FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I suppose, judging from my initial experiences meeting both Woofy and Berkshire, I probably should have expected an enthusiastic response, but I hadn't quite counted on getting mobbed by twenty or so at once. In fact, as their faces lit up in unison, I pretty much just stood there and stared, taking in the sight in the few moments before they all sprang into motion. There were twenty of them in all, lined up side by side, as though already expecting us. Each one seemed to resemble somewhat a different breed of canine in the way they looked, and while some were slightly more muscular than others, they didn't vary much in overall height or build. Regardless of the breed they seemed to represent, each one was covered in a good amount of plush, blue fur, from what I could tell pretty much everywhere - the scientist here seemed to have had even less success at convincing them to wear much in the way of clothing, as they were uniformly wearing plain white boxer briefs, and not much, if anything, beyond that. I thought I recognized perhaps half the breeds they seemed modeled after, with some seeming a bit more exotic, but it was hard to tell, as they were more humanoid than anything, and some features didn't seem to stand out as much in their hybrid forms. I tried to look closer at some of them, but before I could really focus, they were all bounding enthusiastically forward.

I steeled myself, ready to be quite literally dog-piled, but to my surprise, they streamed to either side of me, almost ignoring my presence. Instead, they pounced on Woofy and Berkshire, the room suddenly filled with a cacophony of high-pitched communication. I looked over and saw A.J., who was looking equally surprised, and I realized that the three of us - A.J., James, and I - were the only people left standing in the midst of an undulating carpet of blue fur. Thinking about what happened when Woofy and Berkshire had first met, I started to wonder whether they were going to have a spontaneous orgy right then and there, and I could see A.J. start to blush as he realized the same thing. James, for his part, didn't look perturbed in the least, as though he was quite used to the whole idea. I wanted to ask him why he was so calm about it, but I realized that they were already disengaging from each other, standing back up while continuing their banter, in what must have been a dozen or more different conversations - even if they had been in english, I would have had a difficult time figuring out what anyone was saying, but everyone else seemed to be understanding it just fine. I noticed Woofy standing between two of them, one resembling an akita and the other a labrador retriever, and he talked rapidly with them for a moment before breaking away and sidling up to me.

"Hey, Dave! Isn't this great? I haven't seen any of them for a week, and now they're all here! I've been telling them about everything that's happened so far, and they've been telling me about this place, and all the interesting scientists! Oh, and they're really interested in you!"

I wasn't quite sure what to make of that last part... And I did wonder about the completeness of this reunion. Early on, I'd heard that there were a hundred or so of them that had gotten loose, but there were only twenty-two here, and with what Dr. Artemis had said earlier...

"Are they really all here? I thought..."

"Oh, they're not here right now, but they will be, I'm sure of it!" I wasn't sure I could share Woofy's opinion on that point, but if he was happy with the current situation, that was good enough. "Oh, it sounds like they're getting ready to greet you now!" The noise of their chatter was, indeed, tapering off, and I noticed that a number of them were now looking intently at me. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn't quite sure what their standard greeting was, but if it was like I thought it might be...

"Uh, Woofy, I'm not sure..." I began, but he had already stepped over to the side, and his compatriots began to wander over, grinning from ear to ear. I braced myself for the inevitable tackle, but surprisingly, it never came.

Instead, the first of them wrapped both of his arms around my waist and hugged me close, nuzzling my cheek while whispering something incomprehensible into my ear in his high-pitched language. He continued snuggling against me for a moment, giving me time to return the hug, which I did almost instinctually. I quickly realized he was up against me pretty much head to toe, and I could feel his significant bulge pressing against my crotch. As I returned his embrace, running my fingers through the fur on his back, he moaned softly into my ear, and his hips ground against mine, once, twice, three times. This was getting intimate rather fast, and I looked over at Woofy, embarrassed. I didn't really know how the dynamic between all of them worked, but I was worried that Woofy would be concerned by someone else getting that close to me. Woofy, though, was grinning happily as he watched us, and from the way the indicator was feeling, it seemed that this was actually turning him on... I started to wonder how long the greeting was going to last, but a moment later, he disengaged, giving me a final squeeze and running his muzzle lightly along my face as he pulled away. As he did, I could see a hand on his shoulder, and he grinned as one of the other - what did you call them? - snuggled up to him from behind.

"Uh... I'm Dave," I said, and they both paused, looking at me quizzically. "Er... I mean I appreciate your greeting, but as long as we're introducing ourselves... Well, could you tell me your name?"

The one I had just greeted continued to stare at me, unsure of what to say, until Woofy stepped in. "We weren't really named, like that, I mean, AD just kinda called us whatever he wanted to, and I don't think anyone picked out a name until we left the facility and found other people... And since they were brought here all together, and already knew each other, they didn't really need names, so..."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense... but if I'm going to talk to any of them individually, I've got to call them something..."

Woofy thought about it for a moment. "Well, after a while, AD wanted to find something to call us, but he said we couldn't be dogs 'cause we weren't dogs, and we couldn't be humans 'cause we weren't humans. Then he tried to call us something in this language he said was Rushin', or something like that. It's kinda weird to say, but it sounded like, uh, sobaka chelovka... After a while, though, he got to know us, and didn't really call us, he just knew who we were by then. In the beginning, though, he used to call us random things, and I think he called me Woofy the most, so that's why I made it my name."

"Hmm, I guess... But there's no way to refer to them as individuals?"

"Well, when I find the one I want to talk to, I just look for them," Woofy said. "Then when I see them, and they see me, we know we're talking to each other..." Which made sense, I supposed, given that there really wasn't any other way to do it without using some sort of individual names.

"Guess I'll just have to hope I'm better at remembering faces than I am with names," I replied, but Woofy had already turned to talk with the - sobaka chelovka? - who had just embraced me. For some reason, I had no problem referring to Woofy by his name, but it was hard to think about referring to them with words that I didn't even understand. In any case, I didn't really have time to think of it, as by now a whole lot of them had gathered around me, and the next one was already stepping forward to offer his greeting.

The rest of the greetings mostly followed the format of the first one, varying mainly in the degree of intimacy. While a couple of them seemed almost shy, nervously smiling as they hugged me briefly before being pulled away by their companions, most of them gave me a long, cuddling embrace, usually nuzzling or licking my face, and all of them whispering something different into my ear - I wondered if A.J. was having better luck deciphering what they meant.

Other than the first one, the initial group seemed happy enough just to snuggle up against me for a while, but after about eight or so, I noticed the excitement level beginning to increase. Instead of just waiting by themselves, those who were still standing nearby to greet me were starting to come together in groups of two or three, snuggling up together and only pulling away when it was their turn to be with me. The hugs turned into extended embraces, warm, fuzzy bodies moving ever closer against mine, their arousal becoming obvious as they pressed up against me. Their underwear was doing little to hinder them, and I could feel their outline, one after another, as they pressed against my thigh, or my crotch, or directly up against my own, their presence insistent as they ground against me. I could feel my own arousal increasing at the contact, the warm feelings slowly overcoming my initial embarrassment over what was going on. The embraces began to turn into a minute or two of close contact, and I could begin to feel the heat of their members, even through the layers of clothing between us. The hugs morphed into a pair of hands rubbing gently across my back, upwards to caress my neck, or down to my hips, holding me in the right position as they rubbed up against me ever more vigorously. By this time, my own arousal was incensed, my cock straining against the fabric of my own underwear, screaming for release. Despite the fact that I was basically making out with a room full of strangers, the situation didn't seem to bother me at all - they were all so completely casual and unashamed about it, that in context, what was going on almost seemed like it might be normal for them.

By that point, I'd lost track of how many of them had "greeted" me, but I think I'd been through most of them when one pressed up against me especially vigorously, leaving me practically vibrating with warmth, while his feet were doing something with mine... And when he stepped away, and I took an opportunity to catch my breath, I realized that he'd somehow managed to work my shoes off.

I realized that there was only one more waiting for me after that - the one who had been talking with Woofy earlier, and looked kind of like an akita. He as snuggling with two of the others, though, and when he came over to greet me, instead of waiting for him, they joined in as well. He pressed up against me without hesitation, his member quickly finding my bulge through the clothing - and for a moment, he seemed to hesitate, almost surprised that I was as aroused as he was. Then he leaned forward, his muzzle resting against my cheek as he whispered into my ear, hugging me close as his companions cuddled up on both sides of me.

"Feels like you could use some... relief," he said, and I could feel him back away from me ever so slightly. A moment later, though, I felt his hand slip below the waistband of my pants, gently cupping the significant bulge my arousal was making through the fabric. I gasped as he slid his hand slowly upward, tracing along my tip, and up to the elastic of my boxer briefs, which his fingers slowly nudged aside so they could go beneath. The feel of his touch against my bare skin was intense, as his hand slowly brushed across the base, his fingers wrapping around my shaft and sliding their way up towards the tip. Once he had my cock firmly between my fingers, with me shuddering and trying desperately not to come from his touch then and there, he moved his hand in what seemed like a practiced motion. I could feel the fabric sliding across the head of my cock as it shifted up, and now, instead of being squished down against the tight fabric, my cock was held upright against the pouch, the back nuzzled comfortably against my belly and the tip bulging out just a tiny bit below the elastic waistband. A moment later, he pushed back against me, and I shuddered at the contact, my body feeling impossibly warm and comfortable with all three of them caressing me, and I wondered whether we were about to get it on right then, clothes or no clothes... but I could already feel the two at my sides beginning to pull gently away, wrapping themselves around the other one, and he disengaged, moaning, as they began to rub up against him. I noticed his member was straining hard enough against the elastic of his underwear that it was literally pulling it away from his waist, a small dot of precum wetting the fabric near his tip. I only caught a glimpse of it for a second, though, before a pair of blue hands slid down his abdomen to have some fun with it...

"Ah... I think - hah - Woofy would like to - nhh - see you now," he said, as his companions started to pull him towards the edge of the room, and it was at that point I realized, through my own feelings, that the indicator was practically screaming. Arousal, intense arousal, and... something else, an almost inexplicable feeling, like nothing I'd ever quite felt before.

I looked over and noticed Woofy was still standing nearby. Like most everyone else in the room, he was no longer wearing pants, and his erection was barely disguised by his underwear. He came over to me, his hand gently caressing my shoulder, and looked at me with a rather familiar, insistent look on his face. I immediately placed it - it was the kind of look he had given me a couple of nights ago, at A.J.'s apartment, and I was quite familiar with what it meant...

"Dave," Woofy breathed, his hands moving down to rest against my chest. "I need you... I need to be with you... Please..."

I know it seems odd, given what was going on, but I suddenly felt almost... nervous. I realized that they were all, by nature, quite... affectionate, and didn't seem concerned at all in the least about sexual contact between any of them, but with Woofy, it just seemed... It was probably kind of late to feel self-conscious, but if things went like the last time, we weren't going to just make out with our clothes on. I was still a relatively private person, and with just A.J. and Berkshire in the room, it had been okay... But here, in front of dozens of people? I didn't know how to feel, but my arousal wasn't going away, and Woofy's wasn't either...

"Woofy, I dunno... All these people, watching..."

Woofy looked around him. "Who's watching?" he asked. I took a quick glance around, and realized what he meant. Everyone else was already grouped off, in twos, threes, or one rather large group off to the side, and were either licking each other, humping up against each other, or very quickly headed in that direction. Towards the back of the room, I could see A.J and Berkshire on one of the cots, making out heavily, most of their clothing already heaped in a pile on the floor next to them. James, apparently, had tried to take off when things started to get frisky, but hadn't quite succeeded - he was over near the doors, but pinned against the wall by the akita and his two companions, who were eagerly licking his face as they worked to tug off the lab coat from around his shoulders - the akita, for his part, seemed to be using one hand to fumble with the button on James' pants, while his other hand was working vigorously beneath his waistband. Woofy was right - everyone else was sufficiently engaged in what they were doing with each other, that none of them even gave us, or anyone else, a second glance. It made sense - when I'd been with Woofy before, he was really about the only thing I focused on, as I almost found out to my detriment at the shopping mall...

"I see what you mean, but... This doesn't seem at all unusual to you? Everyone, just... going at it like that?"

"Not really... Sometimes, it was like this when we were with AD... When we're all together, it just feels natural to be with each other..."

"Well, I guess I can't complain... I guess I... Just kinda expected you'd be jealous of a bunch of other people being all over me... I mean, at least that's how people usually get, but I guess this is different..."

"Why would I be jealous?" Woofy looked genuinely confused by this. "You're a part of this now, a part of us... Why wouldn't we all love you?"

"Huh? Normally, with people at least, they get all worked up unless you're with them, and them alone... At least that's what everyone says. I mean, it's just that I didn't want to make you feel bad, that other people were taking me away from you..." I trailed off as Woofy brought his face in close to mine, looking at me intently with his bright blue eyes.

"Dave... There's nothing in the world that could pull us apart now... I mean, the others will want to be with you sometimes sure, but we're linked... we're together... and right now, I need you, more than anything else... I need to be close to you, be with you..."

"Okay, Woofy, just gimme a sec... I'm just not used to being in the middle of something like this..."

"Hurry," Woofy replied, and I knew what he meant - as flustered as I was after all of the greetings, and by the notion of being intimate in the middle of a room full of people, the indicator was surprisingly insistent, pushing aside my other emotions with an undeniable need. My whole body seemed like it was becoming more sensitive, and I could feel every contour of Woofy's fingers as they pressed against my shirt. Suddenly, my clothes, which normally seemed comfortable enough, felt horribly coarse against my skin, and I wanted nothing more than to get rid of them. I gently pushed Woofy back, and for a moment he seemed surprised by my pushing him away, but quickly understood as I yanked quickly on my shirt, trying to pull it off. In my haste, I managed to get it momentarily tanged around me, but one more determined tug flung it off my head and sent it flying. I watched as it arced over to land on one of the pairs that was happily writhing against each other on the floor - unsurprisingly, neither of them seemed to notice in the least, not even pausing their rhythm for a moment to see what had happened. Frankly, I didn't really care either, as I was already fumbling with a suddenly uncooperative button on my waistband. It gave after a moment, though, and I could practically feel my body shiver in relief as the pants fell away. Or, at least I thought so - given that everyone who normally resided here was covered in fur, and hadn't worn much in the way of clothing, the temperature was set to be comfortable for them, but not so much for someone like me. That being said, it was only a momentary concern, because I barely had time to kick the pants off from around my ankles before Woofy approached again, wrapping his arms around my neck and moving in to kiss me. Once again, we weren't quite able to connect properly, so Woofy settled for licking my face, his tongue seeming even softer than before, its every touch seeming impossibly sensuous. I tried to lick back, my stubby tongue not having much luck, until Woofy's tongue found its way over, coiling around mine, the sensation so intense I almost wondered if my tongue was somehow, impossibly on the brink of orgasm itself...

As Woofy's tongue continued to caress my own, both of us gasping at the contact, I could feel Woofy begin to press his body up against mine, and what tension was left in my chest quickly evaporated as he pulled me close, his hands resting on my shoulders, and I could feel the fuzzy warmth of his arms across my back and down to my sides, the incredibly soft fur on his chest and abdomen brushing against my skin from the front, and the embrace was complete. Woofy sighed at the close contact, his tongue reluctantly uncoiling, sliding its way along my lips as the almost-orgasm feeling continued. I realized, though, a moment later, that it wasn't my tongue going off, so much as it was the feeling of the indicator getting confused by the intense touch. Even without that contact, the feeling was still there, and I quickly realized why - Woofy's crotch was now snuggled up against mine, and I could feel the slightest bit of something wet seeping through the fabric of my underwear where the tip of his member was pressing up against me - he was definitely way past ready, and I almost wondered if he was going to come just from the embrace alone.

I hugged Woofy close as well, giving his crotch a little bump with mine, and I could feel a shiver run down his back at the contact. My hands were already clasped around the small of his back, and I moved them down almost automatically, running my fingers through his fur. I could feel his tail brushing against my hands as I did so, and I moved one hand over to take hold of it, stroking it gently as my other hand slid under the waistband of his boxer briefs, moving along his hip as my wrist tried to tug the fabric down. It caught for a moment, so I relinquished my hold on his tail and used both hands to tug them off, letting them fall to his feet as his member, freed from its confines, pressed up against my pelvis, and I could feel its heat even through the fabric of my own underwear. Of course, a moment later, I felt Woofy's hands disengage from my back, and my own underwear was soon sliding off my waist, the soft fabric moving across my own cock exciting me even more, until it was suddenly replaced with the even softer fur of Woofy's underbelly, Woofy's member throbbing warmly against my skin next to my own. My hands moved back to Woofy's hips, then to his buttocks, holding him tightly against me, and I could feel him doing the same, and he let out a moan as his hips began to almost vibrate, his balls twitching as his cock throbbed against me, the indicator seeming to explode with orgasmic bliss. Woofy held me even tighter, panting against me with his eyes screwed shut, and I was almost certain he was coming just like that, even though I couldn't feel any jizz pulsing onto my abdomen.

For a moment, we paused, just standing together like that, hearing Woofy panting in my ear. As the feeling form the indicator subsided, I felt a shiver run down someone's spine - I honestly couldn't tell if it was my feeling, or Woofy's, at that point. The indicator, though, was changing, the lust giving way to... that other thing, that indescribable feeling from before, mixed with something else. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it seemed like happiness, maybe, or relief, or... thankfulness? After a moment, he pulled back enough to meet me face to face, and given what I was feeling, I was surprised to see the fur on his cheeks matted, with tears still dripping from the corners of his eyes. He was crying? To me, it didn't make sense, especially since he was smiling back at me...

"Woofy, are you okay? Did it hurt somehow, or..."

"No, I'm fine..." Woofy looked back at me, his eyes bright. "It's just, I... I dunno how to say it, but ever since I... was born, I guess, there's this need, that's always been right there in my mind, to really be with someone, to be connected... but in the lab, well, we couldn't connect with each other, I'm not sure why, and we were all trying to connect with AD, so none of us could, and it just felt stronger. I mean, we were all together, and that was good, but a part of me kept feeling alone, and when we had to leave the lab, it took over, and you came along... I guess it's that the need is still there, but every time it calls out, you're there to answer it, and I mean..."

He paused for a second, and all I could do was look back, captivated by his kind smile. While I appreciated the sentiment, even if I only partially understood what it all meant, it still seemed strange, almost out of character, but not entirely surprising - even though it had only been a week, what was going on was changing both of us. Woofy had become a bit more articulate, a bit more serious, and I was certainly seeing things in him I hadn't imagined could be there when we first met. For my part, I guess I'd changed as well - I was certainly feeling more spontaneous, more alive, and I was somehow handling this crazy situation, something I couldn't imagine being able to do at all a week before. But all that aside, what Woofy was saying... I didn't know how to respond. There were so many feelings swirling around in my head, some of which weren't even my own, and with my lust exerting its own influence on my thinking, I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the sudden change in tone. Luckily, I didn't have to, as Woofy's smile turned into a grin, and then a blur as he quickly lunged back into my embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he yelled enthusiastically, which was initially quite startling, given that his renewed embrace meant that his mouth was in rather close proximity to my ear. His warm, fuzzy body was pressing against me again, though, so I didn't exactly mind. Whatever strange mood had temporarily overtaken Woofy seemed to be dissipating, and I could feel his enthusiasm as he snuggled up against me, which allowed my own to return - a part of me wanted to just grab onto him and go at it just like that, but at the same time, I also wanted to just be... close... for a moment. Instead of grabbing his hips, I wrapped my arms around him, snuggling up against him as well. "I, ah... I'm glad I could help." We just stood there for a moment, catching our breath, enjoying the closeness. As we did, though, I once again became aware of where I was, and how not alone we were.

Even though we were taking a break, everyone else seemed to be in full swing - all around us, blue bodies were writhing against each other, snuggled close in their particular style of passion. As I glanced around, no one else seemed to notice, but it was a lot to take in. For the most part, they had all seemed to pair off, and most of them were doing what we usually did - embracing each other, meshed together from head to toe, hips grinding rhythmically. Most of the action was obscured by their intermingling fur, but I could guess what was going on beneath. Some had pushed themselves up against the wall of the room, while others were going at it on the surprisingly sturdy cots, or even just on the floor. A few of them, though, were doing other things - one pair were curled up in a sixty-nine on the floor nearby, and the way their bodies and tails arched together almost reminded me of a yin-yang pattern. Compared to the rest, they almost seemed calm, their only movement being their heads bobbing gently as they licked and nuzzled at each other, and the occasional twitch of their hips. Back against the wall, the pair that had cornered James had stripped him all the way down, and they were standing on either side of him, their cocks rubbing up against his sides as their hands played gently across his inner thighs, frequently reaching up to caress his member as he squirmed and moaned at the contact. The distinctness of his moans made me realize something else - for the most part, left to their own devices, all of Woofy's compatriots were making very little noise, consisting mainly of the rustling of fur and the sound of heavy panting. Of course, the look of impending orgasm on his face also reminded me of the fact that, break or no, my own arousal was still high, and I was definitely ready to roll - and, judging by the feeling as Woofy snuggled his hips back against mine, so was he.

"Mmh," I gasped as I felt him rub gently against me, still fully erect. "Hahh... Woofy... I thought I felt you come, but you're still..."

"Not yet," Woofy replied, whispering softly into my ear. "That's just the first step, I think... We need to be even closer now..." He reached down, and I felt his hand wrap around both of our cocks, bringing them together again. His other arm curled around my back, pulling me even closer, and my body thrilled at the intense contact. Woofy squeezed his hand gently, and I feel the insistence of his member against my own, comfortable and warm. I could feel everything, from the bulge nestled just above my balls, to the tip that twitched back and forth across my own, the entire thing throbbing in time with his heartbeat. We were barely moving against each other, but the close contact alone was intense enough. It felt like I could feel everything about the contact, the feeling of me against him, of him against me, of how great it felt for my - for his - hand to be holding them together. Our feelings were once again beginning to blend together, and I knew I had to be more connected to it as well.

I realized that one of my hands had already made its way down Woofy's back to fondle the base of his tail, so I used my other hand to slowly trace a path down the fur on Woofy's abdomen, momentarily interlacing my fingers atop his, joining the intimate embrace locking our two members together. It felt good, but our tips were still exposed, rubbing slightly together - in need of more contact. I cupped my hand, moving it upwards, my fingertips coming to rest on top of Woofy's hand, with the heads of both our cocks nestling together in the palm. It felt wonderful, and I began moving my hand gently back and forth, feeling Woofy strain upward to make his tip trace even closer against my skin. Woofy's hand began to work as well, and I let my hands just take over, as the sensations were making it hard to focus, and my body just wanted to concentrate on the sensations of us moving together. I could feel every touch that both of us made, and my hand instinctively found just the right spots to make everything as intense as possible. My whole body shuddered as I moved against him, each rhythmic movement bringing us closer. Then I felt his hips press in close to mine, and stop, his entire body tensing against me. I didn't mind, though, as my whole body felt like it was pulsating with joyous energy, and I let out a scream of joy as every single part of me seemed to curl around him, every muscle seeming to stretch exquisitely as the feeling of orgasm raced through me, starting in my pelvis and radiating outwards, my toes curling tightly as the feeling flushed through my face and seemed to hit right between my eyes, my own feelings seeming to merge with the indicator in an intense explosion, everything else falling away, far away, leaving nothing but an intense, perfect warmth, and an endless sea of fuzzy blue.

To my surprise, though, the sea didn't fade away along with the feelings, instead coming into focus, bit by bit. I could feel my eyes blinking, and somehow felt as though I was awakening from a very long sleep. What had looked like indistinct ripples before coalesced into forms, and I could begin to make out heads, and tails - dozens of creatures, covered in blue fur, curled up next to each other, and next to me, carpeting the floor all the way up to the walls, which were still coming into focus. I could feel myself raising my head up further, and my ears could clearly hear the soft sound of the rhythmic breathing all around me, distinct enough that I could differentiate each individual simply by where the sound of their breath was coming from. Somehow, I felt that I knew each and every one of them, even though most of their faces were hidden, and the fact that I couldn't put a name to any of them. A moment later, a head popped up next to mine, grinning lazily as the eyes slowly cracked open. I could feel myself reaching up to run my hand along the side of his face, feeling the vibration as he almost purred at the touch. "I'm glad I woke up next to you," he said, or at least that's how I understood it, although the tone of it seemed somehow distorted, as though I wasn't really capable of hearing it, and yet the meaning managed to come through just the same. I could feel him snuggling back up to me, playing his hands along the fur going down my back, and down to corral my tail, which I could feel trying to twitch away before he grabbed it playfully. The touch wasn't erotic, just... comforting, and I seemed happy enough just to be next to him, next to all of them, as the sea of blue was beginning to move, heads poking up above the surface one by one, greeting each other, and I realize that there were more, all around me, as I felt their bodies brush against mine as they awoke and stretched out. Through it all, though, through the rustling and the growing din of conversation, my ears seemed to fixate on a sound, faint but growing louder, picking it up out of everything else. It was the sound of footsteps, rubber soles moving squeakily down a corridor, quickly approaching. My whole body perked up, somehow knowing that this was important. And I wasn't the only one - as the sound grew louder, conversations began to cease, and more and more of them began to strain with their ears, turning their heads towards a specific direction, towards a door, which would soon be opening... Everyone was soon sitting stock still, fixating on the door, and I could feel an emotion welling up inside me, a feeling of desperate longing, of needing something so badly I felt like I could barely breathe without it. As the steps grew ever closer, I could almost sense the feeling spreading throughout the room, seeing their faces tense, hearing the whimpers that echoed around the room before being hurriedly choked off. The steps were almost there, and I suddenly felt almost crestfallen, sensing my ears droop as a wave of sadness and fear washed over me. Then the door began to swing open, and despite it all, I could feel myself grinning, knowing who was about to appear... But before the door could swing open all the way, the whole seen began to fade, along with the rest of my awareness. Before my consciousness completely left, however, I realized why the face of the creature who had greeted me seemed so familiar - even though it somehow seemed younger, I could have sworn it looked exactly like Berkshire.

I don't know exactly how long I slept, but from the way I felt when I finally cracked my eyes open, it seemed like it had been at least a number of hours, maybe more - my head had that fuzzy, not-quite-awake feeling that comes from oversleeping, and my muscles seemed desperately in need of a stretch. I complied with their request, pulling myself upright, blinking momentarily at the strangeness of my surroundings until I woke up enough to remember where I was.

The room looked mostly the same as it had before, its interior giving no clue as to the time - I realized that the room had no windows or skylights, just the banks of fluorescent lights buzzing faintly on the ceiling. I realized that I was now on one of the cots, covered by a blanket - with the clothes that I had worn in, laundered and neatly folded, lying on top. Given the efficiency of Dr. Artemis' staff, I wasn't entirely surprised, but it did mean that I'd definitely been out for quite a while for them to have had time to take care of it.

Woofy, though, wasn't immediately visible, as I was definitely the only person under the blanket. I looked around nearby, and quickly located him curled up on the floor next to the cot. With his thick fur, apparently a blanket hadn't been deemed necessary, but someone had carefully balanced his clothes atop his sleeping form. Surprisingly, the bundle of clothing seemed to stay in place, bobbing up and down gently with his breathing, although they probably wouldn't end up faring so well if he decided to roll over.

Since he seemed to be content to sleep a bit longer, I left him alone, glancing around the room to see what everyone else was up to. Not much, apparently, as I seemed to be the only person awake. About a third of the other cots were occupied by fuzzy blue couples snoozing together, for the most part haphazardly intertwined, while the rest of them seemed to be sacked out in piles of three or four in arbitrary locations on the ground. I could see James' head poking out of one such pile to one side of the doors, sleeping gape-mouthed with his glasses sitting slightly askew just below his frazzled-looking hair. Oddly, though, I didn't see A.J. anywhere around, and Berkshire might have been missing as well - it was hard to tell with all of the blue forms that were currently intermingled.

I was curious to find out where they might have gone off to, but at the same time, I didn't want to just wander off and leave Woofy by himself. Given that it was strange enough for me to wake up in this unfamiliar room, I wanted to make sure that he didn't wake up with me gone, and panic wondering if something had happened to me. Well, that and the fact that while this facility was probably safe, things seemed to be going off the rails as far as the government was concerned, and not knowing what was going to happen next, I didn't particularly want to let Woofy out of my sight.

So I waited, but luckily I didn't have to wait for very long - a few minutes later, Woofy yawned languidly and stretched, arching his back in a surprisingly catlike manner. Of course, he hadn't noticed the clothes that had been piled on top of him, which promptly toppled over, flopping onto his head in a mess of tangled fabric.

"Glah, what?" he mumbled, his voice sounding muffled through the clothing, as he flailed about trying to extricate himself. He was generally successful - his shirt landed in my lap, and his pants quickly followed to land in a heap at the base of the cot. This left him grinning up at me, naked, with a pair of boxer briefs dangling off of his head, one of the legs apparently somehow caught on his right ear.

I opened my mouth to comment on Woofy's state, but before I could say anything, he was already in motion, pulling himself up on the cot railing and bounded up to where I was, his muzzle stopping barely shy of my nose. Without hesitating at all, and completely unaware of the underwear situation, he started talking enthusiastically. "So... Did you have another vision? Did you? Did you?"

I leaned back a bit, but not before Woofy, in his excitement, bumped his muzzle against my nose. "Yeah, I... Yeah, I did, in fact. I'm guessing that means you had one as well?"

"Oh, yeah! It was really cool! I was down at the ocean, and there was just water, all the way out as far as you could see! And there were a bunch of other kids there, and we climbed onto this huge boat, but it wasn't like the metal ones I learned about. It was all made out of wood, and polished up, and there were these huge things called masts that were almost like trees, but coming up right from the floor, and there were huge sails and big iron cannon things! And I guess there was a teacher or something, but her voice just sounded like a drone, and I was too busy running around and looking at everything to hear! Then I woke up, but it was so cool to see that! Did you really get to do that? Did you?"

"Heh, yeah, indeed I did," I said, the recollection bringing back my own memories of it. "It was in the third grade, I think, and we were on a field trip to the coast, to visit a replica of an American warship that had fought in some famous battle of I think the war of 1812. We were all so excited, looking at everything on the ship, and you're right that no one paid any attention to the teacher, who was trying to explain the history to us - if I recall, even she realized that, and instead of having us write up something on what we learned, I think she just had us draw pictures of some of the cool things we saw that day."

"Wow, that's awesome! I, um..."

"Yes?

"Well, I kinda wish I coulda actually done that, it just seemed so cool..."

"Hmm... You know, they probably still have ships like that touring around... Once all this craziness blows over, there's nothing to stop us from tracking one down and taking a day to explore it, now is there?"

"Wait, we could really do that? That would be SO COOL!" Woofy grabbed me in an enthusiastic bear hug, bouncing happily as the erstwhile underwear flopped over on top of my head. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Hey, it's still gonna be a while until we can do that," I replied, trying to return the hug as I shook the underwear off of my head - as I did, though, Woofy had pulled back a bit, getting ready to say something else.

"So... You had a vision too, right?"

"Yeah, maybe not quite as interesting as yours, but..." I started to tell him what I had seen, but as I got to the part where everyone started hearing the sound of the person walking forward, I hesitated. Unlike the vision that Woofy had had, a generally happy and mostly irrelevant memory, this one seemed like it might hit closer to home. I wondered if there was a better way to phrase it, but as I was trying to figure out what to say, my mind flashed back on what Woofy had said earlier. Something about being all together with Dubrovnikov, but not completely, not like it was with me... There was something about that, something important, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Woofy was staring at me, though, probably wondering why I had suddenly trailed off, and I had to say something. I couldn't think of anything else on the spot, though, except...

"You know, the guy that talked to you in the vision... I mean... Back then, when you were in the lab, were you and Berkshire... close?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, before you met me... Were you... connected to him? It's just, in the vision, you seemed so close, closer than the rest, and his was the only face that stood out in that memory..."

Woofy considered that for a moment. "I guess we played together more often than we did with the others, so we're kinda familiar to each other. But I don't get what you mean - how could we have been connected?"

"Well, I just assumed..." Although, thinking about it, I realized why he was confused. I thought back to what the person at the police precinct had said when I first met Woofy - how, if they were corralled early on and kept just with each other, that they wouldn't latch on to anyone - and while a number of them had been happy to jump all over James, even though he had been working with all of them together, he didn't seem to be paired off with any one of them specifically. I guess it made sense that they couldn't connect to each other like that, at least not all together, and something about them being together meant that no one individual became connected to the person attending to them... But why? The only way to find out, though, was to ask - and to set up the question, I would have to explain the rest of the vision, hoping that now that Woofy had a connection to me, that the recollection wouldn't be too painful. I started to speak again, but paused as I head a pair of footsteps rapidly approaching behind me, and a moment later, I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder.

I looked up to see Dr. Artemis, who looked considerably better than he had the day before, dressed in a clean white lab coat.

"It's good to see you're awake, and none the worse for wear after all of this," he said. "I trust you've had a chance to recuperate?"

"Yes, I think we're okay-":

"Hey, Dr. Artemis!" Woofy interjected, jumping up enthusiastically to greet him. I wasn't sure whether Dr. Artemis was too overwhelmed from yesterday's events to react, or if he had finally become inured to it, but he only betrayed the slightest flinch upon noticing Woofy's nakedness.

"Hey, Woofy, glad to see you're okay." He turned back to me, perhaps a bit pointedly. "Anyway, now that you're awake, if you could follow me - there's a fairly important meeting going on, and I think the two of you should be involved. Oh, before you do, though, please do have Woofy get at least marginally dressed - high-ranking members of the military do tend to expect at least a minimum level of decorum. Please try to get ready quickly - I'll be waiting for you outside." Giving Woofy one more slightly askance look, he turned and headed back towards the door.

Of course, now that I thought about it, I was pretty much naked as well, although with the blanket it hadn't been readily apparent. Woofy's underwear had landed on the side of the bed, so I tossed them over to him while starting to get dressed myself. Of course, given that just about everyone else in the room was naked, modesty shouldn't have been that much of an issue, but I felt more comfortable with clothes on nonetheless.

My shoes, though, didn't seem to be readily visible, but after a bit of poking around, I discovered that someone had placed them neatly underneath the cot. I pulled them on as Woofy finished sorting out his clothes and got dressed, from the waist down, at least. As we walked towards the door, I noticed James blearily rubbing his eyes as he looked around, but when he noticed me, he flushed with embarrassment, sitting bolt upright while shoving his hands down to cover his crotch - an action that was more or less redundant, as it was already obscured by the fuzzy blue form curled up peacefully in his lap.

As promised, Dr. Artemis was waiting on the other side of the double doors, along with a pair of soldiers in full battle dress, menacing-looking black submachineguns slung at the ready. I looked at them uncomfortably, Woofy sharing my unease, but Dr. Artemis didn't seem all that perturbed by them. "An unfortunate but necessary precaution at the moment," he said upon seeing our reactions. "No need to worry - unlike some of the other units, these ones are completely loyal to the chain of command - and, more specifically, the general who we're going to be meeting with in just a moment." And, in truth, it was at that - a short walk down the hallway, a right turn through an unlabeled set of double doors, and a few steps down a slightly better-carpeted hallway that ended in a normal, windowed door looking into a conference room. One of the soldiers opened the door, ushering us inside before taking up a post nearby.

The conference room looked a bit nicer than I would have expected for a government building - the table itself seemed to be made from a solid slab of granite, with modern-style ergonomic swivel chairs arrayed around it. A.J. and Berkshire were already occupying a couple of the chairs on the other side of the table, flanked by another man in a lab coat to one side, and an officer in an impeccably pressed dress uniform, with silver oak clusters on his shoulders, to the other. There were a few empty chairs to the other side, along with a couple of other military men, with what I thought were sergeant's stripes on their arms - both of them, though, had buzz cuts, bulging muscles, and the kind of look about them that made me glad that they were definitely on our side. Woofy, though, didn't seem to have any problem with them, grabbing the available chair next to them. I sat down next to him, and Dr. Artemis sat down at the end of the table, while the general that I'd seen earlier worked intently on a laptop which he had balanced precariously on a small lectern at the front of the room.

He looked up, nodding to acknowledge our presence as we took our seats.

"Well, gentlemen, now that we're all here, let's begin."

He pressed something on his laptop, and the entire front wall of the room began to slide down, revealing a large monitor which stretched from one side of the wall to the other. A moment later, the monitor came to life, to reveal the first slide of what looked to be a presentation. Oddly enough, the only thing on the slide was a giant title, in large block letters, that read:

OPERATION BASILISK

"Now, I'm sure many of you already know most of this, but for the newcomers in the room, it probably bears repeating." The general looked intently at me for a moment, his face absolutely serious, before shifting the glance to an uncomfortable-looking A.J. "The following information is classified military material, although it may not be for much longer if Dr. Dubrovnikov has his way. We have it on good intelligence that the good doctor, fearing for his life, has decided that the only way to save it is to post everything he has on the project online, and pray that the subsequent press coverage makes it impossible for us to kill him. This is despite the fact that it is the general consensus of the government that we want to do no such thing - given that he's the only one who can explain exactly how it all happened, and exactly what our canid friends here are, it's fairly crucial that we bring him in alive. That being said, until this mess inevitably hits the airwaves, this information is not to be repeated to anyone." He paused, sighing, before sweeping his gaze across the room. "I suppose, after all that's happened, you probably deserve to hear it. Keep in mind that all I'm in charge of is the response to this situation, and that the following information I've received secondhand, but it's accurate as far as I'm aware. And, for what it's worth... I'm sorry you civilians had to get wrapped up in all this."

He turned back to the slide, using a laser pointer to underline the words. "Anyway, the current situation started, a number of years ago, with a research project known as Operation Basilisk. Basilisk was a covert military initiative to create a team of agents that could infiltrate enemy facilities, be able to withstand the scrutiny of standard weapons detectors and other methods of search. Once inside, they would then be able to use capabilities built, or genetically engineered, into their bodies to incapacitate the facility's personnel, while at the same time causing no permanent damage to any of the facility's equipment, as well as maintaining the integrity of the personnel for later debriefing as intelligence assets. The specific targets that this program was designed for is beyond even my classification level, but having agents with this ability was considered to be a key strategic advantage for securing sensitive facilities in rogue nations around the world, including those harboring dangerous nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons."

The general clicked over to the next slide, showing an illustration of a DNA helix with various scientific labels pointing to certain segments of it. To one side was a grainy, black-and-white photo of a balding man with wild tufts of hair puffing out around his ears mad-scientist style - an image which I immediately recognized as the man from my vision.

"As you probably know, after having little success with government scientists, we turned to more... unorthodox personnel, primarily in the private sector, to see if they could come up with a new approach. Dr. Anatoliy Dubrovnikov, pictured here, was one of those contracting scientists. While many academics thought that his views on genetic modification were heretical at best, he initially demonstrated to us a promising genetic prototype - a method which could change the chemical processes in a person on the genetic level, converting naturally emitted pheromones into something much more potent; and, as his research seemed to indicate, these chemicals could eventually be made into something psychoactive enough to temporarily induce a hallucinogenic state in nearby personnel - with the agent, by virtue of the genetic modifications, immune to the effects. With refinements to this technology, the eventual goal was to have one agent be able to propagate this substance through a specific physiological trigger, affecting all personnel within one hundred square meters, and incapacitating them for a sufficient duration to allow a protected strike team to take control of the facility. This is how the project was supposed to work in theory, but the end results were far different than we had predicted."

The slide clicked over again, only this time it showed a grainy picture of an anonymous man propped precariously against a chair, froth emanating from his mouth, and a dark liquid streaming down his face from his ears, mouth... and where his eyes should have been. His hair had already fallen out in clumps, and the liquid, probably blood, was beginning to pool on the floor around him. Accompanying it was a picture of an emaciated man with sunken eyes laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a ventilator - and a body, sitting on a metal slab in what must have been a morgue, with horrible black and blue bruises covering his swollen chest and abdomen.

"After six months, Dr. Dubrovnikov delivered the first strains of his genetic treatment, which we introduced to a batch of volunteer agents. However, the treatment method was a complete failure - within days of induction, the agents suffered serious, adverse health consequences, which quickly led to massive organ failure; the treatment, with very few exceptions, was fatal within a week, and those who managed to survive were severely disabled. Upon further examination, we discovered that the treatment was actually contaminated, crossed with a different genetic project entirely - and the combination, rather than properly installing the genetic changes, caused the cells in question to rupture when they tried to divide, releasing their chemicals into the body and causing irreparable damage. When we began to look into the materials Dr. Dubrovnikov had given us, we realized why this was the case: he had, in fact, been working on not one, but two, complicated genetic projects, and somewhere along the line, he had inadvertently mixed the two together. Operation Basilisk was the first one; you can probably already guess as to the second."

He turned to the next slide, which contained a frontal and profile view of one of Woofy's brethren, with the overall hybrid look reminiscent of a Jack Russell terrier, grinning widely for the camera.

"The second project was this: an attempt by Dr. Dubrovnikov to create a new race. We don't know why he was working on this, but it had apparently been a secret project of his, tested under the radar, and in violation of the ban on human cloning and directly modifying human genetics. The end result, depicted in one of Dr. Artemis' intake photos, is show here - a new, apparently sentient species that is a hybrid of human, canine, and possibly other genetic strains, a species that the military has dubbed Cano Sapiens for lack of a better term. We believe that as the genetics involved in both projects were at some point blended together, this species is likely to be contaminated by remnants of the other project, which appears to manifest itself as a toxicity present in some internal organs and structures, which nevertheless seems to affect the individual's ability to survive, and a number of chemicals that appear in the various fluids - urine, semen, saliva - that seem to be modified offshoots of the chemicals that Basilisk agents were designed to emit, but with radically different effects, and the compounds are sufficiently organically complex that they remain only partially identified. The chemicals, however, do not appear to have the anticipated psychoactive effects, and appear to show little to no effect on people in general. While good news epidemiologically, to the military branches involved, this was rather cold comfort - instead of one successful project, they instead had two costly failures, dead military personnel, and apparently a cache of these creatures being produced in an unknown location."

The next slide showed an airplane boarding pass with Dr. Dubrovnikov's name on it, and a flight destination of Brazil.

"Once the Operation Basilisk agents started dying, we immediately attempted to contact Dr. Dubrovnikov to see if he could explain what was going wrong. However, we were unable to do so, and we discovered his primary laboratory abandoned - he had already fled, and his lab had been cleared of any usable data. He had already fled Rio de Janeiro by the time our pursuit team arrived to track him, and he has managed to eluded them ever since. We only discovered his alternate lab, and his Cano Sapiens project, when his experimental subjects escaped on their own and wandered into the general public a few days later - and I'm sure you're all quite familiar with what happened after that."

He clicked over to the next slide, which was blank. "This brings us to the present day. Because Dr. Dubrovnikov's side project was exposed to the general public, and initial efforts to contain the situation were less than completely successful, certain branches of the military convened to try to determine a way to control the situation. One of the officers involved, Colonel Relman, decided that the only way to control things was to eliminate the project entirely. He deployed teams to round up all of the Cano Sapiens and affected people in the city, despite cooler - and higher-ranking - heads ordering his men to stand down. We believe that his men were largely successful in their assigned mission - the four of you sitting at this table appear to be the only ones that managed to escape his net. Currently, we believe that his men are holding their captives somewhere in town, and we are using every possible surveillance asset that we have in an attempt to find them. Our goal is to determine their location, mount an assault on their position, and secure their captives before they finalize their decision to eliminate them."

The general paused, looking at the various people arrayed around the table. "As missions go, from a tactical perspective, this one should be nice and simple: find the enemy, incapacitate them if possible or take them down if not. The soldiers we're going up against are professionals, and they won't hesitate to immediately carry out their kill order if they feel that they're threatened - which means that we need to take them by surprise and overwhelm them before they can do so. That doesn't leave a lot of room for finesse - simply put, we have to hit them as fast and as hard as we can, and hope that we can take them down before they can turn their guns on anything else. Beyond that, Dr. Artemis and his staff will accompany us to provide support and medical assistance... and that leaves you four." The general turned back, staring directly at me. "Given the situation, the captives are likely to be considerably agitated, the Cano Sapiens individuals especially. We believe that the presence of some familiar faces could help immeasurably to keep the captives calm in an otherwise tense situation, and one that could, with the additional effects of a potentially deadly battle, spiral quickly out of control if the captives were to panic or act irrationally. I assume I can trust you to do what you can in that regard?"

"Um, well..." I stammered. "I mean, I'm not trained in any of, I mean, I'm an accountant, for chrissakes, I can try, but..." I trailed off as Woofy put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry," Woofy said, his voice oddly determined. "There's no way anything bad's gonna happen to them, no way at all. We'll make sure they know it's gonna be okay. Just... keep them safe, all right?"

"We're going to do everything in our power to make sure that the captives are safe, I can assure you of that," the general replied. "However, if things don't work out as planned, if the soldiers under Relman won't give up peacefully, and it's very likely that they'll fight back... there's a very good chance that we're going to have to shoot them, which means that it's possible the captives will see soldiers - people - dying in front of them. Soldiers are trained, to an extent, to handle that sort of trauma, but civilians rarely are... and Cano Sapiens seem especially susceptible to this sort of emotional overload Because of that, I want to be able to muster every voice of reason that I can to keep everyone from losing control."

"Um..." A.J. interjected. "Y'know... Like Dave said, it's not like we're exactly trained for this stuff. I mean, those photos in your slideshow were bad enough... I'm not sure I could handle people getting shot all around me." Berkshire nodded his head in agreement, and Woofy and I did as well. I mean, I'd played video games sure, but the notion of an actual person getting shot to death... The prospect wasn't very appealing at all.

"Right, I do understand that. That's why you, along with Dr. Artemis' team, will be outside in the staging area while my men conduct the actual rescue operation. Once the area is secured, and any bodies taken care of, you'll move in to help out the survivors, let them know that they're safe, that we're on their side - after all, they've probably already suffered at the hands of soldiers already, and we don't want them to panic when even more show up."

"And what happens then?" Dr. Artemis asked.

"Well, I guess we'll bring everyone back here, and make sure that they're safe until we can mop up the rest of Relman's operation. After that, well..."

"We can go home, right?" A.J. asked, looking a bit hopeful.

"Well, ah..." Dr. Artemis hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed, but the general picked up the slack.

"Unfortunately, due to a confrontation between Relman's operatives and local law enforcement in the lobby as they were exiting the building, bullets damaged a number of gas lines, then set off sparks, leading to an explosion and serious fire. The building is technically still standing, but with an unknown amount of interior damage, and it's too soon to tell whether you've been able to return there once everything has cooled down - if it is uninhabitable, though, rest assured that you will be fully compensated by the government."

"That's correct," Dr. Artemis said, regaining his composure. "In fact, if things work out how I think they will, you'll be able to get far better accommodations than your previous ones, should you desire them. However, we need to focus on the matter at hand; that being the fact that, as we speak, well over one hundred innocent people are in imminent danger. Unfortunately, at the moment we can only hope that they are discovered before something terrible happens - but I have faith that we will be able to intervene well before that. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but... as silly as it sounds, I don't think that even Relman's apparently ruthless soldiers are callous enough to shoot creatures that are so, well, undeniably cute."

I couldn't help but grin at that, and most everyone around the table did as well, although the stony, impassive expression on the general's face didn't noticeably shift at all. For everyone's sake, I hoped that he was correct - even with me by his side, I didn't want to think how Woofy would react to the news that over half the people he grew up with had been slaughtered.

"Anyway," the general continued, "that's about all I have to say for now. My men already have their individual assignments and are prepared to roll out immediately - beyond that, it's just a waiting game to see what our intel teams turn up. If you have anything you want to get squared away before we roll out, I'd recommend you do it now, as it's quite possible that we'll need to get moving at any minute. And, for everyone involved... good luck, and let's all get through this alive, okay?"

The general stepped away from the podium, gathering his things, following his men out of the conference room. The men with Dr. Artemis left as well, but the doctor paused for a moment and turned back to look at the four of us.

"Sorry to spring it all on you like this, but the general has been anticipating the intel needed to do this 'any minute now' since before any of you were even awake. I'm just glad that, according to everything we know so far, the order to actually kill them has yet to be finalized, so I really do think that they're all still alive. I thought I'd failed, before, but... I really do think there is hope. In any case, this is almost certainly going to go down soon - and until it does, the general wanted to have you stay put here. Just hang tight, and I'll be back soon when we're ready to go. We're going to get this resolved soon - and once that's done, and everyone is safe again... regardless of what the official government line ends up being on all this, I swear I'm going to make it up to all of you, no matter what it takes." Dr. Artemis looked like he was going to continue, but before he could, one of the scientists returned and whispered something in his ear. "Well, any case, I have to go and get ready myself - we'll be back as soon as everything's good to go." He left along with the other scientist, leaving the four of us alone.

I thought about trying to follow him, but noticed the shadows of the soldiers still standing outside of the door. For our safety, probably, but we were once again confined, in a conference room, but confined all the same. I thought back to what A.J. had said earlier - were we really going to be able to go home after all of this? Not that there was much in the way of home left, apparently - if it really was burned all the way out, the only things I had left were the things I had carried out with me. And even if I could go home... what would it mean? Sequestered away in this facility, we were basically anonymous, but back out in the world... I couldn't even imagine what it would be like. Assuming they were even telling the truth about allowing us to leave, that was. With what I knew about Dr. Artemis, I was reasonably certain that he was on our side - but while the general wanted everyone to survive, it was a long way between being allowed to live, and being able to to back to any semblance of a normal life. I tried to keep my concern in the back of my mind, though - despite Woofy's confidence during the briefing, I could feel a chill of fear emanating from the indicator, and I didn't want my doubts to make things worse. We were alive, and safe - and for the moment, that was good enough. There would be plenty of time to figure out everything else once the rest of Woofy's family was safe.

I turned to look at Woofy, who gave me a slight, shaky grin. "Dave... I..."

"Woofy?"

"I really, really need you to hold me right now..."

"Sure," I replied, getting up from my chair and spreading my arms wide. Woofy stood up as well, and I realized that the indicator hadn't shown the full extent of it - he was literally shaking with fear. He took a couple of hesitant steps forward, and practically fell into my arms, wrapping his own tightly around my back as he buried his face in my shirt. I hugged him close as well, hoping that my presence was providing at least some comfort to him.

"Oh, Dave, I- I'm so scared!" he wailed. "I wanna be brave, I wanna believe that they're all gonna be okay, but they're too far away, and I can't feel them at all... I just want them to be okay, but there's nothing I can do! If they can't find them..." I quickly glanced over at A.J. and Berkshire to see if they were in the same situation, but both of them were sitting in their chairs, looking expectantly at me, like they were waiting for me to say something. The problem was, I didn't have any more answers than they did, and I was probably just as afraid - Woofy shivering against me wasn't particularly helping much in that regard. But I had to say something... and somehow, despite it all, I found enough energy to pull myself together. I began to speak, struggling to come up the words, speaking them to Woofy, but saying them almost as much for my own benefit as anyone else's.

"Look... We can't know for sure, that's true, but if something bad had happened, we would have already heard about it. Would everyone be going to all this trouble to mount a rescue operation if there wasn't anyone left to rescue? After all, if they're considering bringing us along, it means that they expect that everyone is gonna be alive, scared, probably more scared than us, but alive. Yes, we're not doing anything right now, but a lot of other people are, and it's only a matter of time before they get some results. And as soon as they do, we're going to go there, and help out however we can. Everyone else believes that they're alive, and they're counting on us to do the same. I know it's hard, I know it's terrifying - I mean, there are gonna be a lot of guys with guns out there, and who knows what else... but we've gotta believe that everything will be okay. Even though there's danger... we're all still alive. I'm still alive, I'm right here, and I promise, I'm not gonna leave your side, not even for a moment. I'm scared, but I know that I have to set that aside and be strong, because you're depending on me... And we've all got to be strong, so that we can be there for everyone else, to let them know that everything's okay despite everything they've been through so far. I don't know what else I can do, but say that I'm here, and you can hold me for as long as you need to."

Woofy sniffled into my shirt, but I could already feel his body starting to relax. "T-thanks," he replied, still holding me close. "I'm still scared, but... I believe you. They've gotta be okay, somehow..."

As he finished, I felt another set of arms hug both of us, and then another, a fuzzy face nuzzling up against the back of my head - and I realized that not only had A.J. and Berkshire been listening to my impromptu speech, they had apparently taken the last part of it literally as well. We stood there for a while, huddled together in a close group hug, and I really did start to feel calm. The closeness was encouraging - a direct, physical reminder that, despite the craziness of the past week, despite everything that had changed, and the things that had been lost, we were still here, together. I thought back to what I had felt with Woofy a few nights ago, that feeling of certainty, that we were together and that nothing could take that apart... And deep down, I felt that it was right. I didn't know what the fate of Woofy's other brethren would be, not for sure, but I knew that, no matter what happened, we would still have each other, and that somehow it would turn out okay.

My reverie was broken by the sound of a radio crackling, and the shadows of the soldiers by the door shifted as they stepped into the door frame to quickly converse with each other. One of them turned, gesturing to us. "They've found the location, but they can't tell what's happening inside, and things could go down any minute. The military units are already rolling, and we've gotta go now."

A.J. and Berkshire quickly disengaged, with Woofy doing so a bit more reluctantly, and we followed the soldiers out into a hallway. They directed us down yet another series of corridors, and Dr. Artemis popped out of one of the crossing hallways, joining us with his team, all of who were toting large packs with red cross symbols on them. We quickly made our way down a flight of concrete stairs, and then out into a large, underground parking lot. The lot was littered with pallets of supplies, some of which were still loaded down with haphazardly scattered guns, clips, and boxes of ammunition. I almost considered asking for a gun myself, just in case, but realized I'd probably do more harm than good, given that I'd never fired one before. A number of rows were already empty, and the soldiers ushered us towards the open rear doors of a SWAT-style assault van parked near one of the large stacks of equipment. We all piled in, sitting on the metal benches that ran along either side, Dr. Artemis' team quickly checking over their gear as Woofy grabbed onto my arm, almost as tightly and insistently as he had when we first met. Dr. Artemis gave the soldiers who had escorted us the thumbs-up, and they swung up to take the last places on the bench, pulling the doors shut behind them. One of them banged on the side of the van, and a moment later, the engine started up, and we were pushed against each other as the van pulled out, accelerating quickly.

There were no windows in the van, and no one seemed in much of a mood to talk as we sped towards our destination. I sat in silence, feeling the van rumbling beneath me, the sound of the road a persistent hum that quickly faded into the back of my mind. I closed my eyes, trying to relax, my thoughts moving to the feeling of Woofy's arms wrapped tightly around mine. I tried to focus on just that, imagining us completely intertwined, no van, no danger, just us. I hoped that the feeling would somehow jump over to Woofy as well, but for some reason, the indicator seemed strangely quiescent. We just sat there, losing track of the passing minutes as they stretched on, each one hopefully bringing us closer to our destination.

Then, without any warning, the van slowed, then came to an abrupt stop. I half-jumped at the sudden jolt, my eyes blinking open to take in the row of somber faces sitting across from me. As soon as the van stopped completely, the soldiers at the end popped the rear doors and began to swing them outward in a smooth, fluid motion, their guns up and tracking along the edges. Once the doors were open, they popped out, moving out a few paces and crouching, their weapons covering the ground to both sides. After a moment, one of them motioned for us, and everyone began filing out of the van.

We were in some sort of industrial park near the riverfront, from the looks of it - the river stretched out along docks at a shipping yard across the street, and there were warehouses all around, separated by battered chain-link fences. The van had been parked under a freeway overpass, but no cars could be heard nearby - apparently, the soldiers had already locked down the general area. The sky was overcast, and everything looked bleak, somehow darker than it should have. I realized, despite the clouds, that the sun was probably setting, and we were heading towards night - and whatever darkness would mean for the assault.

Of course, that was the weird thing - despite the array of military vehicles parked further in, and soldiers prowling around the outside of a large warehouse just ahead, there were no immediate sounds of battle - no gunfire, no explosions, no clashes of any sort. That could, I supposed, be a good thing, simply meaning that the battle had ended before our van had even arrived - or it could have meant that no battle was needed because the kill order had already been carried out. As the soldiers that had accompanied us fanned out, checking the nearby area, I wondered which outcome it was, and how soon we would find out - after all, if things were already wrapping up, someone would surely be coming up to bring us into the warehouse in a matter of minutes.

Dr. Artemis' team was working on setting up a medical tent of some kind, and Berkshire was pulling A.J. back into the van for some reason, leaving us more or less to our own devices. In search of something to do, I walked over to lean against one of the large concrete pillars supporting the overpass, Woofy still firmly attached to my arm. Glancing over at the warehouse, I looked at the soldiers standing around outside, trying to determine from their actions what was going on, and figure out from that what we would need to do once they were finished. A large group of them, the general included, seemed to be arguing with a small group of soldiers in a slightly different style of uniform, while other were trying to peek in through the warehouse's grime-encrusted windows to see what was happening. Had they not even gone inside yet? And if so... what did that mean?

Luckily, before my thoughts drifted towards the worst-case scenario, my thoughts were interrupted by a rustling noise coming from a stand of bushes next to the pillar. The rustling continued for a moment, culminating in a large sneeze, a crack, and the sound of a person tumbling through the brush. Part of me suddenly wished I had asked for the gun - if this was some kind of sneak attack, there was nothing I could do. I tried to raise my voice to call out to the soldiers, but the suddenness of the situation caused a surge of adrenaline to tighten my chest, and my voice caught in my throat. All I could do was stand there, surprised and halfway terrified, as the crashing noise culminated with a man tumbling out of the brush onto his stomach, a pair of glasses skittering onto the pavement alongside him.

To my surprise, though, he wasn't a soldier, but a slightly portly man wearing a disheveled tweed suit, complete with grey-striped tie. He pulled himself up, dusting off the suit jacket, his movements giving me a glimpse of his face - slightly slavic features, with a large, bulbous nose, and wide, dark, almost wild-looking eyes peering out from under two immensely bushy and oddly blond eyebrows. As I took in his face, his bald head with the odd blond tufts of hair, his features suddenly clicked into place. He stared up at us, his face a mixture of confusion and surprise, and he did an immediate double-take when he saw who was holding onto my arm. I could feel Woofy start as well, as he also recognized the person facing us. Oddly enough, I was the first person to break the silence.

"Ah... Dr. Dubrovnikov, I presume?"

Of course, I already knew the answer to my question, so it wasn't a problem that Woofy pounced on him before he could reply.