FSE

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I forgot where I was for a moment when I woke up the next morning. I was lying alone on a bed, but I had no memory of climbing into it. I sat up, and noted with more than a little surprise that I was completely naked. It was only after I sat for a moment that I remembered the previous nights events, remembered why I was in an unfamiliar room, why all my clothes were strewn on the floor.

I chuckled out loud. "Never thought I'd lose my virginity to an vixen." I said under my breath. I stood up and gathered my clothes. I didn't want to put my uniform back on, so I found my bags in the other room and tried to find some civilian clothing. I found some sweatpants and a T-shirt, and slipped them on.

I hadn't seen any sign of Sadie, so I searched the apartment. I noticed there was another bedroom, the walls of which were plastered with posters of rock and metal bands that I wasn't familiar with. Other decorations included a lava lamp and a big, old-fashioned stereo. I assumed this was the bedroom for her roommate, the one who she said was in the band. The two bedrooms were adjoined by a small bathroom with an even smaller shower. In the Kitchen, I found a note. It read:

_Have classes from 7 to 1 Today. I got a sandwich for you it's in the fridge. Don't go outside. Don't make too much noise. _

- Sadie.

P.S. Thanks for last night.

Before I could ponder why she would put a fresh sandwich in the refrigerator, I had to wonder what the "P.S." was about. I didn't remember all too many details about the previous night, but shouldn't I have been the one saying that to her? Maybe she was in some sort of heat.

I dropped the note and decided to get the sandwich. I took it from the fridge and sat down on a stool that was the sole piece of furniture in the kitchen. I hastily unwrapped it and had my breakfast.

A thought then popped into my mind that made me chuckle. I felt I had to put it down somehow, so I took the paper the note was on, flipped it over, and after managing to find a pencil, began to make a sketch.

After about an hour's work and a good deal of wearing down the pencils eraser, I had a satisfactory result; I had drawn an excited Fox-girl tugging at a Human, who was in the process of devouring a sandwich. I added a speech bubble for the Fox: "Mom, can we keep it? It likes sandwiches!"

It seemed very funny at first, but quickly I took to criticizing it in my mind, and I crumpled it up and left it on the counter. From my bag, I dug out my watch, which told me it was Monday, 9:54 in the morning.

I understood that Sadie was probably afraid that her landlord, or whatever she had, would find me in the room, so I followed her instructions to be quiet and decided that taking a nap would be quiet enough, and would take up enough of the time. I was going to have plenty of quiet time over the next few days, so I figured I might as well seize the opportunity and get some rest.

But just as I made this decision, I was confronted with another question; should I sleep in the bed I had ended up in last night, or on the couch? Better safe than sorry I thought, and made myself comfortable on the couch.

***

Hunger was the first thing Darren felt when he woke up in the early hours of the morning. As soon as he got up, he searched the cabin for food. There was no refrigerator, no pantry, no cupboards, so he looked in the baggage of his sleeping comrades. Finding nothing edible there, he left to search the rest of the camp.

Outside, there was a pink glow over the tips of the mountains, and an ever-so-slight chill in the air. Everything was still dark silhouettes, but Darren was able to see that there was no food immediately available.

He began to peer into the other cabins, hoping to find some mess hall or kitchen that might have a scrap of food.

When a rusty pickup truck entered the camp, Darren barely noticed it. That was, until it parked in front of the building he was attempting to enter, and two figures stepped out.

"Hey!" One of them called.

Darren took a moment longer than he should've to respond. "You got any food?" He asked casually after turning slowly to face them.

Another figure appeared, behind the cab - they were standing up in the bed. Darren could see that this one's silhouette had two tall, slender ears - a rabbit. Darren sniffed the air and caught the Rabbit's scent. Old instincts, together with his stomach, began to work on his mind.

"Who're you with?" A sharp female voice demanded. Darren was vaguely able to tell that the voice was the Rabbit's.

"With... I'm hoping-" Darren began to babble something automatically, but then he decided midsentence to answer the question logically. "North canyon cell." He said simply.

A paw clapped down on Darren's shoulder. "Bass peak cell, right here." It was Bonnot, fully dressed in his dark green officer's uniform. Bonnot put an apple discreetly into Darren's paw and moved to greet the newcomers.

"Well, glad we at least came to the right place." One of the figures from the truck said.

"Good to see you, Oakley." Bonnot replied. "But you've got more coming, right?"

"We got separated. I think someone took a wrong turn."

"So, we've got the 'equipment,' then?"

Darren felt like a fool. He looked at the apple, and reluctantly took a bite.

"Yep, Darry and his friends here got them for us." Bonnot said, jerking a thumb behind him. Darren looked up but didn't say anything.

"Have we drawn any plans yet?" The driver of the truck, asked after a pause. From Darren's point of view he was in shadow and his face was not visible.

Bonnot shook his head "No. We meant to wait for everyone, and so far we've only got 2 of the factions, plus you."

The one named Oakley stepped out of his truck into the dim light. Darren was able to make out he was a rather frail, but gruesome-looking Coyote. As the light of the sun began to shine down, Darren was able to see there was a large gash diagonally down Oakley's face, going from behind the ear to the base of his muzzle. One of his ears was torn badly, and his face had odd markings, as if someone had done a poor tattoo job on his face. On top of that, his fur was dirty and matted, as if he hadn't washed in some time.

Darren also felt there was something else out of the ordinary about Oakley, but he couldn't figure it out at that moment.

"Why don't we get started?" Oakley asked, his voice hoarse and low. The three others in the truck dismounted, two other male Coyotes and the Female rabbit Darren had identified earlier.

"Very well, follow me." Bonnot said.

He began to lead them towards another building in the camp, and Darren was unsure whether he should follow.

"Could you go get Lars for us, Darren?" Bonnot asked quietly.

Darren nodded and returned to the cabin where he and his fellow Badger had been bunking. He found most of the occupants stirring, except for Lars, who was sound asleep sprawled across a sleeping bag.

"Lars!" He yelled, sticking his head in the door. Lars jolted, but covered his eyes against the sun now streaming in. "We've got visitors, get up."

Darren didn't feel like having any sort of interaction with Lars, and went to catch up with Bonnot and the new arrivals. He caught a glimpse of them disappearing into one of the larger cabins, and jogged to catch up. He entered quietly after them, and followed the sound of voices to a large room where Bonnot had a map spread out on the table. Darren saw that most of the newcomers seemed to have gone elsewhere, leaving him alone with Bonnot and Oakley.

"...I expect we'll need the boys from engineering..." Bonnot was saying, trailing off when he heard Darren enter. Bonnots face seemed to betray a bit of disappointment for a second, as if he was hoping for Lars instead of Darren. Then he smiled "Well Darren, this will take some elbow grease, but I think it might be do-able."

Darren was confused. "I'm sorry, what will be?"

"The plan, Darren." Bonnot said, his smile fading. Oakley scowled.

"Which plan, sir?" Darren asked, still unsure.

Bonnot sighed. "You don't think you and your comrades went through all that trouble to hijack that convoy for nothing, did you?"

Darren felt stupid again. "Uh... well, to be honest, Lars never did tell me what the guns were for." Bonnot stared at Darren for a moment, while Oakley shook his head disapprovingly.

"Come over here, Darren." Bonnot said, putting a hand on the Badger's shoulder when he came to the map table. "You see this?" Bonnot pointed to a spot on the map that had been circled in red.

"That's the buzzard's nest." Oakley said, before Bonnot could.

A wave of realization came over Darren. He had heard enough rumors to know that the Balfor occupiers were in the process of building a large, fortified base in the middle of the Altama. "You mean... we got the guns to attack the fort?"

Just as Bonnot nodded, Lars burst into the room.

"Ah, nice of you to join us, Lars." Bonnot said.

"Have I missed anything?" Lars grumbled.

"Nothing important." Oakley interjected.

There was an awkward silence.

"So... let's get to the matter at hand." Bonnot said. "The fort."

"Yes." Darren said. He was trying to make up for his earlier ignorance with zeal. "Well, obviously we can't just set the guns up and start shooting, they'll draw a bead on us."

"Obviously." Oakley repeated irritably.

"We were already thinking about that, Darren." Bonnot said quickly. "Either we need to create some distraction to keep the bruisers off our backs when we do start shooting, or we need to make sure none of them can get to the guns."

"Do we even know if we can fire these things safely?" Oakley asked.

"And from where?" Lars added. "What's the range for 'em?"

"Well, I think we'll have to dig some earthworks for the mountings, then once they're on those, and fitted to the recoil buffers, it should be safe enough." Bonnot explained. He then nodded to Oakley "And, like we were discussing earlier, I think we could get some 'involuntary assistance' from the Army Engineers."

Darren smiled. "Well, we are going to need a crane or something, those guns ain't light."

"What about air cover?" Lars asked.

"Well, I suppose-"

Lars cut Bonnot off. "I just remembered something" All eyes shifted to him. "Darren said there was a Human soldier with the bruisers the other day, in Fairfax canyon."

Bonnot turned to Darren "You...You're sure? And why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I'm sure." Darren said. "I was having quite a day, I thought maybe Lars would've told you already."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Oakley asked impatiently.

Bonnot paused thoughtfully, and a grin appeared on his face. "I have a feeling this may be the break we've been waiting for." He said at last. The others in the room all thought for a moment, trying to discern what Bonnot was planning. "But first, we'd need to get him here..."

"What're you talkin' about?" Oakley asked.

Bonnot ignored him. "Darren - did he look like he was with the army, or just... there?"

"He wore a tanker's uniform." Darren stated.

Bonnot nodded. "Did anyone besides you see him?"

"My partner, Ja- I mean, Jasper Mayhew. "

"And he is a...?"

"'Yote."

"Excellent." Bonnot clasped his hands together for a moment and thought. "I think you and this Mayhew fellow should form a team and infiltrate the confederacy, and bring that human to us. Can you do that?"

"I-I don't know- well..." Darren stammered.

"Tell us what this is all about first, damnit!" Oakley demanded, banging his fist on the table.

Bonnot turned calmly to Oakley "This Human is the last piece of the puzzle." He said. "He's obviously a foreigner. There's no telling how much international mayhem we could cause with him."

The Feline then launched into a lengthy explanation, talking to his comrades about international laws, jurisdiction, extradition, and other such things. Once Bonnot had finished explaining himself, Darren agreed to his part in the plan (though it took some convincing), which rapidly began to take shape.

The deliberation went on through the late afternoon, and by the time the sun began to dip behind the mountains again, a grand scheme had been layed out and perfected: Darren, Jas and Garth Mayhew, along with Russell Lowe, a Husky hybrid from Bonnot's faction, would enter the Balfour Confederacy proper, and meet up with a contact in the army who would help them find the Human soldier. Under cover of night, they would smuggle him out, with Darren (who would wait near the border, on account of being a Badger) providing a diversion if necessary.

Meanwhile, Lars and Bonnot's factions would steal heavy equipment from the Balfor army, to be used in setting up the gun mountings, which were to be kept camouflaged until ready for firing. The guns would fire from 2 forested areas near Bass peak, each roughly 13 miles from the Buzzards nest. The rest of Oakley's South Canyon faction would repaint the trucks to look less conspicuous, and would be responsible for the transport of the guns, equipment, mountings, and ammo to the site, one truck at a time.

Leroy Blake's Zapalca river faction and Dale Fulton's group in the Pietro Gap (representatives of which had yet to arrive) were earmarked for creating diversions and setting up roadblocks, should they become necessary. This was Bonnot's "plan B," to delay any Balfor troops attempting to reach the guns as long as possible. In this case, acts of sabotage were also to be performed at the Fort Copper airbase, for the same reason.

In the ideal "plan A," Darren and Jas' group would abduct the Human, bring him to the Altama, and - in some way or other - use his presence there to spark a conflict between the Balfor Confederacy and the Human-dominated Karlov Republic, using the resulting confusion to draw attention away from the destruction of Fort Ilium.

***

I awoke some time later to a steady humming sound, and the twittering of Birds. My eyes opened to see the side of an Urbane tank's turret. When I propped myself up, I found I was laying on the engine deck. The humming was coming from the engine, idling contentedly beneath me. I hopped down from the tank, my feet landing on a carpet of pine needles and leaves. The tank was in the middle of a forest, for some reason, parked in the shade of an oak tree. There were many different types of trees around, and the golden light of a late-afternoon sun shone down through the branches and boughs.

Another humming noise came from the front of the tank, melodic and distinct from the engine. I ducked under the gun, pointing 90 degrees to the right, and peered around the turret to investigate.

Stokes was sitting in the driver's hatch, reclining with his eyes closed. He was humming a tune to himself. I had a queer feeling that something was not right. But still, I stepped out into his field of the view.

"Stokes?" I said, as I tried to get his attention.

He stopped humming, and turned his head to face me. He opened his eyes, but there was nothing where they should be, only black holes. All of the sudden, his uniform became torn and dirty, and soaked with blood in places. In other places, his body decayed into a zombie-like state, fur rotting off the skin, skin falling off the bones.

The strength seemed to leave my legs, and I staggered backwards in surprise and horror. He seemed to stand up in the hatch, but it was more like he was floating upwards. The light that had flooded the area only seconds earlier disappeared, and inky blackness closed in.

Suddenly, the specter of Stokes spoke. "You were the cause of my death!" He boomed, his voice warped and distorted. He raised his arm robotically, and pointed a rotting, skeletal finger at me.

"No, no!" I screamed.

"Wake up from your delusion! Wake up!" The specter said, his voice so loud I swore I could hear my own eardrums reverberating.

"Wake up!" He repeated, his voice now coming from all sides. Then, the darkness came between us, and he drifted away. But those empty, black holes where his eyes were, stuck in my mind.

***

Inside the office of his large house, Field Marshal Irving paced anxiously. In the three leather chairs that sat in front of his broad desk, three Generals sat, equally nervous. Behind them, there were the various attendants and assistants of the top brass that had gathered in Irving's mansion.

The telephone on Irving's desk rang, and immediately he rushed to it and pushed the button for the speakerphone. "Yes, what is it?"

A secretary's voice answered. "Sir, Captain Sedelmeyer from the Bosco Navy depot is on line-"

Without waiting for the secretary to finish, Irving pushed another button on the phone. "Irving here." He snapped into the microphone.

"Sir, this is Captain Sedelmeyer." The phone said. Everyone in the room sat up straight, listening intently. "We processed your request for replacements, and we can estimate that delivering four more guns, and all the necessary equipment would take at least a month."

Irving shook his head and let out and exasperated, frustrated sigh. "We're in deep shit now..." He muttered under his breath.

"Sir?" The voice of the Captain asked through the phone.

"We had the first set up here in two weeks!" Irving shouted. "How is it going to take you monkeys a goddamned month this time?"

"Sir, I believe you stated in the first call that the trucks from the convoy were missing as well?" The captain asked.

"Yes." Irving snapped.

"Then I'm afraid, sir, that we'd have to acquire more trucks in order to transport everything. And as it is, we only have 2 spare barrels in the warehouse, we'd have to bring more up from the south."

Irving let out an angry sigh. "Do it." He ordered "And if there's any way to speed up the process, I give you authorization to use any means necessary."

"Understood, sir." The voice said. "Will there be anything else?"

Irving thought for a moment, but he was interrupted by the secretary's voice on the speakerphone; "Sir, the president is on line 2!"

The staff in the room had been murmuring and whispering quietly to themselves as the phone conversation dragged on, but in this second they all went dead silent.

Irving was 47 years old, but right then, his voice cracked. "Ah... p-p-please h-hold." Irving stuttered in his suddenly high-pitched voice, addressing the captain on the other end of the line. With one finger, Irving nervously shifted his collar. He tried in vain to clear his throat, and then with his other hand pushed a button on the phone, wincing as he did so.

"Uh, y-ye-yes Mr. President?"

"Ah, Marshal Irving, how are you doing today?"

"I-I... uh, I am well sir, how are you?"

"I'm just fine, thank you. So, what was it that I heard about you having delays on the construction of our Fort?"

"W-well sir, w-we just had some p-problems with the delivery of some of the equipment."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What kind of problems, exactly?"

Irving sighed and winced painfully as he spoke "Uh, w-well, you see... the convoy carrying the main battery went... well, missing."

"Missing, what do you mean?"

"W-w-we suspect the an-anarchists are involved."

"Ah, I see. So, how will this affect the preparations for Operation Fall Storm? Or should I call it your 'Big plan'?"

"Um, well, a-at the moment it's hard to say."

"Well, I should hope, for your sake, that it won't be too much of a problem. I told you last year Irving, and I reiterate now; I won't leave office with this Altaman mess still on our plate, it's bad politics."

"Yes Mr. President."

"There's a million insidious and dubious things that could happen if there's still a war on and one of the radical parties come to power."

"I understand."

"Then I trust you to make it happen. Good day, and godspeed to you, Irving."

Then there was a click as the President hung up. Irving collapsed backwards into his desk chair, and did a facepalm as he tried to think.

The staff in the room were all quiet for a moment, before the General in the chair directly in front of Irving's desk spoke.

"Shall we proceed as planned, sir?" The general asked.

Irving, still deep in thought, took a moment to respond. "No." He said eventually. "Move the timetable forward by... say, two weeks."

The room erupted into a commotion. "But sir, the 20th, 21st, and 24th divisions are on leave until October 12th!" The General on the right said.

"I'm aware of that!" Irving snapped. "We're cutting that leave short, I want those divisions on emergency combat readiness by the 28th!"

"If we do that, we could have a Mutiny on our hands!" One of the generals protested.

"And what if we can't get all the troops back to their units?" Another asked.

"We'll just have to get the word out everywhere we can." Irving said. "I'll get the president to declare martial law if I have to!"

"But sir-" One of the generals began.

"Shut up!" Irving cut him off "And if we can't get all the divisions to fighting strength, we'll use the reserve units."

For a moment, the trio of Generals were silent, but still not convinced.

"You fools need to realize, if this fails, the president's gonna put all our heads on stakes!" Irving growled "You all know what happened to Marshal Ilium and his staff!"

Again, none of the generals spoke, but this time it was because of a grave realization.

Irving sighed. "You all know what you need to do, hop to it." He ordered.

With a commotion, the entire entourage left the office, leaving Irving alone. He sat back in his chair and kneaded his brow for a moment, before he grabbed the phone, berating himself in his mind for having left the speakerphone on the whole time.

"Get all the major radio broadcasters and TV news networks on the phone." He ordered his secretary.

***

"Wake up!" A feminine voice demanded. "You're just dreaming!"

I forced my eyes open, seeing a female Fox gripping my shoulders and shaking, while also staring intently into my own face; it was Sadie, and I had just had another dream. When she saw I was conscious again, she relaxed her grip and stood up, exhaling with a sigh of relief. She was dressed in her scrubs, as if she'd come home from the hospital and was too tired to change.

"Was that... a nightmare?" She asked softly few seconds later.

It took me a moment before I propped myself up on the couch and answered. "Yeah... yeah, I think you would call it that." I could feel my heart beating quickly still, and I felt distressed, but I don't know what it was for. I searched my memory, but couldn't find what the dream had been about.

"I... I came in and you were there... I mean, here, on the couch." She said, pointing "It looked like you were having a seizure in your sleep."

"I'm fine." I said, looking down.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking to my wrist and finding my watch to be missing.

"I think it's around four." Sadie got up, and went towards the kitchen, presumably to check a clock there.

I laid back on the couch, again trying to remember what I had been dreaming about, and again finding a blank area in my memory. I could hear Sadie rummaging about in the kitchen in the background. I wondered if I would have to stay cooped up in this room for the entirety of my leave. The thought made me groan out loud.

"It's 4:23." Sadie yelled from the kitchen. Then, I heard her smirk at something. She reappeared in the living room holding a piece of paper - the sketch I'd made earlier. "Did you draw this?" She asked, holding it up.

"Yeah, I did." I admitted, with a thin smile.

"It's funny." She said wryly, almost sarcastically. "You're pretty good at drawing though, huh?"

"Well, I did go to art school for a few years." I blurted out before I even knew what I was doing.

"You did not." Sadie said, laughing.

"You're absolutely right, I didn't." I lied, trying to play along and keep the conversation away from my past.

"Did you actually?" Sadie asked, reverting to a serious composure.

"Well, I just said 'no...'"

"But, you... gah, nevermind." She slapped herself on the forehead. "I bet I don't even want to know." She joked. "Maybe you went to an art school for... porn artists, or something."

I wanted to change the subject, quickly. "So, is it going to be like this for the rest of the time I'm here?" I asked. "You leave early, I have to keep quiet up here..."

"I'm sorry." Sadie sighed, her ears drooping. "I... I guess I hadn't really thought of anything for you to do. I have to keep my grades up, and my parents won't pay all of my tuition, so I have to help out at the hospital, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." I said, smiling to show her that I understood.

"From your days at art school?" She joked.

"Yeah, that's it." I said, but not before laughing. There was another silence, not quite as awkward though.

"Well... I just woke up from a 5-hour nap." I said. "I kinda feel like going out and doing something."

"Hmm, well I think I know something we can do." Sadie said with a coy grin. Before I could ask what it was, she began to ask me a question: "Do you have a b- No, nevermind actually."

She thought for a moment, and I was about to say something when she seemed to come to a conclusion "Just grab a pair of shorts, and wait out here for a minute."

And with that, she skittered into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Oh boy I thought with a sigh. Whatever her scheme was, I decided to go along with it. From my bag, I got a pair of cargo shorts, and wondered if Sadie had meant for me to put them on. If we were going out, I decided I should also get properly dressed. With a glance at the bedroom door to make sure Sadie was still inside, I slipped off the sweatpants and quickly put on a pair of boxers - I didn't want to be going commando - then put on a pair of plain blue jeans over them.

I was just zipping up my fly when Sadie emerged from her bedroom. Her outfit had changed dramatically as well. She had a small backpack on, and was now wearing a grey low-cut top. Also, a pair of very short denim shorts graced her hips. They were short enough that the lighter fur on the inside of her thighs was visible.

"Well you certainly look nice." I said with a smile.

"Thanks." Sadie said, looking down slightly. No blushing was visible through her fur, but I'm sure that's what she would've been doing. "I don't hear that a whole lot."

"Well, I would think you deserve it." I said. After a pause, I held up my shorts for her to see "You don't need me to put these on right now do you?" I asked.

She didn't seem to hear me for a moment. "No, you're fine." She eventually said, smiling. Then, I handed the shorts to her and she put them in her pack, and we headed for the front door, and Sadie opened it cautiously. She stuck a paw behind her as an indicator that I should stay back. Then, she stuck her head into the hall and looked both ways.

"Wait here for a minute." She whispered to me, and I stood in the doorway. She crept down the hallway to the door leading to the stairs. Once she'd opened it and looked to see if anyone was coming, she waved to me from there. I locked the door from the inside, then closed it and hurried after Sadie.

Once we were inside the stairwell, she had me wait at the top, then went down herself, opened the door, and motioned for me to come down. I did so, and once again, she stuck her head out the door, which I could see lead outside, into what I guessed was the back alley. She took my hand and lead me outside.

"I don't want anyone knowing you're staying with me, least of all the landlady." Sadie explained.

After I'd been outside for about 10 seconds, I noticed how terribly hot it was. It was pretty cool in the morning, I remembered. I guess it had just heated up during the day, and I had slept through it. The ground had also dried off completely from the previous nights rain.

"Okay, so where are we going?" I asked. She didn't answer, but lead me down the alley, to where there was something concealed under a tarp. A unusually thick chain snaked out from under the tarp, and it was wrapped around and padlocked to a pipe on the building.

Sadie tore off the tarp, revealing a blue moped, or maybe it was a small motorcycle, I'm not sure. "I'm sure my roommate won't mind if we... borrow this." She whispered mischievously, and set to work on the padlock, which was of the combination type. "She told me the combo, in case of 'emergencies'." Sadie explained, as she opened up the lock and took the chain out of the wheel.

There was a black motorcycle helmet on the handlebar, complete with a dark visor. Sadie grabbed it and handed it to me. "Put that on." She ordered, and I complied.

"Wait... do you want me to drive?" I asked, a bit surprised.

"Of course. It would look weird for me to be driving and to have you wearing the helmet and hanging on behind." She said. "You can drive one of these, right?"

"Well, yeah..." I admitted. Before I was exiled from Karlov, I had an uncle who was a motorcycle enthusiast. He'd taught me to ride one when I was just a teenager. "It's been quite a few years, though." Looking the bike over, the controls and features of it seemed to be all the same as I remembered.

Sadie pushed an electric starter button partially concealed on the left handlebar (which, I thought, explained why the chain had been so thick) and the small motorcycle started up. "At least give it a try." She said, with an optimistic smile.

"Okay then." I said with a shrug. Mounting the bike, I found the choke, and looked over the gauges. The seat was just long enough that Sadie could climb on behind me, and hold onto my chest. In that fashion, I kicked off and drove for a few feet, just to test out the controls.

I was almost surprised that the small machine held both our weight. "I feel pretty silly driving this thing you know." I yelled to Sadie over the engine.

"Just go forward out of the alley and turn right." She directed.

I kicked off again, and once we had gotten out onto the streets of the university district, Sadie directed me to go south on Lennox road, a way I knew well. It was the road that lead to the southern parts of the city and to Highway 16, which would take you through the mountains and into the Altama territory. It was always the route that my unit went when deploying to the combat zone, and presumably it was the route we had come after I had been knocked out about a few days before.

The streets were mostly empty, so I drove as fast as the moped would go. It was good to feel the air rushing by on a hot day, and it was also useful because nobody got a good look at the guy speeding by, who they might've noticed had no fur on the arms that extended from his short-sleeved t-shirt.

After a while, Sadie told me to take a left turn. We were then speeding down a curvy, 3-lane street that snaked through a decent-looking suburb. As we went on though, the houses looked progressively less occupied. I assumed it was housing meant for soldiers families, as it was all very uniform and cheap-looking, and my mental map told me we wouldn't be far from the old airbase and artillery range.

Sadie pointed her finger ahead of us towards an area with a dense stand of pine trees. "Pull into that park." She said. A roughly paved road turned off the street and went into the trees, marked by a sign reading "Rogard Park," which I could just make out as I turned onto the road. We eventually came to a parking lot, and I stopped at the far end and killed the engine.

"We're here!" Sadie exclaimed, obviously excited. She released me from the bear hug she'd been giving me for the majority of the ride. I pulled off the helmet, and dismounted. Looking around, the place was entirely abandoned. Weeds were growing through cracks in the pavement, and there was a sign with a map of the park, which had pollen stains and graffiti all over it.

The moped/bike had no kickstand, so I wheeled it over the curb, leaned it against a tree, and hurried to follow Sadie, who was trotting down a dirt path that went into the woods.

"Wait up!" I yelled after her.

She slowed down to a walk, and I jogged up.

"Sorry, I just haven't been here for a while" She explained "And I've been wanting to do this for a while too."

"Do what?" I asked. "What're we doing here?"

"Just you wait a minute." She chided, holding a hand up in the air and waving a finger.

We continued walking, and I noticed that the light shining down into the woods around us had grown a bit fainter, and taken a golden tone that signaled the pending arrival of sunset. The trail eventually led us to a small grassy area, surrounded on three sides by the woods, and on the last by water. There was a slight slope that led down to the shore of an inlet, and inlet on what looked like a much larger lake. At the edge of the water, there was a small wooden dock.

Thinking back, I remembered there was a lake on the Artillery range that my Battalion had sometimes gone to for target practice, and I quietly wondered whether the range was close enough for it to be the same lake.

I looked out over the inlet, and it looked very calm and peaceful. There was what looked like a boat launch far on the other side, but there was no boats or anything like that in sight, except for a wooden platform about 60 feet out, presumably for swimmers. The water looked cool and inviting, especially in the evening heat. But I had never been a big fan of swimming.

Apparently, Sadie was, for when I looked back to her, she'd taken her backpack and top off, and was in the process of pulling down her shorts, revealing that she'd been wearing a bikini under her clothes. Without a word, she ran to the end of the dock and dived in.

I ran down onto the dock, and waited for her to surface. She promptly re-appeared, a few feet from where she'd entered the water. She took a big breath and shook the hair out of her face. "The water's perfect!" She yelled gleefully up to me.

"This was your idea? Swimming?" I asked. I've never taken to water very well. My father's house had a pool, and he'd tried to give me lessons when I was a kid, but the pool was brother Jason's domain, and so I had never put them to any use. I figured I could swim if my life depended on it, but I preferred keeping my feet on solid ground.

"Yeah!" She yelled back. Her smile faded a bit "Don't you like to swim?"

"Well..." I trailed off.

She swam a bit closer to the dock. "I never figured a Human wouldn't like swimming." She chuckled "You don't even have to worry about having to dry out."

I smiled back, but I still didn't want to get in.

"Come on, why else did you think I had you bring shorts." She said, treading water.

"Because it would've been too obvious if you'd asked me to get a bathing suit? You really want me to soak my only good pair shorts?" I asked.

"Oh come on" She pleaded. "At least test out the water."

"Maybe..." I said "Just a minute." I went back to where she had dropped her backpack, found the shorts, and went into the trees to get changed into them. I took off the jeans and my boxers (No sense in those getting ruined as well I thought) and also my shoes, my feet having healed almost completely by this time. I left my shirt on though, just to signal I wasn't getting in immediately.

When I returned to the dock, Sadie appeared to be swimming out to the platform. I sat down on the edge of the dock, and let one of my feet touch the water. It was indeed a good temperature, but I was a bit reluctant still. Sadie touched the platform and began to swim back to the dock. She moved pretty fast in the water, and it looked like she was an excellent swimmer, not that I would be a good judge of that.

"You may be a Fox, but you swim like an Otter." I said.

"And you swim like a Cat, as in, not at all." She teased, once she'd gotten back to the dock. "I was on the swim team in high school, just so you know."

"I played basketball." I said.

"What's that?" She asked curiously. Now that I thought about it, I'd never heard a canine talk about basketball, and now I assumed it wasn't common in Balfour.

"It's a sport." I said "Want me to teach you how to play?"

"I'd rather teach you how to backstroke like a pro." She said.

"No thank you." I said flatly.

"Oh, you're no fun." She muttered. "What would it take for me to get you in the water?"

"I dunno." I said.

Sadie then swam to the end of the dock, right beneath me. She grabbed me by the ankle and pulled. "Come on..." She groaned. I guess I was too heavy for her. She slapped the water, trying to splash me. It wet my shorts a bit, but I stayed put. I found the whole situation amusing, but I didn't want her to get upset. I didn't really want to get in the water either.

Sadie swam back a few feet, then began to tread water. She was thinking, obviously. Then, a toothy grin appeared on her face, and she let herself sink, vanishing underwater.

Oh boy, what in hell's she up to now? I thought.

A few seconds later, she resurfaced, but she kept very low in the water, with only the upper half of her face above the surface. She then reached up, one hand above the water, and tossed something onto the dock. I closed my eyes to avoid the spray of water that came with it. When I looked back, I discovered the top of her bikini lying on the planks. While I was still looking at it, the bottom landed next to it with a wet "thwat."

"You still don't want to get in?" She said in a sultry voice.

It was then that what Sgt. Kent had told me the other day popped back into my head, putting a grin on my face. "That's right, Buck up." I thought aloud. Before Sadie could ask what I had said, I pulled my shirt off and jumped off the dock.

I landed with a tremendous splash, and I heard Sadie yelp just before I went under. Being underwater was a sensation that I hadn't felt in a long time, but one that I'd never forgotten. I tried to open my eyes, but all I saw was a blur, and I felt a terrible stinging.

Reaching way back into the recesses of my memory, I tried to remember what my father had tried to teach me, but my body surfaced of its own accord before I could. I shook my head, and brought one arm up to rub my eyes. I at least remembered how to tread water. When my sight came back to me. I saw Sadie swimming to me.

"Success!" She yelled, and hugged me in the water, partially interrupting the motion of my legs. Her wet fur felt odd, especially knowing she was naked.

"I haven't swum in years, I dunno what I'm doing." I said. I there was a touch of panic in my voice, partially because it felt like I was sinking.

"Just keep moving and you'll be fine." She said.

Her words calmed me down a bit, especially finding that when I breathed in and held it, I could float on my back just fine. Sadie had meanwhile swam a ways away from me. "Come on, swim out to the raft with me!" She called. I followed her to the best of my abilities, with a clumsy rendition of a breaststroke. Of course, she reached the platform long before I did.

"You're not very good at this." She said with a giggle.

"What'd you 'spect?" I said, panting, once I'd managed to put a hand on the planks of the platform.

"Well..." She trailed off. Then, she shifted her head and her ears pricked up "You know, skinny dipping is fun... especially when it gets dark." She jerked her head in the direction of the sun, which was getting lower, down into the trees.

"Oh no." I said simply.

She laughed with a mischievous tone, and simply slipped underwater. It wasn't long before there was a tugging at my shorts. I tried to move myself away, but Sadie followed. She didn't get the shorts off at that moment though. She came up for air, her head coming up right in front of me.

"I don't get why you're so shy." She pouted.

I sighed. "Well, you managed to get me in the water, I suppose it doesn't make a difference whether I want the shorts on or not, huh?" With that, I reached down, and pulled the shorts off, holding them up above the surface.

"Doesn't that feel better?" Sadie asked, grinning.

I had to admit, it did feel better to not have fabric clinging to my legs.

"Yeah, I gue-" I started to say, but Sadie interrupted by reaching up quickly and grabbing my shorts. "Hey!" I yelled.

"Try and catch me!" She called out as she began to swim away, managing to hold the shorts with one arm. I pursued as best I could, but even with both my arms at my disposal, couldn't catch her.

"I'm waiting!" She teased as she stopped for a moment.

On an impulse, I let myself sink underwater. There was a heavy glare on the water from the setting sun, so from the surface, you couldn't see much of anything below you, clear though the water was. I figured I could give Sadie a scare by grabbing her from below.

I opened my eyes just a tiny bit, and enduring the stinging, I could make out a dark shape in a big blue blur. I moved to the left of it a bit, then grabbed at it with my right arm. As I expected, I felt myself grasping a furry thigh.

Sadie squirmed and kicked, trying to get away, but I held fast. I had to come up for air, so I popped my head up, while still trying to hold on. But it wasn't much use, as she quickly slipped out of my grasp.

"Ha!" She crowed triumphantly.

"I'll get you!" I shouted after her as I wiped water out of my eyes. By the time I could see clearly again, she was making for the platform. I tried to mimic her strokes to swim faster, but I wasn't improving all that much, so far as I could tell.

"You'll never catch me!" She proclaimed playfully as she climbed a ladder up onto the platform. I stopped swimming for a moment, staring at her lithe, naked body silhouetted in the twilight. She then laid down on the platform, obscuring my view.

I reached the platform shortly after, but didn't climb up immediately, upon realizing that I was naked and that the water was my only cover. Promptly, Sadie's head appeared over the edge of the planks.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Don't you want to come up?"

"If I wasn't naked." I said.

"You were naked last night, too." She said with a wink.

"It was dark then." I protested.

"I could see... more or less." Sadie countered. "Just come up! There's nobody around now, and I've never seen anyone else here in the three years I've known about the place."

"That's surprising." I mused.

"You've got nothing to hide." She reassured me. "What are you going to do anyways, just stay down there?"

At this, I finally caved. "Oh, fine." I said, as I gripped the ladder and began to haul myself up.

"Don't act so reluctant. I know you want to be up here." She said, scooting over to make room, still lying on her belly.

"I guess I can't honestly disagree." I admitted, quickly lying down in a position that matched hers.

She chuckled, and then we were quiet for a time, catching the last rays of the sun as it sank through the trees. As I gazed out across the lake, the water settling down into a smooth glass-like plane again, I started thinking about things. What Sgt. Kent had said begun to run through my mind again, and not only the part that had inspired me to jump in the lake. "Some of them pills, they can make bitches go psycho - " was a sentence that had been causing me concern.

Since Sadie hadn't performed any psychotic acts yet, I assumed I was fine. But still, I was curious as to whether our previous night of passion had been inspired artificially. As we lay there, drying out in silence, I mulled it over in my mind, and I was getting up the courage to simply ask her whether she was taking pills, when she stood up and stretched out.

"We'd better head back soon, before the water gets too cold." She said to me. It had indeed gotten much darker since the last time I'd checked, and noticeably colder.

Sadie then dove off the platform. I followed, but sat on the edge first, in order to jump in from a lesser height. After drying off, re-entering the water like that came as a bit of a shock, especially because the water had cooled with the coming of dusk.

"Brrrrr!" I heard Sadie say.

"It is a lot colder!" I exclaimed, before trying to get into a swimming rhythm. At first the chill seemed tolerable, but by the time I waded to shore, I was shivering. "I hope you brought a towel or two." I shouted. Sadie seemed to have disappeared somewhere in the dark.

"N-no, I think I forgot." Sadie said, from somewhere to my left, leading me to move in that direction. The stutter and tone in her voice led me to believe she was feeling the cold as well.

"Are you gonna be all right?" I asked.

"I think." She said simply, now close enough that I could see her outline.

"Where'd my clothes go?" I wondered aloud.

"I don't know where mine are either." Sadie said with a chuckle.

"Damn, sure got dark fast." I said, as I groped around. I soon found my shoes, boxers and jeans under one of the trees, not putting them on just yet. I figured my shirt would be on the end of the dock, as would Sadie's bikini. I went to the dock and recovered those items, being careful where I placed my feet in the dark.

"I found your swimsuit!" I called out.

"Oh, good!" Sadie said from somewhere in the trees. She then came to me, and I handed the mostly-dry bikini to her. meanwhile, I took my shirt and used it as a towel to dry my hair, but I figured the rest would have to wait - I didn't want to ride back to the university in a completely wet shirt.

"I think we better leave before we can't see the way out of here." I said, after noticing that the path we had come from was only barely visible.

"Okay." Sadie said, and after helping her find her top and shorts, I followed her silhouette back to where we'd left the bike.

Thankfully, the bike was indeed still there, and it was only then I realized how stupid I had been to just leave it there. I could only imagine having to walk all the way back to the dorm, still wet, and at night, if it had been stolen. Sadie didn't seem to notice, or care about this little mistake, though, and I got myself dressed again.

Sadie took a bit longer, understandably, because of her fur, which was still sopping wet. Clothes felt uncomfortable on wet skin, so I could only imagine how she felt with her natural coat.

"Ready to go?" I asked, after donning the helmet and wheeling the bike back to the pavement.

"Hang on..." She said. "Okay." Then, she mounted the bike behind me, and wrapped her arms around me to hold on, and I felt their wetness against my torso through the shirt. I started up the bike, turned on the headlight, and kicked off. My memory of the trip to the lake was good enough that I found my way back to the university district without needing instructions. There were a few more cars and motorcycles on the road at this time in the evening, but it was barely any traffic by normal standards.

The only real illumination came from headlights, and the occasional lit window. Even the traffic lights were only allowed on at rush hours, and at this time of night, they simply flashed red or were out altogether.

I was hoping that by the time we'd gotten back to the Dorm, Sadie would've air-dried a bit, but when we pulled into the alley and set to work locking up the moped, she still smelled wet. And when we stepped into the building, she still dripped water onto the carpet. We snuck in quietly just as we had when we left, except there were apparently people in the hallway when we got up there, as Sadie had me wait in the stairwell for a moment.

Once we'd gotten inside her room, Sadie made a beeline for her bedroom. "I'm going to take a h-hot shower." She announced, still shivering.

The room was dark, and I looked around in the kitchen for matches or a lighter, to light the candles I remembered were placed around the room. I couldn't find any in the dark, so I went back to the couch. With my eyes adjusted, I found my bag, and found my watch. The time was 19:46 (7:46, PM).

I changed out of my damp clothes, putting the sweatpants and shirt from earlier back on. I then lay back on the couch for a few minutes, and I later heard the noise of shower coming on, immediately followed by a high-pitched yelp. A minute or so later, the shower stopped.

Soon, I heard the pattering of footsteps on the carpet. "C-can you c-come h-help me?" Sadie's voice said. It was soft, but she was obviously shivering, more than before.

"What's wrong?" I asked, getting up from the couch.

"There's no h-hot w-water."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked softly, not wanting to sound rude.

"I... I-I, well... c-can you help me dry off?" She asked. For a moment, it sounded as if she was going to ask something else.

I managed to follow her back to the bathroom in the dark, and she gave me a towel. With the towel, I tried my best to dry off her back, reducing it from a sopping wet state to merely damp.

"Are you all right now?" I asked.

"Still a b-bit cold." She said. I put a hand on her bare shoulder to see if she felt cold, or if it was still wet. "Your hand is w-warm..." She said. Then, she turned around and reached under my shirt. Her cold arms made me suck in my breath.

"Uh, Sa-" I began, but she cut me off.

"I need to warm up." She explained, pressing herself against me. "Let's go lie down." Sadie said, and with haste she led me into her bedroom. Then, she got on the bed and started to burrow into the sheets. "Come on, the sheets are cold, too!" She said when I hesitated.

I got into bed with her, and she nuzzled up close to me. When she reached under my shirt again, and this time pulled it completely off, I didn't complain. After our first night together, she seemed completely comfortable naked around me, and earlier today she figured I would be the same with her, which I now accepted.

"You want me to take the pants off too?" I said with a smirk.

"You read my mind." She answered, giggling. I pulled them off and threw them out of the bed, leaving us both naked, for the second time that day. She rolled over onto her side, with her back to me and nestled herself up again, and I put my arms around her stomach, putting us in a spooning position.

"Mmm, how are you so warm?" She asked, as if she was deriving intense pleasure from close contact.

"Well, we did swim through cold water a half hour ago, and you did just take a cold shower." I answered, keeping my voice soft, as my head was right next to her ear. "Bet I'm just warm in comparison."

"No, I think it's 'cause you don't have any fur." Sadie murmured "Your body doesn't trap heat, so it warms up everything around you."

"Whatever you say." I whispered. I honestly didn't feel that warm. She then shifted slightly in my arms, and the motion of her rump on my crotch made me hard.

"So, I was going to ask earlier... Did you like last night? You didn't say much about it." Sadie asked, possibly reminded of this by my erection touching her ass, which I was glad she didn't call out.

"I don't remember saying anything." I said uncomfortably, as I tried to come to a conclusion about the loss of my virginity.

"Did you enjoy it, though? Yes or no." She questioned, a crooning tone in her voice.

"Well, they say you never like it the first time, but I guess it was... good." I finally answered.

"Just 'good'?" She teased, with a mock offended voice.

"What did you think, then?" I asked.

"I thought..." She trailed off and giggled. "I thought it was a bit awkward, but I got what I wanted."

"What do you mean 'what you wanted?'" I probed.

"I..." She stopped.

This had set me up for the question I had wanted to ask earlier, so I decided to get it over with. "Have you been taking heat pills?"

Sadie was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "I..., well, yes."

I felt a number of complex emotions; confusion, something like betrayal, a little bit of anger. All I could bring myself to do was roll over, turning my back.

"Wait!" She moaned, lifting herself off the bed a bit. "That wasn't the only reason I... invited you here!"

"Why would you then?" I asked with a slightly angry tone.

"I like you, honestly, I do!" She said. "I-I... I was curious, you're a Human! And you were nice to me, you made me think about my own life!"

I sighed blearily. "What were the pills for then?"

"It's-I mean, it's a-" Sadie interrupted herself with a sob. "I've... I've been taking them for a year now." She cried.

I rolled back over to face her, though I couldn't see her face in the dark. "You mean... you're addicted?" I said in a wave of realization.

"Yes." I heard her sob.

It made more sense now. She wasn't going off the walls because she'd taken the pills so much they didn't work as well anymore; her body had built up an immunity to the drugs. I figured the twitch she had was a side effect. It didn't matter whether she'd had sex with me because of the pills, that hadn't caused her to like me. I realized she must've been under the influence of the drugs the first time I saw her, when I woke up angry in the hospital room. She hadn't bent over for me then, she was still nervous talking to me the day after. It was only when I'd tried to apologize and be nice to her that she'd seemed to become interested.

For a few moments more I thought, putting the puzzle together now that I had this new piece. I realized then that my thoughts had taken precedence over my concern for Sadie. I rolled back over to face her, and reached out, pulling her close to me.

She was still crying. "Ssshhhh... It's all right." I whispered into her ear. "I understand now."

She rolled over to look into my eyes, and In the darkness I could just see the tears that were still dripping from hers. "Do you?" She whimpered.

"Of course." I said, hugging her tightly. What I said next came without having to be justified by thought; "I'm not going anywhere, I still love you."

"I love you too!" She cried out joyfully, returning the embrace.