Chapter 6: Tapidae
Perspective: Daniel
"Guys! We’re on the news!"
Tyler’s voice woke me up with a start and I had to reorient myself when I found I wasn’t in my own bed. Then I remembered where I was and why. It had taken me longer than usual to fall asleep, as I was in an unfamiliar bed and I was still adjusting to the fact that I’d actually run away from home. I doubted I’d gotten more than six hours, but I was no stranger to sleep deprivation.
As I got dressed and went to meet the others it hit me that this was basically how my life would be now. My only obligation was to the group; no high school, no piles of schoolwork or incomprehensible homework, no fights with mom at the end of the day. Just… this.
The rest of the group had gathered around a TV, where a news report showed the faces of the scientist team. I was relieved to find my face was absent from the collection and realized it was foolish to worry that they’d connect me to the rogue research team. There was really no evidence to suggest that I’d run off with them, aside from the obvious fact that we’d disappeared at the same time.
"The group of scientists responsible for creating the virus, now apparently calling themselves Second Strain, is still at large. The name appears to be a direct reference to their intent to develop a new strain of the infamous Furry Virus, one they claim will be less lethal. Still, many cannot help but wonder whether the group’s continued efforts to thwart the US government and their apparent lack of concern toward general welfare are representative of a more sinister intent. Some believe that this new virus will be even deadlier than the last, a bio weapon designed to—"
Tyler scoffed and changed the channel, to where footage of the science team’s congressional hearing from weeks ago was playing.
"Oh, good, a rerun of our greatest hits." Eddie sighed.
"Imagine, if you will," the Eddie on the TV was saying, "a virus which could eliminate gender dysphoria completely, a complex pathogen that upon infecting a host, shifted their biological sex to match what they’d always felt it should be without the need for invasive surgeries or complicated hormone therapy. That’s what this virus is to us. It’s a chance to be who we’ve always felt we are. To be ourselves."
The ancient white congressman squinted from behind his microphone, furrowing his bushy eyebrows.
"You’re saying that the furries all essentially suffer from, what, species dysphoria?" he asked.
"That’s one way of putting it, I suppose." Eddie said. His fluffy white-tipped tail swished behind him. "Though a better example would be a less severe form of body dysmorphic disorder, or body dysmorphia, where those affected feel their bodies are imperfect in some way. Some furries have even claimed to experience phantom limb syndrome, imagining themselves with animalistic limbs."
"It’s worth noting that there are certain cases where our virus did eliminate gender dysphoria in the infected, in addition to giving them an animal form." Jess pointed out.
Tyler clicked to another channel where a news team was talking to CDC personnel.
"What I don’t understand is how this virus was able to spread this far in the first place." the news woman was saying. "You’d have thought after the Coronavirus situation back in 2020, the world would be more prepared to handle a pandemic."
"Well, this isn’t just any virus." the masked CDC official said. "It’s not natural, it’s specially designed, man made. The creators likely took those safety precautions into account."
"You’re saying they were able to design the virus to spread faster?"
"Exactly. That’s what makes it so danger—"
New channel. A stern-faced republican politician—possibly a senator or something—was speaking to what appeared to be a pro-furry activist, a brunette in her twenties.
"These animals—"
"They’re people, Congressman." the woman said, doing her best to retain her composure.
"They aren’t human." the man scoffed.
"They’re still people." the activist said.
"They’re dangerous." the Congressman sighed. "They’re driven by instincts they can’t control and we don’t know what they’re capable of."
Eddie turned the tv off.
"Enough news for today." he sighed. "We have work to do."
He was right. The news was a connection to the outside world, a way to keep in touch, sure, but in the end it was just more reminders of how the world had become afraid of us, not just because we were different, but because of what we could do.
——
"What do you think it is?" Jason asked.
"Security said they checked it, right?" Jess said. "It’s not a bomb?"
"Right." Eddie said. "And even if it were—"
"Why deliver it in a biohazard container?" I finished.
The black box was about the size of a toaster and would look like the kind of case you’d carry a small sniper rifle in if it weren’t for the red biohazard symbol on the front.
"It’s probably not a bomb." Jess said. "I mean if it were and it was from someone trying to… hurt us… it wouldn’t have just shown up on our doorstep."
The way she said this gave away that she was only just now starting to accept the fact that going AWOL meant they wouldn’t have the security of a government facility anymore.
"Well…" Eddie said, pulling on the helmet of his hazmat suit, "here goes nothing."
The rest of us all stepped way back, crossing our fingers that whatever was in that case wasn’t dangerous. Eddie took a second to fiddle with the latches on the case in his less than dexterous hazmat gloves, but they clicked up and the container popped open with a hiss. Eddie flinched, but nothing else happened. Slowly, carefully, he lifted the lid of the container.
"What the…" Eddie murmured, his voice muffled behind the suit.
A faint white vapor issued from within the case, trailing over the surface of the table rather than rising toward the ceiling.
"It’s some kind of… self-contained cold storage." Eddie said. "There are a few vials inside. It looks like… oh my God…"
"What?" Jess asked, eyes wide.
Cautiously, the group stepped forward as Eddie turned around, pulling off the helmet of his hazmat suit. In his hand was a red vial, labeled "Grey, Gordon."
"That’s… is that… what I think it is?" Jess stammered.
"How the hell…?" Jason muttered.
"I guess we know who sent it." Eddie said. "The FSF."
"Question is, how’d they know we needed it?" Jason asked.
"Someone told them. We have a mole." Eddie said. The eyes of the group turned on me.
"Wait, hey, I’m not—"
"I didn’t say you were." Eddie said.
"But it makes sense!" Jason said. "He’s been here like, what, a day? Eddie here just picked him up off the street!"
"Then if he is a spy, it’s my fault and I’ll take responsibility." Eddie said. "For now, get Tyler to run background checks on everyone we ran off with. Military or otherwise."
"What if it’s Tyler, though?" Jason asked.
"Shit." Eddie said. "I didn’t think of that."
"I’ll just get these to the lab." Jess said, packing up the vials.
"Look," I said, "I know this probably doesn’t help my case with the whole ‘I’m not a spy’ thing, but isn’t this a good thing? That blood was what you needed to make progress with the new virus!"
"Maybe," Eddie said, "but I don’t like the idea of anyone I know associating with the FSF."
"I’ll round everyone up." Jason sighed.
——
"If I were a spy for the FSF, I’d have done a better job of hiding it!" I said.
"He claims to have left his phone behind," Tyler said to Eddie, "and there’s nothing odd on any of the site’s servers."
"I left my phone at home so that if anyone connected you guys to my disappearance, they couldn’t track us down." I sighed.
"You haven’t found anything unusual on anyone?" Eddie asked. Tyler shook his head.
The interrogation was interrupted by a sound from outside, a distant but undeniable noise I realized I had only heard in video games before: Gunfire.
"Was that…" Eddie trailed off, asking what we were all thinking.
Before any of us had time to consider what might be happening, a black jaguar in green camo came running through the warehouse.
"Marcus! The hell is happening?" Eddie blurted. "Is the Army—"
"It’s not the Army." the soldier said. "It’s the AFA. We need to go. Now."
There was a half second of stunned silence. Eddie nodded and turned to the rest of us.
"Transport procedures!" he said. "Go!"
Jess and Jason nodded quickly. Eddie turned to me.
"Anything I can do?" I asked.
"We have protocols in place to get out quickly if the government found us, but we could still use a hand carrying things." he said. "See if Tyler needs help with the servers."
I turned, but as I did the back doors to the warehouse flew open and my heart flew into my throat. A group of soldiers in body armor stormed into the room, aiming their guns toward us.
"Hold fire! Hold!" one of them yelled and I blinked, realizing they weren’t human. Though their faces were hidden behind gas masks and their bodies covered in armor, the elongated snouts and inhuman ears and tails gave away their animal forms.
"The AFA is storming the front entrance, hold them off!" an armored wolf anthro yelled, hefting an assault rifle. A few of the soldiers split off and ran past us toward the front of the warehouse.
"Where is the virus?" the wolf demanded, running up to Eddie.
For a moment, he didn’t answer, still too stunned.
"Y-you’re…" he gasped.
"We’re here to help." the soldier said firmly. "They’re here to destroy the virus. Where is it?"
"In the back of the warehouse." Eddie said quickly. "North east corner."
"The lab is in the north east corner!" the anthro in the mask shouted to the others. "Go! Go! We’ll get them out!"
Another gave a nod and a group of them broke off toward the back of the warehouse. The soldier returned fire at the AFA attackers who had come through the front of the building, his shot hitting a water main above them and spraying a jet of water down onto them, obscuring their vision. He grabbed Eddie’s arm and pushed us toward the back exit, out into the blinding sunlight. We stumbled outside where a military truck waited for us. We were pushed inside and the doors slammed shut, the vehicle lurching forward not seconds later. A wave of relief passed over me as I saw that Jess and Jason were already in the transport.
"The science team is out." the anthro soldier said into a radio. "No one’s hurt. Status on the virus?"
"We have it." a female voice replied through the radio. "Right behind you."
"Thank God…" the soldier sighed. "That was cutting it a bit close, I think."
"H-how did you… how’d you find us?" Eddie gasped, catching his breath.
"I told them where we were as soon as we moved." Jason said. Everyone looked at him. "Yeah. I’m the mole. Sorry for pinning that on you, Danny."
I didn’t answer. For the moment, I was just glad to be alive.
The soldier reached up then and pulled off his gas mask, revealing the face of an anthro wolf with grey fur and green eyes. Our savior was none other than Gordon Grey.
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