FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

My mind drifted back through the subconscious I was in like a lost sheep looking for a purpose in life. My body floated like a lifeless form, gliding over the ground that was portrayed as a black mist bellow my feet. I took a step, and a white stepping stone appeared under my foot. I reeled back in fear, but my curiosity of where I was at took over.

Putting my foot on the white step, I started to walk forward, ignoring the gnawing feeling of anxiety in my body. The feeling of butterflies slithered through my stomach like a snake looking for prey in the grass. The more stepping stones I stepped on, the more my environment I was in appeared to me. The environment was cooled and it seemed lonely and isolated. The environment had the temperature of a tropical area, but the humidity of a forest. When I stepped onto another stone, I realized I was walking on a road that led to a small glowing light. The light radiated the area with a ghostly presence, making the area seem even more foreign then before. I realized quickly that the light was no ordinary light, but an orb that floated effortlessly above the black misted ground.

"Is this...real?" I mumbled to myself as I stepped closer to the light. Reaching out to touch the light, my index finger scathed the outside of the light. I felt the light singe my finger, and yipped slightly as I pulled my finger quickly away. The pain felt like a numbness, but was replaced by a burn a few seconds later.

Curiosity started to engulf my mind again and I reached out to touch it once more, but before my urge to touch the mysterious orb could be quenched, I heard a voice.

"Wake up Jake! Hey man you going to wake up or what? Hello!?"

I felt a hand pull on my shoulder lightly and I looked up to see a doberman looking down at me. It was the same person who saved me when I got shot. I never got to properly thank him. But instead of thanking him loud enough for everyone to hear, I only whispered the words of choice, and could not be heard over the V8 engine that was inside the hummer's hood.

"Finally, hey guys sleeping beauty is awake!"

I rubbed my eyes slightly, and leaned forward into a sitting position. I accidently felt my head knock against the legs of a wolf, and realized I hit my head on the gunner of the hummer. I looked past the feet of the gunner to see a blue wolf with slightly green hair who held a SV98 sniper rifle in his lap. The wolf wore what would look like came out of a Tom Clancy video game. He had sonar goggles, and a completely black jumpsuit style look. The jumpsuit was complete with several pockets that had gadgets and tools inside of them almost like a cabinet holding shoes. One of the gadgets was a small swiss pocket knife, and the metal gleamed softly in the moonlight. A mask completely covered the ears, and muzzle of the wolf, but didn't go over the eyes. He looked like a trained killer. The head of the wolf bobbed up, and down like a boat lost at sea. I realized that he was asleep.

There was another wolf by him whose fur was completely black, and had red paws that were clutched around the muzzle of an Uzi, and was quickly screwing a silencer on it with precision. He had on the same gear as the wolf next to him. His uniform also had a patch sewed onto it. It read "Terri" in dark red letters.

The doberman that woke me up took his seat by my left, and he looked exactly like a Russian soldier. He wore a bullet proof jacket with an undershirt, and an ear piece that was hooked gently by his left ear. The doberman had a scar, but I realized it was fake because when moonlight hit the scar, it would reflect an odd light. He pulled on the scar where a thin line of paper hung loosely. The fake transparent paper peeled off like tape coming off of cardboard, and the doberman adjusted the scar over his cheek. The small fake piece of transparent material could have fooled anyone.

"I wanted to wake you to brief you on the assignment." The doberman said casually as he grabbed a duffel bag that was lying at his feet as if this was a regular vacation, and threw it over his shoulder. Then I realized something. Why the hell was he here? I thought there was only supposed be Speedcore and Terri?

As if the doberman was reading my mind, he answered in a professional tone, "Before you ask why I am here, it is because the boss doesn't want you to get shot again. I am also here to back you up on the operation, and help you if the bullet wound prevents you from going further.

At those words, I felt what could be described as being hit with a sludge hammer. I put a hand on the wound where the bullet from the last battle punctured my skin, and passed through a rib, barley missing a main artery. I should be dead, but apparently it was not my turn to die.

There was silence in the vehicle that we were in which gave me time to see some of my surroundings. I looked around to see that the hummer was a standard transport vehicle for troops, and other small infantry units. The spacious sitting area was around in almost a square like fashion around the gunner who would stand, and mount the .50 caliber machine gun that was on top of the hummer. The hummer included a back compartment for putting supplies, and weapons in which was almost filled to the brim with different tools, and ammo.

The driver up front was separated from the outside environment, and small arms fire by a thick three inch piece of bullet proof glass. If anything was going to kill the driver, it would have to be large. The driver of the hummer was a fox in about his 30s. He had a very stern look, and watched the desert landscape carefully like an animal stalking for prey. He had an Australian flag on his shoulder patch, and wore a bandana over his mouth that had the flag spray painted onto it. The flag looked like it was crying as the red and blue paint slithered their way to the bottom of the flag, making a melting effect. Then another question clawed at the back of my mind. Where the hell was I?

"So, where are we right now?" I asked curiously as I saw loosely packed sand blow onto the passenger windows, blocking the view with a brown tint. The doberman looked over at me, and said in his all too calm voice, "About fifty miles outside of The Gulf of Oman."

As the doberman said this, a sign that was rusted due to weariness passed by my line of vision. The words were chipping away, and several bullet holes lined the sign like Swiss cheese that was just pulled out of the refrigerator. We may have been outside the Gulf, but anything here was up for grabs. Including our lives.

The doberman realized that this was his chance to explain things to me. "Alright Jack, Blackfoot wants us to go in discreet, and get the mission done quick. The team that we were supposed to rescue earlier got captured because the Russians brought in extra reinforcements during the engagement, and are being interrogated by enemy Russian troops. We need to get into the facility, and get our boys out of that struggle." As the doberman said this, I noticed a tinge of anxiety behind the words. He paused, and then continued speaking.

"That's where you and I come in. We will infiltrate the base from the inside, and will get sniper support from Speedcore and Terri. They will be on a position overlooking the base, and when things get heated, they will call the escort with these...."

The doberman reached into his bag, pulling out four red magnesium flares, and tossed two to Terri who caught both, but Speedcore just let the flares hit him at the top part of his head. He woke up, cursed, grabbed the flares, and went back asleep. The doberman chuckled, and reached into his bag again.

"I call this the "Goody bag" because you never know what kind of crap you will find in here. I got the bag from the Sergeant himself." The doberman said beaming as he pulled out two smoke grenades, two silenced pistols, and a uniform that had "For Jack Herck" printed on a sticky note that sat stuck to the uniform.

"I am guessing this is for you." The doberman said while throwing the uniform in my direction. I caught the uniform, and examined it closely. It looked exactly like the doberman's uniform, and I realized that I would have to strip down in the hummer with everyone watching except Speedcore who let out a rather large snore to signal he was dead asleep.

The doberman snickered. "Don't worry, we are all men here. You don't have to get COMPLETELY naked. Just have to lose that American uniform."

I blushed to myself, and stripped down to my underwear, and quickly put on the Russian uniform. It was awkward stripping in front of people I didn't know too well, but I shook the feelings away considering I partially knew the doberman who wasn't paying attention because he was too busy messing with another item he got in the bag which was a silenced UMP with a red dot sight. He looked like a kid in a candy store except all the candy could kill you. Terri was not paying attention because he was too busy messing with the Uzi, and switching the fire type on the outside to the semi-automatic setting, and back again. Terri reminded me of one of the people from a gun show who wanted to make sure that EVERYTHING was in order.

"Finally you're done changing. You look like a professional Russian now." The doberman said jokingly as he aimed down his sights with the UMP, acting like he had an enemy in his scope.

"Hey Speedy, wake the crap up already! We are almost at the drop off point."

The wolf jerked awake at hearing his name, and he quickly grabbed his sniper rifle. He looked around frantically, but then shook his head when he didn't see an enemy.

"Jesus Linkin, you nearly scared the shit out of me!" Speedcore said as he put down his sniper rifle, and leaned back, relaxed once more.

"Sorry, just wanted to tell you that we are nearly four miles from your drop off point. Thought you would like to know..."

"Linkin? Speedy? I need a nickname." I thought to myself as I dug through the pockets of my uniform to find a M9 silenced pistol cradled inside one of the many pockets. The M9 pistol also had a sticky note attached to it...

"Use it wisely. There are a few magazines in the other pockets of your uniform."

P.S. Remember who your enemy is. I don't want our new recruit shooting the people you're trying to save.

Sergent.

I crumpled up the sticky note, and put it in a pocket in the Russian uniform I was wearing. Then Speedy said something in a mumbled tone.

"Racecar."

"What?" I answered back almost instinctively. What the hell is a "racecar?" Then I looked out the window in horror. A Russian car was speeding down the road at an extremely fast speed. It was a Malibu that was probably stolen from some poor bastard at a nearby town.

Then, to my dismay, started to slow down when the driver of the Russian car saw an American hummer coming towards their base of operations that was only a few miles away. The Malibu curved right, and cut us off. With nowhere else to go, I started to feel a sensation creep up slowly in my stomach. The sensation was panic and fear.

I looked over to the rest of the team, and saw that everyone was completely calm. It was almost an eerie sight. We all looked like statues that you would see in front of a government building without the pigeon crap. Even the gunner didn't move the turret to fire upon the Russians.

"What the hell are we doing?! Shouldn't we be destroying the enemies that are about to kill us?" I said in a rather loud whisper that echoed through the hummer. The driver of the hummer turned around and put a claw to his muzzle, and reminded me of a librarian quieting a large crowd of loud five year olds.

The doberman nodded at the driver, and turned to me. He said four words, and said them quickly, "Play along. No English."

No English? I only learned crude Russian at the army camps just in case we had to interrogate someone right on the battlefield, but I didn't know enough Russian to help us get out of US being interrogated.

The two Russians came out of the civilian car slowly, making sure that the events to unfold were not a trap in waiting. One was a rather large bear and the other a muscular lion. Each solider looked like they had enough to deal with, and a vibe told me they didn't want to be here. Maybe persuasion was our only way out of the situation.

The lion of the two Russian soldiers walked up to the hummer, and knocked on the driver's window with the gun drawn, and said in very crude English, "Get out or die."

I almost shit my pants when he said this. How the hell are we going to get out of this situation?

Then Linkin stepped up to the batters plate. He opened the passenger door, and walked toward the two soldiers with a furious look on his face. He started to batter the soldiers with intense words that were part of the Russian language. The soldiers were stunned, only nodding at the times when Linkin paused to gather the correct words. When he was done talking to the soldiers, they walked away with stunned looks on their faces like they had a face to face encounter with the most devious of ghosts.

Linkin sighed, opened the passenger door back up, and sat back down in the hummer. The Russian Malibu's engine revved, the lights on the car turned on once more, and the Malibu drove down the road Blackfoot team came from.

Linkin gave the thumbs up signal, and the driver started the engine of the hummer, and we continued down the road toward the Russian base that was coming closer.

"What did you tell the soldiers?" Everyone said together, including the driver of the hummer. We all seemed to be interested at what was said.

The doberman grinned, "That if they don't continue on their patrol, they would be demoted on the spot, and I would personally enjoy doing it. I also told them we were taking prisoners towards their base so that they could be arrested for dealing with higher authority."

I shivered. Instinct told me I was glad that Linkin was on our side. I looked over at the other crew's reactions, and Terri was back too checking out every inch of his arsenal, Stevie was busy with finding another comfortable spot to take a nap at, and the driver was back to looking at the road with a cold stare.

I sighed, and was about to get relaxed once more, but I felt the hummer come to a complete stop, and I gripped hard on the two handle bars near the door to keep myself from having a muzzle to muzzle encounter with Stevie.

"Alright mates, its Stevie's and Terri's stop."

Stevie and Terri both nodded, and opened the side doors of the hummer. They both hopped out, and we started to drive away. I looked in the mirror of the hummer to see Stevie and Terri both setting up the sniper rifle on a bipod while Terri was taking out binoculars to spot soldiers from far away.

Looking out the driver's windshield, I noticed a base starting to appear closer and closer. The walls were huge and made of concrete, not allowing any peeping spy a view of the area if they are not on a cliff. The walls were smooth, making climbing over them difficult, but possible with the right tools. The only entrance in and out was a guard post. I noticed that on the ground there were squares, and realized that inside the squares were round cylinders that were close together. If an enemy tried to get into the base kamikaze style with a car, the guard could deploy the cylinders with a push of a button, and the car would just run into the concrete cylinders.

Linkin leaned over to the driver, and tapped his shoulder. "It's time for some action."

The driver nodded, grabbed a ham radio, and said with a chuckle, "I hear you, mate." And passed the radio to the doberman. The gunner of the hummer moved out of the position of the seat, and took out two pairs of handcuffs, handing one to the driver, who put the object on the passenger seat, and then put the other one on himself. I was confused, but then remembered why we were here in the first place. We needed two prisoners of war to make our story true. The two fake prisoners would be the driver, and the gunner of the hummer.

Linkin started to mumble a few numbers to himself, and set the frequency of the radio to the Russian base. He put the radio up to his muzzle, and said,

"?? ?????? ? ???? ?????? ? ???????????? P.O.Ws."

I didn't know a lot of Russian, but I could translate that sentence. "We are coming into your base with American prisoners of war."

I realized what the plan of action was. We were going to act like the gunner of the hummer, and driver of the vehicle were prisoners while Linkin and I are the captors. This will give us enough time to free the American team, and possibly get out quickly if no fighting occurs.

The Russian spoke back, and said "??????." Which meant "All right" in English. The Russians bought it. We were in.

As we neared the guard post, a guard with a rifle glared at us as we passed by the small cubical for a guard post. I gulped. Whatever I do, I had to keep my emotions under control no matter what happens.

When we got close, I noticed guard barracks surrounding the middle we pulled into. I felt like a ant compared to the outposts that surrounded us in a circle. A Russian general that was rather large stepped out of one of the outposts, and trotted over towards the hummer with a smug look on his face like he was woken up from a nap.

The red cat had a smashed in face, giving me the impression that the cat was either born that way, or someone took a really large shoe against it. Whatever it was, the cat looked like it was not in the mood for dealing with us.

Linkin looked over at me, and said in the same calm voice, "Follow my lead."

Linkin signaled for me to get out of the car, and it felt as if my heart was flying inside of my chest. I ignored the sensation. I was more curious to how the events were going to turn out then feeling fear.

The doberman walked up to the cat, and I followed at his right side. The doberman extended a paw first before the general. The general accepted the doberman's paw, and I stood by Linkin, hoping that the cat would not come over to shake my hand. My hand was trembling too much.

Luckily, the cat just skipped over me like I was a bad fast food burger. I had a feeling that I was portrayed as the pawn in the cat's eyes, a piece that could be easily discarded for the sake of everyone else.

The cat and Linkin exchanged Russian at high paces. Not even I could keep up with the words being said. When they were finished, the cat pointed over towards a tent that was set aside from the others. I understood one sentence in Russian that the cat said.

"There is where you shall put the prisoners."

During the time the cat said this, I wanted to take out my M9 pistol that was tucked comfortable in my pocket, and lodge it down the cat's throat. Every single one of the bones, and muscles in my body tensed uncomfortably. Even though the sentence was just about where the prisoners were, it angered me that they would be put in such a low life tent. At least our Russian prisoners are treated with some respect, and put in a normal barracks.

Then I heard my ear bud crackle. "Psst, hey Jack? Can you hear me alright? Just nod if you can hear me."

I nodded lightly so no one around me could notice anything strange. A wolf that just randomly nodded could start something, even though it is a gesture so small. The general would think I could be signaling someone.

No one took notice of the gesture.

"Good, I am glad you can hear me. The name is Terri. I am Speedcore's spotter. If you see anything strange, let me know, and I will tell Speedcore to....remove them."

I smiled to myself. It was nice to know that somewhere over the hills of the outskirts of the base, someone was watching. And that the person was an ally.

When the conversation between Linkin and the cat general stopped, the doberman told me in a whisper, "Follow" in the Russian language. I nodded to show that I got the message. Two Russian soldiers walked up to the hummer, and pulled out the driver and gunner of the hummer who were both handcuffed. The Australian and the gunner both fell to the ground, and were hoisted up by two soldiers who pushed them roughly forward to walk with Linkin.

As I followed Linkin towards the tent, the soldiers around them gave me very unhappy looks. Some looked like they wanted to kill us. Others looked like they just wanted us away. Some didn't care. Even though the facial expressions were of small importance, I had an eerie feeling about what was about to happen.

Then the general stopped walking when we came to the P.O.W tent, and said in the Russian language, "This is where I leave you. You can drop the...prisoners... inside the tent with the rest of the swine."

I felt a surge go up my spine, and I trembled slightly again. The way the cat general held on the word "Prisoner" made me cringe. The general snapped his fingers, and two guards hurryingly ran to the general with rifles in hand. The general whispered a few words to each, and the guards escorted the general away from the P.O.W tent, and towards the way we walked through.

Linkin looked around and quietly said in English, "Let's go with the plan. We can improvise if something goes wrong."

I took a breath, and opened the tent, expecting to see two prisoners tied and bruised, but I what I saw was totally different. The tent was empty, and the only signs of any life were the shackles, and a light crimson red liquid. I shivered.

It was blood.

My whole mind shut off. I felt like the reality I was in just shattered into a million pieces. I looked over to Linkin who was just as surprised as I was, but held the emotion in with his calmness. I latched a pointer finger on the trigger of my M9 pistol. Whatever this was, it was a trap.

Then I heard my ear piece come to life.

"Shit! We have a problem! There are soldiers waiting outside the tent to ambush you! They never had any prisoners. That was a fake transmission to the Overlord of Blackfoot!" Stevie said in a very excited voice. The excitement was not out of happiness, it was out of fear for our lives.

Linkin thought quickly of a plan. He took a pocket knife out of his right lower pocket, and then took out the UMP that was saddled across his back.

He tossed the silencer for the weapon away, "No point in keeping quiet any longer."

I nodded, but kept the silencer. Who knows, it could come in handy. Before I knew what was going on, Linkin used the pocket knife to cut a hole in the back of the tent. He signaled for me to come forward, and together we quickly ripped apart the soft material. When we were done, there was a large hole that anybody could have fit through. I looked back to see if the inside of the tent could be seen. It could not, and guards that had their rifles pointed at us had no idea of the plan.

"Alright, you first rookie." Linkin said while patting my shoulder.

I went underneath the tent prone with the M9 in front of me. The whole time I was thinking in my head, "Don't even cough. Don't even cough."

When I made it to the other side of the tent, I heard a sniper fire, and looked over to see the muzzle glare of Stevie laying down fire. I heard a yell, and saw a red streak fly across the sky.

It was the first kill of the night.

"I got one! Don't worry guys, I will provide covering fire!" Stevie said in excitement.

I looked behind me to see Linkin crouched. He gave me the thumbs up sign, and right when he started to move, a fire fight broke out.

"Who the hell could be here now?" I said out loud while suppressing a worrying tone. If they are not friendly, we could be in for a problem.

"Don't worry mate, I just called a few friends over the radio."

I almost forgot! The driver of the hummer, and the gunner were with us!

I looked over to see a grinning (Well if his mask was off he would be grinning) fox that was holding up a ham radio with the "distress" button pressed. Then I heard the sound of a helicopter flying overhead of us. The fox must have been holding onto the distress button the whole time since the helicopter got to the battle so early. The loud sound of bullets flying over head, and the yelling of men told me it was going to turn into one hell of a battle. I looked up towards the night sky to see a Blackhawk helicopter flying with furs inside. A few of the furs were mounting the chain guns on the sides of the Blackhawk, each gun roaring to life, and firing upon the surprised Russian's bellow. The other soldiers were preparing to drop out of the helicopter by repelling down.

Whoever the Australian's "friends" were, they were some powerful people.

Linkin then said something that I would never forget,

"This is not looking promising."

I agreed completely, but I held my tongue.

"I guess we don't need these anymore." He said with a dark tone.

Linkin grabbed the magnesium flares out from a pocket in his vest, lit them, and threw them over the side of the tent towards the soldiers that were going to ambush us, blinding anybody who was on the other side with the flares light. The flare lit up the night sky a light shaded red. Since there was already a helicopter here, I also lit my magnesium flares that were stashed in my pockets, and threw them over the side. Each person did the same until we reached into our pockets to not find any more of the bright flares.

After that was over, Linkin took the lead, and everyone started to run forward. I stayed behind to look for a suitable weapon other then the small M9 pistol that I was holding. The pistol was not going to cut it if I wanted to come back to the base in one piece.

I then heard a shuffling of feet. I yipped, and turned around, but was too late. A Russian soldier that was quite stronger than me wrapped his arm around my neck, making me into a human shield. I was at the mercy of this man now. I felt his warm fur brush up against my back, and realized it was the lion that Linkin talked to earlier.

"Surprised wolf?" He said in a crude Russian accent with a teasing tone. I struggled violently, trying to get out of the chokehold that I was in, but to not avail.

"I hope your friends like you. Now walk."

He pushed me forward, using me as a shield, and not letting go. I tried to get out of the hold by hitting the lion with the blunt of my elbow, but a loud smack, and pain shooting through my arm told me the lion was wearing bullet proof armor.

"Nice try, but you're my bitch now."

Anger surged through every part of my body. I spat every word known imaginable at that lion in my head. Then he started to push me towards where the fighting was happening. I saw the fox that called in the team running from cover to cover, dodging bullets that chipped off the wall. I saw Linkin disarming a Russian soldier who ran into his direction. The gunner was busy running back to the hummer, trying to mount the .50 caliber gun once more. Then they all looked over to me, being suffocated by an enemy soldier, and I felt like I wanted to disappear. I cursed at myself for not keeping up with the team, for staying behind to look for a weapon.

Each one of them stopped, and aimed their weapons towards me, except they didn't fire. I felt the words slip out of my tongue.

"FIRE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" I screamed in confusion. They barely knew me. Why were they not firing?

The lion put a paw over my muzzle, but out of instinct I bit the inside of his hand. He yelled frantically, and lost his grip on me, giving me a few seconds to run, but he grabbed my collar on the uniform, and pulled me back.

"Not yet. I am not finished with you pup."

But what I didn't realize was that Stevie was watching.

"I got your back, Jack."

Stevie had his finger on the trigger, and Terri told Stevie the trajectory, bullet drop, and factored in weight of the bullet.

He fired the shot. The bullet was unleashed from the gun, and muzzle smoke flowed out of the barrel. The bullet missed my ear by inches, but not the lion's head. It was a clean shot, and a red mist told me it made contact. The lion fell down limp, and I grabbed the rifle he had strung around his back. I looked up to Stevie and Terri to see them giving each other a high five. I gave them a thumbs up sign. The lion fell down limp, and I grabbed the rifle he had strung around his back.

The AK 47 was not in the best of shape, but it still could do damage. I looked up at the Blackhawk to see soldiers repealing down while the chain guns suppressed the Russian enemy. I aimed my AK at a Russian soldier that was behind a concrete block, and fired. The bullets penetrated the concrete, and hit the soldier in the stomach.

He never got back up.

I then ran over, and dived behind a rectangular concrete block where Linkin was crouched behind. "Sorry about the mess back there."

He nodded and shrugged, "We all should have paid more attention to the environment around us. It was not all your fault."

He got out of his crouched position, and laid down fire on a few soldiers that were running out from the barracks to the alarm station to sound it. One bullet made contact, and the poor bastard rolled into cover. A red dot was visible on the soldier's leg before he landed in cover where the bullet made contact.

The Australian fox was hopping from cover to cover with duel pistols, killing anything that came his way while shouting jumbled words on the top of his lungs. The fox looked like he was having the time of his life, and had a mad gleam in his eyes.

As we fought our way to the back of the base, the Russians started to retreat. Some started to hop the walls as we made our way towards the entrance that we came into.

When the final soldier was pushed back, high fives and yells of victory could be heard. The head sergeant radioed us, and told us to set up camp at the new base, and the general that we met in the beginning that set the trap was long gone, and was airlifted out of the area. At those words, the team let out a round of applause, and we decided to look for extra supplies after we celebrated the victory.

Stevie and Terri made the long trek towards the base. Stevie still had a sniper rifle in his right hand, and was grinning under his mask while Terri looked like he needed a nap. They both gave me high fives and a hug, and said, "Don't worry about getting in a chokehold from the lion. We won't tell anyone." Stevie said teasingly and winked.

I laughed nervously. I didn't know what to say or do so I just walked away from the party. I pulled out a cell phone from a dead Russian soldier, and even though the words were all in their language, I could translate it pretty well. I dialed John's number, and told him everything that happened. He was surprised at some parts, and gasped at all the right times so it was nice to call him. He helped me take my mind off things.

Just when I thought the night was over, the Austrailian fox found a hidden stash of alcohol inside a Russian cabinet. He was ecstatic about it, and everyone joined in on the festivities. I stumbled out of the barracks after the party, and was almost sober, and carried a hammered fox outside for fresh air.

"Wow m-man, I didn't know we could f-find alcohol here mate." The fox said while he hiccupped loudly, and giggled. "Let's see if we can find a place to sit down, and relax."

We decided to go into the used-to-be general's headquarters of the Russian base, and found two chairs were we sat, and talked about our life. The general's headquarters was the biggest of all the barracks, and had a desk with a framed Russian flag above it. Something made me feel uncomfortable about the desk, but I could not put my claw on it.

"Got anyone special you want to tell me about?" The fox asked curiously while poking me with his finger, and laughing drunkenly. That question surprised me, but I held back the surprised look, and quickly changed the subject.

I chuckled, "Nobody you need to know about until you tell me your name."

"The name is Nate, Nate Walts. And yours?"

"Jack Herck."

He gave a shocked face. "Are you the guy who got shot in between the ribs?"

I laughed darkly, and nodded.

"Can I see the scar?"

I took off my shirt, and let my muscles relax. I may have not been the top shape of my life, but I was muscular. All the army training workouts gave me a toned look. My dog tag was wrapped around my neck, and jingled softly, as I took the Russian uniform off to unveil my naked chest. It felt relaxing to finally take off the heavy Russian uniform.

Nate marveled at the scar that formed where the bullet penetrated my skin, and ran his paw over it.

"Gnarly. Tough shit. The only time I was shot was in the leg, and I was out for a month, but nothing that serious."

It was nice talking to Nate, and learning about his life. I never told him about John, or my sexuality, but he forget about the question. I learned he lived in Sydney, and enjoyed going to beaches to enjoy himself. If I didn't already have a boyfriend, I would have got to know Nate better, and hit on him. Even though he told me about most of his life, I felt like he was keeping something away from me.

I shrugged the thought away, and the cool night air started to make me tired. I yawned loudly, and Nate also looked tired.

"Well, I guess we can talk tomorrow then. I am going to go to bed. See you later."

I said my farewell to Nate, and watched him walk off. I started to think to myself, and decided to do some snooping at the general's desk. I opened up the drawers, and didn't find anything interesting. Pens, documents, and metals, and all the other needed essentials until I opened up the final drawer on the bottom right of the desk.

The document said, "Classified" in large Russian letters, but instead of running to turn the document to the officer of the base, I opened it myself. The brown paper crackled under the weight of my fingers, and I gasped at what I saw in the contents.

The picture of a Russian WMD was taped to one page, and writing bellow read, "In process. Do not copy."

I quickly put the letter on the desk, and opened the drawer again to see what other documents could be in the drawer. I found several pieces of blank paper, and pulled them away. I was more surprised to what laid at the bottom of the drawer.

A red button.

People say never press a red button, but I did anyway. There was a metallic beeping sound, and I saw the back wall behind the desk shift. Then a loud booming sound could be heard inside the wall, and the wall started to move sideways. I watched in shock, and curiosity as the wall continued to move until it stopped with a groan.

The wall was a hidden part of the office, and was supposed to stay that way. I then noticed a silver box that was completely metallic with a clip on it to open up the contents. A radioactive sign was posted on the top of the silver box, and when I put a paw on the outside, it was cold.

I clicked open the box carefully like it was the most fragile piece of artwork that could ever be made. When I opened it, I held my breath, and it felt like time was coming to a halt. A round circular object was laying softly in a mold of its shape. I picked up the object, and it weighted about thirty pounds, and was a pure black. I knew exactly what the missile was that I was holding.

It was a nuclear warhead that was about the size of a small missile.

I realized one thing, and one thing only that this was not going to be the last battle, but only the beginning.

The war has only just begun.