Chapter 14: Found
Perspective: Daniel
Hidden in the trees, I didn’t have to strain to catch the conversation 500 feet away at the gates of the AFA facility. As per the plan, a small team was to enter the building from the back while John London—the leader of the recently transformed spy squadron—distracted the guards from the front.
"Look, I told you," he was saying to the men pushing automatic rifles in his face. "I’m Sergeant London of the 51st squadron. I was hit by a new bioweapon made by the FSF—a new virus!"
Technically, he hadn’t lied yet.
"A new virus?" one of the guards asked. "Yeah, and why the hell should we believe you?"
"Because the virus is much faster!" he said urgently. "If you don’t let me in, soon half the world could be turned. Made like them."
The guards seemed to consider this, but then one cocked his rifle, nudging it closer.
"I heard the entire 51st went rogue." the guard said. "Turned on their own men."
My heart skipped a beat. I felt the other soldiers around me growing anxious, heard the minor twitches and heartbeats like mine.
"That’s how the virus works." John said with a snarl. "It doesn’t just turn people into them, it makes them aggressive. Turns them into literal animals."
The guards looked at each other, backing up slowly.
"Why’re you not trying to kill us then?" one asked.
"I’m stronger than the virus, I guess." John said. "I’m the only one that made it out."
The guards hesitated. Appealing to their bigotry worked, as they nodded and gestured for London to move inside. The rest of the team, still hidden in the brush, let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Don’t touch anything." a guard said. "You’re probably still contagious."
"John’s in." the soldier on my right said. "Let’s move."
I nodded and we advanced together, moving through the forest toward the building. There were windows at the back, looking in on some kind of storage room. They were unlocked. Almost too easy.
'Keep your guard up.' I thought to myself. Never in my life had I figured the phrase "remember your training" would actually apply to me, but in this instance it was surprisingly apt. 'Remember your training, Daniel. Remember what Gordon taught you. Focus. Stay calm and clear-headed.'
We moved silently across the storage room, but the team paused as we caught the scent of a pair of guards approaching: Sweat and cologne growing closer until they turned around the hallway and moved toward the door. The hawk anthro beside me turned to me and nodded. I understood silently that it was our duty to take these guards down quickly, for the sake of the team, for the mission, and for everything we fought for. I settled my mind, focused my thoughts, and let my instinct take over.
The storage room door opened and I swept up behind the first guard, putting my arm under his neck and squeezing. He panicked and flailed. There was a rustle of movement between the other guard and the avian soldier, but my attention was entirely upon my target. With a weak gasp, the man slumped down, sinking to the floor. I set him down and my partner nodded to me silently. We carried on.
We made our way through the dingy building and came to an unmarked door, behind which I caught Gordon’s familiar scent. The others noticed too and the leader—a white tiger anthro—gave me the signal to wait by the door while they entered. I was on lookout. I turned my back to the door, peering down the hall and keeping my senses sharp.
My heartbeat rose as I sensed another guard moving down the hall toward us. He rounded the corner and stopped. My heart stopped with him. He reached for his gun, but I was already holding mine. I lifted it, pointed at his head, and froze. I couldn’t move. He yanked his weapon from the holster and my mind screamed at me to act, to fire first, before he did. But I couldn’t.
The gunshot made me flinch and I closed my eyes, knowing that this man’s face would be the last thing I saw; Bald-headed, sweaty, wild green eyes staring at me with fear as his jaw clenched, his mouth curled into a sort of half snarl. I saw the cold sore on his upper lip. That cold sore was the last thing I would ever see in the world.
The man’s body hit the floor and I looked at my own gun. No gun smoke, and I could still smell the bullet in the chamber. If I hadn’t fired then—
I turned and saw the face of a grey-furred, green-eyed wolf. I had never been happier to see that face.
"You alright?" Gordon asked me. I nodded quickly.
"Thanks for that." I said.
"Get me out of here and we’ll call it even." he replied.
——
I tried to steady myself as I looked down the gun range. I pulled the trigger, firing off several shots, with a nice grouping around the target’s chest. It was easier when they didn’t have a face.
"Practice makes perfect."
I heard Gordon’s voice from behind me and turned to see him standing there, looking in considerably better shape than we’d found him.
"Just trying to… you know, be prepared." I sighed. He nodded toward the door.
"Let’s talk." he said.
I followed him outside the range to a quieter spot and we removed our ear protection.
"You doing okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." I said. "I just… I killed a guy… back when they were storming the base, I saw him coming and I just… got him right in the head."
"You haven’t talked to anyone about it?" Gordon asked.
"There hasn’t really been time." I said with a shrug.
"Hey, all of this… it takes time to adjust to it." he said. "The world has changed. We have to do… terrible things now, just to stay alive, just to live the way we want to live. But Daniel, you have to be ready to defend yourself. These people we’re up against will not give you a second chance. These are people who want to hunt us like animals, and who will absolutely do so given the chance. They believe they are better because we are less than human, but we’re not. We’re more. We have to protect each other."
I nodded and he pat me on the shoulder.
"Good." he said. "And hey, look, you helped fend off an attack on our home and then successfully rescued me. That’s pretty badass."
"Yeah, I guess so." I said, smiling. Since the attack on our base, I’d started to lose that feeling of comfort I had first felt after the transformation. After I’d turned, I felt like I could do anything, but recently, faced against the very real threat of the AFA, I had started to feel small again. This helped restore some of my old confidence, helped me feel comfortable in my fur.
"I owe you one." Gordon said.
Just then, a black cat anthro walked up to Gordon.
"Gordon," she said. "I’m glad to see you’re back, but we have a situation. The strike team sent to retrieve the stolen sample of our virus just came back."
"Judging by your face, it doesn’t seem like it went well." Gordon said.
"Well…" the feline said. "The virus wasn’t there when we got there."
"They moved it?" Gordon asked.
I felt a pang of guilt like a dagger through my heart. Had our secret mission to rescue Gordon jeopardized everything?
"No." the black cat said. "All of the scientists and guards were dead when our team got there."
The pang of guilt was quickly replaced with an iron ball of dread.
"So, what you’re saying is, the AFA stole our virus…" Gordon said.
The cat looked solemn.
"…and then someone stole it from them." she finished.
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