" "I'm going to contact the Space Rovers right now," Hunter answered, "the only dogs who are Cano Sapiens around the clock. I'll have several of them take planes out and start picking up our dogs. I'm also sending you and Exile out on separate flights. I'd like you to leave in a few hours." "I fall asleep at the stick," Colleen said, shaking her head sadly. "Then get as many agents here as you can before midnight. Then you can leave again the next morning after some rest. That goes for you, too, Exile." Exile nodded deliberately. Huntress, however, seemed uncertain of what her duty was. "What about me?" she asked, approaching her brother. "You help Shag and the rest with getting all those rooms ready. You know the ones I mean- the upper eastern and western wings. We'll need well over a hundred all ready- " "But you need more fliers than you have!" Huntress cut in sharply. "Let me take one of the planes and go after some of the agents. You need more pilots." "More pilots? All right, then. Blitz, Huntress is going to take your place on guest room duty. I need another pilot." "Check, Hunter," Blitz said, walking towards Exile and Colleen. "What!? But I-" Huntress protested. "Stop being so uncooperative," Hunter said, pushing her towards Shag and Muzzle. "'Now go and get started. That goes for all of you." "Now the valley cried with anger: `Mount your horses, draw your swords!' And they killed mountain people So they one their just reward Now they stood beside the treasure On the mountain dark and red Turned the stone and looked beneath it `Peace on Earth' Was all it said" - Coven Chavaleh, the beautiful red-headed husky was the first to arrive at Mission Control. She came a number of hours after Hunter's transmission to the Space Rovers. Persia had the husky picked up from her home in Poland and immediately discharged. Chavaleh had immediately taken it upon herself to exit her country using one of her own country's planes and navigated it herself. One of the first of the agents, which won her the title of the few, respected First-Walkers, she was a mature, deliberate character. Her expression could randomly change depending on her mood, which could change just as unexpectedly. She had changed briskly at Space Rover offices which heralded a more transportive version of the Trans-Dogmafier. Hunter was the only one in the hangar when she landed the small jet within. Chavaleh was wearing a tight blue tank top and her sienna brown pants. She had a dark pair of black shades perched atop the bridge of her nose and they hid her eyes, giving her a mysterious and exciting appearance. "Where's the whole party?" Chavaleh asked, hopping down from the wheeled stairwell Hunter had pushed up to the plane's side for her. "Cleaning rooms," Hunter replied, beginning to roll the stairwell away as soon as Chavaleh's high-heeled boots hit solid concrete. "Colleen, Blitz, and Exile are out picking up more of our agents, now." "Is that so?" Chavaleh mused, she strolled in her suggestive way into the main building, prancing down the halls leading away from the hangar. She immediately made her way into the kitchen where she plucked an apple out of a dish on one of the tables and then hoisted herself up onto the counter-top, swinging her legs. Hunter, who had followed her in, strode by her and to the refrigerator. He opened it up and peered inside. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a wine cooler. Chavaleh, who had been watching him, gestured towards herself. "Give one here." Hunter stuck his head back inside the refrigerator and pulled out one for Chavaleh. He tossed it across the room towards her, and she set down her apple to catch it. Smiling, she hurriedly opened it. "You wouldn't believe how long it's been," she said, concentrating on her drink, "I've haven't been called to duty in awhile. It's been even longer since I've the chance to resort back to some `human' behavior. This is something...great. It's good you've called me here, for whatever reason. I was beginning to think you weren't needing my aid any longer. No troubles, eh?" "Well, we haven't had anything major happen," Hunter said, coming up, and then he paused, "well, at least, not in the past." Chavaleh acted as if she didn't notice the suggestion in the last piece, for she concentrated on herself for a few moments and then dropped her arms in her lap and lifted her head, sighing. "I know what it was that I wanted," Chavaleh said, looking straight forward, "where's the Perrisian? I wanted to ask her something- I need some advice." Hunter sighed and looked away a moment and then turned his head towards Chavaleh. "She's gone, Chava." Chavaleh was silent a moment and then looked back up at Hunter in confusion. "When will she be back?" "Chava..." Hunter began, but then fell silent. He walked around to her front so that he was facing her, and then pulled up a chair and turned it around, sitting down on it improperly. "Chava...that is why you're here." "I don't understand," Chavaleh said slowly, pushing her shades up on top of her head so as to look at Hunter better. Hunter reached up and took her hands in his. "Chavaleh, listen to me..." Hunter explained everything to Chavaleh, beginning with the night where everyone was trying to sit through a meditation session and ending with his idea for the giant agent meeting. In the end, Chavaleh didn't look unchanged nor unmoved. She stared at Hunter emptily and then put a hand up to her mouth. She shook her head from side to side with sickness. "Who would? Who would hurt her? She has never done anything to anyone. Of all people; how could anyone hurt her? They can't! They can't hurt her! They can't! Not her...not after everything..." "Chava," Hunter said with a creased brow, "people have hurt her before in many ways, and they will, again. She has been hurt all her life." Hunter's mind dulled and he fell silent. So many ways, he thought dimly, so many other ways she's been abused, taken advantage of, and violated, and the others don't even know the whole of it. Chavaleh seemed to know what Hunter was thinking for she jumped from the counter to the floor, landing smartly. She opened her mouth and spoke. "'Hunter, I know about what's gone on in her life. I know, I can see it on her face and in her eyes. I..." Chavaleh moved away from Hunter and stood in the middle of the kitchen. Her jazz and exuberant posture was gone. Instead, she stood still, looking up and ahead. Hunter got to his feet and approached her. "I'm taking the jet," Chavaleh announced, and began to walk away. "Wait!" Hunter cried, grabbing a hold of her arm and pulling her back. "Where are you going? You can't walk out on her!" "Who's walking out!?" Chavaleh cried in anger, pulling away and looking at Hunter in anger. "It hurts me that you think I would turn my back on her! I'm taking the jet, Hunter, and I'm going to go looking for her." Chavaleh began to walk off again, but Hunter reacted in the same way. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to him. "Are you crazy!? It's obvious she's not out in the open! Besides, who knows what has her! If you do find her, what are you going to do!?" "Let me go, Hunter! I'm not playing! Let me go! I mean it!" "I'm not until you listen to me. And I mean it, too. You can help her by going out and helping to pick up agents! That's what you can do for now, Chavaleh! That's all you can do for now, Chava!" Chavaleh fell quiet and then turned away from Hunter and threw her back against one of the tables. She crossed her arms over her front and looked down. "Things began to get for me the way they had always been for her," Chavaleh said dismally in a low voice. "I began to...experience things. We talked, then, long and hard. She turned me around and saved my tail from all the fiery hells she tread through in her past. She helped me when she couldn't even help herself. She's has done so much...she has meant so much to me." "I know," Hunter replied, "she's done a lot for everyone. If anyone, I understand your feelings, so I am sorry that I reacted a little shortly." "Nevermind that," Chavaleh said, "I'm going to my jet to go about picking up agents." "'As many as you can before midnight," Hunter said, beginning to walk away. I'm going to radio Persia to see how it's going." Chavaleh nodded and then was on her way. "Why do we never get an answer When we're knocking at the door? With a thousand million questions About hate and death and war Coz when we stop to look around us There is nothing that we need In a world of persecution That is burning in it's greed." - The Moody Blues In a few hours Alethia began to get restless and squirmed back and forth in her seat. She began to let out small noises of anger and frustration as she twisted her head. Tarheel turned his head to look at her. His eyes grew wide when he saw her completely straighten up in her seat and heave herself against the back of it. There was a loud creaking from the stressed, old chair as Alethia heaved herself against the back of it a second time. She ground her feet into the floor of the cab and thrust herself backwards again, exerting as much force as she could. With another thrust she managed to move her blindfold upon her forehead and then rub it away by using the head rest, revealing her glistening eyes. "Oh, you..." Tarheel began to swear. Alethia drowned him out and concentrated on her frustration. She heaved up her tied legs and crashed her feet into the dashboard, splintering it's cracked frame and causing the glove box to burst open and spew it's contents. Various objects rained into her lap, and among the rubble, Alethia noticed something that caused something in her to swell. She shut her eyes and screamed as loudly as she possibly could against the gag, and threw herself her hardest against the back of the seat, her muffled screaming growing louder and louder. She threw herself backwards one more time so hard that the seat broke right in half, severing the seat belt. Eyes wide, Alethia let out a cry of surprise and fell over backwards and through the window glass. "Ah, for-" Tarheel didn't finish but pulled the truck to the side of the road in a fairly good break of trees where there was a clearing. He opened his door and jumped down, slamming it shut behind him, leaving Alethia to pant heavily and exhale through her nose. He began to make his way around the back of the truck. Lying on her back, now, Alethia noticed, looking up, that there were still remnants of glass hanging on the bent frame of the large window. She studied them as carefully as a few seconds could possibly allow. She turned her head towards the passenger door, her eyes bulging. She then turned her head back so that she was looking back up at the bent frame again. Biting into her gag, she carefully yet quickly heaved her legs up towards the still, fighting to stay attached shards still hanging from the frame. Alethia began rubbing her leg bindings against them, twisting and turning on her back as she fought to raise herself higher off the ground and closer to the glass. Tarheel muttered the whole way around the truck. He snarled as he kicked a stone out of his way, sending it skipping and then spiraling out of sight. For a moment he wished it was Alethia's head; he was tired of the trouble she was causing him. If she wasn't getting herself into perverted hands such as Rio's, she was either biting agents at Four Clocks or causing him to collide his vehicle with another. Now, there was this. For an instant he seriously thought about just leaving the prisoner, but then he knew somehow she would work her way back to her teammates and cause trouble for Dace and all the rest. Instead, he thought maybe he would just knock her unconscious for the rest of the ride and then feed her to the Garou at Midway. "I don't care what Target said," Tarheel said as he approached the cab of the truck, "I'd much rather have that insane wolf on my hands. Stupid bitch..." Tarheel grabbed the handle of the passenger door and yanked it open with a force fed by anger and frustration. Suddenly, two legs shot out of the open doorway and kicked Tarheel in the chest, hard. Tarheel fell backwards and hit the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He raised his head, panting and gasping, his arms barely lifted off the ground, watching laboriously as Alethia's full body appeared where only the bottom of the seat was left. She struggled in her awkward position, but then managed to stand up on her free legs as tall as she could in the cab. Alethia backed up against the shattered window frame, and she put her bound hands against the broken window. She moved her hands back and forth across the protruding glass and cut the ties around her wrists on the splintered frame. Alethia let out a moan of relief and thrill as her fists separated and the bindings fell away. She moved her arms out from behind her back - a position they had been frozen in for well over a day - and stretched them out at her sides. She put her hands up in front of her face and examined them, massaging their backs with drained, colorless fingers. Slipping into posture, Alethia moved her hands up to her mouth and pulled away her gag with her free hands. She flipped her hair with her head and discarded the twisted handkerchief that had served as an obstacle for both her words and her teeth. She stared hatefully at Tarheel, curling her lips. Tarheel, both too astounded and winded to jump to his feet and tackle her, watched with wide-eyed amusement. Screwing up her eyes, Alethia crouched and grabbed up a large shard of glass lying on the dirty floor of the cab. She then straightened up and tentatively moved a foot towards the edge of the passenger doorway. Her eyes stormy and terrifying, she completely surprised Tarheel by leaping at him rather then just running, like he expected her to do. "You killed him! You killed him!" She cried, as she wielded the glass towards Tarheel's upper body. Tarheel, mouth open and eyes wide, rolled out of the way and got to his feet, watching Alethia wearily. "You killed him!" She repeated. Her hair was wild and hanging in her face, her posture bent and expanding and collapsing with each deep pant of breath. In a normal state of mind Alethia would have known that what she was doing was crazy, and that she had only the power to get herself killed; but Alethia wasn't in her normal state of mind... "I've killed who? I don't know what the h*** you're talking about. You are obviously out of your mind," Tarheel replied, walking circles with Alethia, who kept about face. She held the glass out in front of her, moving like a night cat. "Don't lie to me! That's a lie times a thousand!" Alethia shrieked, leaping at Tarheel again. He swiftly moved out of the way, and she stumbled but regained her balance. "I found all the evidence I need in your truck!" "It's not even my truck!" Tarheel cried in confused protest. He watched Alethia closely, looking for a counter attack. She leapt again, but Tarheel simply moved out of the way, leaving the two to stare at one another face on again. "Then who's is it?! Which one of you is the Dogstarian bastard!? Which one of you!? Which one got away!? If Heart-eaters dance in courts, than he is their King!" "And you their jester!" Tarheel shouted. He crouched down into postion, clenching his fists and moving his arms behind his back. He sprung up and off of his coiled legs, flying at Alethia. She was unprepared for both his attack and weight and they both hit the ground together. The glass skirted his shoulder, creating a tear that blood began to seep up and out of. However, with this came the catch; Alethia lost possession of her weapon. "Royal fool," Tarheel said as he pinned her into the earth, "you've really asked for it now." These words in particular hit Alethia's ears loudly as his weight sunk against her and rendered her helpless. She suddenly became very frightened as past horrors began to scream through her brain. Funny, I've regraduated to the seventh h***, again, she thought dismally. Only her thoughts began to deteriorate, and she wasn't able to think rationally any longer ( like she had been thinking rationally when she decided to attack the giant, muscular German Shepherd ). Her fear began to conquer her and she found herself losing control. She began to get lost in her past and her fear of it starting all over again. She squirmed against Tarheel's sinking chest and oppressive weight. Alethia couldn't think or collect her thoughts. All that masqueraded through her head was a ramble of nonsense and giant fears with laughing, grinning, mouthfulls of teeth and the Dogstar insignia reflected in their eyes. Tarheel wasn't moving, but Alethia could feel him moving. Dear God, she could feel him. Meanwhile, Tarheel glanced down at his prisoner in both startle and confusion. He wasn't too sure about what she was thinking, but she was definitely acting strangely. However, he had a small idea of her problem at the back of his mind. Suddenly Alethia cried out, and Tarheel pulled himself to a conclusion. "You promised, Hunter! You promised never again!" Alethia turned her head to the side and closed her eyes, her mouth slightly open in a beat of defeat. Her mind fading in and out with visions of Gage. Tarheel was almost sure of his revelations. Just to make sure, he slowly moved his pelvis against hers, and he got a taut reaction from Alethia who stiffened her body in fear. He looked amused for a moment and then got up to his feet. Alethia lay on the ground, her mind screaming at her to run but she couldn't get her bloodless legs to move. "Interesting thought," Tarheel said to her, "but unlikely. I HAVE a girlfriend." Alethia rolled onto her back and stared up at him, panting, She watched him with clouded eyes. "Damn you're strange. What the h*** set you off back there?" Tarheel asked. Alethia, panting, sat up. She put her arms behind her to prop her up. She wouldn't run, for she couldn't. She wouldn't fight, for she would fail. Moving her arms back out in front of her, she rubbed her wrists, drawing up her legs. "Pull out that glove box rubble and I'll show you." Tarheel creased a brow and raised a lip in disorient. Keeping a steady eye on her, he leaned in the open passenger door and scooped up the assortment on the floor. "Well?" he asked, backing out of the doorway and turning around to face her. He had a collection of papers and other things in his hands. Without a word, Alethia pointed out something in particular swinging in Tarheel's hands. "What, this?" he asked, examining it, "it's just some old collar with the name `Alethia' on it." "Why do we never get an answer When we're knocking at the door? Coz the truth is hard to swallow That's what the war of love is for." - The Moody Blues "Renegade always wore Alethia's collar, and Alethia always wore his," Huntress explained to Exile. "Like you were sayingski earlier, a boyfriend girlfriend thing," Exile replied. "Umhmm," Huntress voiced, nodding her head, "only I think it was much more important to the two then what we can just imagine." Huntress and Exile were sitting in a corner of the kitchen, talking back and forth. Exile, who had just parked his for the night, was tired and sore. It was now 11:12 at night, and he was exhausted. He had been going all day, picking up agents, and now had had thirty-four of them to show for it. He slouched tiredly, his eyelids falling and his mouth constantly emmitting yawns. Chavaleh had pulled in about fifteen minutes after Exile and loosed twenty-four agents on Mission Control. Blitz had come in the same time as Chavaleh with a planeful of twenty-nine agents. The whole lot of them were all gathered now in the kitchen, all waiting patiently for a bite to eat. Shag was working his hardest to shell it all out, but he found himself SERIOUSLY doubling all the recipes. Two agents, Meh-lee, the Welsh Corgi from Wales, and Nighthunter, the Belgian Shepherd from Belgium, were doing their best to help him. Chavaleh approached both Exile and Huntress, pulling black gloves away from her hands. The two looked up as she stopped before them. "Looks like we got a good number of them in, eh?" Chavaleh stated. "What have we, eighty-seven?" "Da," Exile nodded his head tiredly, "we must have for me to feel this tired." Chavaleh nodded in agreement and then turned her gaze to Huntress. Huntress looked back in utter quiet and attention. "Hey kid, how are you holding up?" Chavaleh asked. For some reason, "kid" sounded more revolting coming from Chavaleh than from Hunter. Huntress wasn't too sure herself, but she thought it might be due to the fact that Chavaleh was serious about it. "I hold up nothing around here. I clean frithin' rooms..." "Watch your mouth, kid," Hunter, who was apparently disgruntled, said, walking through the doorway to their extreme left. He walked by, slapping her correctively in the back of the head for her infraction and then continuing on to the other end of the kitchen where Shag was feverishly cooking as fast as he could. Exile, Chavaleh, and Huntress turned their heads, watching him blankly. Huntress had a hand on the back of her head, although there was no pain. "You see that?" Huntress said, her surprised expression taking a turn for frustration. Chavaleh turned her head back towards Huntress. "I want to go out flying with rest of you. I can handle a plane or a jet by myself, and this whole process would go much faster. Come on, Chavaleh, tell Hunter to let me go tomorrow. You ask him, Chava, he'll listen to you. He has respect for you." Chavaleh moved her head back and laughed long and hard, her shades reflecting and bending light sent by the overhead ceiling lights. "All right, all right," Chavaleh laughed smartly. She paced across the room towards Hunter, still laughing, no real intention of putting up a good fight for Huntress. However, Huntress followed Chavaleh's path with hopeful eyes. Hunter was in the extreme kitchen area, hovering just behind the mad caperings of Shag, Meh-lee, and Nighthunter. He was leaning without conviction with his back against one of the counters which, unfortunately for Shag and his cooking crew, was where all the ingredients and assortment of utensils were sitting. Hunter, who looked like he was about to bite off the head of the first, unaware soul to come drifting his way, refused to move for anyone, and with an exasperation of sighs and groans that were growing louder with each inconvenience, Shag was forced to both reach and work around him. Hunter nonchalantly slugged a soda and boredly set it down on the counter. "Whoohoo, Hunter," Chavaleh teased, stepping up in front of him. Her smile instantly faded when she saw the way he was looking at her - sort of a combination of resent and disdain - and she furrowed her brow. "Oh, come on. You've grown steadily worse as the day progressed. Is this how you want your agents to see their powerful leader?" Chavaleh turned her back on Hunter and put her arms behind her back, marching only a few paces. She then spun around on her heels and discarded her glasses. "Oh, what an honor!" she squealed, clasping her hands together. Hunter raised an eyebrow. "So many years I've worked in my field under the distant command of this powerful, great dog! I always dreamt of the day we would meet face to face! Oh, my name is Miss S***-For-Luck, and I am your dutiful agent out in Abu Dabi and- oh! My head! Where has it gone!? What happened to it?! Why? Why? Why..." Hunter looked at Chavaleh unamused, his arms folded across his chest. Chavaleh simmered down from her performance, a smirk across her face as her example of an agent's first meeting with Hunter came to a close. She heard a faint ovation coming from a group of guys not too far away. Chavaleh turned on her heels and faced them, blowing kisses and bowing ridiculously. "Stop it, Chava," Hunter warned, his expression turning even darker and more forbidding. "Oh!" Chavaleh exclaimed in false surprise, "does that embarrass you? What about this, does this embarrass you?" Chavaleh threw her arms around Hunter's neck, seized his muzzle and kissed him hard, making overexaggerated noises with her mouth. Hunter put his arms out at his sides, his eyes as wide as saucers. He pryed Chavaleh off of him with his hands, and she fell away from him, laughing hysterically. Huntress's expression changed from sheer surprise to delight. Exile watched, unbelieving. "Chava..." Hunter choked in a strange voice. "You see?" Chava exclaimed, putting a hand to her hip and pointing at him with the other, her head turned over her shoulder and looking in Huntress's direction, "He doesn't respect me, neither!" Chavaleh laughed and looked back at Hunter. She poked a little more fun. "Aw, come on. Who are you saving yourself for?" she asked, wiping her mouth with her hand, "Colleen?" "Or Alethia?" Blitz said. He had come up to the counter behind Chavaleh and was leaning his elbow on it, his head rested in his left hand, a lazy grin on his face. "You shutup!" Hunter shouted, turning and pointing a finger at Blitz. Blitz yawned to further emphasize his disalarm. "Oh Hunter, lighten up!" Chavaleh said, bobbing her hair. "I don't know what caused you to snap today, but you've created a lot of misery for everyone." "Misery? You don't know what misery is! Go talk to Alethia- she can tell you! She's in misery right now! She was in misery when we found her! And thanks to us, she's in misery again! Go and ask her about misery! Go and ask her what it's like to see your loved ones die! Go and ask her what it's like to receive your boyfriend's head in a box! Go and ask her what it's like to be raped!" When the room fell dead silent Hunter stopped, breathing heavily. He turned and looked at all the eyes that were on him, bodies still with shock. A rancid headache cutting it's teeth on his skull, Hunter turned and stormed out of the room, everyone watching him depart. Hunter hurried to the Front Hall doors and went outside the building. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he began down the dirt path of the Tree Walk, his mind numb. "'Oh, Alethia!" he said aloud, "I am so sorry! I gave up your secret! I am so sorry!" Hunter stopped and thought dismally to himself. Then, something crossed his mind, and he qucikly disappeared. Back in the kitchen, nervous conversation had started up, and Chavaleh walked back to where Exile and Huntress sat, still in a state of a shock. "Man, I feel rotten," Chavaleh exclaimed, dropping her head. "Did you know? How did Hunter know?" Huntress began, her mind dimming and swirling. "He just came in at the right time," Chavaleh said, rubbing the back of her neck dismally, "and yeah, I knew too. I wasn't a witness, though. I was told later by Alethia herself." "Did you know about this, Exile?" Huntress asked, turning her head to the pained husky. "Somehow, I always knew, in the back of my mindski..." Exile faltered off. "I never wanted to believe it, though. I guess, nowski I have to." "You both knew about this? How come I was never told?" "Think about that for awhile," Chavaleh replied. Suddenly there was another surge of Cano Sapiens through the doorway, scattering uncertainly into the large kitchen and dining area. They looked in bewilderment and then a few in front turned their heads to Chavaleh, who only stood and looked back. Chavaleh sighed and bowed her head, rubbing her eyes. She then jerked her head to where Shag and his helpers were working. "Just blend in," Chavaleh said, gesturing for the group of thirty-three to continue into the room, "the big guy is fixing you all something to eat." The new arrivals nodded their heads and moved on into the room. As soon as they were out of the three's fur, Colleen appeared in the doorway. "Well," she exclaimed, sagging herself against the doorframe and removing her gloves, "I am certainly in for the night." She stared in surprise at the dismal faces. "Chavaleh! I see you've arrived! When did you get in?" Chavaleh didn't answer, but looked tiredly at Exile. He returned the grim face while Huntress could hardly contain herself, eager to let Colleen in on the big secret. "All right, what's going on, Chava?" Colleen asked, crossing her arms. "You're more gregarious and wittier than me. What's going on?" "I can tell her," Huntress said, looking at Chavaleh hopefully, proud to know something Colleen didn't. "Tell me what?" Colleen asked. No answer. "Chava, tell me what?" "Well go on," Chavaleh said, making eye-contact with Huntress, "tell her." "And then the tide rushes in And washes my castles away And now I'm really not so sure Which side of the bed I should lay I should lay..." - The Moody Blues "How do I know you aren't lying to me? How can I be sure that you just didn't make this whole thing about that collar up? You've never told me your name before now. What if you just said it was after seeing that collar?" Tarheel demanded. Alethia screwed up her eyes. "A heart doesn't lie, only the mouth does," she replied. "Yeah?" Tarheel asked, "and what's that supposed to mean?" "I can't lie- at least my heart can't. Hearts never tell lies. It's the mouth that lies to you." Then how do I know it's not your mouth speaking to me now?" Alethia widened her eyes and stared at Tarheel hard, slowly turning her head. Tarheel immediately became uneasy, apprehensive of what else she could do with her mind. He turned his gaze, almost as if he were afraid to make eye contact with her. It was late at night, and pitch black at that. The two had settled down for the night in the clearing where their face-off had taken place hours earlier. There was a contained fire burning brightly nearby, glowing on their faces. Tarheel sat on one side of the fire pit's circumference on a sleeping bag, with Alethia on the other side, sitting on the ground. Her arms and legs were once again bound, and she was sitting awkwardly. Alethia had told Tarheel all about the incident with Renegade, and the switch of the collars. Tarheel had listened intently. He had found excitement in listening to the story Alethia had- excitement not in a tragic death, but the chance to hear the greatest Cano Sapien legend from it's sole survivor. Tarheel moved his arms out behind his body and rested his weight on them. He thought about kicking his boots off and settling down to sleep, but he just slouched backwards, strangely too tired to sleep. There came a strange sound in the distance, which caused Alethia to raise her ears cautiously. She widened her eyes and turned her head, searching the darkness. Tarheel, who had heard it too, sat up straight. When headlights began to approach the clearing he shot to his feet, panting. "Dammit..." he said angrily. He pulled a knife out of his boot and strode to Alethia who watched him with wide eyes. He forced her to her feet and tightened his body behind hers, breathing in her ear. "I'm letting you know now that if anything happens to me, you're in deep s***. That's why," he said, lowering his blade towards her bound wrists, "since you are my prisoner, I give you permission to run. If anything should happen to me, you run." Tarheel cut the bindings on Alethia's hands as three utility trucks began to slow to a stop in the clearing. He then moved down to her leg bindings. "Why?" Alethia asked, "Why are you doing this for me?" Tarheel cut the bindings on her legs and then stood back up, putting his blade away. "Because if they catch you, those bastards will ruin you. They don't have any respect for the fact that you are the last of a powerful, capable race who's stories and conflicts are still passed on from envious dog to another. They'll ruin you, Alethia. Now sit down and pretend you are still bound." Alethia did what she was told, dizzy with confusion. Why was Tarheel acting so worriedly? Alethia was given a visual answer when she saw the lead truck come to a complete stop and a savagely drunk Rio step down out of the driver's door and sag against the side of the cab. "Well, well, well, Tarheel!" Rio exclaimed in a heavy voice. Another dog, the one Alethia recognized as Leed, stepped out of the passenger's side, equally as drunk. The other two trucks pulled to a slow stop, and their passengers each stepped out, all as sulfur as any hard-core alcoholic. There were six of them altogether, and one Tarheel and one weak Alethia. "Imagine us meeting you on the road!" Rio continued. "Yeah, imagine that," Tarheel said in false humor. He regarded Rio with a wary gaze. Rio slammed the driver's door shut, giving Tarheel and Alethia each a heavy, wicked grin. "And look, boys, it's that Rover that gave us so much trouble earlier. Hey, sweetheart! Did you miss us?" Alethia screwed up her eyes in distaste and frowned. Rio smiled at her from across the campsite, and then turned his attention again to Tarheel. "What are you and all the rest doing here?" Tarheel demanded, "You can't possibly tell me you all have been transferred." "'Transferred? H*** no," Rio exclaimed, laughing in his drunken manner. "We just came out for a little experience. We've come to see that Garou. We're traveling all the way to Midway to see th' damned monster." "The Garou?" Tarheel repeated quietly to himself. Whether or not he wanted him to, Rio heard. "'That's right. That Target fella came int' Four Clocks all stories an' all. Said they was keeping a big brute at Midway. Naturally, us boys, never to be out on the fun, decided to go and have a look. Huh- Tarheel, you and the girl headed that way?" Tarheel looked as if he weren't going to answer for a moment, but then nodded his head. "Yes. We're stopping there." "Only stopping?" Rio began, slowly advancing in a horribly unbalanced manner. Tarheel straightened up in uneasiness. "You continuing on to Mother, Officer? Imagine that." Rio turned his head to look at the others, who smiled back at him devilishly. "And, uh, how is the prisoner-carry? Nice shoulder wound, Officer. She causing you a little trouble?" "She's more than a handful," Tarheel said gruffly, giving a quick glance to the tear in his shirt where Alethia had sunk the shard of glass into his flesh, "more trouble than I like to be in." Rio scratched his head and then the back of his neck. "Tell you what, Tarheel. You look like you've been through enough h*** already. What say we do the big favor of taking that girl off your hands? You were meeting up with Dash, weren't you? That's more than enough. If you're not going to be getting anything from this girl here for all the trouble, why not spare yourself the h***? We're more than willing to help you out with this little problem of yours- aren't we, boys?" As Rio looked to his leering group, Alethia gave him a dirty look. He looked at Alethia dead-on, smiling wickedly at her. "`Fraid not, Rio," Tarheel said, backing up a little but then firmly planting his feet. "I know Dace would like to see her." "I don't think you appreciate what we're trying to do for you, Tarheel. You will, though, once you're on the road again for a peaceful, uneventful ride... Tossle, Valid," Rio said, turning his head to two of his group and then snapping and extending his arm in Alethia's direction, "go take care of Tarheel's burden." Alethia writhed and twisted backwards, not ready to bring her one-shot freedom to light. Two large, drunken dogs approached her, calling to her in a condescending tone. "Back the h*** away," Tarheel lowered his voice, drawing a gun and pointing it at the two dogs who were only inches away from Alethia's fear-paralyzed body. He held his aim steady from across the campsite, his front and attention turned away from Rio and now settled on Tossle and Valid, who straightened up away from Alethia slowly, turning their fronts cautiously in Tarheel's direction. "Boys," Rio exclaimed in the firelit darkness," it's obvious Tarheel doesn't know what's good for him. He'll thank us later, though." A sudden shot rang out from the darkness of the second truck that had arrived in second place moments earlier. Tarheel cried out in surprise as he was hit in the right shoulder and stumbled, dropping his gun. Almost immediately Tossle and Valid were upon him, throwing punches. Alethia leapt to her feet. "Dammit, Tarheel!" Rio cursed as he saw Alethia's actions. "You would do such a thing! What is is with people and this one girl?!" He waved in two others, and Alethia turned on her heels and instantly ran. The other two dogs, however, proved much quicker and prepared, and she cried out as one wrapped his forearms around her waist and took her down. Once they hit the ground she immediately began to squirm, trying to escape, yelling and heaving her knees towards the larger dog pinning her. She got a good kick into the dog's groin, and he released her, growling in pain. However, the other dog was nearby, and got a hold of her and thumped her hard, causing her to hit the ground in a huge amount of pain. The dog instantly rolled her over on her stomach and pulled her arms behind her back and sat down upon her. Alethia stilled, panting. Meanwhile, Rio had entered the campsite, near the fire pit, laughing. Tossle and Valid had raised Tarheel to his feet, who they had doubled over. Tarheel panted and then glared at the leering Rio. His nose was split and was running a fine path of blood down his face, neck, and chest. He had a deep cut above his eye, and his shot arm oozed an unnecessary amount of blood. "Well, what do you think, boys?" Rio asked, picking Tarheel's discarded gun off the ground and pressing it against Tarheel's head, who closed his eyes. "On the way to Midway, while trying to take advantage of the bitch, Tarheel's prisoner gained the upperhand and killed him with his own gun, and then we came along just after and caught the little whore trying to escape. Well, boys? What do you think?" Rio looked around at his group, who returned smiles. He began to lightly squeeze the trigger. "Yeah. That's what happened." Alethia heard a gunshot. Rio's gun flew from his hand and he screamed out in pain. He immediately covered the wounded flesh the intruding bullet had skimmed with his other hands and turned to face the attacker. "No, Rio, I think this is what happened..." Alethia looked up to see an extremely handsome dog beside the nearest truck, his brow furrowed and the gun in his hands aimed at Rio, who snarled in disbelief. It was the Beauceron that had been in the hallway with the other six the night before when Alethia had her first encounter with Rio. Near the Beauceron was what Alethia assumed to be his motorcycle. "...Tarheel and his Perrisian prisoner stopped to take a break when a very drunken ***hole named Rio and his five butt-sniffing friends came about. They shot at and wounded a Dace-appointed officer and attempted to kill him. All the same while, they, without any sort of written permission from Authority Officers, attempt to take the prisoner for their own and rape her and maybe even kill her before Dace even has the privilege to see her. Does that sound about it?" "Jedore, you stupid bastard!" Rio shouted in angry surprise, "you shot me!" "And I will again if you don't release Officer Tarheel immediately." Rio was silent a moment and then straightened up, laughing. He stared at Jedore hard. "Then go ahead," Rio smirked, "but you won't get all of us before you go down." "Ah, that may be true," Jedore agreed in a tone that reminded Alethia vaguely of Hunter's, "but who says they won't?" Out of the shadows stepped seven armed dogs. They all stared at Rio and his numbers darkly. Rio straightened up, panting in frustration. He then turned his aggravated expression into a stale smirk as he looked to his five dogs, all whom were on the verge of raising their palms in surrender. "Look who decided to join us after all, boys! Jedore! You said you weren't up to going to Midway earlier this day! Change of mind justification?" Jedore looked down his long nose at Rio in distaste. However, he didn't lower his gun, and neither did the others behind him. "I knew you were coming for more than the wolf, Rio," Jedore glared. "And what is with you?" Rio demanded in short temper. "You acted strangely about us taking her the night before. `She must belong to someone', you kept saying. What's gone down with you, Jedore? Where's your sense of fun?" "Sense of fun?" Jedore lowered his rifle a little and laughed. "You call this fun? First off I didn't feel that much like hauling my butt after your worthless pelt, but there are other things I call less fun. Raping a defenseless, unarmed, tied up prisoner for instance. Even you surprise me with your interpretation of the matter, Rio. I'm surprised you hadn't failed to see the sport in that." "Sport? Is that what this is all about?" Rio snarled with his own laughter. "We would have untied her and let her run around and try to escape each time only to catch her time and time again..." Alethia shrunk back in distaste and fear, huddling against the ground. The two dogs that had pursued her were standing, watching Jedore warily. Jedore caught sight of Alethia and looked at her in amusement. He then turned his head to two of his companions on his right. "Stargazer, North, go take care of the Rover. Be careful, though." Jedore then turned his gaze back to Rio. "And, Rio, I want you and the rest of your `buddies' to take off this instant and drive straight through to Midway. I don't want to be resting on the same road as you." Rio's smile quickly faded. "You're serious, aren't you?" "Damn straight," Jedore said, raising his gun again. Rio's face turned to shock and then to anger. "You dare to defy me!? Jedore, you're one of us!" "'Was," Jedore snarled. "I don't believe this!" Rio choked in surprise. "You're going to give up on us for some whore? What the h*** is the matter with you? Jedore!" "She's not everything, Rio," Jedore exclaimed, squinting his eye and looking down the barrel of his gun. "There was a lot before. She just helped to push it over the edge." There was a silent staring contest for a moment. Alethia was on her feet now, North and Stargazer abreast of her. She watched the glowing faces of all those in play as the flames leapt across their faces. She held her breath, scarcely daring to breathe. Was there going to be a showdown between all of these fiends? No honor among thieves... Rio gave Jedore a hard look, who only cocked his gun harder and began to squeeze the trigger. Suddenly Rio threw his arm to the side, snarling in anger and frustration. "C'mon!" he said, waving to his dogs with his wounded hand. Jedore and his dogs keeping a steady aim on them the whole time, Rio and the rest moved to their trucks, slamming the doors shut as they clambered in. The trucks started up one by one, and then sped off. Alethia was standing alone, watching the departure. Tarheel came limping up behind her, squeezing his wounded arm with his hand. "Don't expect them to stay gone, Alethia. I'm warning you. You've plenty of chances to risk escaping us, now. Just know that you don't know these woods, and it's dark and late at night. No one's a sneak thief around here like that furry bastard, Rio. He'll find you, no matter where you hide and in what conditions. He'll find you, and he'll take care of you, all right..." Tarheel and Alethia turned around as the Beauceron approached them. Tarheel attempted to straighten up a little. "I'm lucky you showed up when you did," Tarheel said, smiling weakly. "Don't sweat it, man," Jedore said, relocating his gun in a leg holster. He looked at Rio and then turned to Alethia. "You were one of them in the hallway the other night," Alethia said, watching him through tight eyes. Jedore looked at her, his face beginning to register worry. "Oh, well-" "You were the one who wanted nothing of hurting me," Alethia continued. Jedore relaxed. "You also were the one that raised your voice in my defense after I bit that girl." Jedore nodded. "Alethia, this is Jedore," Tarheel said, one of our finer soldiers. Jedore, this is Alethia, the Road Rover ambassador and the last Perrisian." "Perrisian?" Jedore asked, removing his hands from his hips and his eyes growing wide, "You're the last Perrisian? You?" Alethia nodded, still a little frightened of how Jedore may react. In Alethia's world, based on her race, she was either loved or hated. Some people could listen to the story of her life all their lives and still find a romantic and glorious outlook on it as if it had been the Great War. Some were deeply fascinated by all the details- making the timid Japanese Spitz a legend in their eyes- a timeless classic. However, there were cynics equally involved. Many blamed Alethia and her people for the reign of terror. They had led to the Cano joining of the Dogstar. They led to the loss of millions in government funding. This also led to some hate- a hate Alethia hated herself. She found a deep pain in this; a remorse and a resentment for such hatred directed at her. Outward blame had helped her to even blame herself for all that had happened in those moments of real h***. Jedore stopped and laughed, ultimately confusing Alethia. She watched him in her manner of confusion. "To meet her face to face!" Jedore then paused and smiled. "I'm glad I forced myself to come out here after Rio." The other dogs began to approach, and Jedore turned his head over his shoulder and watched them, smiling. He then turned back to Alethia, and stepped aside so that she may have a good look at her and Tarheel's rescue team. "Alethia, this is Gunshell, Guhrare-o, Zinc, Rev, and Snipes. These two behind you are North and Stargazer. Boys, this is Alethia, the last Perrisian." The others looked at her with wide eyes, their reactions just the same as Jedore's had been. Jedore looked on, smiling. "You are the last?" Stargazer asked, causing Alethia to turn around. She nodded in answer. About a half an hour later Jedore and his fellow soldiers had settled down around the fire with their own provisions, which had been strapped to their motorcycles. They began a small effort of talking, some laughing at instances Alethia hadn't been a part of and ultimately didn't understand. Tarheel was sitting to Alethia's right, and he watched her as she watched the others. Finally, he leaned towards her and whispered in her ear. "Not to let you in on the silent corruption and begin letting you think that you are a guest among us, but, I'll confess that you are much safer among these guys. Oh, they're rough, and real killers if they want to be, but, they're nothing like that miserable excuse for life like Rio and his group. Jedore and his aren't anything like his; they're not cold-hearted or monstrous. In fact, I'll even admit, if you were looking to have an uneasy friendship among any of us at any of the bases, Jedore would be the one to do it with." Alethia stared at Tarheel, both amused and a little touched by his decision to come forward with some underlying truths. She then caught sight of his arm, which he was still hanging onto in pain. "You've still that bullet in your arm? Why haven't you removed it yet?" "Why?" Tarheel asked, blinking, "Because none of them are one of the medics or even medic assistants. They're all just soldiers." "They don't even teach you soldiers how to take care of yourselves?" Alethia asked in surprise. "We were taught to kill," Tarheel answered. Alethia stopped and stared at him stiffly. Then, she raised her head and looked at him dead-on. "Well, I'm going to remove it. If you just let it there until we get to Midway, it may get infected before then." Tarheel didn't respond. As long as he didn't say no, Alethia was going to go on with it. She turned her head over her shoulder, ready to interrupt the others who were talking and laughing back and forth. "I wouldn't suppose one of you has some alcohol on him, or something," Alethia said, looking at the others. "I need a lighter, too." They looked back. However, Guhrare-o reached into his bag and pulled out a flask and tossed it to Alethia, who caught it easily- a simple game Hunter had taught her a while back. Zinc supplied her with the lighter. "But we're not reelers like Rio," Jedore assured her with bored eyes. Alethia was surprised when all turned back to their business. She watched them in disbelief, surprised they even didn't want to know what she wanted to do with it and that Tarheel's pain of the flesh had escaped their attention and even sympathy. "They're soldiers," Tarheel explained upon seeing Alethia's expression. Alethia turned her gaze to him. "You are strangers to Bushido," Alethia said, winding the cap off the flask. "Bushido?" Tarheel asked, turning his complete front to her. "What is that?" "Take off your shirt," Alethia replied without looking up. She began to gather things around her as Tarheel did what he was told. "Bushido. The way of the warrior. It is an ancient war code that all Japanese live by. You will fight respectfully and only with purpose and reason or you will not fight at all. It is also fitting and grand to die for the Empire, as well. The Japanese would rather die than become prisoners." Tarheel looked at the Japanese upon hearing this, waiting for her to continue. Alethia put a hand on Tarheel's chest and gently pushed him backwards. He complied and lay down on his back. Alethia poured the alcohol onto his wound, and he let out a short growl of pain. "Hand me your knife," Alethia said. Tarheel pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it to her. Alethia struck a flame on the lighter and ran it over the blade. She then pressed the knife's tip into his flesh, searching for the deep bullet and trying to dig it out. Tarheel tried to control his face, which was contorting with pain. "During the second World War, on the island of Saipan, innocent, non-belligerent children and women were told by the Japanese soldiers of all the horrible things Americans did to their prisoners. When the Americans captured Saipan, afraid of what the Japanese soldiers had said, hundreds of Japanese women and children threw themselves off the cliffs of Saipan, splattering and dismembering themselves across the rocks so far below. Women and children...they were afraid of imprisonment, and would rather blow themselves open across rocks. Videotape exists of this act, and I have watched with both a heavy and admirable heart." Before Tarheel could respond, Alethia dug into him with the blade sharply, causing him to grunt in surprise. However, he guessed it had removed the bullet, for immediately after she pressed her hands over the wound and pressed down hard, trying to control the blood. Still keeping her weight on his shoulder, she moved her head toward her turtle-neck collar and nipped at it, pulling some thread loose. She removed her hands from Tarheel and began to handle both the knife and thread. Since she hadn't a needle, she punctured holes in Tarheel's flesh and laboriously ran the thread through with her fingers. It was a long, slow, excruciating process. Alethia did the liberty of speaking again to keep the officer's attention. "Let me teach you a little Japanese trick," Alethia said, concentrating on her work. Tarheel listened intently. " A lot of people escape death by faking it. Snakes do it, birds do it, foxes do it, people do it. Sometimes in battle, you may drop your guard, thinking your opponent is dead- but perhaps he isn't. He may be faking it, and waiting for the perfect moment to spring and kill you. The Japanese have a trick- they pick up the arm of their opponent, who they assume but question whether or not he is dead, and slit the webbing in-between the fingers. If the guy flinches, it is obvious he is still alive. And here's some opposite advice- if you want to escape a Japanese warrior, play dead. You just better not flinch when he slits open your hand." Tarheel lay still, different thoughts moving through his mind. He looked back up to Alethia, who continued her work with lowered eyes. "The Japanese would rather die than become prisoners. That is Bushido. They will become regular kamikazes- suicidalists. They won't tolerate imprisonment." Tarheel looked at Alethia. He then spoke in a low voice, looking to his Japanese prisoner. "You're a Japanese." Alethia didn't look up at him, but just continued to work on his arm. "I'm a Road Rover." "Down once more To the dungeon of my black despair! Down we plunge to the prison of my mind! Down that path Into darkness deep as h***!" - Charles Hart Colleen awoke at 3:30 in the morning. She sat up straight in her bed, looking around. She caught sight of her clock radio, and screwed up her nose upon seeing the early time. Why was she up? Yes. She had heard a noise. It was a noise in the hangar. Colleen swung her legs out of the bed and got up to her feet. It was still pitch black, and everywhere there was silence. She tiptoed out of her room and down the hallway, moving quickly and quietly. Colleen came down the stairs to the family room in time to see Hunter stumble through the doorway. He had his leather jacket on and was still wearing his motorcycle helmet. Upon seeing him Colleen rushed to him. "Hunter! What are you doing?" Colleen exclaimed, coming up to him. He turned himself to her, unable to speak. "Hunter! Are you nuts!? What the h*** were you doing out there?" Colleen shed him of his helmet and let it hit the floor. She put her hands to his white face and began rubbing his cheeks vigorously. She pushed him with her body towards the couch and forced him to sit down. She practically climbed atop him trying to warm him as best she could. She rubbed his shoulders, face, neck and chest as she tried to get the blood flowing once again. Hunter shivered miserably. Colleen stopped and reared back her head, looking at his weary, unhappy eyes. "You can't do this. You can't go out there this late and in this cold looking for her. You didn't find her, did you? It's not worth it." "You don't understand," Hunter's voice finally quavered, "she's my responsibility." Colleen fell silent. "I heard about what happened," Colleen said in a low voice. Hunter looked at her. "Then you understand," Hunter said, "I promised her. I promised her that same day it happened no one would ever hurt her again. I promised her." "That was a promise you shouldn't have made, Hunter." Hunter looked angry a moment, but it disappeared from both the exhaustion and frustration he felt. "I'm flying back out of here in a couple of hours," Hunter announced as Colleen rubbed his face again with her palms. "I'm going to go get more agents." "Hunter, you've not slept all night!" Colleen exclaimed in disbelief, "and to go out in just a few hours!? Hunter, that's madness! You've to be bloody joking! Don't worry about it! Exile, Chavaleh, what's-his-face and I are all going back out later on! You stay here..." "Colleen, no," Hunter said, grabbing her hands and looking at her sternly. "I'm going back out there...as your leader, I command you not to give me a hard time." Colleen sighed in exasperation, dropping her eyes. "All right, all right," she said sadly, "but promise me this..." "What?" "You'll go straight up to bed now to scrounge whatever few hours of sleep you can manage." Hunter shakily rose to his feet and looked at her over his shoulder. "I can't be making any more promises. I have begun to realize that I am lousy at keeping them." After Colleen had helped Hunter to bed, she stepped into the hall, the mechanical doors to his room closing behind her. She turned and leaned her back against the opposite wall, staring at the crack underneath the heavy doors. She waited until Hunter's lights went out before she moved down the hall. On the way back to her room, Colleen passed by Exile's door. Well, she almost passed it up completely, but fell to thinking and paused. With a worried look, she slowly turned her shoulder and stared at the metal doors. Sighing, she approached it, and knocked on the hollow-sounding material. "Exile," Colleen spoke into the speaker on the wall, "Exile, are you awake?" "No, I'm asleep," she could hear the low growl return through the speaker. Colleen leaned closer to it. "Exile, please. I need to talk to you." "Comrade, do you ever sleep in the Queen's country? We do in Moscow..." Exile's voice began to fade back into sleep. "Please, Exile, give Mother permission to let me in. You had your doors put on away, haven't you?" "I should be putting my comrades on away, next," Exile groaned over the speaker, "but all right. Mother, my doors." Slowly, the computerized doors pulled apart, allowing Colleen to enter Exile's dark room. She could see his dim outline now sitting up in bed, looking at her with mild disbelief and confusion. "Now, what is it you need?" "I have a favor to ask of you." "There are flowers growing upon the hill Like they always have before And now you slumber and all is still And your sword will ne'er strike more" -William Jennings Alethia awoke early in the morning. When she lifted her numb head to glance around, she was surprised her captors were still asleep. Her hands and legs were bound once again, but she didn't have the strength to complain anymore. She had had a dream, more like a nightmare, about Perris Park. She shook her head and then stopped in thought. How could she have forgotten?! All the previous excitement was no excuse. Alethia turned her head and saw Tarheel, lying on his side. She moved her knees towards him and nudged him. At first he regarded her with a feeling of torment and batted her away. However, she became persistent and he sat up. "What do you want?" he asked, rubbing his eyes in a drowsy anger. "I want it back," Alethia said promptly. "Huh? What?" "I want my collar. You never gave it back to me." By this time the others had had the misfortune of the early morning conversation leaking into their ears. As the others began to stir, Jedore sat up. "Tarheel, what is she talking about?" Jedore asked in the same sleep-drunken manner. "Her collar," Tarheel replied, yawning widely. "Her Perris Park identification tag. Her Perrisian lover was wearing it when he was murdered, and we found it in the glove box in the truck I took out of Four Clocks." "Really?" Jedore asked, "What was it doing in there?" "That's what I'd like to know," Alethia said, struggling to sit up. Jedore gently nudged her with is boot into an upright position. "Look, Alethia," Tarheel said, putting a hand to his head, "I don't know how it got in that truck. It's not even my truck. Every Perrisian is dead- you are the last." "You think I don't know that?!" Alethia replied in shock and irritation. "I just want to know how it ended up here!" "Well, I'm afraid none of us can answer that," Jedore retorted. He rose to his feet as the rest began to. "All I know is that we need to get back on the road. We shouldn't be daddling, of all things." "Didn't Rio floor it to Midway?" Stargazer asked, picking up his bag. "What makes you think Rio's at Midway?" Tarheel asked, getting to his own feet. "Rio is anywhere but there," Jedore strode by Stargazer, giving him a clawed hand gesture, "you can bet on that. He's still on the road somewhere, waiting for Alethia." "Alethia?" Gunshell bellowed, "No offense to the girl, but why go to so much trouble for her when there's near eight hundred girls in our rebellion?" "Oh, you don't know Rio like I do," Jedore dropped his voice as he strapped his duffel bag to the back of his motorcycle. "You see, he's a blowhard, and he spits nails at `Don't Touch' signs. Anything Rio can't have only makes him want it more." "This bloody road remains a mystery This sudden darkness fills the air What are we running for? Won't anybody help us? What are we running for When there's no where we can run to anymore?" - Pat Benetar Hunter groaned and rolled over, throwing his arm off the side of his bed. It hit down on his end table and knocked crudely into his clock radio, sending it to the floor. It made it's discontent known by sounding a large crash. "Huh?" Hunter immediately shot himself up onto his forearms, and lifted his head up to face the headboard. His eyes darted back and forth, and he then rolled onto his back in confusion. He glanced down to the floor and saw his clock, and grumbling, he reached his muscular arm down and grabbed it up. When he brought it up, he tried to look at the time, but everything was so blurry. He placed the clock on his stomach and rubbed his eyes, trying to refocus them. When the illuminated, red numbers stopped wiggling all over the rectangular screen, he stared at them in surprise. "Nine-forty!" he cried out, putting a hand to his head. "Dammit! Why didn't Colleen wake me up?! She knew I wanted to get out of here early!" Still cursing under his breath, Hunter replaced the clock radio in it's proper position and swung his legs out of bed. He sat up straight and rubbed the back of his neck. He drowsily stood on shaky feet and stumbled across his room to the doors. Rubbing his temple, he attempted to move through the doorway, but eyes down, smacked himself straight into the closed doors. "Huh?" Hunter questioned, backing up, a real reason to rub his forehead now. "What the h***?" He stared at the mechanical doors and backed up and tried walking forwards again. However, the result was the same. He tried to pry them open with his fingers, but it was a fruitless attempt. Glaring, he turned his head to the ceiling and pointed at the doors angrily. "Mother, open these doors at once!" "I'm sorry," the female robotic voice of the main computer sounded in the speakers all around his room on the high walls. "Section thirty-two j doors are unoperational." "What!?" Hunter cried out in surprise and confusion. "Mother! Did you put them on away? Why won't they respond to my command? What's going on? Are they on someone else's command?" "Section thirty-two j doors are not under anyone's command. They have been disconnected from my operations board. I cannot open them." "What is the matter with you! Mother, have you a virus?! How have you disconnected my doors? Why have you disconnected my doors?" "Section thirty-two j doors were disconnected manually." "Manually? Who would do that? Mother, identify the person on the system at the time of disconnection!" Hunter shouted in aggravation. "That is confidential information. I cannot give it out." "Can't my a**!" Hunter cursed in a heated frustration. "Mother, identify the person on the system at the time of disconnection!!!!!!!!!" "That is confid-" Hunter took his clock radio and heaved it at his main speaker. It penetrated, and there was a crackling sound and sparks shot out as Mother's voice was wiped from Hunter's room. He stared at the mess he made, panting with his heated anger. "And there's the end to two things that have screwed me today!" Hunter shouted in frustration. However, his problems didn't end there. He still had yet to get out of his room. Turning circles, Hunter spotted his window. He moved to it and threw it open and stared down. He was five stories off the ground. Without a moment's hesitation he threw his leg out the window and began to slide the rest of his body through. Huntress was back down in the kitchen, sitting where she had been sitting with Exile the night before. She was lazily slugging a soda with extremely high caffeine, when she thought she caught sight of her older brother, in his sleeveless sleep shirt and sweat pants, scale down one of the enormous, large windows in the kitchen side wall and touch down on the ground. She watched in disbelief as he disappeared out of sight, moving to the left side of the building where the front doors were located. In a few minutes he came through the doorway beside her as she looked at him in shock. "No sodas before noon," he said, taking the soda can away from her and finishing it himself. He then handed it to a young agent passing by, who took it in confusion along on it's trek to the food counter. "What on earth were you doing scaling the side of the building?" Huntress asked, "And what's with this?" she pulled at one of his pants legs. "Actually," he said, putting his face in hers, "I thought you could tell me." "Hah!" Huntress laughed uneasily, folding her arms across her chest, "No one ever tells me anything! I don't know why your doors didn't open this morning- oh!" Huntress moved her hands to her mouth in horror. Hunter smiled wickedly and squatted down in front of her. "Oh- you know about my doors, hmmm? Yes, that was rather odd, wasn't it? I mean, normally when I walk into the sensor, my doors open. Right? Isn't that so? I thought so." He rubbed Huntress's scalp as he spoke. "Now, I didn't put them on away. I never put them on away. They're never on away just in case in the event that one of you should need me." "Maybe Mother caught a virus," Huntress said as bravely as she could. "Maybe the information on her circuit boards was lost or something-" "No, no," Hunter said, straightening up, "I asked Mother a little time ago. And do you know what Mother said? Mother said my doors were taken down manually. Some one logged onto her program, and shut them down themself. Now, I believe only my doors were tampered with." "Huh?" Huntress quivered, beginning to lose her confidence, "how would you know something like that?" "Well, you all didn't scale the side of Mission Control, did you?" Hunter turned around and emphasized his point by scanning the hundreds of agents all crowded in the enormous kitchen. Huntress solemnly looked around herself. "I don't know what you are trying to say," Huntress said, straightening up and whipping her ponytail, "but I certainly didn't disturb Mother for your doors." "You? Of course not! Perish the thought! Never in a million or so years! Kid, you wouldn't know where to begin! You haven't even found Mother's `on' button, yet." Huntress looked at him dejectedly. Actually, she had liked it better when he sounded like he was blaming her for the dirty job. "I told you, I don't know anything about it!" Hunter laughed strangely and then set to pacing. He never worked in chicanery or deceit, but now it was absolutely necessary. He didn't want to spoil her young mind, but, Hunter had to find a way to trick his lovable, adorable, innocent little trick herself of a sister. "You know, I always need more fliers- especially today to go do some pick-ups. You know, I could probably send you to do it, but, I couldn't take the time out to arrange that when I have a mystery to solve here..." "That sounds like blackmail!" Huntress snarled. "Maybe, sorta..." "Just checking- I like blackmail!" Huntress grinned, jumping to her feet. "Well?" "You better not tell him I said," Huntress warned. "I won't. Who was it?" "It was Exile." "I saw that coming. Who put him up to it?" "What do you mean? I've already told you who the culprit was." "Stop trying to protect the other party. I know Exile would never act like that on his own. Who put him up to it?" Huntress sighed. "Look, Colleen did- but you better not tell them I said anything!" Huntress cried. "Colleen?" Hunter straightened up. "Dammit! She told me she didn't want me going back out so early! She must have bothered Exile to help her foil me after she left me at my room! Dammit! I could...I could...I could..." Hunter stopped, feeling frustrated. "And I bet they've already gone out on their flights!" "They left hours earlier," Huntress answered. "But what about me!? Can I go out, now!? I've seen you fly a hundred times! I know what to do!" Hunter looked at her boredly. He then lowered himself down to her level again and grabbed her attention. "Do you see those doors?" Huntress nodded. "Go out those doors, make a left, go down the hall, make a right, and walk straight until you get to the library and read every damn book there is on flight aviation!" "What?" Huntress asked, staring him in the eyes. "You tricked me!" "Well, now you know not to give in to blackmail next time. Just trying to teach you a lesson. Now get going!" Huntress did what she was told with a grumble, and she muttered to herself all the way out. "Meanwhile," Hunter said to himself, raising a finger to his chin, "I've to find some alternate clothing and get myself out in the skies." Just then, Hilt, a Finnish Spitz and a First-walker like Chavaleh, as well, passed through the doorway. Hunter quickly caught a hold of him, and Hilt looked at the undressed Hunter in confusion. "Oh, Hilt, if Exile comes back for a break, would you tell him that I command him to log back onto Mother and have him fix my doors?" "Uh, sure," Hilt said uncertainly. "Thanks, buddy," Hunter said, clapping his shoulder and then disappearing through the doorway. Hilt followed him with his gaze. ‘Til I’m left here The rebel without a cause The deeper I delve into The Consciousness of me and you The harder it gets I need to close my eyes What hurts me most I’ll never see your eyes again” - Clarke/Bell Two ducking figures darted out of the hallway and into the Conference Room of Mission Control. They let the heavy metal doors slam shut behind them and then straightened up. One strode forward bravely, looking all around the room. This was Hush, a young and charged eskimo dog from Central Asia. She had a hard accent, that was issued through a light voice. Her counter-part was Ribbonracer, a dog less sure of what they were doing. He was young as well, but a handsome Australian Shepherd with mismatched eyes- one blue, the other a shade of amber. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said uneasily, still with his back up against the door. Hush looked over her shoulder at him with a little disdain. “Oh, come on, Ribbon! Who is possibly going to catch us!? What do I mean, catch? We can’t possibly get busted for just looking around our main headquarters!” Hush looked at him a little adventureously. “I told you not to call me that,” Ribbonracer said, now taking a few steps forward, “it sounds feminine. If you are going to cut me name, use the ‘Racer’ part at least. It doesn’t sound near as choking bad, mate.” “Nevermind that, Ribs. C’mon, I came here to have a look around. We both did.” Hush moved forwards looking all around, as if taking in something breathless and wonderful. Ribbonracer followed her, a little unsure of himself. “This is where he’ll bring us, and he’ll tell us all about it in here...and we’ll have discussions....” Hush smiled, looking to the rafters. “Who will tell us?” Ribbonracer asked, coming up behind her. Hush turned and looked at him. “Hunter will, of course! Duh, Ribs! Our great leader; he’s the best of them all.” Ribbonracer looked at her. “He’s too old for you,” he said a little stately. Hush looked at him in mild surprise. “I think you’re just jealous,” she sniffed at him. Ribs was quick to defend himself. “Jealous? Don’t be silly.” Hush looked back at him with a sudden smirk, and then moved forward again. “This will be the greatest adventure of all!” Hush exclaimed, drowsily walking around and picturing everyone behind their country’s cards and flags as they seated in the enormous auditorium. “Hey, look here! There’s mine!” Hush ran up the giant row of steps and darted into a black leather chair. She placed her hands on the long desk in front of her and looked daringly at the card on the desk that said “Central Asia”. “Oh, look!” she exclaimed, pointing quite a few rows down and to the left, “there’s yours! Look how far away you sit from me!” “Hush, I really don’t think we should be in here,” Ribbonracer warned. “Don’t be so paranoid, Ribs,” Hush scolded in exasperation. “Would you look here- the lights are on to the conference room.” The voice cut through the air like a knife, and Hush and Ribbonracer immediately quieted themselves, their eyes darting. “That’s funny,” another voice said, “they shouldn’t be. No one’s supposed to be in here.” Ribbonracer glared at Hush with an I-told-you-so look. Hush and Ribbonracer watched as the doors creaked open, and Ribbonracer made to dart under one of the desks. Hush grabbed his arm, leaping from her chair. “No, we don’t hide! Road Rovers don’t hide!” The doors opened, and there stood Chavaleh, her shades still on, and Colleen, her flight jacket still in the state of being worn. They looked around a second, but Chavaleh spotted the two shortly. “Hey! You two!” she pointed at them, “What are you doing here!?” “Huh?” Hush actually had the nerve to look confused. “You sure we’re not allowed in here? I don’t think I saw a sign on the door.” Chava looked both angry and astonished at the nerve of the younger agent, and Colleen noticed this. She looked at the two capers and spoke a little sternly. “I advise that you leave this room immediately. I’m not sure how Hunter will respond to this but....” “We were just looking!” Hush raised her voice in fear. “We were just curious! We didn’t even now what room this was until we opened it! Please! You don’t have to tell Hunter!” “Didn’t know what room it is?” Chavaleh said, “It’s written right on the door!” Hush paused in momentary defeat. She then lowered her head. “I can’t read.” Chavaleh and Colleen looked up, and Ribbonracer turned his head and looked at Hush in disbelief. “You can’t read?” he asked, pointing at her. Hush looked at him in anger. “No, I can’t! There! You happy to know, now!?” she turned a sour gaze to Ribs, who only looked in shocked disbelief and an obvious delight that caused him guilt. “But it doesn’t matter what my excuse is, anyway,” Hush continued, rubbing her arm, “you’re just going to tell Hunter anyways.” Colleen looked to Chavaleh with a slight embarassment. Her expression was both confused and questioning. Chava looked back at her through her dark shades and then turned her attention back to the two. “What are your names? You two seem fairly young for agents,” Chavaleh snorted. Colleen looked to the two sneaks a little more forgivingly. “I think I remember you,” Colleen said, looking directly at Ribbonracer, “I remember you from one of the screening days. What was that, a little over five months ago, I believe?” “Yes ma’am,” Ribbonracer replied, sticking his chest out, “indeed, that is where you shall have remembered me from.” “Tha’s right,” Colleen said, putting a hand to her face and chewing on the inside of her cheek, “you were picked because of your honesty and attention to duty and what’s to be done. Good to see you here. And, no, let me think......you were Racer? Something along those lines...forgive me, me memory is not exceptional...” “Ribbonracer, if you’ll forgive me for correcting you,” Ribs replied. Hush rolled her eyes and glowered at him. He felt a trifle uncomfortable and began to step back. “Whose your illiterate friend?” Chava demanded, looking to Hush with hard eyes. Colleen elbowed her in her side, but Chava was undetered. “My name is Hush, and you can speak directly to me. He doesn’t have to be the intepreter. Jus’ cause I can’t read doesn’t mean I can’t hear, either.” Chavaleh was severely taken aback, and she looked to Colleen for support. Colleen shruged her shoulders and returned an equally confused stare. She then looked back to Hush and spoke in place of whatever heat Chavaleh may have been ready to discharge. “Chavaleh here is a First-walker,” Colleen said, “and she needs to be shown all respect. First-walkers are very important people around here- just as improtant as the exclusive team, which consists of Hunter, meself, Alethia, Exile, Muzzle.....and......” Colleen stumbled on her words and Chavaleh curled a lip. “Blitz,” Chava offered. “Right,” Colleen said, “Blemish. However, I would advise that you no longer snoop around or stick your wet noses into any more rooms that have not been previously pointed out to you as ‘acceptable visiting rooms’. You got that? And Ribbonracer, if there is anymore confusion as to what room Hush is entering, will you please help her by reading the signs for her?” Upon hearing this Hush pulled back her ears and lowered her eyes in frustration. “Of course, yes Ma’am,” Ribbonracer complied with a militaristic nod of his head. He then showed himself out of the room. Hush was still a moment, but followed him within a few more seconds. “And here we stand In Old England’s land...” - Clarke/Bell Colleen had just strode into the hangar all smiles late in the afternoon to go back out into the skies when she saw Hunter just remove himself from his jet and straighten his jacket. Catching sight of him, Colleen’s smile quickly disappeared and her eyes grew wide. “Oh shit,” she breathed under her breath, and turned as quickly as she could, but it was too late. By then he had seen her. “Colleen,” Hunter said very sternly to her turned back. Colleen stopped and gritted her teeth in anxiety. “I’m afraid you’ve caught me at a very bad time, Huntie,” Colleen tried to pass with an uneasy laugh, “I’m in a real hurry...” “Oh now,” Hunter said, wiping his hands on a rag and then tossing it in one of the lockers. He shut the door and then leaned up against it, folding his arms across his chest. “Well that’s too bad. That’s too bad `cause I really want to talk to you.” Colleen swallowed hard and turned to face him, wringing her hands in anxiety. “Look, I only did it for your own good! You’re only busting your tail the way you’ve been going! You blame yourself for what happened to Alethia when none of it is even your fault! You’ve been going around and around in circles and I bet you couldn’t point someone to daylight!” Hunter groaned and shook his head, putting a hand to his head like a visor. “I just hate to see you like this,” Colleen continued, her eyebrows meeting in sorrow, “I’m tired of seeing you in so much pain. You’re going to drive yourself sick! I know you have a major kick on this responsibility thing...but it’s got to stop somewhere! Now, it has!” Hunter was at an obvious loss for words. He watched Colleen both cautiously and suspiciously- something he had never had forced himself to do before. Was he seriously deteriorating? Did he find himself dodging his own team mates? Why was everything so complicated anymore? “Colleen....you act like you want to help...” “Only want? Of course I want to help! I want to help you and Alethia in any way I can...” “Then don’t do what you did EARLIER!” There was an uneasy silence that followed, the two of them looking down in frustration and then only looking up to meet the other’s gaze from time to time. Colleen looked down. “All right, you’re right. And when you’re right, you’re right.” Watching Colleen stand there in a dejected defeated state nearly turned Hunter’s heart on, and he had an unexplainable urge to touch her and comfort her. However, he thought once again of his lost Heart-friend and of the trick Colleen had pulled on him, and the small moment of compassion was gone. “Well,” Hunter said in a low voice, “we’ve still got work to do, and little time to do it all in.” “I am still very sorry, Hunter,” Colleen said, not even looking up at him or imagining the color of his eyes. “’I...I...need to do something, to make it up to you...” Hunter sighed and slowly shook his head. He walked towards her and tilted her chin up so that her eyes were level with his. “You can help, my friend. Go and round up our agents...and help us to bring back Alethia, and after then, I’ll ask the biggest favor of you.” “Biggest favor?” Colleen asked. “What is that?” “That you never hurt her again.” Colleen was silent a moment. “We never mean to hurt her.” “Yet you do it.” “I know.” “She is one of the best things that has ever happened to any of us. She...she completes us...makes us whole. I couldn’t imagine a world without her.” “Neither could I,” Colleen nodded, thinking quietly to herself. “The world...Hunter, I think it’s turned cold.” “Cold? How so?” “I’ve noticed it. Ever since Alethia has been gone, the world has seemed so cold...the air...everything is bleak and dry, gray and crumbling to dust. Why? Why is that? Why? Because one dog I have the privilege of knowing is suddenly gone, why do I feel like everything is dying?” “Without Alethia,” Hunter said, “what reason is there to live?” “You’re my world, you are my life everyday You’re my world, your every prayer, I pray If our love ceases to be Then it’s the end of my world for me.” -Helen Reddy Tarheel was back on the road with Alethia once again. She was still tied up; afterall, she was still the prisoner and him the bad guy, but he hadn’t tied her near so tight and had even kept the gag out. “Just what exactly is it that you plan to do with me when you get me all the way to Mother?” “The Plan?” Tarheel asked. “That I will have to leave to Dace to explain.” “Not going to tell me, are you?” Tarheel made a clicking noise and then turned his head towards her. “I don’t think so, Alethia. Too early for you to start thinking.” “Start thinking? What ARE you going to do with me??” “I’ve told you before-” There was the sudden crack of a gunshot, and startled, Tarheel veered off the road. Alethia let out a sharp cry as she hit her head mercilessly against the broken seat. Tarheel pulled over and put the truck in park. He took his gun out from under his seat and opened the cab door. It was pitch black outside. Alethia could hear the fatalistic warning of crickets in the grass. “Tarheel? What’s going on? What’s happening? What was that?” Alethia asked alarmed. Tarheel didn’t answer. He walked around the side of the truck and met in the dark with Jedore and the rest- who had stopped their motorcycles and approached him. “Did any of you fire a gun?” Tarheel asked. “Uh-uh,” Stargazer shook his head. “It didn’t come from you, right?” “No,” Tarheel replied and then looked at the gun in his hand. “I grabbed this after I heard the shot.” There were suddenly the sounds of more shots echoing through the woods, and the dogs cringed a moment. There was a quiet silence, a sudden explosion of gunfire in the distance, and then a stretch of quiet. They could hear the frightened mewlings of Alethia in the cab of the truck. “Where the hell is that coming from?” Tarheel asked, glaring in the direction of the gunshots. “Sounds like Midway,” Zinc replied. “It’s probably just Rio and his lackeys still drunk off their asses,” Gunshell snorted in distaste. “Throwing bottles and shooting? Aiming at night owls and tiny voles? Who knows....” “No, we took their guns, remember?” Guhrare-o retorted. “But their is the possibility they smuggled some by us, right?” North added. “I suppose.” There was another outburst of gunshots, and the group raised their own guns and turned their backs to one another, forming a circle. “Among the trees?” Rev asked. “It doesn’t matter,” Jedore said, stepping forward and drawing his gun. “Whoever those are coming from- I don’t think they know about us or that we’re here..” Jedore fired a couple of shots into the dark and listened to it blend in with the sounds of the distant shots. Alethia cried out at the sound of a gun being fired so close. “What’s she carrying on about?” Gunshell demanded. “She heard Jedore’s shot..she doesn’t know whether or not there’s a fight going on out here...” Tarheel moved to the cab of the truck and hoisted himself up and opened the passenger door. He shared a few words with Alethia as Jedore and the rest continued to talk. “This worries me, there is certainly something strange going on. Listen to those- that’s more than several dozen guns going off. Sounds definitely like a fight or brawl or confrontation of some sort.” Jedore put a finger to his chin and thought to himself. North was standing silently, his mouth partially open as he concentrated on everything. “Do you think we should head in?” Stargazer asked. “What if it is something at Midway? It could mean some trouble.” “You’re right,” Jedore said, putting his gun away, “there might be something going on over there; we may be needed.” At that time Tarheel rejoined them. “What’s going on?” he asked. “We’re going to move in, Officer,” Jedore said, glaring into the dark. “Move in? What about Alethia? She could get killed. Dace will want her.” “Tarheel, we must go. Either Alethia goes with us, or we leave her here, whatever you choose. She is your prisoner.” Tarheel looked over his shoulder at the cab of his truck, where Alethia was shaking. “We can’t just leave her here. Anything could happen!! She has had no sense of direction since she was picked up from Perris Park. We can’t leave her out here, she’ll die!” “Fine, then we take her with us,” Gunshell said, starting to head for his motorcycle. Tarheel pulled back one corner of his mouth and squeezed his eyes a moment. “All right, let’s go!!” Jedore exclaimed. “Tarheel, you’re leading. The truck will give the rest of us sufficient cover until we know what we are dealing with.” Tarheel nodded and headed for the truck. He took out the gag again but this time folded it. “You promised!!” Alethia hissed in anger upon seeing it. “No, I’m going to blindfold you, it might make you feel better,” Tarheel answered, and tied it around her head. Alethia didn’t protest. Tarheel then shut the door and walked around the truck to the driver’s side, which he opened and then jumped into. He started the engine and slowly began to drive ahead, into the dark. He watched the darkness as carefully as he could, searching it for any signs of danger or the offensive. He kept swiveling his head back and forth in anxiety, his throat becoming sore. He sucked back on his lower throat, trying to rub it in that manner, but succeeded only in irritating it further. The trees seemed to loom mercilessly and hungrily, threatening to consume the rattling truck that suddenly seemed to be the only moving thing in a suddenly vast and empty world. The darkness only seemed to get darker, and the headlights weaker and apt to flicker more dangerously. The gunshots where louder and more frequent, closer and more taunting. Tarheel turned his head a moment to look at Alethia. She was sitting up straight and tall, the blindfold hiding her eyes from him. Her mouth was expressionless, and her ears unmoving and pushed forward. She looked almost like a statue, or a painting at least. For a moment Tarheel had thought she had stopped breathing. Suddenly a white flurry hit the hood of the truck and struck hard, a dark smear of blood spreading across the windshield. “Jesus!!!!!!” Tarheel cried out, and grabbed the wheel hard, smashing Alethia’s head against the door. Her blindfold rubbed off, and she found herself staring momentarily at the figure slumped across the hood of the truck. Tarheel’s sudden reaction threw the truck off course, and the white body slid off the cab and disappeared on the side of the road. Heart pounding, Tarheel swerved in the opposite direction so as not to risk running over the body and stopped the truck. He threw open the driver’s side door and jumped out. Alethia listened to the others. “What the hell went on with you?!” she could hear Guhrare-o ask as the others began to tromp towards Tarheel. “Something...flew across the truck’s hood!!” Tarheel gasped for air. He began to search the dark for it. “Shit, can’t see a damned thing,” Stargazer grumbled, staring into the blackness. “North, turn on your headlight.” North, who was still straddling his motorcycle, turned on his headlights, and the figure showed up in the path of light, sprawled out in the grass. “DASH!!!!!” Tarheel suddenly screamed, and knelt hurriedly beside the figure. He turned the female Japanese Spitz over onto her back, as he mumbled indechiperable words. Blood was running out her mouth, and there was a dark wound in her side. “Ah, shit man, SHIT!!” Zinc shouted, drawing a gun and looking about frantically. “We must be under attack- Midway must be under attack!!” “Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammitdammitdammitdammit..” Tarheel was groaning, cradling Dash’s limp head. Jedore bent over them and then looked at Zinc. “Zinc, go check on Alethia really quick while we try to figure out what to do next.” “Yes sir,” Zinc replied, and moved away and disappeared around the truck. “I swear to God,” Tarheel was spitting, “I’ll find the bastard who did this and put a bullet in-between his eyes, so help me......” “Look here, she has a faint pulse,” Stargazer stated. Tarheel looked up a moment at the soldier crouching in front of him and then took Dash’s limp hand in his own, feeling along her wrist. “It’s really weak,” Tarheel scowled, yet still relieved that she wasn’t completely gone just yet. “We need to get her help.” Zinc suddenly approached. “Well?” Jedore asked, “how is the other one?” “I’m not sure,” Zinc said, putting a hand to his head. “What do you mean you’re not sure?” Jedore demanded. “Well, she’s bleeding...” “Then she’s wounded.” “No, I checked, but her mouth is just running with blood.” Jedore cocked an eyebrow and followed Zinc to the cab of Tarheel’s truck. The others followed. “See, look at that,” Zinc said. Jedore looked at Alethia in bewilderment and then took her chin and turned her head, looking at her carefully. He then pryed her mouth open and touched her tongue and her mouth with his fingers, searching for sores or cuts. He could find none, but blood still escaped her lips and ran down her neck. “What the- this makes no sense,” Jedore frowned, closing Alethia’s mouth and then feeling her head for bruises, cuts, or injuries. “Not a damn thing wrong with her ‘cept this blood coming out of her mouth. This makes no sense...” Alethia was dead silent, feeling strange herself. No, dog of war, she thought, I am not hurt, but I am bleeding just the same. And yet, it is someone else’s blood, someone else I bleed for. Tarheel suddenly came up. “Cut her loose,” he demanded. Jedore looked at him. “Whatever for?” “We’re going into Midway, and we’re taking Dash and Alethia is going to take care of her.” “Tarheel, you are far too trusting,” Guhrare-o said, “do you know how easy it would be for her to just finish killing Dash and make an escape in the mirth at Midway?” “First off,” Tarheel said, beginning to cut Alethia’s bindings, “I don’t find her the type of dog to kill a helpless soldier, plus, she’s not stupid to try running in the dark in the middle of a firearm siege.” “He’s right,” Jedore nodded, “besides, she might be able to help Dash in even the most remote way.” By that time Tarheel had her completely cut loose and was scooping Alethia into his arms. “Gunshell, go open the tailgate of the truck,” Tarheel instructed, beginning to carry an evenly-tempered Alethia around to the back of the vehicle. By the time he got there, Gunshell had just finished opening it, and helped Tarheel place Alethia inside. Tarheel then stumbled a few feet in the dark and scooped Dash up into his arms, and lovingly carried her pale body to the truck and very gently placing her inside. He removed his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her, stroking her forehead. “C’mon, Tarheel!” Guhrare-o shouted. Painfully, Tarheel shut his love inside the dark trailer with Alethia and made his way to the front of the vehicle. In a few minutes Alethia could feel the whir of the truck starting, and then it’s bounce as it traveled down the road closer to the siege. Alethia sat still in the corner of the truck for a small while, the blood hardened on her chin and neck. She then fixed her gaze on the still figure lying in the hooded dark at the other end. For a moment, she just stared at it. However, a childlike curiosity forced her to slowly shuffle across the floor on hands and knees and tentatively approach the figure and stare at it. Alethia could hear the wounded creature before her breathing heavily, and she came up right behind and peered over it’s shoulder to look at it’s face, distorted with blood and tangled hair in the way. Alethia slowly put her hand to brush the hairs away, and the figure slowly rolled over and peered up at Alethia’s face. They silently stared a moment at one another, and then the stranger opened her mouth slowly and looked up at Alethia, almost with a wondrous smile. “You wear my eyes,” the wounded one said in a strangled voice, staring at Alethia in the dim light. “Where did you get them?” “The summer sun is fading As the year grows old And darker days are drawing near The winter winds will be much colder Now you’re not here” - Justin Hayward Colleen sat brushing her hair. She sat sorely on the edge of her bed, looking into her vanity mirror. She caught a glance of herself out of her sorrowful and tired eyes, and put down the brush a moment to stare harder. She opened her mouth slightly and began to lose herself in her own blank thoughts when there came a knocking at her partially opened door. She looked up into the mirror again to see who it was. It was Chavaleh who was reflected. “Mind if I come in?” Colleen shook her head a moment to clear it and then returned to lazily sweeping the brush through her hair. “Sure Chavs.” Chavaleh came in, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. She paused a moment in mid-walk to thrust her hands behind her back and stretch backwards. “I am so seat-sore,” Chavaleh grumped. “I haven’t done so much flying ever before- not like that, at least. They’re all in now, aren’t they?” “All what?” Colleen asked. “I see you’ve aimed too many knots at the horizon as well,” Chavaleh said, standing in front of her. “The agents, my silly collie friend.” “Oh,” Colleen nodded, “nearly, anyways. Exile and Blitz are bringing in the rest right now.” “Excuse me, girls,” came a knock at the door. The two swiveled to see Hunter in the doorway. “Place is in bed now. You better get some rest. Tomorrow everything comes together. Chava, I need you to help me draw up on some major points for the speech tomorrow. And Colleen,” “Yes?” Colleen asked, turning towards him almost eagerly. “My doors had better work tonight.” “Between the silence of the mountains And the crashing of the sea There lies a land I once lived in And she’s waiting there for me” - Justin Hayward (will be updated again shortly)