Dangerous Lunatics
by Alex Reynard


         "There's nothing left to do tonight
          "But go crazy on you."
                    -Heart, "Crazy On You"


*****


BOOK FIVE:
   MADNESS AND REBELLION


     -KURI & WILL-

Let me tell you a little story...


     ~~~


Once upon a time, a handsome, dashing American Air Force pilot was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He was the kind of guy that could step into a room and instantly make it feel more alive. He could charm his way into any pair of panties on Earth. His fur was tabby orange with ruddy stripes, which gave him a very tigerish aspect. His tongue was as silver as the sea.

He was stationed in the exotic and exciting Far East for four years. During that time he made the acquaintanceship of a waitress from a local restaurant that specialized in American-type fare. Many soldiers frequented this place, and almost all of them were heavily smitten with this waitress. She was a calico. Black and orange dollops chased each other through the sleekness of her milk-white fur. Her eyes were yellow and slanted seductively. Her hair was raven, pinned up in the style of a Geisha.

Many males had made lewd, half-kidding comments to her over the years, but all knew in their hearts that she was simply too perfect to try for. A porcelain work of art. She was as far above them as they were above the Earth when they flew in their jets.

All but one. The handsome, dashing American pilot took one look at her and knew in a heartbeat that nothing in the world would keep him from possessing this magnificent creature.

He wooed her fiercely, as any alley cat has done since time immemorial. She resisted at first, but his charm inevitably eroded the walls she tried to build around herself. When his time in Okinawa was up, she went with him. They were married on the runway fifteen minutes after their plane had landed.

They did not, however, live happily ever after...


     ~~~


Once they had settled into a modest little house a stone's throw from his Air Force base, the Okinawa waitress revealed to her mate a secret she had been keeping from him. While they had been standing at the altar promising themselves to one another, she had already held life inside her.

'Pregnant!?' he screamed, and went tearing around the house in a rage.

Finally, when she had calmed him down with alcohol, he was able to accept the idea. The very concept of a child to care for frightened him. How could he continue to be his old rambling, joking, virile self with a kitten chaining him at home?

Thankfully for all concerned (or maybe not), he realized in time how selfish these thoughts were and gave his bride his blessing. She was very happy.

Six months later, she bore him a beautiful little she-kitten. As she lapped the afterbirth from her tiny, mewing miracle, the waitress from Okinawa said that the child would be named after her grandmother; Kuri.

For a time, their little house was full of happiness. But as the days wore on and the father became increasingly forced to deal with the realities of kit-rearing, he grew resentful. All those nights woken out of sleep by crying. All those filthy diapers to change. All the times he had to say no to his friends when they wanted to head down to the bar or out to see a show. Just as he had feared, he was changing from a handsome, dashing Air Force pilot into a tired, rumpled, old-before-his-time _parent_. This would not do.

Even his lovely bride no longer held his interest. He knew in his heart that he had married her solely for her beauty. She was a conquest, plain and simple. And now that he had her, he no longer wanted her. The baby was stealing his bride's beauty away. The gorgeous feline he had met in Japan was now a frumpy, bent housewife with drooping whiskers and bags under her eyes. (He could not have understood that *he* had been the cause of much of her wilting. She could not speak English well, but that did not mean she was stupid or unobservant. She knew exactly how many nights he would leave her alone in bed and come home the next day smelling of other females...)

Over time, the two cats fell silently, completely and irreversibly out of love. The father spent as much time as possible on the base, working impossible hours and telling filthy jokes with his Air Force pals. The mother was left at home to take care of a daughter who sometimes seemed so full of energy she could fly. The situation grew steadily worse until finally, the last straw fell and broke the camel's back.

'Pregnant!?' he screamed again.

And this time he did not merely stomp around. He threw things. He hit his wife. He woke up little Kuri, then howled at her to shut her goddamned face when she would not stop crying.

That night the couple slept in separate rooms. When the bride awoke, her husband had gone. He'd simply gathered up as many of his belongings as he could, cleaned out their money, hailed a taxicab, and vanished.

Appalled by their comrade's behavior, the other men on base took up a collection for the cast-away bride. The government helped her take possession of the house. She managed to find meager employment, once again as a waitress.

Just a month shy of two years since she had been born, Kuri first set eyes on her new baby brother. For reasons she did not know, the waitress from Okinawa (now the waitress from Twentynine Palms) named her second child after his paternal grandfather: Will.

Despite the difference in their ages, Will was almost a carbon copy of his sister. Their fur was the same color and shared the same patterns. They displayed virtually no signs of sibling rivalry. They even shared the same impossibly high energy level. The kittens were _fast_. Time and gravity did not seem to affect them the same as other children.

Still, as troublesome as they were, their mother did her very best to love them.


     ~~~


The years passed, dull and repetitive. Kuri was six and Will was four ('and a half', he would remind you, at every possible opportunity). Their mother had been ground down by life so hard that no fragment of her former beauty remained. This strange, loud country she was trapped in had poisoned her. Because she could not speak their language with perfect diction, she was looked upon as something less than real. In her homeland she had held the same job, but it had been good work that lifted her spirits and made her proud. Here, the customers seemed to delight in robbing her of her dignity for their own gluttonous amusement. She had been called many, many filthy names. And her ultimate shame was in having to ask her coworkers what some of them meant.

One overcast afternoon, two men in dark suits came to visit. They wore sunglasses and wide hats and carried badges. The calico was terrified that they were here to take her home away, take her children away, tell her their father had returned and wanted more than he'd taken the first time.

One of them lifted his glasses, looked her in the eyes, and made her sit down and be quiet.

While the little ones played on the livingroom floor with their toys, the men sat beside their mother and explained the nature of their visit. They were representatives of a very important, top-secret government project, they said. They had identified her children as being prime candidates for an apprenticeship in this program. The children would be well taken care of, the men assured. They would get a good education, good food and good training. "In short," one of the men said, "they'd get a better life than you could ever hope to provide them with."

The calico waitress looked down at her children, watching them play, fixing their innocent smiles in her memory. "No. You cannot take them away," she said quietly.

The men in sunglasses looked at each other and smiled.

"Do you know what this is, Mrs. Rennault?" one of the men asked, pulling a shiny blue card from his front breast pocket.

She nodded. She was not so ignorant as to not know what a credit card was.

"It's not just any credit card, Mrs. Rennault. It's a *magic* credit card."

She looked at him contemptuously. 'How stupid do you think I am?' was the unspoken meaning.

"Let me explain. If you will let us take your children and train them to become protectors of this great country of ours, we will give you this card. You can use it an unlimited amount of times. You can buy anything you set your heart upon. You will never see a single bill. It will all be taken care of for you, Mrs. Rennault. It will be like having your own personal genie."

Mrs. Rennault looked at the card.

She looked at her children.

She thought about all the pain and crashed hopes that she had endured since she had been brought to this country. She thought about how the man who'd claimed to love her had instead used her as his plaything, then discarded her when she was no longer useful to him. She thought about the people in the restaurant she worked for. She thought about all the beautiful things she saw in the possession of other, American, women. Women who sneered at her as they passed by. She thought about how hard it was to raise two wild, rambunctious children on her pathetic wages. She thought about how fiery the kittens were. Like two little bolts of lightning she could never keep up with. She thought about all the broken furniture and spilled meals and ruined clothing...

Mrs. Rennault looked at the card.

She looked at her children.

She chose poorly.

As the men led her squirming, screaming, thrashing children away, the waitress from Okinawa put her head in her paws and wept. She could not even bring herself to say goodbye to them.


     ~~~


Two years later, almost to the day, the neighbors found the woman dead on her kitchen floor, sprawled out like a throw rug. Whether it was suicide or betrayal, no one ever found out.

She had never used the magic credit card. Not even once.


     ~~~


For Kuri and Will, the rest of their childhood was like a dream. Not in a fantastical sense. But dreamlike, instead, in its very unreality.

For a long time, nobody seemed to say much to them. Tests were performed, both medical and psychological. The kittens were made to run on treadmills. The kittens were given shots. The kittens were given MRIs. Each and every time The Project tried to separate the pair, the kittens fought so viciously, clawing and biting and screeching like demons, that the scientists soon gave up and treated them as a single being.

The kittens lived in a tall ivory building where they never saw a single other child. The men in sunglasses had not lied though. They were well fed. They slept in warm beds. They were taught lessons in a small, brown room by a strict woman who wore only grey suits. They were fed and clothed and kept clean, but they were lonely.

When they were old enough, they were finally told about the goals of The Project. The Project concerned itself with the approximately four point six percent of the world's population who were 'different'. Different in ways that one normally found only in science fiction and comic books. As Kuri and Will had always suspected, they were different too.

It was necessary, the man in the white coat told them, to shield society from these unnatural elements.

For many long months, the children's heads were filled with lies. Evil, heartless lies. Lies that were even then resulting in deaths all over the world. The kittens were only told what the scientists wanted them to hear. They never learned about The Project's true face. About the DNA screenings. About the hidden surveillance. About the many who vanished forever. They never learned about the other children, snatched out of their beds in the night and sent to small, dark rooms where the last sound they ever heard on Earth was that of a gunshot.

They never learned, and neither did anyone else. Just as the government wanted.

Instead, Kuri and Will came to believe that they were, in a way, like superheroes. They were being trained to fight a disease. A societal aberration. They were like the scientists who discovered cures for illnesses and healed the sick. Only in this case, the kittens were being groomed to heal an entire country. To wipe the sickness clean.

Of course, they were also made aware that they themselves carried this sickness within them. They felt deeply, deeply ashamed of that. But, as one doctor explained to them one day in a saintly voice, their shame could be assuaged by doing everything they could to *use* their sickness in service of the cause. It would be like penance. Like good little kittens, Kuri and Will wanted very much to be helpful. And so they cooperated.

The training began, and it was hard. The kittens were stretched to their limits. They were instructed by policemen and marines, even by a famous martial arts instructor who had worked before in movies. They learned all about fighting, speed, stealth, and most of all, obedience. As the lessons progressed and became more focused on combat, Kuri began to show proficiency with a blade, while Will made more progress with blunt instruments. The scientists were glad to see this, and encouraged the children all they could.

Kuri and Will did very, very well in their lessons. They exceeded expectations like wildfire. They routinely surprised and even frightened their instructors, much to the delight of those heading The Project.

But still... When the day was over and their weapons were put away, the kittens would curl up, sweaty and tired in their beds, and sometimes dream of their mother. In the beginning, they had asked continuously when they could visit her. Each and every time they were given vague, misleading answers. The very worst was the emotionally-charged 'Soon'. But 'soon' never came. And Kuri and Will eventually learned to stop asking; that the real answer was 'Never'.

So, once their training at the facility was complete, they were transported to what would become their new home. A frontline in The Project's war on abnormality: a containment center disguised as a hospital. The twins were excited, thinking this would finally be their chance to see some action. As they soon learned however, this was not to be.

Their days were spent locked up in a vault in Ward Zero. Kept in storage. They were let out only to continue training or to fulfill their duties; taking care of those who had failed to cooperate with The Project. It was a task of equal parts boredom, creepiness and disgust. But they were assured it was vitally important. And that helped a little.

It also helped that they finally found some surrogate parental affection in the form of their new caretaker. Growing up raised by a roomful of men in white coats is not exactly conducive to a healthy amount of emotional nurturing. But now they had a new replacement mommy. Dr. Beverley was beautiful and kind and soft-spoken. She brought them toys and games and books. She talked to them when they felt sad or confused. She was exactly what they needed.

And it could have gone on like that indefinitely. Dr. Beatrix's orders were that the twins were to be kept in reserve at all times, utilized only in case of a dire emergency. An emergency like what had happened before, at the other hospital. Dr. Beatrix knew that the kittens were the Project heads' way of telling her that they still considered her competent enough to keep her job, just that they thought she could use a little help if things got messy again. At first she had resented this out of pride. But time had convinced her the action was a wise one. The twins were indeed skilled. Plus, she had actually developed a kind of fondness for them (as much as that was possible for a woman like Beatrix Beverley).

Secretly, she sometimes almost wished for a cataclysm. Just to see them in action. Just to see what they could really do.

As the waitress from Okinawa could have told her, 'Be careful what you wish for'.


*****


     -BENJAMIN-

The little fox was exhausted. His eyelids felt like lead. His arms felt weak. His fingers were brittle and wracked with soreness. His tail ached.

He had been sitting in his room, writing constantly, for nearly four hours.

His roommate didn't mind, thankfully. Benjamin had been paired up with a slow, fat groundhog with mud-dark fur and a seeming aversion to speech in any form. They had passed perhaps fifteen words between them since being assigned to each other. When Benjamin had turned on his small booklight this evening, the groundhog boy had not complained. He merely rolled over, his back to the light, and fell asleep.

'Lucky fucker...' Benjamin thought to himself.

The young fox stared at the sheet of paper in his paws. His vision blurred. His eyes sparked with tiny red dots of pain. 'Almost done,' he reminded himself.

An hour ago, or maybe longer, one of the staff had come in and asked him what he was doing out of bed.

"I tried sleeping," the fox said. "But I kept having nightmares about what they did to Tyler."

The grownup paused. Then he nodded and walked away. This little fox wasn't the only child on Ward F complaining of nightmares tonight. And at least this one was being quiet about it.

Benjamin went back to his work with a sigh. Beside him on his desk were many more sheets of paper. All of them filled, back and front, with names.

Names.

Endless, endless names.

The information he had sucked out of Dr. Beatrix's hard drive was stored like a text file in his brain. Just sitting there, complete and perfect, not a single thing forgotten. Benjamin didn't understand how it was possible, only that it was always this way. Whatever he took in became trapped there forever. He could still recite pages 23 through 86, in their entirety, of a paperback he had once brushed the spine of in a bookstore. And that had been three years ago. Whatever his gift was, it was disturbingly anal retentive.

It was like he was still sitting in front of Dr. Beatrix's computer terminal, knowing not only every password she'd ever entered, but also every keystroke she'd ever typed. His hands were her hands. Tracking down any information he desired was virtually instinctive.

So now, in addition to novel pages, telephone numbers, addresses, web sites and trillions of megabytes worth of other useless garbage he could not figure out how to forget, there was this; a detailed, precise, emotionless, blood-chilling index of the systematic cataloging, brainwashing and murder of millions upon millions of innocent people.

Nearly all of them were children. Benjamin was beyond grateful that his amazing brain allowed him to access only as much of the information as he wanted, when he wanted. To see it all at once, to *feel* it all at once... He thought it might kill him. Every time he'd snuck a peek at some random page in the files, he'd regretted it. It was like seeing something so utterly disgusting, you couldn't help but keep wanting to look at it again. Benjamin did not know why people's brains were so masochistic in that regard.

So, he had all this unspeakable information now. But how much of it would actually be *useful* to him and his friends? Tyler had _died_ for this fucking data. Benjamin felt heartsick trying to figure out how to take this prize they'd won and turn it into true victory.

Finally though, he'd gotten an idea. Just before bed, he'd asked the night nurse for several sheets of paper. He said that he was really shaken up over Tyler and that when he felt stressed-out, it helped a lot to write things down. She smiled and gave him what he needed. Then he went and asked another nurse for several sheets of paper. And another. And another. By lights-out he had a goodly thick chunk of the stuff stashed away in his desk drawer. Enough to write a novella on.

So, after asking his roommate if he minded the light (and not getting even a grunt for an answer), Benjamin began to write names.

He accessed the very earliest of the files and began transcribing the names, ages, genders, species and last addresses of every single furson The Project had ever sunk their talons into. At the end of each entry, he put either a B, C, D or U.

B for brainwashed.

C for coma.

D for dead.

And U for unknown.

The records started in 1935. Benjamin had no idea if that was truly the beginning of The Project or if that was only as far back as the records had been digitized. The latter possibility chilled him because it felt more likely.

Benjamin wrote down the very first name. John Edison Germaine, a ten-year-old badger, who had been killed in March of '35. The young fox tried hard not to picture him, wonder about him, compare himself to him. No. The less he thought about this the better. Benjamin forced himself to become a machine, writing name after name without concentrating on anything other than accuracy. The names flowed quickly then. Even with his usual small, neat handwriting, he'd filled a page without even getting halfway through the records for the first year. Benjamin looked at his stack of remaining paper and wondered if it would be enough.

Now, four life-draining hours later, it looked like it would. Just barely. Four solitary sheets left. All the rest were filled with names. Hundreds of names. Thousands of names. Some funny, some unfamiliar, some completely normal and boring. If he thought too long about the fact that every single one of these names belonged to an actual furson who had once been just as alive as him, he'd get the shivers. Or tears would come, and he'd have to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself on task. His mind could store more information than science dictated was possible, but there was still a limit to the amount of suffering anyone's soul could withstand.

Benjamin's whole body hurt now. He ached for sleep. It hurt even more knowing he'd probably get just three short hours before they'd wake him up again. He supposed he could eat breakfast quickly and then come back upstairs for a nap. The morning therapy instructor could go straight to hell for all he cared.

'Then again,' Benjamin thought to himself with a twisted, humorless grin, 'who says I'll even be able to sleep at all? Maybe I'll just lie there till sunup with all these names running through my head, and in the morning they'll find me here completely bonkers and they'll have to scrape me up with a spatula.'

He took in a sharp breath, closed his eyes, and tried to relax. When you started having thoughts like those, it was time to take a break.

But he was so *close* now. Just a hundred more names left.

Benjamin continued writing. Just ninety more.

His hand spasmed in pain. Just seventy more.

Sweat dripped down his bangs to land in tiny dark circles on the page. Just forty more.

His eyes felt like someone had crammed wads of sandpaper in his sockets. Just twenty more...

Fifteen... Ten...

Five...

One...

The _last_ one. It wasn't in Beatrix's records yet, but it would be by tomorrow. Benjamin stared at the name in his mind. He stared for a long long time. When he finally wrote it down, his paw was shaking.

   Tyler Phillipe Lorenzo  13  M  Mouse  113 East Chinook St.

Benjamin felt tears come to his eyes as his pencil moved for the last time that night.

   C

Wiping his eyes on his sleeve to keep from further damaging the page with teardrops, Benjamin Zarathustra Feldman stood up, arranged his massive list as neatly as he could, tucked it away in his dresser, and crawled into bed.

Every muscle screamed in pain. His back felt like someone had slammed an aluminum baseball bat into it. His knees felt like crushed potato chips. But that didn't matter anymore. The joy of finally lying horizontal beneath his cool, smooth sheets was heaven.

Benjamin turned out the lights.

And, as if fate had decided he'd endured enough for one night, the young foxboy drifted off into a completely dreamless sleep within seconds.


*****


     -BRAD-

Brad woke up before anyone else on Ward F the next day.

He came awake with a gasp, eyes wide and pupils dilated to maximum. His fur was standing on end. His heartbeat was a jackhammer.

He could not remember the dream at first, but the feelings it had left behind suggested it wasn't one of his more pleasant ones.

Tiny images began to flash and fire in the darkness at the back of his skull. Eventually, enough of them attached themselves to his emotions for him to recall what the dream had been about.

It was just like one of the horror movies he'd watched last summer. He had dreamed a world where flesh-eating zombies were everywhere, and had been for long enough that the living had adapted to it. There were no more goods and services, no electricity. People were scavengers now. They wandered the world, breaking into long-empty houses looking for anything left behind that might be useful to them. In the dream, this was what Brad and his mother were doing. It felt like they'd been walking forever, through eerie, completely deserted tracts of suburbia, looking for any place that might still be intact enough to stay a few nights. They found one. Mom gently popped the lock on the door in such a way that it could be fixed again when they'd need it come nightfall. She and Brad stepped cautiously inside. Dust was everywhere. Furniture was overturned. Thankfully though, all the windows were unshattered and the doors were still standing. The two felines went down into the basement to check for supplies. They found a pantry with canned food. They ate. And then Mom told Brad to sit tight while she went back outside to make sure the area was safe. Brad hated the idea of being separated, but agreed. The rest of the dream was nothing but waiting. Terrifying, torturous waiting. The sun went down and Brad was left with nothing but a small candle for light. He'd woken up before his mother returned.

It occurred to him that even though the dream was supposed to be about zombies, he hadn't seen a single one. They were just there, something he knew existed; like how a lot of dreams started with the backstory injected directly in. But he never saw any. He just felt a total and absolutely overwhelming sense of dread, of feeling like he or his mother could die gruesomely at any moment. Plus, it was one of those dreams where time twisted and it felt as if he'd lived *years* in his nightmare. Years of being conditioned to fear every second of every day.

Brad decided to forget about this dream as soon as possible.

Brad sat up slowly and silently. He ran his paws over his body. He'd slept at an even worse angle than usual and now he felt like he'd dislocated his everything. A few moments of cracking and popping got most of his parts back into position though.

The grey tom wiped the gunk from his eyes and looked out the window. Nearly dawn. That meant they'd probably be waking everyone up soon anyway, and if he fell back asleep now, he'd regret it. He let out a small frustrated meow.

He glanced across the room at Tyler's bed.

Empty, of course.

Seeing that perfectly made bed with no mouseboy-shaped lump under the sheets was somehow more saddening than seeing Tyler's soulless, wheelchair-bound shell the night before. That thing had been an obscenity. Too gruesome to really believe in. On the other hand, this empty bed was silent and inarguable proof that Tyler was gone. Gone forever. Brad could stare at it for the rest of his life and it would never bring Tyler back.

Brad felt the anger inside him begin to wake up too. It was like the anger he'd felt the night before, but not as intense. Not yet. Still sharp, but the blade was sheathed for now.

He wanted to kill Dr. Beatrix. He wanted to jump on her and just punch and kick and bite and scream until there wasn't anything left of her. He wanted to kill her, and Thurston, and everybody else in the whole world that had ever helped them create this hospital from hell.

Brad took a few deep breaths. 'Calm down,' he instructed himself. No sense letting the beast out now.

He knew a lot of people would be disgusted with him for thinking such things. He knew if he told any of the grownups about his thoughts of righteous violence, they'd be all horrified and probably restrain him with those stupid rubber cuffs and pump him full of sedatives. After all, such emotions were unhealthy and indicative of mental illness, right? Brad chuckled darkly. He could totally hear Kimberly saying that.

But it wasn't _true_. That was the thing everyone was always too frightened to acknowledge. Sometimes it was _good_ to be mad. Sometimes it was _okay_ to want to kill. Brad thought back to all the times he'd been watching the news and seen something that made his heart ache; some crime so unspeakable he couldn't even begin to imagine how anyone could have corrupted themselves enough to commit it. Murder. Rape. Kidnapping. Genocide. Political greed. Child abuse. The list went on and on. More proof than anyone could ever need that evil wins out most of the time.

Brad would see this and get so angry he'd nearly pass out. And part of that anger was from wondering why in the name of God wasn't everybody else as angry as he was? Didn't anyone else in the world have a conscience? Couldn't they open their eyes and see what was going on? Were they all just too stupid to *get* it!?

Sometimes you _had_ to get pissed. Otherwise, things would never change. Brad thought about his teachers telling him how 'violence never solves anything!'. Then he thought about all the wars and revolutions that had *needed* to be fought. When a large group of the powerless were being oppressed and murdered by the powerful, someone *needed* to snap, stand up, and reach for a gun.

Obviously, there was a line. You don't just shoot a guy in the head because he parked in a handicapped spot. That would most definitely be overkill. But when Brad had heard one night on the news about a man raping and killing his two daughters and then evading the police for almost a year, he didn't think there was anything wrong with wishing that a 'concerned citizen' would find the guy first. A citizen with a baseball bat. Or maybe a power circular saw.

There were times when violence was necessary. When nothing else would work. When the outrage was too big and the laws too narrow to deal with the problem at hand. Hell, wasn't this all totally Batman-type stuff? Wasn't this the basic idea behind *most* superheroes? True, most of them didn't kill. Brad knew in his heart that he didn't really want to kill anyone, besides Dr. Beatrix. But was it wrong of him to want to _hurt_ them? To make them feel what he and all his friends had felt when they saw what they had done to Tyler?

No. There was nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.

He just had to keep in mind the most important rule: 'Never hurt innocents, and never hurt the guilty more than they deserve'. He'd read that in a comic book once and it had resonated within him like hearing a bell from heaven.

Brad looked at Tyler's bed. Stared at it.

"I'm going to hurt them for what they did to you," Brad said to the empty space, low and cold and hard as steel. "I'm going to punish them all."

Brad stood up. His paws were clenched in fists. He could feel the tips of his claws digging into his skin. He closed his eyes. He stretched his legs, then his back, then his arms, then his neck.

He felt strong. He felt _clean_.

After years and years of denying what he felt inside, he was letting it free. He was freeing himself from guilt. Yes, he knew his mother had told him a thousand times that he needed to stop fighting. But this time, his mother was wrong. Brad loved her with all his heart, but she was wrong. And truthfully, he thought that if she knew the full story of what was going on at King's Orchard, she'd admit she was wrong too.

Brad imagined her standing before him, bending over and giving him a loving kiss on the forehead.

'Get 'em for me, Sweetheart,' he heard her say.

"I will," he promised himself.

Brad stood there in the chilly, silent bedroom for a cleansing eternity. The spell was finally broken by a knock on the door and a nurse poking her head in to check up on him.

"Time to rise and... Oh. Hey, looks like you're already up."

Brad turned his head slowly, and smiled at her.

The nurse felt goosebumps erupt all down the length of her spine.


*****


     -HOLLY-

A big paw nudged the raccoon.

"Karen, the nurses are gonna think you're in a coma."

Karen said nothing, just balled herself up even tighter under the sheets. All Holly could see of her was two pointy black ears on the powder blue pillow.

The big squirrel growled. She understood why Karen was doing this. She'd been sucked into enough self-pity spirals before to know the territory pretty well. She'd had days when all she wanted to do was stay curled up underneath the covers too. It was warm under there, and you didn't have to think about how much life sucked if you didn't want to. That didn't mean it was the right thing to do though.

Karen was silent; a shivering near-spherical bulge in the blankets. (It was an oddly frigid morning, and Holly was wondering already if something was wrong with the hospital's thermostats)

Holly put both her paws on Karen's shoulder and started rolling her back and forth like bread dough. "I'm tired of being subtle! Get up! Get up! GET UP GODDAMMITTAHELL!!!"

Karen whipped the blankets away and glared up at Holly with a face that could have turned Medusa to stone.

Holly backed up, realizing she'd Gone Too Far.

"Fuck off, Holly," shy little soft-spoken Karen said.

Holly narrowed her eyes. Her first impulse was to smack her, mostly because Karen was reminding her so much of herself at the moment. But her calmer self won out. "Look, I don't care if you wanna feel sorry for yourself all day. I understand. But if you don't get up and get dressed, you'll get in trouble. And I probably will too. Wouldn't you agree that that's not very good strategy right about now?"

Seeing the logic in this, Karen backed off a little. Her shoulders sank. She looked down at the sheets. Holly was right, but she was feeling so utterly decimated inside she didn't want to admit it. All she wanted right now was to be left alone. Preferably forever. She didn't want to wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, talk with other people... She just wanted to sleep. Because when you were asleep, you didn't have to think. Didn't have to think about Tyler. Didn't have to think about how you KILLED TYLER.

Holly watched her roommate go from furious to weeping in the space of two seconds. It was like shattering a wine glass. Holly instinctually knelt down beside her and scooped Karen up in a hug. The little raccoon didn't seem to weigh anything more than her fur. "There, there," Holly said, patting Karen on the back.

"I killed him," Karen sobbed.

Holly stiffened. "No you didn't," she barked back.

"I did!" Karen insisted.

Holly grabbed Karen's cheeks and forced her to look up. "You say that again and I'll smack you."

Karen froze, stunned by Holly's ferocity.

"You did not kill Tyler. That fucking bitch Beatrix did. That fucking pedophile creep Thurston did. You didn't do anything but try to help all of us, okay? Tyler volunteered. You even warned him, remember? Tyler chose to do what he did, all by himself. It's..." She was crying now herself, and trying hard to stop it. "It's an insult to Tyler to just sit here and blame yourself. He let this happen to him so that we'd all have a chance. I don't think he realized they were gonna turn him into a goddam zombie, but he knew he'd get in trouble. And he did it to help ALL of us. So stop crying, Karen! I'm only yelling at you because I know exactly how you feel and I've wanted to just give up a hundred billion million times before. But if you do, that just means they win. We're better than that, Karen. We're not gonna let them win. We're not gonna let them get away with hurting Tyler. He was our friend and we're gonna avenge him. We're gonna kick their fucking asses straight to hell. And we can't do that by crying, now can we?"

Karen, shuddering, looked up at her best friend. "B-but you're crying too," she pointed out.

"Oh, shut up," Holly said, and held her tighter.

They both knew Holly was right, they both knew they couldn't give up and give in to their grief. But that was for later. Right now they had to cry. Because sometimes, you just had to.

The nurse came in again to check on them. "Hey, you two! No-"

Holly gave her the finger. "Eat my shit, die, go to hell and suck my cock, okay?"

The nurse was shocked to silence for a few moments, then closed the door and went on to the next room, thinking, 'Maybe I should start sending out resumes to other hospitals...'


*****


     -KAREN-

In the breakfast line, Karen was quiet, Holly was cautiously hopeful, Brad was revved-up and Benjamin was over at the nurses' station asking for a big tan envelope and some eye drops. Above them all, the fluorescent lights flickered much more than usual.

"You gonna be okay?" Holly asked gently, giving Karen a little shoulder massage while the nurse wasn't looking.

Karen nodded almost imperceptibly. Her body had been on autopilot all through her morning routine. She had showered without even realizing it. She didn't even know what she was wearing right now. She had retreated into her thoughts, unable to escape from them.

Brad came over, still nearly vibrating from his vengeful pick-me-up. "Hey, yo! What's up?" He stopped abruptly, seeing Karen's hollow expression. "Hey... You okay?"

"Supposedly," Holly replied.

Karen looked up slowly, peeking through the foliage of her worries long enough to register Brad's face. "Huh?"

"I was just asking if you're okay. You look kinda out of it."

"I'm thinking about Tyler," she replied. '...about all of us,' her inner self added.

"Me too," Brad said. "I can't wait to get the fuckers who did that to him."

Holly smiled approvingly.

"Is there, um, gonna be another meeting today?" Brad asked.

Karen paused. She hadn't even thought about that. "Um..." She looked to Holly for guidance.

Holly shrugged.

"I don't know," Karen admitted. "Prolly not. I'm still..." She shrugged and wrapped her arms around herself. Geez, it was chilly in here... "I don't think I can do a meeting today."

"You're not thinking of just giving up, are you?" Brad said this with more shock than anger.

"No!" Karen immediately assured. "It's just... I think I need time to get over what happened. I need to grieve, I guess."

Brad nodded. "Okay." Even though he was ready to start the revolution now, he respected that not everyone else would feel the same way.

The trio got quiet as Clifford walked past with his clipboard, counting off heads under his breath. He got to the front of his line, looked confused, checked the list, then realized suddenly why there was one short. He shrugged. He'd decided long ago that not allowing himself to care too hard about such things made his job much, much easier.

The rat led the children into the airlock. As the door opened before them, the lights flickered.


*****


     -KURI & WILL-

While the children of Ward F were just sitting down to breakfast, the Rennault twins had already finished theirs. Now it was time for practice.

With the air of two furs going through a routine they knew forwards, backwards and sideways to the point where consciousness wasn't even a factor anymore, Will pulled on his leather fingerless gloves while Kuri keyed in the password to the big room's door. The box beeped, the green light went on, and there was the same *kronk* sound as always of the metal door's lock popping. Kuri gave the rusty handle a tug and she and her brother stepped inside.

It was about as long as a boxcar and painted all green on the inside. Like a tennis court, but enclosed like racquetball. There were no lines on the floor. The eye-scorchingly bright lights above were protected behind a double layer of Lexan. Like every day, they sputtered and fizzled and took their own sweet time to come on.

Kuri pulled her own gloves on. She didn't like them, and neither did Will, but Dr. Beatrix had caught them practicing without them once and had given them A Stern Talking To. She pressed the point home that The Project had spent quite a bit of money on the twins' talented paws and she didn't want them taking any unnecessary risks with them. Which Kuri thought was a mind-bogglingly stupid thing to say, considering what their morning practice consisted of.

Kuri began to do leg stretches. She felt along her limbs, feeling the taut, thick muscles tense and harden beneath her skin. She felt like a robot. A sleek, efficient cyborg.

Will yawned. "They serve us corn flakes one more time this week, I'm gougin' out somebody's eyes," he remarked.

Kuri made a small acknowledgment sound. She was sick of them too, but it didn't bother her as much. "How's your tail?" she asked.

"Fine." He'd pinched the tip between the chair and the table as he was sitting down.

Now Will was doing knee-bends. "So, who do you think it was that Dr. Beatrix zombified last night?"

His sister sneered. "I'm not even gonna talk to you if you say things like that."

The machine began to hum.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Will grumbled. "Who do you think Dr. Beatrix 'used the electroshock machine' on last night?" he corrected.

Kuri still sneered. She had her eyes fixed on the machine. They'd given her and her brother padding at first, then took it away in stages to give them more incentive to be perfect every time. "I don't know. I don't have any idea what kinds of people are upstairs anyway. Why did you even ask me?"

Will looked a little sheepish. "I dunno. Just trying to talk with you."

Kuri could hear more in his tone than his words. She sighed. "It's okay. I know you've been stressing out a lot lately. I have too. It feels like something's getting ready to happen. I've been feeling kinda claustrophobic, even. Sometimes I wonder if-" She stopped. Her focus tripled. At the other end of the room, the machine's humming became louder. They both knew exactly how long it took to warm up each day, so there was a finite amount of time available for small talk.

"I had a dream about Mom last night," Will said out of the blue.

Kuri looked up. Her brother's face was blank, his eyes faraway.

"I'm not sure I really remember what she looks like anymore."

Kuri knew the feeling. She was proud of her life now and her service to The Project, but that didn't stop her and her brother from caring about their past. Most of their memories of their mother were actually just memories _of_ memories. Calico fur and a soft Oriental accent. Will didn't have *any* memories of their father. And Kuri's weren't much more than vague images, like sun-bleached glimpses through a dirty glass.

She shook her head and wiped the thoughts away, clearing her internal blackboard. There would be time to talk this over later when they were tending to the bedridden. Now it was practice time, and even though they'd been through this every single day of their lives for the past gajillon years, one slip in concentration could still be potentially fatal.

"Will, snap out of it or the machine'll take your head clean off."

Will looked down at the floor and sighed.

The machine began to slowly pivot.

"Will! It's starting up, dammit!" She wasn't really afraid, just worried like any sister would be.

Her brother still did not respond.

The long grey barrel of the machine tracked around the room. Sensors relayed data and the computer inside created a program around it. The thing looked unsettlingly like a small floor-mounted cannon. Something that might lob grenades or rockets to ward off enemy troops. Imagine an automatic pitching machine from a batting cage perched atop a robotic assembly line arm. It had been cobbled together by The Project's geek platoon from existing tech, and it did its job very, very well.

It pinpointed the kittens' heat signatures and adjusted accordingly. It chose its first target.

"Will!!"

*K'THOK*

Propelled at a speed no batter could ever hope to hit, the machine fired a regulation baseball straight at Will Rennault's downturned head.

Kuri lunged towards him.

The impact would have reduced Will's skull to eggshell fragments, but of course he'd been anticipating it the whole time. Reaching out, he delicately caught the ball in two fingers a few inches away from his face.

Kuri gawked.

"Gotcha," he said.

Kuri stomped her foot and fumed. "You rotten little turd! Don't *do* that! I thought you were-"

*K'THOK*

Another ball came screaming through the air towards Kuri. She swatted it out of the way without even needing to look. "-distracted! I was worried about you!"

"You underestimate me, Sis," Will said in a cocky tone.

*K'THOK*

"My turn." He thrust his open palm at the next ball, sending it ricocheting across the room back towards the machine.

Kuri just shook her head. "You just can't resist torturing me, can you?"

"Don't be so dramatic, 'Mom'."

*K'THOK*

Kuri lashed out, but Will was quicker and intercepted this one too. Kuri grunted and Will grinned at her. She rolled her eyes. Little brothers could be such a pain in the neck sometimes.

*K'THOK*

Another one, this one fired at the ceiling so it bounced wildly before heading again in Kuri's direction.

Will jumped in front of her at the last second and deflected it.

"Showoff," Kuri said. "You're gonna get creamed doing stuff like that."

He blew a raspberry at her.

*K'THOK*

Will got that one too, smashing his palm against the ball and sending it to the floor with the others. (He'd learned from experience that headers were not a good idea.)

*K'THOK*

The machine turned on a gyroscope and was programmed to fire in completely random directions, with no set time intervals between balls. The only pattern was that the longer it went, the faster they came.

*K'THOK*

Kuri nabbed the next one. Knowing that often the best way to shut her brother up was to one-up him, she let out a karate yell and kicked the speeding ball straight out of the air.

Will was honestly impressed. "That was awesome!" he said.

Kuri smiled appreciatively. " Thanks. I've been wanting to try that for- Look out!!"

*K'THOK*

Will turned his head and saw a baseball less than a foot away from his collarbone. It was a difficult deflection, but not too difficult. "You worry too much, sis. I've been doing this as long as you have. You're the one doin' fancy shit anyway."

*K'THOK*

Kuri growled and swatted the next ball in his direction. Annoyingly, he pawed it away with ease.

*K'THOK*

This one hit the floor at a steep angle and went straight for her shin. Kuri did a forward flip and eliminated it.

*K'THOK*

This one flew behind them, hit the back wall and made a beeline for Will's neck. He caught it without looking.

*K'THOK*

This one flew like an arrow straight at Kuri's face. She planted her paws, held her hands in front of her, and looked straight down the machine's barrel.

Time slowed cooperatively for her, as it always did.

Nearly everyone alive has experienced a moment where death comes within a hair's breath of claiming them. They see the truck thundering towards their car. They see the mugger's gun. They see the knife, the boiling water, the fire, the fist. Our bodies dump adrenaline in our veins and our perceptions become supercharged. Time does not really slow; instead our perceptions speed up to take in an incredible amount of detail before a critical moment that may determine life or death. We are alert to our highest degree.

The Rennault kittens could create this sensation at will.

And unlike those of us who experience this sensation only in fleeting moments, Kuri and Will's bodies were not bound by the same paralysis that normally accompanies this hyper-sensitive slowtime. They had been born with an awareness of their physical selves that most fursons could only dream of. Athletes, ballet dancers, circus acrobats and assassins; none of them were as agile as Kuri and Will Rennault. The twins were aware at all times of every single molecule in their bodies (Though it was such a constant background sensation they never noticed it, they could actually *feel* their cells divide). Almost from birth, they had perfect balance, perfect reaction time, perfect recovery and perfect stamina. In short, they were unstoppable. Especially by something as weak as gravity.

For Kuri, it was like having a slow motion button that controlled the entire world. She stared at the ball. She could see every stitch. She could read the writing on the side. As it came closer, she could see dents in the leather.

They were really only in minimal danger from the baseball cannon. Sure, they'd been hit a few times before, but that had been way at the beginning when the training was still a new thing for them. This wasn't even a test of physical prowess anymore. This was merely a way to practice their heightened state of perception every day, to make sure they never, ever got rusty. The Project wanted them ready at a heartbeat's notice in case of emergency. It would not be wise to keep their two little contingency plans out of practice.

Kuri watched the ball approach until it was literally an inch from the tip of her nose.

She smiled.

She flung herself backwards into a crab-walk position and let the baseball sail past her. Almost like radar, she knew where on the wall behind her it would hit and how it would bounce. She moved through the air like a mermaid in water. Tightening her fist, she lashed out and punched the ball so hard it split a seam.

This all happened in slightly more than a second.

Kuri smiled smugly over at her brother.

"Top _that_ one."

*K'THOK*


*****


     -VICTOR-

Settling down on a bench with his tray all full of food, the little skunk was just about to open his milk when something furry bumped his elbow.

"Hey-" He turned, about to tell the other kid to be more careful, when he got a good look and flinched. "Jeeze, you look awful."

Benjamin had dark circles under his eyes that could be easily seen through fur. Even after a shower he still looked rumpled and dried-out. Behind his glasses, his eyes were red as cherries. "Thanks," he grumbled sarcastically.

"Sorry. But you look like you didn't get any sleep last night."

The fox nodded. "Hardly any, but it was worth it." He tore into his orange juice with gusto, draining it in a gulp. "You gonna drink yours?"

Victor shook his head. It was easy to get more of the little plastic juice cups anyway. He watched his friend down the second one just as fast as the first.

"Throat's dry," he explained.

Victor nodded in understanding. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and acknowledged Brad approaching. "Hi."

"Hi," Brad said back, settling his tray down opposite them.

Benjamin croaked something.

Brad looked the rumpled fox over. "Nightmares?"

The fox shook his head. "Not unless you count the real ones." He glanced cautiously from side to side, making sure no authority figures were watching. Clifford looked half asleep over by the far wall and Thurston was still busy doling out dollops of nuclear scrambled eggs. Glancing at Victor, then Brad, Benjamin reached into the neck of his shirt and lifted out a corner of tan envelope just far enough to see.

"What is that?" asked Victor.

"Incriminating evidence," Benjamin said spyishly. "Names. Names of everyone The Project's ever gotten to. Not just here, but everywhere."

Brad looked quizzical. "'The Project'?"

Benjamin had forgotten that they didn't have Dr. Beatrix's computer melted onto their grey matter. "The name for the plan to find everyone like us and eliminate us, either through death or brainwashing. They've only started putting kids in electroshock comas for the last decade or so. The technology wasn't advanced enough before, so they either drugged 'em or shot 'em."

A shudder passed completely through Victor's body. He suddenly pictured Thurston Caercase grinding a gun barrel into his own furry forehead.

Benjamin trembled. "I haven't looked at much of what I downloaded. Just the names and a few other peeks here and there. But everything I've seen so far is so bad it almost makes me wanna die. All of it. _Everything_. These people... they're pure evil. They don't have souls. They're like the worst villains in any movie, manga or video game you've ever seen; only real."

Brad nodded calmly, accepting this. "We're going to hurt them for what they did to Tyler," he stated. A fact, not to be argued with or doubted.

Benjamin gained some of his confidence back from seeing so much in his friend. "Of course. We're going to fuck them up good. We're gonna pull their freakin' spines out through their throats."

Victor looked down at his bacon strips. "I can't eat now."

"Ooh, can I have 'em then?" Brad asked eagerly.


*****


     -KAREN-

A few moments earlier, Karen had watched Brad walk away with his food to go join Benjamin and Victor. She'd tried her best not to make eye contact with the monster behind the sneeze shields, but now she had to.

Thurston's smile was wide as a semi truck grille. He wore an apron and brandished a spatula, looking for all the world like the photo on the front of a down-home country diner's menu. "Gooood mornin', Karen! Beautiful day, huh?"

Karen's fear vaporized in the split second it took her to look up.

When she stared back into Thurston's soulless eyes, it was with such fury it made her feel like her skin was about to split straight off her skull.

'You MURDERED my friend!!!' she screamed silently.

Amazingly, Thurston flinched.

Without saying anything at all, Karen stalked past him, grabbed whatever she felt like from the remainder of the line, and went to go wait by the soda machines for Holly.


     ~~~


Thurston stared google-eyed at the little ball of flame with raccoon stripes that had just done the unthinkable.

She had _intimidated_ him!

What the hell kinda bullshit was that? Did she not understand the rules of the game? Did she not know what he was and what he had done to little pinches of girl-meat just like her? Not bothering to conceal the ugly sneer on his face, Thurston vowed to teach that uppity little cunt a lesson in respecting one's superiors.

He looked back at the breakfast line and there was Holly. She smiled cheerfully at him.

"I just wanna know where they're gonna find a coffin big enough for your fat ass," she said, looking as if she had never known a second's worth of fear in her whole life.

Amazingly, Thurston flinched again.

"French toast, please," said Holly.


     ~~~


The cafeteria was getting quite noisy by now. Multiple conversations made the air buzz. One small boy was chanting repeatedly, "I can puke-I can puke-I can make chocolate miiillllk outta puke!!" much to the aggravation of everyone around him. The spacey little kangaroo girl was busy constructing vast kingdoms out of her breakfast foods instead of eating them, all while humming a lovely tune.

Holly found Karen over by the boys' table.

"You can totally sit next to us if you want," Brad said to Karen, giving the bench next to him a pat.

A tiny smile. "That's okay. Thanks, but I think I'd like to be alone for a little while."

Holly approached. "I thought we were going to sit together," she said, sounding disappointed.

Karen sighed. "I know. But I've got stuff I wanna think about. Just by myself. Just for a little while."

"Well, okay," Holly said, setting her tray down beside Brad's.

"We can be together some more after breakfast," Karen said. She smiled to let Holly know she wasn't about to descend into pity again. "I promise."

"Is there going to be a meeting in the art room?" Victor asked.

"Karen told me no," said Brad, then looked up at her to see if that answer had changed.

She hated disappointing him too, but what could she do? "No, guys. I'm sorry. But think about it; maybe it's even a good idea not having a meeting. Maybe it'll make them think we've given up."

Benjamin nodded in agreement. "Subterfuge."

"Maybe we can do one tomorrow," Karen said hopefully. Though the look in her eyes suggested that might not be true for a whole lot of tomorrows.

Brad was frustrated, but didn't want to be rude and argue with her. Part of him wanted to just storm the castle of Dr. Beatrix's office right now and send her plunging to her death through that gigantic window of hers. But there were other things to think of besides his vengeance.

Karen was about to turn away when she felt a paw touch hers.

"Hey, um... You're not used to doing brave stuff, are you?" Brad said to her.

She was confused, not sure if that was an insult at first. "No. Not really. Why?"

The tomcat fidgeted, knowing how much he sucked at saying nice things to people. "I'm just saying I noticed. And I also noticed you're doing a really good job of it so far. You just kinda give off this 'vibe' like we should all listen to you 'cuz you know exactly what to do to get us all out of this. I trust you. Whatever you wanna do is okay with me."

Karen was shocked. She pulled her paw away, barely believing she'd heard Brad right. How could he have confidence in her at a time when all she wanted to do was stick her head back under her pillow?

She looked at Victor, Benjamin and Holly. They all had the same expression Brad did. They all trusted her too.

Karen came very close to screaming out, 'I don't *want* to be the leader anymore!!' and running as far away as possible. But she knew she couldn't. Not because she was locked up, but because she couldn't betray the trust they were giving her. She just _couldn't_. Simple as that. Even though part of her wanted to run away, another part wanted to work through her grief over Tyler as soon as possible so she could start honoring his memory by fighting back.

"Thanks, Brad," she muttered. "Thanks, everyone."

She hesitated a moment, wondering if she should say anything more, then turned and sought out one of the empty tables at the back of the room near the courtyard.

Brad watched her leave, hoping his little pep talk had actually done something.

He glanced back at his tray and noticed half his bacon was gone. Mysteriously, Holly suddenly had a double portion and a perfectly innocent look on her face.

"You stole my bacon, you fatbag!" Brad shouted, brandishing a plastic fork.

Holly squinted at him dangerously and held up a cast-iron fist. "Are you sure you don't wanna apologize for saying that? Like, Right Now?"

Brad smirked. "Go ahead and punch me. It won't do anything."

"Damn. I forgot." Holly tossed Brad's bacon back. "I was just screwing with you," she said. Then she grinned thoughtfully. "Hey, I wonder which one of us really *would* win in a fight?"

Brad's eyes lit up. "Wanna find out?"

They both looked excited at the idea of a friendly little no-holds-barred sparring match. "Maybe we can sneak off during gym period!"

"Yeah, that'd be fun to explain if they caught us. 'Uh, gosh, Mr. Staff Furson, we were only beating the shit out of each other in a *friendly* way!'"

He and Holly guffawed.

"You guys are weird," Benjamin pointed out.


*****


     -JIMMY-

Karen stared down at the random food items on her tray. "You there?"

"I promised, didn't I?" came a voice from beside her.

When the little raccoon glanced up, a dark wolf in a leather jacket was seated beside her, leaning back on the table in a casual manner. While she'd still been dreaming, Karen had asked him to wait for her in the cafeteria. He was more than happy to oblige.

"What'd you wanna talk about?" Always-Jimmy-Never-James asked.

Karen sighed. "What the heck am I gonna do, Jimmy?"

He frowned. "About what?"

"About *everything*! I'm _scared_! They killed Tyler! I know they said he's in a coma, but you know they'll never let him come out of it. He's as good as dead. They could do that to every single one of us if they wanted."

Jimmy attempted to pat her on the back, which was hard since he was noncorporeal. "They can. I won't sugarcoat it. They can do basically anything their twisted little cold hearts desire. They could shoot you in your beds. They could burn this place to the ground and claim it was an accident. But they can only do it if you let them."

"I know," she said softly. She reached for an underripe apple and took a bite. It was sour enough to make her wince.

"You're scared to try anything now. You don't want what happened to Tyler to happen to anyone else."

Karen nodded. She took another bite of apple.

"The irony is, what happened to Tyler is almost *guaranteed* to happen to everyone else if you *don't* do anything."

Karen looked up sharply. "Shut up, I know that! Look, I don't need any more convincing. I know we have to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm just still messed up over the fact that I have to fight _murderers_. I don't need you to cheer me up, I need help! I need _suggestions_!!"

Jimmy was both shocked and proud. "Geez! Way to go, Karen! It's nice to see that spark back in your eyes!"

"Thank you," Karen said shortly. She tossed away the apple and concentrated on unwrapping some graham crackers. "Now, do you have any ideas or not? I can't think about anything but Tyler right now."

He smiled. "That's totally understandable. In fact, it's even a good thing. The more you think about Tyler, the more you'll remember him when it comes time to strike back. Picture Tyler's face in your mind when you see Dr. Beatrix again. Remember his laugh. Remember how ALIVE he was. And then remember him in that fucking wheelchair they put him in. It's easier to give your all for someone else than it is to do it for yourself. I don't know why that is, but it's true."

Karen pondered that. She opened a milk carton and dunked one of the graham crackers. She didn't understand why everyone called them crackers when they tasted more like cookies. "Do you think we should have a meeting after lunch?" she asked.

"No," Jimmy said straightaway.

She looked up, surprised, assuming he'd say yes.

"You made a good point about making it look like you've given up. That could give us a small advantage. It's a good idea, even if you only said it to cover up the simple fact that we shouldn't do a meeting today because you're not *ready* for one."

Karen felt relief at hearing that. When she'd thought the exact same thing, she couldn't help wondering if she was only feeling that way out of weakness and cowardice. She'd spent a lifetime being told by her parents how her problems were all her fault because she just didn't try hard enough to solve them. Now, doing anything less than stretching herself to the breaking point felt like giving up.

"You've been wounded, Karen," Jimmy said. He fixed his eyes on hers and held her gaze, forcing her to listen. "There's nothing wrong with taking some time off to recuperate. It's the same as if you'd been shot or hit with an arrow. In the movies, they always show the hero getting ripped to shreds and then leaping off the operating table to go back and fight some more. That's *bullshit*, Karen. It's dangerous bullshit too. You can get yourself killed doing that, especially when everything in your body and heart is telling you to back off. Dr. Bitch-trix won't suddenly swoop down and murder everyone the instant you take a breather. There's only so much she can do without having to at least *fake* a reason for it. You need to be at your peak performance when you and your friends confront her. Rest is as important as action."

He made a sound halfway between a sigh and a growl. "One of the reasons we failed that night is that we were stupid, Karen. We rushed in without a plan, thinking our anger would be enough to protect us. Anger's important, but so are brains. And because I wasn't using mine, some of my friends lost their lives. That was going to happen no matter what. But we could have lost _less_ if we'd been smarter.

"You're going to be smarter than we were, Karen," Jimmy assured her.

Karen stared unswervingly down at her food and clenched the edge of the table hard. She was almost crying. He'd said just what she needed to hear; reassurance of his faith in her. "Jimmy, I really, really want to hug you right now, but I can't 'cause people will think I'm nuts and I have an imaginary friend."

He chuckled. "Then you just keep eating and I'll hug you, okay?"

He did. Even though Karen couldn't feel it in any way, it still made a difference.

Karen opened a plastic tub of applesauce. "Jimmy?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"There's something else I wanted to ask you about. Something I've been thinking about for a long time, and I kind of don't know how to say it."

The wolf made a 'lay it on me' gesture.

Karen took a dainty spoonful and collected her thoughts. "I've been thinking about how we're all crazy in here. I'm not saying that to be mean; it's just true. We've all got problems. I have my dreams..."

"You mean _had_." Jimmy pointed out.

She smiled at him. "Yeah. Thanks for that again."

"No problem."

"But, yeah, Brad fights too much. Holly tried to kill herself. Ruby's retarded. All the others have mental stuff too." She hesitated, knowing what she wanted to ask but finding it hard to find the words to say it. "Doesn't it... I dunno... Seem kinda like too big a coincidence?"

He arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

It was coming easier now. The word 'coincidence' had been the one she was looking for. "Okay, so, this place is supposed to look like a mental hospital, right? Somehow Dr. Beatrix's bosses or whatever search everywhere for kids that have powers and then they have them sent here. But what if the kids aren't crazy at all? Wouldn't *most* of them not be crazy? What do they do then?"

"Ahhhh." Jimmy got it now. He grinned. This was something he'd puzzled over himself a few times. "That's not the right question, Karen. But it leads us to it. The correct question is," and here he leaned over and whispered soft and creepy in her ear, "'is everyone with special powers *also* mentally ill?'"

Karen shivered. "You're saying they are!?"

Jimmy sat back up, resting his elbows on the table. "I've thought about this a lot, Karen. You came to the right dead guy to ask. I think the answer is: Probably. I think they go hand in hand. Whether or not the powers cause the craziness or the craziness brings out the powers, I don't know. Could be some of both."

"How?"

"Well, okay, say that you've got some mystical ability that everyone else says only happens in fairy tales. Wouldn't keeping a secret like that drive you kinda nuts? Or, on the other paw, if you were *already* nuts, maybe that's exactly what would enable you to accept your powers as reality in the first place, as opposed to a 'sane' furson who'd just dismiss it as an overactive imagination or some other crap."

Karen shuddered, trying to get used to the idea. "Wow. Okay. So, you think they're linked?"

"Damn near all the time, yes. Either the powers cause the craziness or the craziness wakes up the powers."

"But what about kids who *aren't* crazy? What happens to them?"

Jimmy smirked and pointed across the cafeteria. "Benjamin. He's your answer."

"Wha...?" Karen didn't follow at first.

"Ben looks perfectly fine to me. Meaning he's certainly got problems, but I can't see any sign of mental illness. And believe me, having spent enough time in places like this, I've gotten pretty good at amateur diagnoses."

Something clicked. "But Ben's _dad_ is a jerk!" Karen remembered. "When King's Orchard sent the flyers, he signed Benjamin up right away!"

"Egg-mc-freakin'-zactly," said Jimmy. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that probably every parent EVER has at one point looked at their kid and wondered if they needed to be put in a straitjacket. King's Orchard spots the kids with powers and sends out the fliers automatically. Sure, they do research first. They sneak in with their computers and read teachers' reports and look for hospital files. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred there's either a real mental illness there they can exploit, or one they can invent. If there's one thing a parent hates more than anything, it's admitting they're doing a shitty job. So, they blame the kid instead and say he's crazy. Happens all the time. Christ, lookit how much prescription drugs parents give their kids these days! There's a billion-dollar industry devoted to diagnosing perfectly normal kids as dangerous lunatics!!"

Karen's tail frizzed up. It hadn't hit her this hard before just how scary grownups could be. "Um, what about the other hundredth kid?"

"Pardon?"

"You said ninety-nine times out of a hundred they can get them sent to the hospital. What about the ones they can't?"

Always-Jimmy-Never-James replied without emotion. "The ones who refuse the fliers? They simply disappear in the night. There's a million ways to make a death look like an accident."

"That's horrible! They can't really just..."

His face was stone. "They can, and do. Remember what I said about probability being on their side? If you want to get away with something barbaric, do it right out in the open  on a grand enough scale that no one can see all the pieces at once and put it all together. The ones they kill are seen as just the normal cycle of accidents and mayhem in this sick country of ours. A statistic among statistics, nothing more. You forget; the vast majority of patients here go home either thinking the powers they thought they had were just silly dreams, or having completely forgotten they existed at all. They don't *need* to kill that many of us."

Karen was silent for a moment as she took this all in. She held her soft tail tight in her paws. "Why are they so afraid of us, Jimmy? Why can't they just leave us alone?"

Jimmy sighed. "You *know* why, Karen. Instinct. Pure, xenophobic instinct. Fear the strange and unknown because it might be dangerous. In this case, it's gone so far already that it doesn't even matter why it was started. It's just a rolling boulder too big to stop. And technology's made it even bigger. Karen... when you make a house of cards, you can't stop and think about why you're making it because you're too busy keeping it from falling down. Same thing here. It doesn't matter why. All that matters is that it's evil and we have to stop it."

Karen nodded solemnly. She finished her applesauce. "I asked you for ideas before."

"Breakfasttime isn't over yet. Let's brainstorm then."

So they did.


*****


     -KEITH-

While everyone else on Ward F ate breakfast downstairs, a handful of other children did not, for various reasons. Instead, the staff pulled a few tables together in the TV room and the children ate their meals there while being constantly monitored. There were four of them. Two of these children, a deer and a beaver, both boys, were just this side of comatose. They could walk and eat by themselves, but that was pretty much the extent of their repertoire. Then there was Keith and Ruby.

Keith usually sat with his back to everyone else, eating in silence, hating the eyes that he felt on his neck. The hospital staff watched him like a criminal. Probably thinking he was planning to steal a spoon and shank somebody. He knew he was a bastard, but he didn't deserve *this*.

He got there first this morning, as he often did when he wasn't in a shitty mood and they had to force him. The two zombies were herded in afterwards. Their trays were set down in front of them. All the food was nice and soft. They started eating mechanically, expressionlessly.

Then Rubiella entered, a volunteer leading her by the arm. She sat down silently at a table by herself, as far from Keith as she could.

Keith glanced at her, then back down at his food. She'd looked scared. Neither of them had said anything yet about being in the same room together during Karen's art room meetings. They acted as if their first encounter had never happened. But at mealtime, she shied away from him. There was no Brad here to defend her.

Keith ate his eggs and felt like everyone in the world was staring at him. Behind him he heard the clatter of a plastic tray being set on a table, then the tigress' whispered, "Thank you."

Keith clenched his fork harder.

It was bad enough the damn nurses were staring at him and thinking he was a monster. He didn't want some poor retarded kid thinking that of him too. It wasn't fair to let her keep fearing him. And it made him feel like garbage too.

Keith stood up suddenly. The screech of his chair scooting backwards sounded like the loudest thing in the world. He picked up his tray. The staff members tensed.

He turned around and walked to where Rubiella was sitting. She glanced up for a split second, then stared down hard at her meal. She was trembling. Biceps the size of toasters, and she was trembling.

The sound of Keith setting down his tray was like a gunshot. He could see the staff out of the corners of his eyes, stepping closer, anticipating the worst.

Rubiella would not look up.

Keith coughed. "Hey. Um. Would you like some help cutting up your sausages?"

She looked up at him, surprised. Something about her eyes unnerved him. She frowned. "I can do that myse'f," she said firmly. "I'm not stupid."

Keith cringed, feeling again like nothing but a clumsy force of destruction. "I know," he said.

Ruby took up knife and fork and demonstrated that she could indeed cut her sausages up just fine, all by herself.

"I'm sorry I acted like such a dumbshit. Y'know, the first time I saw you," Keith blurted quietly.

Ruby stopped. She looked at him, focusing everything on deciding whether or not he was telling the truth or if this was a trick. She decided he was telling the truth. "Okay."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" he asked sheepishly.

"Of course." She didn't even have to think about it. Her philosophy was simple; Why be enemies?

Keith smiled and relaxed a little. "Okay, cool. And I'm serious. I really am sorry. I don't think about it most of the time when I say stuff. A lot of nasty shit comes out that I don't really mean."

She nodded. "You wanna be friends?"

"Sure."

Ruby gave him one of her brightest smiles.

It was so pure and innocent, it actually startled him. He was looking into the face of someone who didn't hate him, didn't fear him, wasn't wary of him. They had agreed to be friends, and she'd turned her fear off like a switch. That was that. Keith almost envied that part of her.

Ruby giggled. "Need any help cuttin' up *your* saus'ges?" she asked.

Keith laughed.


*****


     -KAREN-

As the children of Ward F returned after breakfast, one thing that made itself immediately clear was that whatever was wrong with the electricity had gotten exponentially worse since they'd left. The lights sputtered and flashed every ten or fifteen seconds. Telephones rang for no reason. The ward felt like an icebox even though the nurses had been steadily cranking the thermostat all morning. The tornado alarms were even letting out single erroneous blasts at random. And all of it was getting worse by the second.

After breakfast, the staff always scheduled time for a little 'recreational' therapy, which meant one of the staff members forcing all the kids to do jumping jacks and toss rubber balls at each other. Karen asked to be excused. Normally they wouldn't have let her, but all she had to do was mention Tyler and an exception was made. Not everyone working at King's Orchard had no heart.

Karen sat on her bed, listening to the sounds of the other children scurrying about the Community Room. She thought about what Jimmy had said. About one thing in particular.

After they had tossed around a few non-promising ideas, she'd glanced at the clock and noticed time was almost up. She gathered up her trash. "I hope everything works out," she'd said, mostly to herself.

To her surprise, Jimmy looked angry. "No, Karen. Don't hope."

She'd asked him angrily why he'd say such a thing.

The black wolf stared off into space for a moment before replying. "Hope implies that you're not in control of the situation. Hoping means that you're giving up and wishing someone else, some higher power, will do half the work for you. Life doesn't work that way.

"When me and my friends rebelled that night, everything I did, I did by the grace of my own damned self. And them; my friends. No hope necessary. We did it all ourselves.

"Putting your faith in a higher power means you're not giving yourself credit for the things you do. Look at the world, Karen. All the evidence seems to suggest that God rewards evil and punishes good. Maybe it's all some giant test. Maybe we see evil rich bastards living in mansions and poor people starving to death by the millions, and the point is that it's all a big game. We're given every opportunity to become corrupt and grab some of that good stuff for ourselves, and then we lose our souls in the process. But if we try to keep our sense of decency, God throws boulders at us to see how long we can hold onto it. Maybe it's even simpler than that. Maybe God's not there, or is evil himself. I sure as shit don't know. But what I do know is that you shouldn't trust in anything that might not even be there. Believe all you want, but don't expect belief to haul your ass out of trouble. Don't count on spooky bullshit that isn't there. Count on real people, people you trust. And yourself. Yourself most of all."

Clifford was already rounding everybody up by then. Karen silently digested all of this, then nodded to Jimmy, thanked him, and got into line.

Now, alone on her uncomfortable bed, she took out the idea that she only had herself to rely on and gave it a good, hard look. True, she had her friends. They all had each other. But that was it.

Her parents certainly wouldn't help her. Alf was gone. Dr. Jones didn't have any idea what was really happening. And she was sure Monsoon was supposed to be here today, but instead some unfamiliar furson had taken his place. Maybe they'd gotten rid of him too somehow.

There wouldn't be any heroes swooping in to save them.

It was up to them. They had to be their own heroes.


     ~~~


Karen went about the rest of the day in silence. She thought plenty, but talked as little as possible. She shut out as much of the world as she could to concentrate everything on her thoughts. She made plans and tore them apart ruthlessly. There were a thousand and one ideas that wouldn't work, and so far none that would. They were only children. Children locked in a prison where all the power was held by monsters. They couldn't overpower the grownups. They probably couldn't even outsmart them. Their greatest weapon would have to be surprise. They'd have to use the very powers the monsters were trying to stifle to shake things up and then run like hell.

Karen and the other children went downstairs to the gym for a free activity period. Karen sat by herself and thought and watched. Holly and Brad found a secluded spot and vented their frustrations upon one another. Karen could see their sparring match but the staff couldn't. Good thing too, since the cat & squirrel looked like they were honestly trying to murder each other. Afterwards though, they both looked refreshed and overjoyed. They'd fought to a stalemate and were very happy with that result. Holly and Brad exchanged pats on the back and walked away sweaty and satisfied.

Lunch passed soon after. Turkey tetrazzini or sloppy joes. Thurston was no longer on duty, so Karen graciously asked for the turkey. She wolfed it down as soon as she found a seat. Breakfast had been unfulfilling.

Halfway through her meal, she got the feeling she was being watched. She looked around, hoping none of the staff was spying on her, and suddenly came nose-to-nose with Sherri. The bunny grinned. She'd been sitting next to Karen on the bench for almost two minutes. Karen asked if Sherri got a kick out of scaring people like that. Sherri gleefully admitted that she did, but also said that Brad and the others wanted her to know about Benjamin's list of names. That made Karen's eyes get wide. She thanked Sherri vigorously. Sherri asked if she was gonna eat her green beans.

This changed things dramatically. Now they actually had *evidence*. Admittedly, it wasn't as dramatic as, say, a videotape of Tyler's execution would have been. But anyone with half a brain ought to be able to figure out what all the names meant. Like Jimmy said, the evidence was all out in the open, just too spread out to put together. This list of names was like a map. Like a game of connect-the-dots. Someone would figure it out. And then that furson would start interviewing parents, and the parents would start talking to each other, and then there was no way The Project would be able to keep it a secret anymore.

There were still problems though. Karen mulled them over while sitting in one of the bean bag chairs in the empty TV room. The TV room was empty because an hour ago the twin televisions had simply dropped dead. Just as the flickering lights had gotten worse, the reception had been poor this morning and nigh-unwatchable after lunch. Then out of the blue, the screens had turned to static on every channel. Mysteriously enough, the set the Nintendo was hooked up to konked out in a similar fashion at the same time.

All over the ward, electronics were going haywire. Phone connections were chock full of weird buzzes and hissing. The coffeemaker in the nurses' lounge was acting like it was possessed. The security monitors were still clinging to life, but the images were fuzzy at best. The hospital staff were calling everyone they could think of to fix the problem, but so far none of the technicians could find a root cause. Stranger still, there were minor problems on other wards, but Ward F was definitely bearing the brunt of it. Whatever was happening, the seventh floor of King's Orchard was ground zero.

With no TV, the TV room lost its popularity awfully fast. Most kids retreated to their rooms to nap or read or surreptitiously snarf snacks stolen from the cafeteria. Some actually used the art room for its intended purpose. Holly was one of the nappers, and was snoring just loud enough to send Karen off in search of a quieter place to think.

So here she was in a beanbag chair, listening to the white noise of the television static, trying to decide who they should give Benjamin's list to. It was maddening; no matter who she thought of, there was no guarantee the government wouldn't get to them later on. If whoever was behind The Project had the resources to find and capture every furson in the country with a hint of special abilities, what would stop them from bribing policemen, shooting journalists, or even making entire families disappear? Karen supposed it was possible they could get to *anyone*, so their best shot was to simply find someone who looked trustworthy and hope for the best. There was only so much they could do on their own. Despite what Jimmy had said, there were situations when hoping was all you could do.

Karen got up to stretch. Her tail had fallen partially asleep.

The two television sets were still buzzing merrily away. Karen stared absent-mindedly into the static. You could almost see patterns in it if you relaxed your eyes.

'Like that,' she thought. For a second there, the screen had flashed what looked like a big letter N.

A moment later, a K appeared. It looked like when you made trails of light in the air with a sparkler on the fourth of July.

Actually, Karen realized, it looked like someone on the opposite side of the screen was drawing on it with their fingertips.

Now a letter A appeared.

All of Karen's fur stood up. She gulped and took in a sharp breath.

She waited.

A letter R appeared.

'No way. Oh, please. Oh my god, if an E shows up next...'

A letter E appeared.

Karen bit her knuckles. Her heart was banging like a screen door in the wind. She did not dare let herself believe that this meant what she thought there was one chance in a billion it could mean...

A letter N appeared.

K A R E N. Karen. Someone was trying to send a message to her.

Karen rushed to the closest set and knelt down beside it. Her mind raced. The TV was talking to her. No, someone *inside* the TV was talking to her. She tried to reason out who it could be. It couldn't be Jimmy. He'd just come up and say hello. It couldn't be some random dead furson from her dreams, since she knew for a fact she wasn't asleep. She could still taste her lunch in her mouth and she'd *never* tasted anything in a dream before. That left only one other explanation.

"...Tyler...?" she whispered.

Another letter K appeared.

Karen held her breath, waiting to see if the message would change. Instead, it just kept repeating. An A appeared, followed by R, E and N. But they were going faster now.

"Tyler? Please, is that you?"

The pattern still didn't change.

Then Karen got an idea. With her finger, she traced on the screen: T Y L E R ?

Instantly, so fast she could barely make it out: Y E S, followed by about twenty exclamation points.

Karen broke down crying with happiness. It was all she could do to keep her tears silent, lest the nurses come running and think she'd gone batshit insane. She shut her eyes for a moment and forced her heart to slow down.

Carefully, she traced: Y O U ' R E A L I V E !

The response: D U H !

Karen clamped a paw over her mouth to keep from laughing. That confirmed it; it was _definitely_ him! Trembling in giddy joy, she carefully replied: H O W C A N I G E T Y O U O U T O F T H E R E ?

There was a pause. Karen stared into the static for what felt like hours, hoping she hadn't lost the signal somehow.

N O I D E A. Another pause, shorter. Y O U R S U P P O S E D T O K N O W A B O U T T H I S S T U F F

He had a point. She *was* the resident expert on communicating with the dead. Karen could barely think though, she was so glad to know her friend was okay. She tried to concentrate. O K A Y , H O W D I D Y O U G E T I N T H E R E ?

Tyler's writing got smaller and faster, but Karen could still make it out. WHENTHEYFRIEDME ITHINKIWENTINTOTHEELECTRICITY IVEBEENINHEREALLDAY ITSBORINGASHELL

F R I E D Y O U ?

THEYELECTROSHOCKEDME THEFUCKERS

Karen could picture that. Poor Tyler, taken to Ward Zero, strapped into some horrible machine. Maybe when he tried to leap out of his body, he'd been too late and he went into the electrical systems somehow. That would explain why Jimmy couldn't find him in either his body or in the Inbetween. Y O U ' V E B E E N M A K I N G T H E L I G H T S F L I C K E R ?

A canine boy passing by the TV room peeked in and saw a raccoon girl apparently caressing one of the TVs like she was in love with it. He looked away and kept walking. He knew enough to stay away from the *really* crazy ones.

OFCOURSE Tyler replied. IHADTOGETYOURATENTION

Karen bit her lip and tried to think. She had to get Tyler out of Ward F's wiring as soon as possible. Not only because she couldn't stand the thought of him trapped in there, but also because she'd heard the nurses talking about how electricians were working on the problem. What if they somehow scooped Tyler up? Or even erased him! Karen knew nothing about how buildings were wired, and that made her even more scared.

KAREN?

I ' M T H I N K I N G

OKAYILLWAIT IMONLYSTUCKINAFREAKINTVSET NOPRESSURE

Karen guffawed. She couldn't help it. Tyler was funny anyway, and this situation was so ridiculous it was oddly fitting.

Then she hit on something.

M A Y B E Y O U C A N G O I N S I D E M E

WHAT?!?

L I K E P O S E S S I O N

OHIGETIT LIKEDEMONS&STUFF

S O R T A

HOW?

Karen puzzled over that. Okay, so, if Tyler was in the electricity, it seemed likely that the only way she could get him inside her was to let herself be shocked. She cringed. She didn't like the idea, but she couldn't think of anything else.

Y O U ' L L H A V E T O S H O C K M E

BUTWHATIFIHURTYOU???

Karen smiled at his compassion. I ' L L B E O K A Y she reassured. But would she? She looked all around the TV room. She saw a wall socket and imagined sticking a fork in it. No _way_. She wasn't about to do anything that could get her killed. Just then, something else occurred to her.

R E M E M B E R S L E E P I N G B E A U T Y ?

WTF?

I ' M G O I N G T O K I S S Y O U

The static buzzed in a way that almost sounded like laughter. IDIDNTKNOWYOUHAD THEHOTSFORME

Karen laughed too. I D O ' N T Y O U G O O F ! S T A T I C E L E C T R I C I T Y !

A pause. GOODIDEA PUCKERUP!

Karen did more than that. She scuffed her shoes on the carpet, then ruffled her hair a few times for good measure. She looked like she had a severe case of bed head now. Karen could feel a shock was imminent. R E A D Y ?

YUP

H E R E G O E S

Karen closed her eyes and readied herself. She knew this would probably hurt like heck, but _any_ pain was worth it to get Tyler back.

She leaned in and kissed the TV...

...and promptly shot backwards six feet.


     ~~~


Something lightly slapped her face.

"Karen? You alright, honey? Wake up!"

Karen blinked a few times, then found she was looking up into the face of the nice bobcat nurse. A few kids were clustered around her too, mostly just rubbernecking. Karen realized she was flat on her back.

"Oh thank goodness!" Camilla said when she realized the poor girl was only dazed, not dead. "What happened?"

Karen opened her mouth to speak, but another voice spoke up inside her head. "Tell her the TV was broke and you thought you could kiss it and make it all better!" Karen cracked up.

Camilla looked at her like she was worried the shock might have scrambled the little one's brains.

Karen sat up. "I'm fine. I was just trying to help out and see if I could fix the TV. I got shocked, that's all."

"You ended up halfway across the room!" Camilla said. "I heard the thump next door and came running!"

Karen rubbed her head to see if everything checked out. Aside from the fact that her lips were tingling and her fur looked like she'd just come out of the dryer, she felt perfectly normal. "I must've tripped," was all she could come up with.

"We need to get you downstairs and run some tests."

"No, really!" Karen stood up and started smoothing out her fur. The other kids gaped warily, as if she were a vampire reawakening. "I'm totally okay. And hey, look, it's almost dinnertime! I don't need to see a doctor, I just need some food. I'm hungry!"

Camilla didn't look entirely convinced. She took Karen's wrist in her paw and felt the girl's pulse. Normal. "Well... I guess some food in your tummy might do some good. But don't scare us like that! Don't ever try to fix anything around here without an adult present!"

Karen nodded submissively. "Yes, ma'am."

"...So they can get the shit shocked out of them too," Tyler added.

Karen stifled a laugh so hard she nearly split her lip.

Camilla looked at the clock. "You're right. It is nearly dinnertime. Alright, you go wait in line if you want. But come see me immediately if you feel weird or your head hurts or anything else!"

Karen promised she would, not daring to speak for fear Tyler would make her laugh again. She scurried out of there as fast as she could.


*****


     -HOLLY-

"Thank you so much for getting me the hell outta there!!" Tyler burst out. The sound was like a tiny P.A. system inside Karen's mind (How fitting). "It was like being wrapped in really tight bubble wrap. That's the best way I can describe it. You're much comfier."

Karen ran to her room so no one would see her talking to herself like a weirdo. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she whispered to him.

"Thanks to you!"

"But it was my fault you got electroshocked in the first place, Tyler. I am _so_ sorry. You can't beli-"

The mouse cut her off. "Bullshit. You didn't do anything. It was not your fault and if you say that again I'll... I'll..." He thought. "I'll make you fart really loud in the food line!"

She giggled. "Can you even do that?"

"I dunno. Let's see." Tyler looked out through Karen's eyes and spotted his favorite nemesis taking a nap.

"HEY, HOLLY!!!" Karen suddenly shouted. Her eyes went wide as saucers and she slapped her paws over her mouth. "You jerk! You made me do that!" she mumbled.

Tyler was guffawing like an evil madman. "I had no idea if that'd really work! Awesome!"

Holly did not like to be startled out of sleep. With narrowed eyes, she advanced on her roommate. "Why the hell couldn't you just tap me on the shoulder or something!?"

"It wasn't me!" Karen tried to explain.

Holly did not look convinced. "Then who, exactly? *Elves*?"

Karen's mouth opened by itself. "Hiya, gruesome! Wow, I didn't think it was possible, but you look even *more* fucked-up when you've just gotten out of bed! Your hair looks like a sno-cone!" Karen backed up quickly with a 'please don't kill me' look in her eyes.

Instead of knocking her block off, Holly went stiff as a board. She stared at Karen's mouth. There was only one furson in the universe who had the balls to talk to her like that... "T-tyler?"

Tyler found that taking over Karen's vocal cords was surprisingly easy. "Dingdingdingdingding! We have a correct answer! Give the lady a cigar! Oh, wait, she's underage. Give her a popsicle at least!"

An expression of explosive joy came over Holly's face and she ran at Karen, engulfing her in a hug. "TYLER!! Oh my God, I don't know how you got in there, but I'm so glad you're okay!! Jesuschristrock'emsock'emrobots, we were all so worried! I could barely sleep last night! You scuzzy, buttlicking retard! I thought I'd never get to insult you again!!"

Karen and Tyler both laughed at that. "I missed you too, Holly," Tyler said, as sincerely as he could.

Holly released Karen, who took in a big gulp of air. "So... HOW!?"

"He was stuck in the electricity," Karen told her. "That's why everything was messing up."

"She French kissed the TV to get me out of there!" Tyler added.

"I did not French kiss the TV!" Karen insisted. "You have to use your tongue for that, right? I'd never lick a TV screen!"

"How are we gonna get him back in his body?" Holly asked.

"I was just gonna suggest that!" Tyler piped up.

Karen paused, and then she smiled. A smile of ferocious triumph. "I don't know, but we can certainly ask for suggestions ...When we have a meeting in the art room after dinner tonight."

Holly's face lit up with unholy glee. "_Fuck_ yeah."


*****


     -TYLER-

To say it had been one of the strangest nights in Tyler's life would be a bit of an understatement.

When the juice had speared into him, Tyler had felt a sensation that was not exactly pain. It was, however, so mind-destroyingly unpleasant that he thought he'd rather firebomb a box of kittens than ever have to feel it again. His soul thrashed at the confines of his body, spasming wildly, jerking in unthinking torment, seeking any possible way out.

The only way out was through the thing that was causing his torture.

Tyler's body went limp on the operating table and Tyler's soul went shooting into the wires.

He'd never felt *anything* like this before. He was completely without a body now, without even the remembered image of one. He was just a particle cloud. A little cluster of Tyler-thoughts. He was scared. So scared he could barely think. He had no idea where he was or even *what* he was.

One thing he discovered fairly quickly was that he could travel _fast_ now. He cautiously tried to move in this new formless form and his tiny effort was multiplied a hundredfold. Like pushing off from roller skates and immediately hitting 100 mph. Tyler went rocketing along at incalculable speeds through blind, twisting tunnels. He had no idea where he was going, but, damn, it was actually rather fun!

Tyler zipped to and fro for a while before smacking into a dead end. He was in a coffeemaker. He didn't know *how* he knew he was in a coffeemaker, he just knew. As surely as he knew he was a mouse, or was supposed to be anyway. He thought about this, decided he wasn't dreaming, hallucinating or insane, and began to puzzle out what had happened to him. He shot back across the wiring again and when he wound up in a security monitor, looking out into a corridor on Ward C, he knew for certain.

Tyler spent the next few hours travelling at supersonic speeds over every millimeter of King's Orchard's electrical systems. He got better at sensing where he was. He was able to 'see' every room in the hospital by looking out through shiny surfaces on anything plugged in. It actually felt more like radar than sight. Which was odd, since he couldn't hear a thing except when he was in a telephone. The rest of the time he was completely deaf.

He looked in on his friends. Not many were sleeping. He didn't know how they knew about his 'death' (or coma or whatever this was; Tyler had no idea what to call it, or if his body was even still alive), but was glad they knew. He hoped it would make them fight harder when it came time.

He looked in on Holly. She was crying. Tyler felt a hot streak of anger at that. For a moment, punishing Dr. Beatrix for making Holly cry seemed even more important than punishing her for what she'd done to him.

He looked in on Dr. Beatrix. She was sitting at her desk, one single light illuminating the huge, gaping office. Tyler was inside that light. He saw her at her computer, typing away, smiling obscenely. She had just tortured a child, almost to death, and now she was smiling. Tyler couldn't think of a word vile enough for what she was.

His anger grew and boiled like a volcano until suddenly Dr. Beatrix's office went dark. "Hey!" she shouted. The lightbulb had burst.

'Did I do that?' Tyler wondered.

He giggled like a supervillain. 'Only one way to find out.'

Tyler went on a rampage. He zoomed back and forth in the hospital, causing malfunctions wherever possible. The lightbulb trick was the most spectacular thing he was able to accomplish, but he got TV screens to go staticy and fluorescents to dim. He made a few telephones ring at random. He tried making more things explode, but just didn't have the power.

Random mayhem was fun and all, but Tyler did not want to spend the rest of his existence causing minor trouble for hospital staff. He had to get out of here.

The only solution seemed to be to use what he already had. He made his way to Ward F and began every effort imaginable to get someone to notice him. At first he thought of the P.A. system, but he didn't want to give away his position to anyone other than his friends. It was moot anyway, since he'd given it a small try and found that all he could produce was static. So instead he decided on making a nuisance of himself. He raced along the lights, making them sputter and dim at his whim. He kept turning the thermostat down no matter how many times the staff turned it back up. He looked out of all the security monitors and television screens, scanning faces for any sign that anyone might believe a supernatural presence was at work. Everyone was too rational for that though. Dammit, didn't anyone believe in poltergeists anymore?

But then fate gave him a kiss on the lips. Karen was all alone in the now-defunct TV room. Karen, the one who was most likely to be able to DO something once he got her attention. He stared at her, trying to figure out how to make himself seen. He tried flashing morse code, but realized all he knew was S.O.S.. Karen didn't pick up on it.

Tyler was desperate. He banged his fist on the inside of the screen.

He stopped, and tried to comprehend what he'd just done.

He'd banged his _fist_!

He had a body image again, and he could *manifest* it! Hot shit!

Concentrating harder than he'd ever concentrated before, Tyler drew her initial on the screen. It was so easy, it stunned him.

Tyler had to write Karen's name twenty times before she noticed. But eventually she did.


     ~~~


"The rest, as they say, is history," Tyler said out of Karen's mouth.

Brad's jaw hung loose. "...Wowsers."

After Karen had sat down with her dinner tray, she told Tyler she would give him complete control over herself so he could tell the others what he'd been through. She even let him make the choices in the food line and do the eating for both of them. Though she did make him promise not to stuff peas up her nose or do anything like that. He solemnly swore he wouldn't, and even promised twice so she'd know he wasn't gonna be a jerk and go back on his word for comedic effect.

Right now Karen *was* Tyler. It was her body, but his voice, mannerisms, expressions and body language came through so clearly the others had no problem talking to him as if he were still his normal male mouse self.

"What did it feel like, being in there?" Benjamin asked avidly.

"I told Karen it was like being in bubble wrap, but that doesn't even come close now that I think about it." Tyler grimaced, not knowing how to put it into words. "Okay, um, try and picture this: You know that feeling you get when your leg's been asleep awhile and then it starts to come back? That tingly feeling, like ants are shoving tiny, tiny needles in your skin? It didn't feel *like* that, it felt like I *was* that feeling," Tyler said.

Holly, Brad, Benjamin and Victor all tried to conceptualize that, and couldn't.

"Oh screw it," Tyler said.

(Ruby and Keith were eating upstairs, as always. Karen had already told them very briefly about Tyler. They were both relieved and overjoyed. Nobody was sure if Sherri was sitting with them now. Zeek, however, was listening to their conversation two tables away with his gigantic fennec ears.)

"Did you see anything that could help us?" Brad asked.

"Not much that we don't already know," the mouse-in-a-raccoon replied.

"I mean, is there anything we could use against this place if we tried to escape?" the tomcat clarified.

Tyler shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I mean, I know which doors have unmarked alarms on 'em, but if we're escaping I imagine there'll probably be plenty of alarms going off anyway." He paused and bit his lip. "There was one thing though that really creeped me out. The fire alarms. Beatrix has them wired up so if they go off, everything goes on lockdown. All the doors and windows bolt themselves shut."

"But why?" Victor asked.

Tyler looked grim as he laid it out. "Simple. They'd rather this place burn down with everyone inside it than for anyone to get out and blab what was going on in here. If there *was* a fire, reporters would show up. And cops. They'd ask questions. But if there's no one left alive to ask, and the place turns completely to ash - and yes, it's designed to; there are canisters in Ward Zero set to go off and *eradicate* everything down there when they reach a certain temperature - anyway, if everyone's dead and there's no evidence, it just looks like a terrible tragedy and the building contractor probably goes to jail."

"That's..." Brad tried to find a word for it. "That's the most cold-blooded thing I've ever heard." He shook his head. "No, wait. *Everything* I hear about this place is the coldest thing I've ever heard."

Tyler decided not to tell anyone what Beatrix had said about the drinking water making everyone sterile. It seemed too implausible, even for her. He didn't want to freak everyone out if there was a chance she was only lying to spook him. He'd just make sure that if he did make it out of this, they'd all get their genitals to a doctor ASAP for some testing.

"But... wouldn't Dr. Beatrix die too if the place caught on fire?" Holly asked.

"If she doesn't have some secret passageway outta here in case of that, I'll eat my own dookie," Tyler replied. (Inside him, Karen cringed) "She's too selfish not to."

Karen stood up in her mind and became herself for a moment. The change was so startling, everyone else knew in a heartbeat that Karen was Karen again. "We really shouldn't be talking about this stuff out in the open where people can hear us." And by people, she meant Thurston Caercase, who was halfway across the room but still too close to suit her. "That's what the meeting afterward's for. Besides, we should all be in on it. And Ruby, Keith and Sherri aren't here."

"I am too!" Sherri piped up.

Everyone looked, but she was still being invisible. "You're kinda creepy," Benjamin said in the direction he thought she was. "And I say that with great envy."

She giggled. "Thank you."

Tyler asserted himself again. "Um, guys? Something else I wanted to mention."

"What's that?" Brad said with a mouthful of what was supposedly beef pot pie.

"As cool as it is to find out what having boobs feels like..." Karen did an impressive job of keeping herself from shrieking, "...I'd kinda like to get back to my own body. Sometime *soon*, y'know?. Maybe see if it still even *exists*?"

"Yeah, geez. How are we gonna do that?" Benjamin asked.

"Simple," Brad said, stabbing a green bean. "I take Karen down to Ward Zero, and she vomits him back into himself."

"I am not vomiting *anyone*!" Karen said sharply. "Why do boys have to go out of their way to be gross!?"

"Hey," Holly said, sounding offended. "I go out of my way to be gross just as much as _any_ boy." And to prove it she squirted Jell-o through her teeth.

"Try that with mashed potatoes and gravy," Tyler suggested. "It feels even cooler."

She smiled sparklingly. "Thanks! I will!"

Karen gave Tyler a mental poke. "If we can get down to Ward Zero without anyone seeing us or catching us, I will do everything I can to get you back where you belong. I promise."

"You'll probably have to kiss me on the lips," he told her. "Holly will be soooo jealous."

The grey squirrel narrowed her eyes. "Tyler, the only reason I'm not hurling my soda in your face is that you're wearing Karen's clothes right now."

"Ooh! Good one!" Brad said.

"I know! Is it any wonder she's the goth of my dreams?" Tyler said.

Holly rolled her eyes disgustedly.

"Do you have a plan on how to get us downstairs and into Ward Zero?" Karen asked Brad.

"No," he said unconcernedly. "But we can make one after dinner."

Thurston's voice boomed suddenly across the room. "Awright, little critters! Line up's in five minutes!"

"...And in ten minutes we'll be plotting treason and mutiny," Benjamin said with glee.


*****


     -THURSTON-

"They're at it again."

"The art room nonsense?" Dr. Beatrix asked, her voice sounding uncharacteristically nasal over the walkie-talkie.

"I think so," Thurston replied. While the Ward F children frantically finished up their meals and disposed of their garbage, Thurston stepped back into the stairwell to report what he'd seen. "I couldn't hear most of what they said, but they were talkin' about that mouse kid. The one we cooked."

"Of course. Naturally, they're going to try to pull off another crazy stunt like before to try and avenge him." She said this with as little concern as if she were describing a turkey sandwich that didn't have enough mayo.

Thurston's face split into a grin. A grin of sharp teeth set in blood-red gums. "Is it time then?"

"Yes, definitely. Right now would do the most damage."

"And I get to choose which one?" he asked eagerly.

"Of course. You're fond of the little raccoon girl, aren't you?" An excited squeal on the other end confirmed this. "Go ahead, you have my permission. Rape her. Break her and let them see it afterwards. Just make sure not to leave anything behind that she could prove her story with if she talks to anyone."

Thurston Caercase chuckled heartily. "Bea, you don't have to worry. I've been plannin' this whole thing out for days."

"Of course you have," Dr. Beatrix said with an affectionate smile on her lips. "I can always count on you, Thurston."


*****


     -KAREN-

The fat bear didn't make eye contact with her on the way back up the stairs, and Karen was grateful for that. She stood at the back of the line, as far away from him as possible, talking wordlessly in her head with Tyler.

"I know you said it wasn't my fault, but I'm still sorry. None of us had any idea she'd go that far. We _will_ get you back in your body," she promised again.

"Geez, am I that annoying a houseguest?" he asked.

She giggled. "No, of course not! Though I really wish you hadn't said that thing about my boobs. I don't even *have* any yet!"

"Sure ya do!" he said reassuringly. "They're just in the larval stage now."

Karen cringed with her entire body. "Gack! Did you have to say it like that!?"

"Whaaat?"


     ~~~


When the door to Ward F opened, Karen's mind was buzzing with ideas for the meeting. She didn't even know where to start! Up ahead, she could already see Victor and Benjamin heading for the art room. The others would be there soon.

"Hey, better get the Uno cards," Tyler reminded her.

"That's right! Monsoon said we could leave some in there and I forgot." Karen headed for the TV room. "Geez, we forgot about them completely last time. That was dumb. We should've been more careful."

Tyler sighed bitterly. "Don't worry about it. They probably know what the meetings are for by now anyway."

That thought had occurred to her, but she went for the bag of cards nonetheless. "Maybe they haven't," she said firmly, hoping it were true even though she knew how unlikely that was. She separated about half of the cards out and left the rest in the bag. The deck had been way too big the first time.

Karen left the TV room. She saw Holly in the hallway up ahead and nodded conspiratorially to her. She wondered when would be the best time for them to launch their escape. Tonight was too soon, tomorrow might be as well. But if they waited until Monday, who knew what might happen by then? She knew everyone was scared that Dr. Beatrix might fry them too, so she had to find a way to turn that fear into action. If they didn't want to get fried, the best thing to do about it was to plan for Sunday night.

'Sunday night is when we'll all escape,' Karen thought.

That was when the door to quiet room #2 opened and Thurston's thick arm shot out, grabbed her shoulder, and jerked her inside.

The door locked behind her.

Karen opened her mouth to scream.

"Soundproof," Thurston said, and laughed.


*****


     -SHERRI-

"Where's Karen?" Rubiella asked.

"I just saw her. She'll be here in a minute." Holly said.

The art room hummed with tension. Seven members of the rebellion sat around the double table anxiously waiting for the meeting to start. Ruby and Keith wanted to know more about what had happened to Tyler. Brad and Benjamin filled them in with everything he'd told them. Ruby's eyes were wide. She concentrated everything she had on making sense of the two boys' words.

Keith was deeply glad to hear that Tyler wasn't dead. He'd spent much of the last night clenching his paws in rage, biting his pillow, raking his claws against the dresser and the wall. So much fury. Uncontainable. He had wanted to jump up, find Dr. Beatrix and punch her till she stopped moving. He'd thought about the three initials he'd burned into the ping pong table in the TV room. Tyler and Brad were special to him. He'd been honest with them, something rare, and they had listened to him, something even more rare. When he'd seen Tyler's limp, wet body in that wheelchair, it had felt like his eyes were filling with hot blood. First the world had taken away his uncle and now when he finally had friends, one of them was gone already. It took an unimaginable effort to keep from screaming the whole night through. Keith wanted to scream and scream until blood soaked his pillow. Calming himself was torture, but he knew he had to. In order to get what he wanted, he couldn't lash out now. He had to play it cool, wait for the right moment, wait until all of his friends were ready. Then he could scream. And make Dr. Beatrix scream too.

Holly glanced up at the mirror in the hallway. She frowned. Karen had been right behind her but now the hallway was empty. 'Maybe she went back for something?' she thought.

Victor was off in his own thoughts. He knew this meeting would decide when and how they would try and get out of here. He thought about his 'superpower' and how lame it was. Especially compared to Keith's or Benjamin's. Why couldn't he have a cool power? All he could do was control his butthole. For the longest time, he'd thought it was great, the funniest thing in the world. But seeing these other kids with the neat abilities fate had given them, Victor felt like he'd ben gypped. He felt, in a word, useless.

Holly glanced up at the mirror again. "Um, guys? I'm starting to get worried about Karen."

"Maybe she's taking a whiz?" Benjamin suggested.

"I can go check," Sherri said out of nowhere, as usual. She made herself visible for a second, just so they'd know she was there. Though as soon as she was out the door she cloaked herself again.

Sherri walked brazenly down the hall towards the girl's bathroom. She waved at the nurses behind the desk. No one saw her. She giggled silently. Having a sneaky purpose behind it made being invisible even more fun. She thought about sneaking into the nurses' station the night before. It was actually quite exhilarating. She'd been using her gift mostly to give herself quiet time alone. Maybe spy stuff was something she could do more often.

Inside the bathroom, everything was quiet and chilly and pink. Sherri's voice echoed eerily against the tile. "Karen?"

No reply. Sherri checked under each stall door. Nobody there.

So where the heck had Karen gone?

Sherri slipped out the door, hoping no one would notice it opening seemingly by itself. Though really, what did she care if anyone did? Let 'em think the place was haunted.

She was just about to head back to the art room and tell Holly no luck when she saw something red on the floor.

An Uno card.

A red six. Lying on the hallway carpet right in front of one of the quiet rooms. The door was closed. Usually they were kept open.

Sherri felt ice in her spine.

She took a step closer and listened carefully. She didn't believe anything was *totally* soundproof. She wished she was tall enough to just look through the little window, but it was a few taunting inches above her sightline. She took another step and pressed her long bunny ear up against the door.

Muffled sounds. Someone was in there. She heard what she thought was a cry of pain. It sounded like a little girl being hurt.

Sherri took off down the hall as fast as she could.

She burst into the art room. "Someone's got Karen!" she shouted.


*****


     -THURSTON-

The quiet room was shaped like a lowercase 'p': a short corner entrance leading into a small rectangular room. Bright fluorescent light. A plastic-covered mattress on the floor that had seen much abuse. Dropped cards were scattered all over the floor like rose petals. Best of all was the fact that if you simply did your business in the far corner, no one passing by could see what was going on through the door window.

Thurston didn't even have to worry about the security camera up in the ceiling. Dr. Beatrix had taken care of that. One push of a button in her office and all anyone at the nurse's station would see was an empty room. He hadn't even needed to ask.

He had the little bitch up against the padded wall. She had made a lot of noise at first, but all it took was one good hard slap to put an end to that.

"You're a bad, bad little girl, Karen," he told her. Smiling and smiling. Looming over her like God. "Bad girls shouldn't sneak around tellin' lies, trying to make a fuss. Little girls should just do what they're told and shut their pretty little mouths."

Karen's muzzle felt like it had been dipped in wasp stings from Thurston's slap. He'd come very close to breaking her nose. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might stop at any second. She had never known fear like this. She had woken up screaming more nights than she could ever count, seeing visions in her head of death and dismemberment, gore beyond anything a child of her age should be able to handle and stay sane. But as real as it had seemed then, there was still enough unreality to hold on to herself once she woke up and realized she was safe in her bed. Now she was _not_ safe in her bed. Now the fat bear had her trapped and was going to do unspeakable things to her and there was nothing she could do to save herself.

"Bad little girls need to be taught how to act," Thurston said in the tone of a father about to administer righteous punishment upon a wayward child.

Thurston began to remove his belt.

'I'm going to be raped,' Karen thought with crystal clarity.

Thurston slipped the leather slowly through each loop of his pants. "Now, there's two ways we can do this. You know got-damn well what's going to happen, and you know you deserve it. If you'da just shut the fuck up and done what Dr. Beatrix told you, none of this would have to happen. It's your fault. You and your 'secret meetings'. You think we didn't know about them the whole damn time? You think we were so dumb we didn't know what was goin' on in there!?"

Karen tried to speak. She tried as hard as she could, but her throat failed her. All that came out was air.

Thurston pulled off the belt and held it up high by the buckle. Like brandishing a lawman's badge. "Two ways to do this. One is where you cooperate with me and give me what I want and it's over quickly, you understand? Then you can go run tell your friends that there won't be no more meetings in the art room. Because if there is, this will happen to you Every Single Night, do you understand?"

Karen nodded, shaking uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her face like rain.

"Or," Thurston said, "you can kick and scream and act like a baby. You do that, and I'll make it hurt. And you'll _still_ get it every night. Only I won't be gentle about it no more. Now turn around and stick your paws out behind you."

He might as well have been talking to a marble statue. Karen was too scared to even blink.

"I SAID TURN AROUND AND GIMME YOUR FUCKIN' PAWS, YOU DUMB BITCH!!!" Thurston roared. The sound was like a fist in her face. His saliva splattered on her eyelids.

Karen was not sure she *could* move. She did her best though. Thurston was right; it would be better if she just went numb and let it happen. Just black out and let it happen. She held her arms out behind her and felt his giant hands clasp them together at the wrist.

"This is so's you don't get stupid. You fuck around on me, I'll yank your arms up and pop your shoulders out, you hear me?"

Karen attempted to nod, and instead sort of twitched.

He took it as a yes. He wrapped the belt around her wrists and slipped the end into the buckle.

"You had a hard-on when you electrocuted me," Karen said suddenly.

"What!?" Thurston growled.

Karen turned around slowly. Her eyes were dead blank, but her muzzle was twisted up in a madman's grin. "This kinda shit turns you on, you sick fuck. When Beatrix had me strapped down to that table in Ward Zero, you had a hard-on when you pulled the switch. I saw it."

Thurston took a step back. The belt fell out of his hands and dropped to the floor.

"You like hurting kids, don't you Mr. Caercase? It gives you a chubby. A woody. A big fat fucking erection. You love it. Admit it."

"Who the hell are you...?" Thurston whispered.

"I'm the kid you murdered last night, stupid," the voice coming out of Karen's throat rasped.

Thurston stared at the child in front of him, momentarily paralyzed by confusion. He heard sounds coming from the door and turned to look. As soon as he did, something on the other side pounded on it hard enough to bulge the metal.

Thurston nearly slipped on the Uno cards he backed up so fast.


*****


     -RUBY-

As soon as Sherri spoke, the others were off their tails. They followed her out of the art room and down the hall, all fearing for the young raccoon who was their leader.

"She's in there!" Sherri shouted. She bent down and picked up the Uno card. "I saw this and when I went to listen, I heard voices inside!"

"Thurston," Holly said, so fiercely it was as if she believed she could kill him just by speaking his name.

Brad grabbed the door handle and jiggled it, knowing it wouldn't work but needing to try it anyway. "How do we get it open?" There were no cracks around the doorframe. His finger trick wouldn't pop the lock this time.

"Should we tell the nurses?" asked Victor.

"Fuck 'em," Holly said. "Who knows? They might be in on this." She stared at the door, thinking, breath coming hard and fingers digging ruts into her palms. Something horrible was happening to her best friend in there and she couldn't think of anything to do about it.

Holly, Brad, Keith, Benjamin, Victor and Sherri all stared at the door. Wishing they could will it open. Wishing there was something they could do to force it open and get Karen the hell out of there. All of them knew Thurston was candy-coated evil, but not all of them knew of his fondness for girl flesh.

"Maybe I could melt it...?" Keith threw out.

"Take too long," Holly barked.

"What if I-" Benjamin started.

He did not finish.

Rubiella Dunston, five feet and two hundred thirty pounds of muscle, stepped forward.

"Karen's gettin' hurt in there?" she asked. She had to be absolutely sure first. 'No fighting' was the rule, but the only thing wrong with Ruby was her head, not her heart. She thought Mommy wouldn't be mad if she had to fight to save her friend.

"Karen might be getting _killed_ in there," Holly made it clear.

The tigress nodded. "Okay then."

She planted her feet. She drew her arm back. She tensed every muscle in the body she had hated all her life until this moment.

She remembered Daddy telling her that all things happen for a reason. Ruby felt a spark of clarity. 'Maybe this is why I'm strong...'

Ruby let fly with a killer blow that shook the walls of King's Orchard.


*****


     -TYLER-

"I don't know what I can do other than talk," Tyler told her, "but I'm not gonna let him hurt you."

Karen heard the strong, scared-but-confident voice in her head and snapped out of her fear like a branch breaking. She wasn't alone. She wasn't helpless. Tyler was here and he had defended her with just his words. He'd made that monster back off with just words.

Karen looked down at her feet.

Tyler had words. Now she had a _belt_.

All thought vanished from Karen's mind. Her wild ancestors' instincts kicked in, blasting her body with adrenaline. She darted down and grabbed the belt. She wrapped it tight around her hand until it hurt. She snapped into a battle stance, ready to defend her life or take her enemy down with her.

Snarling like she was rabid, rage flashing in her eyes like rubies, she lifted up the belt and gave it a hard lash like a bullwhip.

"Damn, that felt *good*!" Tyler said. "Do it again!"

"You bet your ass," Karen hissed.

Thurston was still staring at the door, wondering what on Earth could have hit it hard enough to dent the metal on the inside. Did someone out there have a goddamned battering ram?

Because his head was turned, he didn't see Karen charging at him until the belt buckle sliced through the air and split his cheek like a scalpel.

"BITCH!!!" he roared.

"You don't call me a bitch," Karen said. Her voice was low and her eyes were full of murder. She looked like nothing but fur and nerve endings stitched together over razor blades.

Thurston turned, balling his fists, ready to end this insolent little whelp's life. "I swear to God I'll-"

His words were cut short as Karen's makeshift whip cut across his lip, splitting it and filling his mouth with blood. "FUGG!!!" he gurgled.

"Hey, good thing you're so fat!" Tyler's voice rang out. "Your belt's nice and long. Works good as a whip, doncha think?"

Karen giggled. "Good one!" She was high as a kite on adrenaline and had absolutely no concept of consequences. All she knew was that the man in front of her wanted more than anything to kill her, and she wanted more than anything to spoil his fun.

_WHAMMM_

What must have been a wrecking ball hit the door again.

"Jesus, what IS that?" Tyler yelped.

Karen knew. She simply, suddenly knew. "It's Ruby... GO RUBY!!!" she shouted as loud as she could.

"I'MONNA SAVE YOU, KAREN!!!" Ruby bellowed back, loud enough to hear partially through the soundproofed door and also loud enough to knock one of the nurses clean off her feet as she ran over to investigate. Ruby wasn't just strong, she had a set of pipes that could blast birds off telephone lines.

"You're so dead you don't even know it," Tyler told Thurston with a chuckle in his voice.

"Stop that!!" he screamed at them. "You can't be in her body! It doesn't make any sense!!"

Tyler sneered. "Can too. Hit him again, Karen."

Karen grinned ferally and did.


*****


     -RUBY-

The tigress grunted like a rhino as her massive fist hammered the quiet room's door again. The veins in her arms pulsed like miniature firehoses. There was blood on the door from where her knuckles had split. She didn't notice. She didn't feel anything.

All her thoughts were on Karen.

By now a dozen other kids had emerged from their rooms to gape dumbly at the spectacle in the hallway. Needless to say, the hospital staff was aware of the commotion too.

"Holly, get out of my way this instant!!" Camilla ordered.

Holly stared her down with the eyes of a cobra. A squirrel standing up to a bobcat. "No," she said simply.

The other nurses and volunteers were trying to get past the ring Holly and the others had made around the door. The children's arms were locked and their bodies were concrete. Camilla was furious but felt bizarrely helpless. These were just kids. She was trained to deal with kids! Why were they scaring her so much!? "That girl has gone berserk! You tell your friends to let us through or-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON HERE!!!" Holly screeched at her. "Now shut up and let Ruby work!!"

Camilla shut up.

Victor looked behind him and saw that the tiger girl had certainly hurt the door, but she hadn't made any progress getting it open. "The glass, Ruby! The glass!" he called out. "That's the weak spot!"

Ruby snapped out of her focus for a second. "Huh?" She looked the door up and down, amazed by the dents she'd made. Not bad for a girl who always tried her best *not* to cause damage like this. She saw the little window in the middle of the door. It was just the right height for her fist.

"Thanks!" she told Victor.

Her arm drew back like a bow. She heard her knuckles crack.

She swung. Broken glass exploded and blood flew from a dozen tiny cuts.

Rubiella felt none of them.


*****


     -THURSTON-

Karen swung, but Thurston caught it.

This situation was out of control, and the best thing to do now was to simply ignore everything but the girl in front of him. "Enough of this bullshit."

He gave the belt a sharp tug that yanked Karen right off her balance. She fell towards him and he snatched her up by the front of her shirt. Clutching it tight, he pulled her up to his face. "I don't care who the fuck you are, I don't care who the fuck's at the door, I'm bigger and stronger than you and I'm gonna take what I've earned."

He gave a shove and sent Karen flying across the room into the padded wall. Before she could react, he was in front of her, driving a hard punch into her stomach.

Karen doubled over, felt something hot in her mouth. Her vision winked out for a second.

"KAREN!!" Tyler screamed.

Thurston grabbed up Karen's wrists in one paw and slammed them up above her head into the padding. He pressed them in hard, hard enough for her fingers to go numb. He thrust his face next to hers and spoke in a voice like blood over gravel. "I told you what'd happen if you didn't cooperate. You must be some kinda stupid that you'd choose the hard way. Little girls who don't listen *need* this kinda treatment."

Karen looked away from those lust-mad eyes. They blazed hotter than fire, but there was nothing at all behind them. Nothing with a soul. She shut her eyes tight and felt Thurston grab a handful of her pants. She whimpered as he snatched them off of her. When they caught on her shoes, he pulled harder, twisting Karen's ankles with pain. The fabric ripped and the pants flew off, along with one of Karen's shoes and her sock.

Thurston grabbed her face, covering almost half of it with one hand. He forced her to look where he wanted. "You see this?" he demanded, pointing with his other hand at her crotch. "That's _mine_ now."

Karen did not say a word as he tore off her panties.

The physical pain meant nothing compared with the emotional.

Tyler was frantic. "Karen, do something! We can't let him-!" It hit him then; if Karen got raped, he would get raped too. He could not feel her pain, but he would have to look into those eyes as it happened, and he knew if that happened he'd go crazy. Simple as that. "KAREN!"

Thurston held Karen's wrists tighter and slid her up the wall. She might as well have weighed no more than her clothes. His face was an inch away from hers, the stench of his hot breath invaded her nostrils. He pulled down his zipper.

"Your fault," he snorted in between breaths. "You did this. You led me on, you li'l slut. This is all your fault."

Tears poured down Karen's cheeks. She did everything she could to block out his words. Her heart knew they weren't true, but it was still a battle to keep them from sticking in her soul and poisoning her forever.

She kicked with her feet but it wasn't enough. She couldn't do anything more than flop like a fish in this position. Her arms were held so tightly she wondered if she would ever move them again. She'd tried her best. There was nothing left for her to do...

She forced her eyes open a crack and saw Thurston reaching for his underwear. His pants were down around his ankles. Any second now, he'd flop out that ugly thing and *use* it on her.

Karen's heartbeat was a jackhammer.

She trembled, making her body stone. Bracing herself for it...

'NO!' her mind screamed.

There was one thing she had left that he wasn't in control of.

Karen shot forward and buried her sharp teeth as hard as she could in the soft flesh of Thurston's nose.

The bear screamed like a steam whistle.

Thurston clenched tighter on her wrists. Karen ignored the pain. She bit down harder. Blood gushed against her gums and into her throat. The taste was awful. Thurston's free hand came up and slapped her with all its might. Karen did not let go. Her muzzle was made of steel. A steel bear trap. If he still wanted to rape her now, he'd do it with half a face.

"YOU FUGGING BIDCH!!! LET GO 'A MY FUGGIN NOOOOOOSE!!!"

Karen felt something give. Thurston's flesh tore and her head snapped back.

Thurston howled, clutching at his face with both hands and letting Karen drop to the floor.

She hit the tile hard, but the pain was barely worth noticing. She felt the rubbery piece of rapist in her mouth.

"If it was me, I'd swallow it," Tyler said.

She stood up and spat it out onto the floor. "It tastes terrible," she replied.

"You're my hero forever," Tyler said. "You saved us both."

"I know," Karen said, emotionless.

Thurston continued to roll around on his back like a baby, making the most ear-splitting wails and unintelligible threats imaginable. His curses were drowned in a flood of his own crimson.

Karen watched him with eyes of steel. If he got up, he would _not_ touch her again.

Thurston gasped. He rolled onto his side and spat a mammoth mouthful of blood onto the white floor. "BIDCH! BIDCH! BIDCH!"

Karen said nothing.

He planted one fat hand on the floor and tried to get to his knees. He slipped, then tried again. "Gonna gill you..." he slurred. "Gonna rip your gunt off..."

"No, you're not," Karen said.

Thurston got to his feet slowly. His chest was gleaming with red. His face was dark with hate. "You're gonna wish I'd gilled you when I'b done."

"No, I won't," Karen said.

They stared into each other's eyes. It would have been impossible to tell which one of them hated the other more.

The world will never know which one of them would have struck first, because right then the door popped open and Ruby charged in.


*****


     -RUBY-

Breaking through the glass was child's play. She tried to reach all the way through the window hole, but it was hopeless. Her arm was simply too thick. It was like trying to stuff a salami through a straw.

"What now?" she called out.

"Feel around for the handle!" Victor said.

"I can't! My arm won't go in far enough!" Ruby wailed.

Brad snarled at Victor. "Dude, think! It's the quiet room; there's no handle on the inside!"

Victor shrank back. "I'm sorry! I've never been in there."

Brad gave himself a mental kick in the ass for snapping at his friend. "Sorry. I forgot all of us aren't assholes."

Victor managed a half-smile and squeezed Brad's hand tighter. The art room rebels were still in a circle around Ruby. The hospital staff didn't look like much of a threat; they were still so stunned none of them had thought to run to the front desk and call for backup. But it couldn't hurt to be careful.

Ruby thought as hard as her damaged brain would allow. She stuck her hand through the window again, mewing in pain as the remaining bits of glass dug into her skin. She clenched her teeth and forced as much of her arm through the hole as she could. She thought maybe she could get a grip on it from the other side and simply yank it off the hinges. That wasn't going to happen though. The other side of the door was nothing but smooth, cold metal. There was nothing to hold on to. If she pulled now, all she'd get was deeper scratches from the glass.

Ruby thought of Karen and started to cry. "I don't know what to do!!" she wailed.

"Wait..." Holly had an idea. "The handle!"

"There's no handle on the other side!" Brad reminded her.

"Duh!! But there is one on *this* side! Just tear it off, Ruby!"

"I'll do it!" the tigress pledged. She clamped her paws onto the stainless steel handle and braced herself against the wall. She pulled.

The locking mechanism clunked. Ruby pulled harder.

Sweat trickled down her fur and stung her eyes.

The handle began to bend.

"GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHH!!!!!"

With a mighty warrior's growl, Ruby put all her effort into one more good pull and the handle came off and went slashing through the air. With a *thunk* it embedded itself two inches deep in the ceiling behind her.

Panting and grunting like a cave woman, Ruby attacked the lock. She banged the door furiously. She pounded it. She *murdered* it.

Finally the metal gave up and declared its surrender.

The door popped open and Ruby charged in.


     ~~~


When she saw what was in the room, Ruby stopped short, her jaw falling open with horror.

The fat bear man was covered in blood. Karen was half naked and half shoeless. Her clothes were lying ripped on the floor before her. Blood trickled in two tiny streaks from her nose. Her eyes were coral red and her cheeks were sopping wet from crying.

Ruby didn't need to see anything more.

In that instant she became more vicious and fearsome than any ten of her ancestors put together. Ruby's mind ceased to exist. She was now nothing more than a demolition machine piloted by a wild tiger's instincts.

Ruby fell upon Thurston. She gave him a punch in the side that ruptured his liver.

Thurston bent in half. More blood sprayed from his mouth like a fountain.

Ruby screamed, hitting him again and again, her fists causing more damage than a sledgehammer. If Thurston hadn't been so solidly built, he would have been dead already.

Ruby snatched up handfuls of his clothing and threw him across the room into the wall. A crack appeared in the plaster above the padding and dust rained down from the ceiling.

How Thurston kept himself on his feet is a mystery of science. His brains battered like rotten produce, he looked up through a haze of blood and double images. He coughed and a piece of himself flew out.

"I ain't gonna be gilled by do liddle girl," he said.

His mouth opened and a pain-drunk bellow came out. He hurled himself at Ruby. By sheer force of momentum, his fist slammed into her jaw.

Ruby froze.

Thurston barely kept himself from hitting the floor teeth-first. He grabbed a wall and dug into the padding with his claws, pulling himself upright.

Rubiella reached up and touched the place where he'd hit her. It hurt. It really, really hurt! She threw back her head and cried.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Thurston, doubled over and seconds from death, chuckled. "Dang! Izzat all it dakes?"

Without even looking, Ruby grabbed at the sound of his voice. Her paws sank deep into his chest, clutching at his skin like he had clutched at Karen's shirt.

Thurston did not have time for any last words.

Rubiella swung him like a hammer. He went halfway around the room before slamming skull-first into a wall. Behind it was a support beam.

Thurston's head was crushed directly into his ribcage.

Rubiella tossed the wet, red sack of meat into a corner and fell to her knees, still crying.


     ~~~


Karen had been huddled in a corner, watching, making herself as small as possible.

She walked over and put her arms around Ruby. She gave her friend a pat on the back. "Good girl, Ruby. You saved my life."

Still crying, the giant tigress hugged Karen back, gentle as a mouse.


*****


     -KAREN-

The quiet room had finally gone quiet. Holly dared to peek inside first, and was not surprised by what she saw. She felt many other things, but not surprised. Furious at Thurston, relieved that Karen was still alive, and heartbroken that poor Ruby had done such a thing. It was entirely justified of course, but who knew what this would do to her already fragile soul?

Holly approached the weeping tigress and hugged her too. "Good work, girl." She looked at Karen and saw how she'd been left with just half her clothing. "Did he... touch you?" she asked, her jaw trembling.

Karen shook her head. Her nose was bloody and her eyes were red, but her proud smile shined through. "Not where he wanted to."

Holly nodded, returning Karen's smile. "Excellent."

"Do you think you could run back to my room and grab me some new pants and undies?" Karen asked.

Holly stood and saluted. "Of course! Be right back." She was out the door in a second.

Brad looked in next, then Benjamin and Victor. Victor saw all the blood and turned away instantly, paws over his mouth, trying not to vomit.

Camilla glanced past the doorway and gasped. The bobcat felt her blood run cold. She pushed past the boys into the room and saw Rubiella with her arms soaked to the elbows in red.

"You monster!!" Camilla blurted.

Immediately, two strong paws grabbed the back of her shirt and turned her around. Keith stabbed a warning finger at her face, livid with rage. "NO ONE calls Ruby a monster! You apologize to her NOW!!"

Shaken so badly she could barely think, Camilla stuttered before answering. "S-she k-k-killed Mr. Caercase!"

"He was trying to rape Karen!" Brad yelled at her. "Open your eyes!!"

Camilla could barely see the raccoongirl behind Rubiella's bulk. Karen stepped out into the bobcat's view, letting her get a good, hard look.

"Oh my sweet Jesus..." Camilla gasped. "He was... Really? No. Oh my lord. Oh my lord." Her horror wasn't just from realization, but from guilt. She'd known that something about Mr. Caercase had rubbed her the wrong way ever since she'd first met him. She had seen the look in his eye when he was around the children, but she had dismissed it. She'd thought she was just being judgmental. Now she realized that she and all the rest of the staff who'd ignored the warning signs had helped this atrocity happen.

Rubiella was still sniffling.

Camilla's tone changed to one of solace. "You dear, sweet girl... You stuck up for your friend, didn't you? I am so sorry. So, so sorry. I didn't know..."

Ruby looked up, just a little. "S'okay," she mewed.

"Would you like to get cleaned up?" Camilla asked.

"Uh huh."

"Let's go then." She reached out and took Rubiella's paw in both of hers. The tigress got to her feet and they both left the quiet room. There were varied reactions from the crowd gathered outside. Ruby looked like she'd been splashed with a gallon of red paint. Camilla cast a stern look upon them all. "She's a hero," she simply said.

Ruby heard that and smiled a tiny bit as Camilla led her to the bathroom.

Karen stood unmoving in the quiet room. By now most of her friends had gathered around her, but they were just shadows on the edge of her vision. Her entire existence was only herself, and the bloated body in the corner.

Brad approached her cautiously. He had no idea how to even begin comforting her. "Karen?"

Like coming out of a hypnotist's trance, Karen snarled and became someone completely different. She ran over to Thurston's body and began kicking it as hard as she could. Again and again and again. She screamed with uncontrolled fury. She stomped his unresponsive flesh. She screamed in rage and sorrow and disappointment that she hadn't been able to kill him herself.

Her friends gathered around her. Victor even reentered the room, doing his best to keep his eyes averted from the carnage. Sherri was there too. Keith stayed by the door, watching the rest of the staff to make sure they didn't do anything stupid.

Karen punched and kicked and growled like a rabid beast until she'd simply had enough. She stopped abruptly and stood there, breathing heavily and staring at him.

Brad put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't blame you. I wish I could've gotten a few punches in too."

The anger drained from Karen's face. She rubbed her cheek on Brad's soft paw. "Thanks." She took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she hocked up a big one and spat it onto Thurston's back. The saliva sparkled in the light as it ran down the fabric and turned red.

"In your *face*, you kid-raping sonofabitch," she sneered.

Brad grinned, impressed. "Was that Tyler?"

Karen smiled just a little. "No, that one was me."

"I couldn't have said it better," Tyler added. He then spoke silently, only to Karen, "It was great watching you do that. He deserved it. He deserves worse."

"Thanks." Karen felt another tear in her eye, but this one came with a smile at knowing that her friends were there with her. Not just in this room, but emotionally as well. Karen was a little frightened of herself now. This ferocity was something alien. She hadn't thought it possible that something like this could have come out of her. Her natural inclination was to feel ashamed. Good little girls aren't supposed to stand up to grownups, much less rip their noses off. She fought this feeling off though. A small, crystalline clear voice in the back of her head was cheering for her, boundlessly proud that she'd stood up to her worst nightmare and kept him from taking that important part of her he'd wanted so badly. Not her flesh, but her submission.

"I got your pants," Holly shouted suddenly from the doorway. She was a bit out of breath, holding a pair of lavender jeans held out in front of her like a newsboy hawking papers. "You like these ones, right?"

Karen nodded and took them. "Yup. Good job, Holly. Thank you." Holly's gold nose ring made Karen think of a teensy little halo.

"Got your panties too," Holly said, and tossed the balled-up undergarment to her.

Karen caught them. Brad signalled the others to turn around and give Karen some privacy while she got dressed. She did so as fast as possible. She found her other sock and shoe and put them back on as well. Good as new.

"So... Um. We're kind of screwed now, aren't we?" Benjamin spoke up. "I mean, we just killed Dr. Beatrix's head goon. She's not going to be happy about that." The waver in his voice echoed embarrassingly loud in the little room.

Karen pulled her shoelace tight. "Then we have to escape now," she said simply.

"Now!?" Brad yelped. "We're not ready! We don't have any kind of plan or anything!"

Karen stood up straight and looked him in the eye. "Do we have a choice?"

He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of a damn thing to say back. She was right. It was literally now or never. It was terrifying to have it happen so heart-stoppingly out of the blue like this, but that didn't change things. Every life's worst moments hit when one is least prepared to deal with them.

Karen took another deep breath. She wiped her muzzle off on her arm. "We escape tonight," she told her troops. Her voice was clean steel. It dared anyone to disagree with her. "Thurston just tried to rape me because he knew we were going to have another meeting. That means they probably know everything about us. If we don't do it now, they'll either kill or brainwash us all. It has to be now. Are we agreed?"

"Rock on," Holly said, holding her fist up in salute.

"I'm with you," Keith added with a sharp soldier's nod.

"I'm in, obviously." Brad looked at Ben and Vic. "How about you guys?"

They nodded. "I don't wanna die," Benjamin said, meaning that he acknowledged that that would be the consequence of doing nothing.

"Me neither. I'll do my best," Victor pledged, though in his heart he felt about three seconds away from wetting himself.

"Sherri?" Brad shouted in a random direction.

She made her presence known. "Here," she said crisply. That was all that was needed to confirm she'd play her part in this.

"I'm with you. Although I sorta have to be no matter what," Tyler said from Karen's mouth. "'Course, I'd still be even if I *was* in my body," he added with a grin.

"I know," she told him. "Now first, we've gotta-"

"DON'T!" Keith suddenly screamed.

Everyone jumped out of their skins, their heads swivelling involuntarily towards the sound. Keith was out in the hallway, pointing angrily at someone, rooting them to the spot with his gaze.

The others crowded out to see. One of the volunteers, Zach, was trying to slink back to the nurses' station. He moved slowly backwards. He looked panicky, liable to do anything. He had not come into work today expecting a shitstorm of this magnitude. "You can't tell me what to do," he said, but the fear in his voice was thick as peanut butter.

Another volunteer nurse, a slender pony, was also freaking out. She was still standing in the same spot as when she'd first seen what was beyond the quiet room door. "We have to call the police! It's _murder_!!"

"It wasn't murder, it was necessary," Keith said out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes still locked on the cowardly marten. "And *you're* not calling anybody."

Zach 'hmmph'ed with contempt. He tried to fill his voice with bravado he didn't have. "And you're gonna stop me? I don't care how fucked-up in the head you are, kid. This is craziness. I'm calling Dr. Beatrix right now." He turned back towards the nurses' station.

"Don't," Keith said again. Quiet, but his tone was clear: last warning. He looked regretful, knowing what was about to happen.

Zach stopped, glaring hatefully at Keith.

All eyes were on the fox and the marten. The ward was silent.

In defiance, Zach moved towards the phones again.

Keith cursed the stupid bastard for making him have to do this. He'd hated and feared his power his whole life, and now this dumbass volunteer was forcing him to use it. Keith shut his eyes and clenched his teeth.

So be it.

From his outstretched paw, a plume of flame fifteen feet long erupted.

Zach screamed and jumped backwards, cracking his spine on the wall. The fire struck the nurse's station like a lightning bolt, blasting chunks of blackened plaster everywhere. A telephone flew up in the air and landed like a dead seagull three feet away.

"I told you not to!" Keith screamed, sounding wounded. "I fucking told you *not* to!!"

Eyes wide and unthinking, Zach crab-walked out of sight, as far away from the fire and the freak kid as possible.

The nurse's station had a crater the size of a bowling ball in it with a halo of scorch marks around. The fire licked at the rest of the desk. It found some paper and began to eat.

Tyler saw the fire and felt a stab of fear in his heart. Something about fire... He almost remembered. It was right on the tip of his- "Put that out! Somebody put that out right now!!" he screamed.

Completely on instinct, Keith jerked his hand back; a gesture like casting a fishing line. The fire responded immediately, literally leaping off the desk and blazing down the hall. It vanished back into Keith's finger just like if a vacuum cleaner had sucked it up. Keith stared down at his paw. The fur on the back of his neck stood up. 'HOW!?' he thought. He'd never even *imagined* he could do that...

Amazing as it was, it came too late. The smoke had already reached the ceiling.

An ear-splitting electronic pulse shattered the air, so loud it felt like an icepick.

The fire alarm.

From all around them, the patients and staff of King's Orchard heard doors sealing and deadbolts slamming home. On Ward F as well as everywhere else. As it had been wired to, the building obediently turned itself into a colossal oven in less than seven seconds.

"We are _fucked_," Tyler assessed.


*****


     -BRAD-

Brad feigned confidence. "No we're not. It just gets more challenging now."

The pony nurse snapped. "What. The. Christ. Just. HAPPENED!?" she shrieked.

Holly got up in her face like a bulldozer. "Shut up!!! You're stupid! You're useless! You have no idea what's going on and you're not gonna, so go find someplace quiet to sit and stay out of our goddam business, OKAY!?"

The nurse burst into tears and ran off.

Holly smirked. She turned back to her friends. "What's the plan, Karen?"

Karen bit her lip. "Um..." She tried hard to think but she couldn't get her mind off Thurston. She kept seeing Ruby slam him into the wall again and again. It was awful, but strangely invigorating. "I'm trying. Gimme a second."

Just then, an immense orange and white striped head poked out of the girls' bathroom. "Did som'pin happen?" Ruby asked.

Benjamin gave her a status report. "Keith shot a fireball at some douchebag who was trying to call Dr. Beatrix and now all the doors 'n stuff are locked and if we don't try to escape now we're all probably gonna die."

Ruby processed that. "Okay."

"Um, I've got an idea. You mind?" Brad said to Karen.

She looked intensely relieved. "Not at all! Please, go ahead; I totally can't think right now."

Brad seamlessly accepted the temporary mantle of leadership. Karen was shaken up, but not out of the fight. She just needed someone to take over for a bit until she was back up to full power. Brad looked around at Ruby. "You doin' okay?"

Ruby smiled and held up her paws, front and back. "All clean."

Brad smiled, but his expression was serious. "I mean, are you over ...what happened with Thurston?"

The tigress nodded somberly. "Uh huh. I had to. I'm not a bad girl. Karen was in t'ouble an' I had to."

Holly beamed at the tigress. "Exactly. You didn't do a damn thing wrong, Ruby. I'm proud of you."

Ruby was tickled pink at that.

Emerging beside her, Camilla smiled. All through washing Ruby's giant paws, she had talked soothingly in the girl's ear, apologizing several more times for calling her a monster and making sure she knew that was the farthest thing from what she was. Camilla walked over to the rest of the staff, telling them with just her expression to keep quiet and try to understand what was happening before taking any action.

"Mind giving me a lift?" Brad asked Ruby. She nodded. She lumbered over and easily lifted Brad up to sit on her shoulder. "Wow, you make a great pedestal!" he said.

Ruby didn't know what that meant, but appreciated the compliment anyway.

Once everyone could see him, Brad cleared his throat. By now all of Ward F was crowded in the hallway. Having to bellow a little over the fire alarm, Brad addressed them. "Okay, I've got a plan. It's real simple. I'm gonna take Karen down to Ward Zero to put Tyler back in his body. Holly, you take the others and go upstairs. Get Beatrix. Don't kill her though; that's my job."

"Awww!" Holly pouted.

Brad compromised. "Okay, well, after we meet back up here, we'll *all* kill her. Sound good?"

A chorus of agreement from the art room rebels.

Brad sat up straighter, looking out onto the unknown faces of the other kids. "Everyone else, you all just get downstairs! Everyone has to get out as soon as possible. Okay?"

Nods and mutters from the crowd. Brad was not about to tell them that the whole building was a giant firetrap. He was not about to tell them about the canisters Tyler had seen in Ward Zero. The last thing he wanted was a stampede of panicked, mentally-ill kids all trampling each other in the stairwells.

"I'll make sure everyone gets out safely," Camilla said. She conveyed with her body language that she accepted that things were happening she was completely unprepared to deal with. It was best to simply agree now and hope for an answer later.

"Hey, Brad," Tyler piped up, "I should tell you that Beatrix had the alarms re-wired. Normally there'd be a signal sent out to the fire department and the cops, but...." He didn't have to say more.

"Shit," said Brad. He'd hoped he could count on the firemen breaking down the doors in the lobby once everyone was downstairs. That would have seemed obvious in a *normal* disaster. But of course Dr. Beatrix's whole plan for this place was for them to all die by fire long before any help could arrive. Thankfully the place wasn't burning now. Though Brad kinda suspected it would be before the night was over.

"Someone try the phones," he called out. He had a bad feeling that he already knew what the result would be.

A porcupine girl was closest. She lifted up the receiver on one of the payphones. Then the next, then the third one. She shook her head. "They're all dead. There's no dial tone."

Brad snarled. "Well that's not very goddam surprising... Anyone got any ideas on how we could call for help?" There were a lot of mumbles, but nothing helpful.

Then, from out of the crowd, a trembling wing raised.


*****


     -VERONICA-

"Veronica?" Holly said disbelievingly. Her bat friend, who had shut off like a lightbulb when Holly'd asked her if she could do anything special? SHE was volunteering?

The diminutive brown-furred bat looked both embarrassed and terrified to her core. "I think, maybe..."

"I can't hear you over the fucking fire alarms!" Brad said, making it clear it was their fault, not hers. He could see she was almost vibrating from dread.

"I think I can call for help!" Veronica shouted before she could stop herself. From the look on her face, it was like she'd just hollered a swear word in church.

Holly came close to her and gave her a gentle smile. "How?"

Veronica couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. She reached up and simply tapped her forehead.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

The young bat's brown eyes began to gather tears. "I did it before when I was little. My mommy and daddy said I was bad. They said it was the devil in me. They said I shouldn't ever do it again or God would cast me out."

Holly's heart broke. "They're wrong," she said, firmly and with love. "We've all got something like you do here. We're _all_ like that. There's _nothing_ bad or unnatural about it. It's something to be proud of no matter what any damn grownups say. If you can save us, you'll be a hero."

The little bat nodded solemnly. If it wasn't for her own doubts about Mommy and Daddy's cruel behavior, she never would have had the courage to speak up. Holly was helping by saying aloud almost everything she couldn't allow herself to believe from her own heart. "I'll try." Her voice was grim. She looked as though she were about to attend her own funeral. "Stand back. It might hurt if you're too close."

"STAND BACK!!!" Holly roared at everyone around her.

Needless to say, they obeyed.

Standing there exposed, hot tears on her fur, Veronica prepared to break the unbreakable vow she'd made to herself. She had been made to feel like she was evil for the one time she'd tried to use her ability to its full potential.

When she was small, she had realized she could make people hear her without having to speak. She could not read minds, but she could speak into them.

She tensed herself, taking in a deep breath. She scrunched up her eyes and clenched her wings.

She thought.



     X      X   XXXXX   X           XXXXX    X  X  X
     X      X   X           X           X      X    X  X  X
     XXXXX   XXXX     X           XXXXX    X  X  X
     X      X   X           X           X
     X      X   XXXXX   XXXXX   X            X  X  X



The sound was so loud it nearly deafened half the hospital. Yet no one had actually *heard* it, at least not with their ears. Veronica had sent out a mindwave of incalculable power and magnitude. As it spread out like ripples in water, dozens, then hundreds of people in the surrounding area stopped what they were doing and froze, staring up at the sky. People dropped casseroles. They dropped telephone receivers. One woman nearly dropped her baby. For the instant that it lasted, every single furson in the entire city and beyond was still.

All of them knew where the voice had come from. They simply knew.

"I hope that worked," Veronica said shyly.

"I think people who haven't even been *born* yet heard that!" Brad said.

"Ow," agreed Ruby.

Holly engulfed her bat friend in a hug. "We're gonna get _shitloads_ of people coming to find out what the hell that was! Way to go, Veronica!"

The little bat did not smile, but she did allow a small bit of relief to creep into her soul. In that moment, with Holly's hug, she began the long road to finally accepting that she was not a monster.


*****


     -GINNY-

Still perched on Ruby's shoulder, Brad caught the crowd's attention again. "So, okay, the cops are coming. That's good. The more people that show up the better. Now is everyone ready to get the hell out of here?"

Various shouts of 'Yeah!' from the crowd.

"But how are we going to get out of *here*?" Benjamin asked, pointing to the airlock doors.

"I opened them before..." Sherri said. She ran over to the nurse's station. Most of the crowd followed her.

Fortunately, the button that opened them was far away from where Keith's fireblast had hit. (Zach was still out of sight.) Sherri pressed the button. The door gave a grunt but didn't move. She pushed it again. She slammed her fist down on it. Nothing. "Aw shit," she said with a pout.

Brad hopped down off Rubiella's shoulder. "You think maybe you could...?" he asked her. He hated to. The poor girl had been through enough tonight, but who else had a chance at getting those thick metal doors open?

"Let me try!" a sprightly voice rang out.

A little kangaroo girl waded through the crowd. Looks of puzzlement followed. Karen recognized her as the one who'd told her before that she didn't like raccoons because they were not, in fact, made of chocolate. No one on Ward F thought this kid was even aware what week it was.

The young roo looked up at the big white door, head cocked to the side, hands on her hips. "Uh huh," she assessed.

She spat on her hands and then pressed her palms flat to the metal.

No one was prepared for what happened next.

While the kangaroo girl smiled and sang a happy tune, thick, oily smoke began to seep out from between her fingers and around her paws. Something dark began to creep out from where she touched the door. An awful smell spread. The white paint began to curdle, turn green and fall to the floor in patches of melted goo. A horrible hissing sound came from where the door was literally rotting away.

The dark patch spread quickly. Brown and green, pitted and bubbling like something toxic. The other children covered their noses from the stench. The little roo still sang to herself. She was having fun. "Daddy says I shouldn't do this," she said over her shoulder with a naughty grin. "But Daddy's not heee-ere!"

Festering like swamp muck, what had once been the door out of Ward F finally caved in and fell in on itself. The metal had been reduced to a thick, chunky gunk that flowed outward, eating the carpet and discoloring the tile inside the airlock.

"All done!" the roo girl sang out. She did a pirouette.

Slack-jawed, Tyler used Karen's hands to start applauding. "That was fuckinincredible!!!"

Soon everyone was applauding. The roo girl giggled and spread her arms like an actress receiving roses flung from a cheering audience. In her mind, she was queen of the universe.

Camilla came forward and scooped the girl up in her arms. "Ginny, do you think you can do that to the other door?" she asked, pointing to the one at the end of the airlock.

Ginny nodded fervently. No problemo.

"Would you like to help me get *all* the doors open so we can help everyone get out of here?" She spoke slowly and over-enunciated her words. She knew that sometimes this poor girl was tuned to a different channel than the rest of the world.

"Spoon!" Ginny shouted, and then giggled. "That means yes!"

"Well okay then, Sweetheart! Let's get to it!" Camilla set the girl down and gave her a pat on the head. Ginny ran to the remaining door and started happily rotting it away too.

Knowing that this was it, that they were all getting the hell out of King's Orchard tonight, many of the children darted back to their rooms to grab important possessions before they departed. Photos, money, jewelry, clothes, books, stuffed animals. Some of them who didn't give a rat's ass what they left behind stayed to watch Ginny do her door trick again.

Brad gestured for the rest of his friends to join him. "Karen and I are gonna get down there, get Tyler and come right back up. If anyone tries to fuck with you guys while you're getting Beatrix, hurt them."

The others nodded. "What happens after?" Victor asked.

"We meet back here, in the stairwell outside. Then... Then I guess we just try to mix with everyone else once we're outside and hope there's enough confusion that we can get away."

Tyler shrugged Karen's shoulders. "Not the best plan ever, but I can't think of anything better."

"What if we *have* to kill Beatrix?" Holly asked, reasonably enough.

Brad hoped it wouldn't come to that. He knew it was cold-blooded of him, but he wanted to be there when she bought it. He wanted to see that pink-eyed bitch's last moments with his own eyes so he'd always remember the moment, and know that she could _never_ hurt anyone else again. "If you have to, you have to," he said. "But make sure you leave something for me to spit on."

Keith chuckled darkly at that.

"Everyone ready?" Brad asked. He put his arm out in front of him.

All seven of them touched his paw. Eight, if you count Tyler.

"Ready to kick ass, mon capitaine," Holly said.

"We can do this," Karen told them all, her voice as strong and confident as ever. She was getting her second wind.

"Alright then. See you guys later." Brad nodded to the others and took Karen's paw. "Let's go."

Karen watched as Holly led Keith, Benjamin, Victor, Sherri and Ruby towards the airlock. They were swallowed up with the rest of the kids standing there waiting for Ginny to finish up. The thought crossed Karen's mind that she might not see any of them ever again. She stomped on this thought like a bug. 'I will. Everything will turn out okay,' she assured herself in her calmest voice.

"Where are we going?" she asked Brad. He was leading her away from the stairs, seemingly back to the art room.

"I know a shortcut to Ward Zero. I went there last night."

She stared at him, stunned by this new information. He told her as quickly as he could about Monsoon, the beds, and Tyler.

They were at the door to the stairwell. It was locked again. Brad steeled himself as he stared at the crack between the door and the frame. "Hold my hand tight," he told Karen.

"Why?"

He flattened his hand out as much as he could. He clenched his teeth. "Because this is really, *really* gonna hurt..."


*****


     -ALF-

Miles away, Alf the ex-cook was just taking a bowl of popcorn out of the microwave when a single desperate word rang through his skull.

   H E L P !!!

The plastic bowl hit the kitchen floor and bounced under the table. Popcorn went everywhere.

Alf sank instantly to the floor, his paws grasping at his ears like bicycle handles. His heart was thumping. It was a girl's voice, but it wasn't Karen's. He didn't know who it belonged to. But he did know where it had come from.

Back there.

Alf had been a nervous wreck since yesterday. He had stayed in his apartment with all the shades drawn, afraid to stay put, but even more afraid to leave. The fear was like a lead vest he couldn't pry off. Dr. Beatrix *owned* him with those pictures. She could sic the cops on him at any second if she chose. Alf wanted to just buy a plane ticket and fly to the other side of the Earth, but he didn't know if that would put up a big red 'I AM GUILTY' flag if that horrible woman told the fuzz.

He hadn't slept. He hadn't eaten. He'd puked though. This popcorn would have been the first meal he'd had in over twenty-four hours.

He picked up a handful of kernels off the linoleum and ate them.

He didn't know what to do. That voice was irresistible. Someone in that hellish place was in trouble. He didn't know that all the children at King's Orchard possessed special abilities, but he had suspicions about some of them. It wasn't hard for him to accept the voice for what it was; a telepathic cry for rescue.

'If I go back there though... My life is over.'

The images on the photos flashed in his mind. Images he wished he could scour away, scrawl over with a permanent marker, carve out with a knife. His mind had sent him impure thoughts before. Many times. But even at their worst, his own thoughts were *nothing* like what was on those photos. Those photos were images of an ultimate evil, something nothing else could ever compare to.

If he went back there, Alf knew Dr. Beatrix would hand those photos to the police and say they were his. He would have no way to claim otherwise. The police would take him to jail. They would probably beat him with their nightsticks, or billy clubs or batons or whatever they called them. He would go on trial. The prosecutor would shove those photos in his face. He would have to look at them over and over and over. He would be convicted; there was no doubt in his mind. He would be locked away for the rest of his life. And he'd heard about what they did in prison to people who hurt kids. He knew he would be raped endlessly, and probably killed. Strangled or stabbed.

Sitting on the floor of the kitchen of his apartment, Alf very nearly broke down.

But then he thought about Karen.

Karen, covered in mashed potatoes. Karen, giving him a hug.

Karen, trusting him.

He stood up. "You selfish fuck," he said out loud. "If you don't go help them, your life will be worse than _anything_ that bitch could ever do to you because you'll have to live knowing that you let those kids suffer to save your own worthless tail."

Grabbing his jacket, the blue-haired fox strode out the door before he could stop himself. 

He never saw his apartment again.


*****


     -MONSOON-

T'halu had fallen asleep early. He had drank a few beers to try and forget what he had seen with Brad in the dungeon below the hospital. And then...

     HELP!!!

The mountain's head snapped up.

He didn't need to think. The keys to his SUV were in his hand before he even realized what he was doing. He knew he shouldn't drive when he was still tipsy, but certain things were more important than following traffic laws.

Things like regaining your honor.


*****


     -VICTOR-

Outside Ward F again.

Had it really been just last night he'd stood in this same corridor? There was the closet he, Brad and Benjamin had hidden in when Beatrix came down in the elevator. Victor had a sudden vision of those elevator doors popping open now. She would be there, and she'd kill them all.

Victor had lived his entire life with fear riding his back like a heartless, grinning jockey from hell. Fear's name was "THEM". Victor lived every day knowing THEY could strike at any moment, whenever they wanted, and he couldn't do a single thing about it. He could scream until he thought he was going to give himself a heart attack, and they'd just laugh it off and hurt him some more.

But they were gone now. Every few minutes, that fact would hit him as if he was realizing it for the first time. They were _gone_. Tyler had _killed_ them. It hadn't even been two full days since it happened, and sometimes they *did* go whole days without bothering him; just to make it hurt worse once he let his guard down. But still, he knew he didn't have to fear them anymore. He didn't feel them hovering around him, plotting their greasy little plots and dreaming up new ways to make him wish he were dead.

He was free now.

For the first time since before his mother had died, Victor did not have to spend every second of his life cringing, anticipating what horrid thing would happen to him next. Certainly, he was aware of the dangers he still faced in King's Orchard. But at least he knew he could face them now without having to divert half his attention to THEM all the time.

As the group of rebels split themselves off from the rest of the Ward F kids, they stood to the side and watched their fellow patients disappear down the stairwell. For the last time. And not for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Camilla was still carrying Ginny in her arms. The petite roo was all smiles, belting out some song she only knew half the words to.

Holly made a natural leader. She rallied her troops with a jerk of her head. "Let's get going. Beatrix might've already left by now. I don't wanna have to look all over for her."

Victor only caught half of that. He was still looking at the elevator door.

In a brief burst of unthinking bravery, he strode over and purposefully pushed the 'up' button.

The doors slid open. Victor flinched as he thought he saw a flash of white fur.

No. Just a shine off the metal. The elevator was empty. "Come on, guys."

The small skunk ducked in and pushed the 8 button. His friends clustered in around him. Fitting six kids in an elevator, with two of them being Holly and Ruby, is not an easy task. Holly growled in annoyance as her tummy and butt were accidentally bumped.

The doors didn't close. Victor looked quizzically at the button and pushed it again.

Benjamin reached over his shoulder to push it a third time. "Here, let me."

"I can push a button," Victor said defensively.

Ben shrugged. "Machines like me."

Whether that was true or not, the elevator still wouldn't go. "Dammit. It's probably like the doors all locking. Beatrix made the elevators screw up too," Holly said.

"The stairs then?" Benjamin pointed out.

Holly nodded. Everyone filed back out. Holly bit back outrageous language as her flab was jostled again.

Victor was first to the stairwell. He could hear the other kids below, their voices getting lower as they descended. He was *ascending* though. Towards _her_. Victor had only seen Dr. Beatrix once. Like almost everyone else who met her, he was fooled at first. She seemed like a perfectly nice lady. Until he'd said something she didn't like and she'd given him a look like she thought he was the filthiest bacteria on planet Earth. It was subtle but unmistakable. Though she kept right on smiling afterwards, Victor knew she hated him. It had gnawed at him, not knowing why, until he met Benjamin and heard some of his stories about the woman.

Just one short flight of steps. That's all it took to get to the perpetually empty 8th floor. Empty except for Dr. Beatrix Beverley of course. Although Beatrix was certainly empty enough on her inside...

The fire alarm was not sounding up here. The eighth floor was quiet as a church. Victor poked his pink skunk nose around the corner, expecting to see all manner of hell in the hallway. Guards with riot gear or big, burly orderlies with hypodermic needles or even Dr. Beatrix herself and that smile of hers.

Nothing there.

"Coast's clear," he said, mostly to confirm it for his own self.

The sextet moved cautiously out of the dim stairwell into the harsh artificial brightness. The hall was like a gleaming white esophagus. Oh so eager to swallow young prey. Their toenails clicked on the cold floor, the sound echoing enough to make them all wince. They felt watched.

"What do we do once we get in there?" Keith whispered to Holly.

"Unleash chaos," she replied. "All we have is surprise, so we use it. If she's in there, we go in all at once; screaming, throwing our powers around, whatever we've got. She's just one lone skinny-ass bitch. We can take her," she snarled with certainty.

Every step took forever. The doorway to Beatrix's office looked miles away. It stood out among the other unmarked doors in the hallway as the only one with a brass knob. All the others were silver. It was possible that all the other doors were fake. Why not? It was crazy enough to make sense in a place like this.

"I'll open the door," Sherri volunteered. "She won't see me."

"Good idea," Holly replied. "Actually Sherri, you might wanna 'stay out of sight' the whole time. If she doesn't know you're with us, you could probably surprise her. Trip her or hit her with something."

Sherri saluted.

Close now. The brass knob reflected the kids' stretched, inverted images. Either Beatrix was in there or she'd already left. They'd either pounce on her with all they had or pounce on an empty office, feel like a bunch of dumbasses, and then have to go hunt for her.

Victor took another step forward.

So did someone else.

"Everyone just stop right there."

Clifford Markman had been waiting behind a corner at the end of the hallway. He stepped out in front of the six children and pointed his gun at them. He planted his feet like the instructor had told him. He thought of his last name and all the jokes they'd made about it at the gun range. Mostly about how apt it was.

Victor felt his heart grow brittle and crack as he stared down that long, black barrel.

Clifford did not move. No one did. He barked orders at them in his nasal voice. "That's right. Just like statues, all of you. When I say go, you are going to put your hands behind your head and turn around nice and slow. You ever seen any of those cop shows on TV? Do it just like that."

The six rebels were motionless, but all of their minds were whirring. They would not allow themselves to be stopped by this nose-with-a-rat-attached. Clifford was a nobody. A minor nuisance. They weren't about to shame themselves by letting him stop them when they were this close.

"Now! Do it! Turn around!" As if they needed any more instruction, he flicked the end of the barrel at them.

Five children turned around and put their hands behind their heads. One of them did not.

Clifford's already tense jaw twitched. He felt sweat inside his ears and the edges of his eyes. "Whatsamatter, kid? Scared of guns? Can't move?"

Victor could not in a million years have explained what was going on in his head at that moment. He only knew he would not do what this man said. It wasn't even courage. It was like he was acting under orders from somebody else.

The skunkboy stared back at the rat with the gun. He did not say a word.

"Dammit kid, I don't like this either. Get your hands up so you can all go back downstairs and get in bed. Once the alarms are off you can all go to sleep, okay?" Clifford felt sweat on his furless paws, making his grip on the gun moist and slippery. He was not a particularly good man, but he was also not a monster like Thurston Caercase. He did not relish the idea of holding a loaded gun pointed at a child. He was only doing his job. He'd been present at one escape attempt, at the other hospital ten years ago. He was not about to stand by and witness another.

Victor could see how much Clifford was trembling. He did not feel sorry for the rat though. He was scared. A trembling finger could set off that trigger all by itself. Still, that did not stop him from what he knew suddenly that he _must_ do. He had to fulfill his species' destiny in the face of danger.

As his friends watched and wondered where their timid friend had gotten such immense cojones, Victor slowly turned around, slowly bent over, slowly raised his tail and slowly pulled down his shorts and underwear.

"You're mooning me. That's real cute, kid," Clifford said. "You wanna stand back up before I shoot the end of your frickin' tail off?" Maybe a little fear'd set this kid straight.

"I'm not mooning you," Victor said.

The obvious hit Clifford like a punch in the nose. "Oh. Oh, right. You're a skunk. Right." With a nose as big as his, the mere word 'skunk' brought a nervous shiver. But wait, what was this he was holding in his hands? A lollipop? "You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking, kid. *I've* got the more powerful weapon here! You spray me, I stink for a week or so. I shoot first, you _die_. Neither one of us wants that. You just cut this shit out right now."

Victor had felt a moment ago like he was free. Now he felt the opposite. He knew full well how crazy this was, but he couldn't stop himself. His ankles were shaking. He grabbed onto his knees for stability. He felt tears in his eyes. He didn't want to die.

Clifford took two steps forward and planted himself again. "I'm gonna count to three, kid."

Victor held his stance. He looked up at his friends. All of them looked just as paralyzed as him, wanting to help him and not knowing how.

"One..."

Victor tensed up suddenly, preparing himself.

Clifford's finger fluttered against the trigger. He was only aiming for the leg. He couldn't bring himself to shoot for the head like he'd been taught. He had no idea if he could fire before the kid did.

Suddenly, it came out.

*toot*

Clifford snorted. The kid had just farted at him! "Ha ha, kid, very f-"

Something deep inside Victor's body came rumbling up like a diesel locomotive, making sure Clifford Markman wouldn't ever get the chance to complete that sentence.

***BBBBBRRROONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTT***!!!!!

The sound alone was loud enough to topple buildings, but the tornado-force wind that came suddenly venting out of Victor's thin frame was powerful enough to peel skin off bone.

A massive wall of wind came barrelling down the hallway at Clifford, so thick he could actually see it. In that last brief instant before he became unconscious for quite a very long time, all the rat could think was, 'Why in the hell did I ever take this job?'

He was lifted off his feet as easily as a plastic trash bag caught in the breeze. Victor's ass-hurricane hurled him down the rest of the hallway like the fist of God. Behind him, windows exploded out into the night, sending thousands of glinting shards down to the parking lot. It was only pure luck that Clifford did not go flying out with them. Had he been standing a foot or two to either the right or the left, his life would have ended on concrete eight stories below. Instead, the force of the air blast knocked him out instantly. He hit the wall loose and floppy. He broke more than a handful of bones and was certainly in no shape to compete in the Olympics anymore, but he'd survive.

Victor stood up and looked at the devastation he had wrought. The force of his anal explosion was so great, the wall at the end of the hallway had actually buckled. Some of the doorknobs along the hall had also been knocked off and were rolling around freely like miniature severed heads. Clifford was slumped on the floor, motionless, looking like a burlap sack full of loose bones.

"How the crap did I do that...?" the dazed skunk asked rhetorically.

"Dude!!" Benjamin exploded. "That was the Guinness World Records fart of all time!!!"

Victor turned around and shrugged: 'I'm every bit as surprised as you are'.

"Is he dead?" Ruby asked, pointing worriedly at Clifford. She hadn't liked him much the brief time they'd known each other, but she still didn't harbor any grudge against him.

Holly smiled wryly. "I know I don't give a shit."

"Same here," Keith concurred.

"Just goes to show what happens to a guy that'd point a gun at a bunch of helpless kids," Holly tsk-tsked.

"Yeah, he gets *farted* to smithereens!" Benjamin clapped a paw on Victor's shoulder. "My _man_! You never told me you could do that! I thought you could only play tunes with that thing," he said, pointing to his friend's tuchus.

Victor was a bit shaky, still not quite believing that what had happened *had* actually happened. "I never knew myself until just now."

"You mean you did it purely on instinct?"

Victor nodded.

"Sweet! That was, like, mind-blowingly brave!" He paused, then chuckled. "Uh, you also might wanna pull your pants up."

Blushing furiously, the young skunk did.

"I see Victor's unnnn-dies!" Rubiella pointed out.


*****


     -BRAD-

They were making good time down the steps. It was a lot easier than the night before, both in terms of the descent and the pain. Brad's hand was still throbbing, but it was back to normal size already. He hoped that more practice would make it easier someday. He supposed it was all a matter of degree. He could spin his head around easily enough, and It hadn't hurt when his arm got pinched the first time. Maybe there was a certain limit he could stretch or squash himself before it got painful. Maybe easing into that zone next time would be better, instead of band-aiding it like he usually did.

His and Karen's footfalls echoed on endlessly in the empty stairwell. The fire alarms were still on and droning. Brad wished he had a shotgun so he could just blast the damn things off the wall every time he came to one.

He called back over his shoulder to Karen. "Just a couple more flights. The door to Ward Zero is right there at the bottom. Monsoon and I found it in no time." He had no idea how he was going to get *into* Ward Zero once he got down there, but he was sure he'd think of something. Probably.

Karen didn't respond.

Brad turned around. "Karen?"

The young raccoon was standing still about a half a flight behind. Her hand was on the rail. She didn't look out of breath, but she was completely motionless nonetheless.

"You okay?" Brad started to slowly move towards her, not knowing what was going on. Was she seeing dead furs again?

Closer now, he saw that her eyes were bulging with abject terror. Brad was one step away, trying to figure out what she was reacting to, when she suddenly noticed him. Her eyes locked on his for just a second.

"I almost got *raped*," she said, quite clearly.

Then she crumpled like a paper napkin.

Karen collapsed on the cold concrete steps and buried her head in her arms, beginning to weep and shake uncontrollably. Her cries were loud and panicky, like she wasn't aware of anything else in the world but the memory of what that evil man had nearly done to her.

Brad watched, powerlessly. He understood what was happening but had no idea what to do about it.

Karen was letting out all the fear and tears she had simply not had time for back when she was locked in the quiet room with Thurston. She had already tapped into her rage. It was not exhausted, not hardly, but she'd expressed enough of it for now. At this moment, far enough and safe enough away from him, all the horror and helplessness, all the sick, greasy revulsion of his hands touching her, all the sorrow and emptiness his violation had caused... It was all coming out.

Out of respect, Tyler kept silent. He could feel what was Karen was going through to a certain degree and knew that he was receiving only the tiniest fraction of it.

Brad stood there mutely, biting his lip. He wanted to say something to make Karen feel better. He wanted to help her more than anything else in the world. But he couldn't stop himself from thinking about all the times he'd messed up and said the worst thing possible in dozens of different scenarios. Karen deserved better than his clumsy words.

Maybe doing nothing was best, he thought. Let Karen cry. 'If I'd been in there, I'd be crying too. No shame in admitting it. If Thurston had tried to do that to me, I'd have nightmares the rest of my life.'

But no, he had to do *something*. Standing there like a dumbass was almost certainly the last thing Karen needed. He realized he'd only thought otherwise because doing nothing was the easiest option for _him_. That was inexcusably selfish. Brad opened his mouth, hoping something smart and good would come out.

Nothing did. Karen still wept. She looked up for a second and Brad thought he'd never seen fear like that in anyone's eyes before.

Brad realized then that he didn't need words. He came up beside Karen, sat down, and hugged her. Right away, she turned to him and hugged back. He felt his shirtsleeve get wet from her tears.

He patted her on the back. "It's okay to cry like this. I understand," he said.

Karen was shaking too much for her to speak clearly. "H-he... He would hav-ve..."

Brad kissed her. Nothing romantic about it. Just the way a caring brother would comfort his sister. A tiny kiss between her ears.

She whimpered. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Tyler thought of something then. His voice came softly from her lips. "Think about it this way, Karen. Think about all the people you saved tonight."

"Huh?" she said. Brad could hear the switch in their voices clear as a bell.

Tyler explained. "Thurston was a monster. You and Ruby got rid of him. Don't think about all the kids he hurt before you. Think about all the other kids he *would* have hurt if you hadn't been so damn brave back there and stopped him. He probably rapes kids all the time. That was true what I said; he really did have a chubby when he threw the switch on me. He's a sick, evil fuck. Now he's a *dead* sick, evil fuck. He will never hurt anyone else _ever_ again. Because of you, Karen."

"Yeah," Brad agreed. He had to admit, that was a lot better than anything he'd come up with. He reminded himself to thank Tyler later.

Karen's eyes were closed. She nodded. She shivered and then gave Brad another squeeze. 

She tried to stand up. She felt weak, drained, but she got to her feet anyway.

"Alright now?" Brad asked.

"No," Karen said curtly. "But we have to keep going. We don't have enough time for me to just sit here. It's not fair to Tyler."

The mouseboy immediately protested. "Hey, don't think about me! You've totally earned a pit stop. It's okay."

Karen shook her head. "I can cry and walk at the same time," she insisted, once again showing how strong her will was. She brushed her tears off on her forearm. She looked at Brad and thanked him for his hug with a smile. "...I mean, I can if you'll hold my paw so I don't fall down the stairs."

He smiled. "Of course."

Karen took hold of the steel rail in one hand, Brad's extended paw in the other. She started walking again, knowing that even if her eyes filled with tears again and she couldn't see, Brad would guide her.

Tears did come. Brad kept silent and set the pace, Karen's body following mechanically along while she allowed herself to break down. She cried hard and loud, loud enough to make the fire alarms seem pathetic in comparison. Her vision was wet and salty. Brad's grip was firm on her paw.

They descended four flights like that. Karen let herself cry until she doubted her eyes could ever make another tear again. She forced herself to cry. She forced herself to remember her near-rape in all its raw detail. She accepted the fear. She let it run its course. Soon she'd need to be strong again, and this was the only time she had to let herself be weak.

Through it all, Tyler kept respectfully silent and Brad held her paw. As useless and defenseless as Thurston had tried to make her feel, Karen knew in the back of her mind that she was safe now with her two friends. They understood that she'd never asked to be a leader. Never asked to see ghosts. She wasn't a brilliant military strategist; just a skinny little girl from the suburbs. The things she was being called upon to do were impossible. But of course, she knew that was no reason not to go ahead and do them.

Brad opened the door at the very end of the stairwell and there was the lobby again. His second chance to just drop everything and run. Of course, he'd have to break down the revolving doors first if he really wanted to. In fact, several kids and grownups were already trying to do just that. The lobby was far from packed at the moment, but Brad knew that wouldn't last for long.

A gaggle of furs were all talking at once, pounding on the big glass windows and asking each other what the heck was going on. The fire alarms continued to gleefully add to the confusion. Kids were crying, asking questions, staring outside, going crazy. Frazzled hospital staff were talking back and forth, repeatedly trying their keys in the door and not comprehending why they wouldn't work. It was also beginning to dawn on them that, even though most of the lobby's front wall was glass, it was super-duper thick glass. The stuff they made zoo aquariums out of. It wasn't just a matter of throwing a chair and shattering it. It would take heavy construction equipment to get through.

"Is there anything we can do to help them?" was the first thing Karen asked.

"No. We've got to get to Ward Zero," Brad said. He hated to be so cold, but he knew they simply didn't have time to help anyone but themselves. "They'll come up with a way to get out eventually. What more could we really do?"

Not feeling very good about it, Karen nodded and turned away from the frantic mob at the door. More kids and grownups were coming down the stairs every second, adding to the confusion and noise. "Where's this door you mentioned?" she asked.

"Right here. Hidden in plain sight." Brad pointed to a perfectly ordinary door just a few feet out of sight from the rest of the lobby. It was partially obscured by a large potted plastic plant and looked just like a janitor's nook. No one would ever give it a second thought if they saw it. That was why Monsoon's key had worked the night before. A door that said 'Stay away! Keep out!' invited curiosity. Temptation. Much better to make it so that no one ever thought of it at all.

There was no knob, not even a handle. Just a keyhole. "How are we gonna get that open?" Tyler asked, not sounding very hopeful.

Brad had already figured out what he'd have to do. It wasn't very pleasant, but it was their only plausible hope. He bit down on the inside of his cheek. He held his paw out behind him. "If I scream, don't let me stop."

"Okay," Karen agreed. She didn't know what he had in mind, but she was sure it would be just as wrenching to watch as his hand trick that had gotten them through the first locked door.

Brad extended his pointer finger. He looked at it. He looked at the keyhole. A finger ought to flatten a lot easier than a whole hand, right?

Brad pressed his fingertip to the tiny, cruelly-angled hole. He tried to take it slow and ease it in this time, but it didn't matter. He let out a positively stomach-churning moan of pain.

This was the worst. Oh sweet lord fuckalmighty, this was the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his life.

Karen saw the tears running down his cheeks and a drop of blood on his gums. "Brad, stop! Don't hurt yourself! There's gotta be another way in!"

"You're not helping!" he rasped out through his clenched teeth. His finger had already sunk in an inch. He could feel the tiny machinery inside the lock twisting and pinching his flesh in impossible configurations.

Tyler decided it was his job to step in and be Brad's coach. "C'mon, you pussy-cat! It's only pain! Shrug it off! Like it or lump it!" He winced. "Okay, I dunno what kinda stuff jocks say to each other in situations like this," he admitted.

"You're doin' fine..." Brad hissed. The tumblers were moving around. The pain was like billions of microscopic piranhas all chomping him at once. He fiddled back and forth, jamming his finger up and down, to and fro, wanting the door to just pop open already for God's sake so he could-

The door popped open.

Brad breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. He pulled his finger out hard, and in doing so, got the door open far enough for him and Karen to slip through.

They stood for a moment on the small, dim stairway that led to the second door while Brad sucked on his finger and listed every single swear word he'd ever heard in his life. He even made up a few.

"RatcuntDemonfuckShitpoolGoddamnedCockslurpingFarglesnotShitfuckingMotherhumping DOG BALLS!!!" he hissed under his breath at lightning speed.

The door creaked closed behind them and locked again with an audible click. "How are we gonna get back out?" Karen worried.

"No problem. You can just push it open from this side," Brad said out of the corner of his mouth. He could feel his finger throbbing in time with his heartbeat. "SonofaBITCHBOX that hurts!"

"I'm guessing this isn't something you'll be doing all the time to show off at parties, huh?" Tyler lamely joked.

Brad glowered at him, his feline pupils drawing in to slits. "Fuck you, Tyler. Fuck you very much."

"Hey, just tryin' to lighten the mood..."

Brad growled a little, but understood. You could take the Tyler out of the mouse, but you couldn't take the Tyler out of Tyler. "This way," he mumbled, finger still in his mouth, as he opened the Ward Zero door.


     ~~~


Brad was prepared, but Karen shuddered all the way to her soul when she saw what was inside. It was like a morgue. No, worse than that. It was like they had put all these poor dead kids out on display so they could keep them just alive enough to flaunt them. To say: 'Look what we can do with our science! Our glorious, glorious science! Who gives a flying fuck about morality or decency? Who cares if putting children into irreversible comas just to shut them up is an abomination against everything this hospital pretends to stand for? We can, so we do!'

Karen saw the thing in the bed that Brad had seen the other day. The ageless, genderless thing that had once been a child years ago. Now it looked more like an exhumed skeleton forced to keep on breathing for no fathomable reason. "Oh god, why don't they just let them *die* already!?" Karen shouted in horror and sympathy.

The words echoed and echoed and echoed.

Brad angrily shushed her. "Who knows who else might be down here!? Just because it was empty last night doesn't mean it'll be empty now!"

Karen nodded. She put her hand over her muzzle to block the smell and hopefully keep herself from vomiting. Her heart felt sick from seeing all this mindless, mad cruelty.

Brad pointed the way. "Tyler's over here."

The three children in two bodies made their way through the rows and rows of hospital beds, trying as hard as possible not to look too long at what lay in the ones that were full. Finally, they found the one they came for.

Luck was with them. The doctors hadn't gotten around to doing anything really nasty to Tyler's body yet. The young mouse's physical self was lying on its back in the bed, a folded sheet covering him from chest to ankles. His feet were bare. His shirt, shoes and socks were tossed without care onto a small shelf built into the bed near the bottom. Tyler's eyes were open, the pupils pinpricks. An IV was in his arm. Wires ran from his chest to a heart monitor. Despite resembling a typical hospital setup, there was no sense of care here. The machines were only there to give off a beep if the patient unexpectedly croaked.

Tyler had looked down on his own inert body countless times before, but this time it felt skin-crawlingly eerie. "Long time no see," he said to himself.

Brad bit down his anger. He would make Dr. Beatrix pay for this soon enough. He only wished he'd known about Thurston's part in it sooner so he could have given the bastard's carcass a few extra kicks. He stifled a giggle. He thought how they could call him Thurston Carcass now.

The tomcat turned to Karen. "Well... Do something."

"I'm not sure what," she said. She stared down at the inert thing in front of her, not knowing how to make it turn back into Tyler again.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tyler spoke up.

"What?" Brad and Karen said at the same time.

Tyler sighed. "Make like Sleeping Beauty again."

"Oh! Um, right." Karen felt uneasy. "I know it's not your fault, Tyler, but that makes me feel really gross. It'll be like kissing a corpse."

"Well, close your eyes and think about someone else then!" said Tyler. "I wanna get back in there. Why not think of Brad?"

Brad did a double-take. "Wait, WHAT!?"

"Ew!" Karen said. "I like Brad but I don't wanna kiss him." She smiled sheepishly at him. "No offense."

"S'okay," Brad said.

Tyler was confused. "But I thought... You two were hugging, and he kissed you and...?"

"He was just trying to make me feel better!" Karen huffed. "It's totally different."

Tyler was getting impatient. "Fine then. Think of Holly."

Karen grimaced. "Now you're just being a jerk!"

"Fine, fine! I'm a jerk! Just go ahead and kiss me so I can get out of your brain!"

"Fine!" Karen positioned herself beside Tyler's head and leaned over, hoping she wouldn't overbalance and fall on top of him. "This better work."


*****


     -HOLLY-

At Victor's insistence, they had checked the body of Clifford Markman to see if there was any life left in it. To the skunk's relief, there was still a heartbeat. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life thinking of himself as a murderer. Clifford might actually recover some day if competent medical assistance got to him soon enough. Amazingly, he'd actually managed to hold onto his gun. Probably because his finger was wrapped around the trigger in three different places that fingers are not supposed to bend.

Holly's rusty hair fell over into her eyes a little. She was doing a damn fine job of not letting anyone else know just how nervous she was. Sure, she'd said they could take down Beatrix, but that woman was pure evil. There was no predicting her, no reasoning with her. She didn't even deserve to be called a woman. She was a ten-megaton bitchqueen and hell was probably afraid of her.

Now it was time for the six of them to punish her for her insanity, or die trying.

Sherri was positioned at the door, waiting for the signal.

Victor had his tail raised.

Rubiella had her fists up.

Keith's hands were faintly glowing.

Benjamin felt the scratchy manilla envelope still hidden inside his shirt and hoped that whatever happened, he'd be able to protect it.

Holly thought about her family. Thought about all the mean, rotten, despicable, heartless, stupid, cold, dirty, evil shit they'd put her through all these years. She built herself up a good steamy head of hate. She waited until it had percolated just enough to be useful. There. Right there where her blood started to feel like lava. Now she was ready.

She gave Sherri the signal.

The door swung wide and the rebels burst in, screaming like madmen.

They stopped in their tracks.

Someone was here, but it was not Beatrix Beverley.

Two orange-furred cat children stood in the middle of the room. All the furniture had been pushed to the walls, out of the way. The kittens were standing side by side in a loose but ready fighting stance. They were dressed in black clothing, barefoot, with white gymnast's tape wrapped around their paws. The female of the pair carried a short, curved hunting knife. The male carried a sturdy wooden rod about two feet long. The smiles on their muzzles showed clearly that they had been expecting visitors.

"Where's that bitch Beatrix!?" Holly snapped.


*****


     -BEATRIX-

Beatrix was hidden.

Her long ears were up and alert. She could hear the children clearly. She risked a glance around the corner and saw them standing there.

By Tyler's bed. Not surprising.

She raised the pistol and tried to decide which of them to kill first. Both were tempting targets. She wanted to make dear Bradley suffer, but a good leader knows when to put the mission ahead of personal pleasure. The raccoon girl would be easier to deal with afterwards. Especially with her friend's brains plastered all over her face.

There are not words incendiary enough to describe how furious Beatrix was. When she'd switched the security monitor in Ward F's quiet room over to a tape loop, she had put the live feed on her own computer to watch. She was interested, from a psychological standpoint, to see how Thurston did his work. Then things went wrong. Watching her sycophant die produced a surprised sort of frustration. But it was what happened afterwards that really made her blood boil. She could see the filthy little children banding together, getting more bold. Then the fire alarm went off and really sent everything spiralling into shitsville. A fire was unfortunate, but not all that bad; there were measures in place to take care of that. But an alarm without a fire, especially now, was the last thing she needed. Still, Beatrix kept her head. It was easy to guess what her enemies would do now. She could, after all, tap into any camera in the building. When she saw where Bradley and Karen were headed, she sent for the twins and rode the elevator down to intercept.

Beatrix lined up her shot; smack in the middle of the grey tomcat's head. Right through the frontal lobe. She wished there were cameras down here so she could copy the tape and watch it again and again.

She pulled the trigger.


*****


     -KURI & WILL-

The last syllable of Holly's sentence was not out of her mouth longer than a half-second before Will's staff smashed into the side of her jaw. She felt her teeth scrape. She felt her lip split and her head snap to the right hard enough to make the bones in her neck click.

Another second was all Will needed to return to his previous position.

As Holly held her face in her paws, hallucinating briefly that the whole lower half of it had shattered to bits and was now splintered all over the office like puzzle pieces, the other five rebels took a collective step back.

The kittens smiled. Their voices were silver monotone confidence. They spoke as one.

"We're her bodyguards," Kuri said.

"Auntie Beatrix isn't here," Will said.

"She went to stop your two friends," Kuri said.

"We're here to stop _you_," Will said.

Benjamin felt his glasses steam up. "That's creepy..."

Rubiella's brow drew down into an ugly scowl. "You hit her. No fighting," she scolded.

There was a flash of metal.

Ruby cried out softly, in shock more than surprise, as a fresh cut appeared on her cheek. She touched her face and felt the skin open. She looked down and there was blood on her paw pads. The anger in her face became fear.

Kuri, standing in the same place she had been when they came in, wiped her knife off on her pants leg. She gave Rubiella a warning look: 'You don't have the right to tell me what to do.'

"You've got one chance," Will said.

"You can give up now," Kuri said.

"And let us take you back downstairs," Will said.

"Or we can kill you," Kuri said.

The sneer on Keith's muzzle showed how jagged his teeth were from years and years of grinding them in anger. He looked to each one of his teammates, making sure they were all on the same page as him before he spoke for the group. They were all scared. No one had expected this. But Brad's instructions were clear: 'If anyone gets in your way, hurt them.'

"Choice two sounds a lot better to me," Keith said.

Kuri and Will glanced at each other and exchanged a brief, happy smile.

Finally, someone they could use their full talents on.

Moving like mirror images of each other, they took careful steps towards their opponents, grinning darkly, eyes full of easy victory, letting the fear win half their fight for them.

The rebels held their ground. Benjamin held his arms tighter around the envelope. Ruby looked as angry as a brahma bull now. Holly was bleeding from half her face and was seriously fucking pissed about it. Victor was hoping beyond hope his hurricane attack hadn't been a one-time-use-only situation. Keith felt the heat inside him and prepared himself to use it again. Sherri watched and waited for her chance.

Kuri took a half-step out of sync. Just enough to draw their attention.

Will seized it. He lunged, staff raised high.

Defying gravity, he sailed like a bird towards Keith, ready to smash the defiance out of the dark fox's eyes.

Keith put his arms up to block and flame erupted from them. A fireball three feet across ripped loose from his fur, incinerating his sleeves, catching Will full in the face.

The catboy recoiled backwards. "Fuck!!" He slapped awkwardly at his face and rubbed his whiskers to put out the fire.

This single moment of weakness was exactly what his opponents needed to see. It showed them that they were only fighting other kids like them. Fast kids. Brutal kids. But really not much different. Certainly not anything mystical. And besides, six-to-two odds. Pretty good, right?

Screaming, Holly ran as fast as a fat girl could. Straight at Kuri, ready to take her head off.

Kuri was quicker. Another flash of metal and her blade was buried to the hilt in Holly's side. A non-fatal hit. The twins were not without compassion.

Holly gasped. Felt more blood escape her. The pain just made her angrier. Her face screwed up into a rictus of hate. "Not good enough, bitch."

Kuri held tight to the handle and was able to twist herself around to catch the clumsy but powerful punch Holly threw next. Her expression oozed confidence as she gave her knife a sharp jab forward. "Don't. Just don't."

Kuri saw a chance to inflict enough pain to end this quickly. Letting go of Holly's fist, she snatched at the gold ring in her opponent's nose.

To her total shock, the ring slipped off with zero effort. Her hard pull and puzzlement overbalanced her.

The gold clip-on sailed through the air like a teensy little halo.

Holly's red teeth flashed in a grin. Speed meant nothing if you were too distracted to use it. This time she dispensed with the pithy dialogue. She leaned into the blade and put a powerhouse blow into the other girl's neck.

Staggering back, gasping for breath, Kuri let go of her knife. It was impossible, but she was watching it happen. Someone had made her Drop Her Weapon.

Holly grabbed the hilt, ripped it out, and threw it across the office. "Go get it."

Kuri's mouth hung open. This squirrel should have been on the ground crying by now. Kuri had no idea how a fat lump like this was standing up to her. This was a scenario no one had trained her for.

The kitten's smile returned. Oh, this fight was gonna be _fun_...

Dr. Beatrix's office swiftly became a slaughterhouse.


*****


     -BRAD-

A cat's ears are sensitive and have a very rubbery texture.

This was a good thing. Across the great, hollow width of Ward Zero, Brad heard the beginning of Beatrix's gunshot and his head instinctively swiveled towards the noise.

Beatrix Beverley wasn't that good of a shot in the first place. Her bullet cleaved the air, grazed Brad's left ear, and went on to embed itself in the far wall.

Brad let out a high-pitched yelp and grabbed Karen's arm without thinking, yanking her down with him as he dropped to the floor.

Brad's paw shot up to his ear. There was a chunk missing. Not all that big a chunk, but a chunk nonetheless. He couldn't help thinking about the archetypical mangy alley cat with the bite mark in one ear. Brad was going to look like that for the rest of his life now.

He looked up and saw a white-furred arm disappearing into the shadows across the room.

"I'LL _KILL_ YOU!!!" he shrieked.

He turned quickly to Karen, locking their gazes. "You stay here. Get Tyler back in his body. I'm gonna go keep her away from you."

Karen's heart was still thudding frantically. She hadn't even had time to fully grasp what had happened. "What? Brad, no! She shot you! Ohmigod, you're bleeding!"

"So?" he said. He stood up but kept himself in a half-crouch. "Just do it. Stay safe. Get Tyler back, okay?"

Karen knew Brad was about to go charging in like some movie hero and probably get shot through the heart and die. But she also knew how personal his hatred of Dr. Beatrix was. She couldn't stop him no matter what she said. "Okay," she complied.

Brad nodded sharply. Without looking back, he ran off towards his nemesis.

"The sooner you put me back together, the sooner we can go help him," Tyler told Karen, trying to sound reassuring.

"Sure..." Karen said. Her eyes were still on Brad as he darted across the immense room, trying to keep his head down, shoving empty beds out of his way here and there. She waited until he was out of sight to stand up.

"Don't die, Brad."


     ~~~


Dr. Beatrix had ducked into an area that looked like a museum of ominous machinery. Ominous and _dirty_. The ceiling was full of black pipes. Big metal boxes thrummed with energy, looking like they'd burn your hands if you brushed up against them. More pipes grew out of the floor. Thick metal, with valves on them. The air was humid as a jungle.

It was a perfect maze. A billion zillion places to hide. Brad felt like an idiot. This was a scene right out of a horror movie: The villain tricks one of the moron teenagers into the school's boiler room, waits behind a corner, then jumps out and buries a hatchet in their forehead.

Brad was too angry to care about that. His white-hot hate was back. The kind that came with an almost frightening calm. His senses were sharp. He listened for anything that sounded non-mechanical. Hoping his hate was enough, he stepped into the maze.

He moved slowly. Just because he was walking into a trap where a crazy woman with a gun wanted to kill him didn't mean he had to act even *more* stupid by yelling a lot and making his presence known.

He passed by a great round cylinder, aluminum grey, making a 'chugga-chugga-chugg' sound like a fat jogger about to pass out.

Before it was named King's Orchard, this building had been a different hospital. Many renovations had been made by The Project when it took over, but the infrastructure was still largely unchanged. The floor in here was concrete, damp and sticky from years of uncleaned spills. Brad was really, really glad he wasn't barefoot.

His ears twitched back and forth like twin radar dishes.

Oh screw this.

"HEY, CUNT!!!" Brad bellowed. The sound bounced off the walls and became a roar.

Almost immediately, another bullet sailed past him. Thankfully not as close as the first. It 'ka-pweenged' off a steel pipe three feet away. Brad thought he heard a muffled, angry expletive.

He grinned. 'Thanks for giving up your location, dummy.' He ducked behind a row of long, boxy machines and headed towards the sound.

He was breathing hard through his nose. It smelled like dead, rotting diesel trucks in here. His face was dripping with sweat. The blood from his ear had hardened into a crackly mess running down the side of his face.

He looked around on the ground for anything he could use as a weapon. Not that great a selection. There wasn't much more than tiny machine parts, old gum wads workmen had left behind, mouse droppings and little lumps of black grease. Plus, the light was so dim he could barely see his feet. There were just a few bare, yellowed lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling here and there, making some areas bright enough to hurt your eyes, others dark enough to make you blind.

Brad slunk along the wall, careful not to rub up against anything that could make a noise.

He spotted her.

A sliver view between a pipe and some other big metal box with a bunch of dials on it. Brad could see her arm and part of her back. Good enough.

He squatted down, checking again for anything to hit her with or throw at her. The wall was rotting a few feet ahead.

There was a nice plum-sized chunk of concrete laying on the ground.

Excellent.

Brad backed up, keeping his eyes cemented on Beatrix, waddling backwards until he stepped on the chunk. He winced as the pointy part nearly made him fall over sideways. He kept his balance though. He reached behind him and picked up the concrete. It felt absolutely filthy. 'I'm gonna take a really, really long shower tonight after I kill her,' he thought.

He stood up again and inched closer. He maneuvered around a thick pipe with a lot of grease dribbling down its side. He had a better view of her now. Right there was the shimmering blond hair of his enemy. Perfect.

Brad wound up and chucked the concrete at the back of her head as hard as he could.

He didn't even wait to see if he'd scored a hit; he took off running immediately. When he heard a cry of pain followed by a sharp sob and several screeched curses, he smiled. And to think he'd never been all that good at baseball!

Two more gunshots rang out behind him. Way off mark. Brad zigged and zagged through the confusing tangle of building guts. Over there was a wall, right in his way. That was bad. No, wait. On his right was an opening to another section of the basement. That was good. Brad made a beeline for it.

This section looked better maintained. Lots of skinny brass pipes connecting floor to ceiling. The floor was tile now. Slippery. Brad could hear Beatrix behind him, howling out indecipherable swear words and shooting blindly every few seconds.

Brad saw the entrance to another section up ahead. He passed by a wooden door that led to a janitor's closet.

He was caught completely off-guard when it suddenly opened right in front of him and smacked him in the face.


*****


     -ZEEK-

Twenty minutes ago when he was just leaving Ward F, the poor boy'd had no idea what was going on when the oracle in his head had shown him a vision of himself breaking off from the main group, sneaking up a side stairway and following in Dr. Beatrix's tracks as she took her own secret route to Ward Zero.

Zeek let his sense of self melt away. He became a being of pure, unquestioning trust, letting the power that worked through him direct his every move. He knew whatever was requested of him would be for the greater good. He did not know if the oracle would require him to die tonight. He hoped not. But he knew that even if it *was* maddeningly vague at times, the oracle cared for its instrument. Zeek knew it would keep him safe if fate allowed.

He had seen himself hiding in this closet. He'd seen himself waiting. He'd seen himself opening the door at just the right time.


     ~~~


Brad's nose smashed into the hard wood. His paws skidded on the tile. He started falling backwards, feeling like he was in slow-motion.

All he could think was, 'Whoever's behind that door is gonna die when I get back up.'

Just as he hit the floor, kinking his tail up underneath him, a bullet whizzed through the air. Directly where his head had been a second ago. It pierced through the wood like cotton candy.

Brad's eyes went wide. 'Whoever's behind that door just saved my life.'

He flipped himself over and scuttled behind the door. A paw reached out to help him up.

Brad was utterly flabbergasted to see Zeek looking back at him.

The enigmatic fennec put a finger to his lips: Silence. He nodded to Brad. Then he pulled the door closed, secreting himself in the janitor's nook once more.

Brad wasted a second marvelling, then took off again.

The idea of 'coincidence' didn't even occur to him. His confusion popped like a bubble and he understood everything. This was why Zeek had been so distant in the TV room when they'd first met. This was why he'd refused to join their meetings. Whatever force it was that gave him his instructions had shown him this moment, perhaps only hinted at it, and had told Zeek firmly that the only way to save the tomcat's life was to keep under Dr. Beatrix's radar. Brad did not want to think about how easily he could have died back there. A bullet in the brain; he wouldn't even have noticed it. Just 'boom' - dead. The pain in his nose was now proof that he was still alive. Brad vowed to find Zeek again after all this was over and thank him about a billion times.


     ~~~


He had been surprised to find Brad down here, but not too surprised. He thought he'd hid it quite well.

Back in the janitor's closet, Zeek was huddled in a tiny ball. He'd nearly had his nose blown off by the bullet that had sailed though the door right after he opened it. He had never been so scared in his life.

The oracle let him rest. It spoke soothing emotions to him. It told him his work was over for now. The best thing for him to do was curl up, be still, and wait it out. When it was safe, it would tell him when to run.

His purpose was clear to him now. His weeks of hiding were all in preparation for this one instant. Zeek knew he had done well. The oracle was proud of him.

Huddled in a cranny of this pitch black, foul-smelling room, Zeek smiled.


*****


     -KAREN-

As soon as her lips touched his, Karen felt a shock and Tyler sat bolt upright like a movie monster. He looked like his brain wasn't screwed on quite right yet. His eye twitched.

"H-how are you feeling, Tyler?" Karen asked tentatively.

"...Hexi-dazmic," he gurgled.


*****


     -BRAD-

Brad skidded to a stop.

The room he was in now looked a whole hell of a lot like a dead end.

"That sucks," he said.

He looked all around. Beatrix was coming up fast behind him. Right now he needed to capitalize on any advantage possible.

So, okay. Where was here? It looked like a control room, or a supply room. Concrete floor again. There were a lot of machines to his left that had buttons and tiny LED lights on them. They probably controlled all the water or air conditioning or something. To his right was a shit-ton of boxes. Some opened. All of them had maintenance supplies in them. Faucets. Rubber washers. Toilet paper. Lightbulbs.

Lightbulbs.

Not the normal kind. These were the great big long fluorescent ones, the three-foot tubes that kinda looked like light sabers.

Brad got himself one bonzer of a great idea.

He snatched up one of the long bulbs in one paw and grabbed a metal folding chair with the other. He tossed the chair over by the doorway. He got up on top of it and held the bulb by one end like a baseball bat.

He stood stone still, listening to his heart thunder in his chest.

His ears stood straight up. He listened for her.

"Bradley...?"

Oh crap, she was close.

"Oh Bradley! I can hear you in there!"

She sounded positively giddy.

"I've been down here more than a few times, Bradley. I know my way around. I know that the room you're in only has one doorway. You're trapped." She paused, then said sweetly, "I've got a few more bullets left in my gun and I'm going to put them in your face, Bradley."

Brad did not move. Sweat ran in his eyes. He shut them tight, concentrating only on sound.

Dr. Beatrix knew where he was and was taking her time playing with him. This was actually kind of fun. Once he'd hit her with that rock or whatever it was, he'd pretty much signed his own death certificate. The back of her head still stung. He'd *hurt* her. Didn't he have any idea how much she was going to punish him for that?

"Now Bradley, we can end this like civilized people," she cooed. "If you walk out of that room slowly with your hands empty, I'll let you live." This was a lie. She knew he was too proud to do what she said, but if he did, hoping for mercy, she'd shoot his knee out and then make him taste the barrel before she put another bullet down his throat. She'd look him in the eye and make sure that the last image he'd take from this world would be her smile that said, 'I won.'

"Bradley? If you make me come in there, you're going to suffer," she warned. Her tone was casual, almost concerned, and hideously fake. "I'll cripple you. I'll make you watch as I drag Karen down here and stick this gun in her ear. When her head goes, it'll be just like sticking a firecracker in a watermelon. Do you really want that to happen?"

She waited a few more seconds.

"Last chance. I'm coming in there, Bradley."

No response.

She smiled. She'd hoped he'd make this choice. It was always more satisfying to watch pride drain out of a furson's eyes and be replaced with horror than for them to simply give up. She remembered the escape attempt ten years ago. That boy in the leather jacket. She was so mad at him running away at the last second, forcing her to shoot him in the back of the head. She'd so wanted to see his expression when he died. Rolling him over afterwards wasn't nearly as rewarding.

Beatrix stepped lightly through the doorway, gun cocked and at the ready.

Brad swung the fluorescent lightbulb and caught her clean across the eyes.


*****


     -HOLLY-

To call it a massacre was more than apt.

The five rebels ended up back-to-back in a small circle. Keith, Ruby and Holly protected Benjamin and Victor. Those two were simply not fighters and would be dead by now if they'd even tried to help. As it was, the trio that remained standing wasn't faring much better.

All three were covered in dozens of cuts from Kuri's swift blade. Ruby's face looked like a chopping block. Keith's arm was broken. Holly healed quickly - the wound in her side was already gone without a trace - but she was covered in blood. She was starting to get light-headed.

"Give up," Kuri said smugly.

"You can't win," Will agreed.

The Rennaults each had a handful of bruises but nothing worse. Keith had been lobbing fireballs at the duo continuously, but the twins were simply too fast to aim at. The most he'd been able to accomplish had been to singe their fur a few times. A well-placed kick from Will had shattered his shoulder when the fox's attention wavered for an instant.

Ruby's punches had all the strength of a head-on car collision, but they were slow. Slow even for a regular fight. Just once, Kuri had been distracted and Ruby managed to glance a blow off her shoulder blade. Kuri had bitten back a scream of pain. She retaliated swiftly by slicing the tigress' nose nearly in half. Ruby had blood in her mouth now, and the taste was just awful.

Holly hadn't done much more than get in that first good punch of hers, but she kept swinging nonetheless. She knew she couldn't die, but she could sure as shit feel pain. Kuri had been stabbing her like crazy, mystified when the squirrel's tendons regrew and her blood clotted almost instantaneously. Holly's lone weapon now was her bottomless well of wrath. The more they hurt her, the more she wanted to hurt them back. If only the springy little fuckers would stand STILL!

"How ya doin' sis?" Will asked, no more concern in his tone than if they'd been playing a carefree game of tennis.

"Just swell," she said, flashing a grin in Holly's face. "I could do this all-"

Keith shot a spear of flame at her. She looked mildly annoyed and simply backflipped over it. "Jerk," she said. She punished him with an invisibly-quick punch in the eye.

Keith shuddered, but kept standing. He wanted to cry. His anger was still going strong, but it was starting to lose against the pain. His shoulder was *demolished*. He couldn't even feel his hand anymore. His elbow was nearly numb too. The one good thing he held onto was that his fire was showing no signs of diminishing. If it had just been him versus them, he'd have flooded this office with flame five minutes ago and just burned the unholy duo up like charred marshmallows. Unfortunately, he had his friends to consider. He wanted them to survive, not end up cooked. Reining in his power was frustrating. He had to keep throwing shots at the twins, but he couldn't go too far or he'd set the office on fire. The last thing anyone needed was for the hospital's fire alarms to have something real to cry about. Also, there was Beatrix's computer to consider. He wanted it to survive so the cops would have something to hang the crazy bitch with after this was all over.

Victor was just as paralyzed in regards to his power. He felt worse than useless watching his friends get cut to ribbons defending him. If there was only some way to get them out of danger, one blast from his tailhole would send the two cat-monsters straight through Beatrix's giant window. But he didn't even know if his power would work a second time.

Benjamin had never felt more like a coward. He stood like a statue, protected by Keith, Holly and Ruby. He knew he was a weakling. Knew he'd never even come close to winning a fight in his whole life. But he also knew that his brain contained enough evidence to incriminate not just Dr. Beatrix, but *dozens* of her co-conspirators. Even though he felt like the king of pussies for not standing up and fighting like a man, he forced himself to keep in mind that his most important role in all this was to survive.

"We don't want to kill you," Will said, sounding calm and reasonable.

"You can stop this. Just lie down on the floor and give up," Kuri advised.

Holly's eyes were nearly as red as her hair. "Gimme that knife, kitty. I wanna carve off my asshole and shove it down your cute little throat." She managed a grin. She wished Tyler had been here to hear that.

Kuri sneered. "You're rude!"

"It's all I've got," Holly spat back. Literally. A tooth came sailing out of her mouth and landed on Beatrix's desk.

"Hey, fine. We offered," Will said with a shrug.

Without warning, he kicked Rubiella brutally in the stomach. She bent double and wailed, clutching at herself. She tasted her dinner trying to come back up.

Will twitched. He felt a little bad about hurting a retarded kid. 'No,' he told himself, remembering what The Project had taught him. 'These kids are no better than terrorists. If we let them get away with this shit, it'll be just like letting an infectious disease loose on society. Millions of people are counting on us.'

There are few things more sad than a decent soul corrupted by an evil belief.

"Give up," Kuri urged again. She wasn't getting tired physically, but the sight of all this blood was starting to really disturb her. They had been trained to take their enemies out cleanly and silently. They'd used up all their fancy tricks already. These kids wouldn't drop. Even if they were horribly misguided, trying to hurt their Auntie Beatrix and all, Kuri almost had to admire their loyalty to each other. She kept trying to get to the skunk and fox in the middle, and hadn't been able to do more than nick their shoulders a few times.

"Why don't *you* give up?" Holly asked. "I'm serious. What the fuck did they do to your heads to make you think you're the good guys?"

Kuri's small face tightened with anger. "Screw you! You crazy piece of shit! You're the one in the mental hospital!"

Holly giggled. "Um, honey, we're both in a mental hospital right now. Might wanna open your eyes more often."

"Don't talk to my sister like that," Will said. He gave Holly's mouth another smash with his staff as punishment.

Holly spat out three more teeth. "You're gonna pay my dentist's bills, you psycho-dick."

"Don't you get it? It's over. We won," Will said. He looked at Holly with disgust. Fat, covered in blood, ugly as hell and no matter what they did to her she Wouldn't Shut Up!

"You haven't won anything," Holly corrected. "We're still alive. After you kill off all of us, then you can say it. After there's five corpses laying in this office, _then_ you two can say you won. Have fun trying to get to sleep tonight. You think the janitors will be able to get all the stains out of the carpet tomorrow morning?"

"Shut UP!" Kuri screeched.

"I know my parents have money for my funeral. What about you, Keith?" Holly asked conversationally.

"Probably," he mumbled. "But we've been saving up for a year to go on a big vacation. I guess I'll be missing that, thanks to these two fuckfaces."

"Shut UP!!" Will screamed.

"My dad'll probably throw a party when he hears the news. What an asshole," Benjamin said, trying to sound cool and brave like they did.

"Shut UP!!!" Kuri screamed. She rushed at Holly and jammed her knife in the squirrel's mouth just far enough to touch her tonsils. "Shut the fuck up. I mean it. You all shut up. Shut your damn mouths. Shut up."

"Go to Hell," Holly was able to enunciate surprisingly well around the knife.

Screeching in frustration, Kuri ripped the knife away and opened Holly's cheek from lip to ear.

Holly made no sound. It hurt so *much* though. She desperately wanted to scream. In fact, a great big part of her wanted to drop to her knees right now and beg these two assassins for mercy. But she knew she'd rather die than do that. In fact, she probably would regardless.

Seeing Holly's face torn open like an orange peel, Victor had had enough. He broke free suddenly, pushing past Keith and Rubiella and racing out of the room like lighting.

Will watched with minor concern. "Should I go chase him?"

"Naw. Why bother?" Kuri replied. The kid was obviously a coward. What could it hurt to let him go?

Seeing that her attention was elsewhere, Keith tried one last time to set Kuri's face on fire. Once again she ducked effortlessly. "Cut that out," she said, as if all he'd done was flick a spitwad at her. She debated whether to even punish him for it, then decided it couldn't hurt to. She ducked down in the space of half a heartbeat and stabbed him in the foot.

A tear rolled out of Keith's eye. He bit his lip so hard he nearly split it.

"Why?" Kuri asked. Hands on her hips, a look of contempt on her face, she speared Keith with her gaze. "Why are you doing this?"

Keith composed himself. He chose his words carefully. "Because I have a right to be who I am."

She snorted. "No you don't! That's like someone with AIDS saying they've got a right to go around infecting everyone! You're just a bunch of sickos. What's there to be so damn proud of?"

He nearly laughed. "Then you guys are sickos too. You've gotta be."

"Yeah, but at least we know what that means," Will said from behind him. "At least we're trying to *do* something about it."

"What? Killing off everyone else like you in the whole damn world?" Holly said, unable to believe how full of it these two were.

"Of course not!!" Kuri snapped. "I already told you, we don't wanna kill _anyone_! We only have to when freaks like you try to resist! If you'd just listen to Dr. Beatrix and do what she says and take your pills and shut the hell up, you'd be going home eventually and get to live a normal life! What's so horrible about that!?"

Holly thought she had a chance. It seemed like maybe these two weren't evil to the core like Beatrix and Thurston. It was possible they were just regular kids who'd gotten their brains washed. "Would _you_ like having someone you've never met deciding how you're allowed to live your life?"

Kuri shook her head. "That doesn't apply. If I was doing something that endangered everyone around me, I'd want someone to make me stop."

"'Endangering everyone'!? Are you *hearing* this shit?" Benjamin scoffed.

"Most of us are barely aware we've got any weird powers," Holly said. "How's it helping anything to drag us all here and make us think we're crazy?"

"What if someone woke up one day and realized they could kill people just by thinking about it, huh?" Will countered. "You ever read any comic books? You think it'd be like that!? There wouldn't be any superheroes! Most people are assholes! You think if we just let everyone do whatever they want, they *wouldn't* start robbing and killing each other all over the place?"

Keith snarled disgustedly. "Then why not lock up everyone in the world because someday someone might decide to commit a crime?"

"It's not that simple!!" Will barked, getting angry again. "That's like saying we should let everyone carry around nuclear weapons because it'd be wrong to infringe their precious fuckin' rights!!"

"Oh, that's complete bullshit!" Holly yelled.

"No fighting..." Ruby said. No one heard her.

"You want me to slit your other cheek!?" Kuri screamed in Holly's face. "Give you a great big clown grin, you fat pig?"

"What Did You Just Say?" Holly growled murderously.

*BLAM*!!!

Every head turned at the noise.

A shell casing dropped to the floor.

Victor was standing in the doorway with Clifford's gun in his hands. He was shaking all over, his eyes shining bright with the madness of someone who is a single thread away from snapping.

"STOP IT!!!" he screamed.


*****


     -BEATRIX-

Glass flew everywhere. An explosion of glass. A fireworks display of glass.

Shards went up Dr. Beatrix's nose. Shards lodged in her eyes and kept her lids from closing. She screamed and shards went in her mouth and down her throat.

Brad hopped down off the chair and backed away. Dr. Beatrix started swinging the gun around wildly, nearly catching him in the face. She fired once, but the bullet just hit concrete.

Brad backed up as far out of her reach as possible. As long as that gun still had bullets, he wasn't safe. Now that he thought about it, blinding a woman who was holding a loaded gun might not have been the best idea he'd ever had.

"BRADLEY, YOU LITTLE *SHIT*!!!" Beatrix roared.

Wow. Even with a faceful of glass tubing, she still kept adding that extra syllable to his name. He almost had to admire that.

Ducked back into a corner, a desk on one side and a water temperature regulator on the other, Brad tried to make himself as small as possible. Maybe she'd just keep trying to shoot him and he could wait out her bullets. Maybe she'd start stumbling around and he could run past her. Actually, he realized, how the hell was she managing to stay standing after a hit like that?

Dr. Beatrix stopped herself. She knew she only had a few bullets left and wasting them was just what dear Bradley wanted. "Oh, I am so ANGRY at you!" she shouted.

Brad laughed nervously. Um, wasn't she supposed to be falling down on the ground right about now, screaming in pain and clawing at her eyeballs?

Instead, Dr. Beatrix did quite the opposite. She straightened up and took a few deep breaths (which hurt like hell because she had glass in her esophagus and both nostrils). She stood calmly and silently in the dim storage room, gun still held firmly in her hand.

Brad had absolutely no idea what was happening. This went against quite a few rules of basic psychological behavior, as well as a couple laws of nature.

*plink*

As Brad stared and his mouth opened steadily wider, he realized something was happening to the glass in Dr. Beatrix's face.

*plink plink plink*

It was removing itself.

He watched in unthinking horror as the tiny slivers began to slide backwards out of her flesh as if pulled by a magnet. Not one by one, but all of them at the same time. Fragments fell to the concrete floor producing a very musical sound.

Brad watched slivers of glass extracting themselves from the rabbit's eyeballs.

Dr. Beatrix gave a gentle shake of her head.

*plinkplinkplinkplinkplinkplinkplink*

Like a gentle rain shower, almost all of the rest fell off at once. A few more stragglers stayed stuck in her fur, trapped by blood. Dr. Beatrix brushed a paw feather-lightly across her face.

Then she gathered her hair up in her palm, bent over, and vomited a great gush of red blood onto the concrete. It sparkled in the light. It took all the rest of the glass that was inside of her with it.

Dr. Beatrix stood up primly and smiled.

"There. That's better."

Brad's mind was like a broken television set. Nothing but static. The world had officially gone crazy now.

"Don't you see, you stupid little boy?" Beatrix said in a sing-song voice. She sounded like a perky children's show host. "You can't hurt me. You can never defeat me. I am always right."

No. Wait. It *did* make sense now. Understanding it, Brad began to laugh.

"Stop that," Beatrix said instantly.

Brad couldn't. He let out a big ol' belly laugh.

Beatrix pointed the gun at him. "I'll paint these walls Brad's Brain Pink if you don't stop laughing," she threatened.

That only made him laugh harder. "Ha ha! You called me Brad!"

'Goddamnit,' she realized. She had.

"But that's not why I'm laughing," Brad said, unable to keep the grin from his lips. "You total hypocrite! You're a freak just like the rest of us! Aren't you?"

"I am _not_!" She protested, sounding huffy and ruffled; a little girl caught cheating at a game.

Brad heard the change in her voice and loved it. He was right. He'd pegged her good. It explained so much too! Hadn't he read in a book somewhere that people will always fight hardest against the things they hate most about themselves? "You are too! You've got some weird healing power like Holly! You're just like her! You fucking hate us, and it's because you're Just Like Us! You FREAK! Freak, freak, freak!!" Brad laughed.

Beatrix shot him in the chest.

Brad made a small choking noise. He doubled up in a tight ball and coughed up a few ounces of blood.

Dr. Beatrix's face was an ugly, dark scowl. "Laugh now," she said.

It was weird, Brad thought. The pain was so intense, it was like he wasn't even feeling it at all. It was like his body had just decided, 'Well, show's over. Fuck it.'

Beatrix came closer and knelt down right in front of him, as close to eye level as she could get. She swung the gun lightly in her hand. "Still alive? Good. I want it to hurt a little while. You know, to punish you for that dirty, dirty lie you just told about me."

Brad wanted very much to spit back that it was true, he knew it was true. Unfortunately, he was having a little trouble controlling his mouth just then. Or the rest of his body for that matter.

Dr. Beatrix knelt on the concrete, getting her knee dirty, something she would not otherwise have done if this moment were not so important. Few things in life filled her with such a sense of satisfaction than proving to some annoying little pissant like Bradley that she was, in fact, always right.

She brushed the hair from Brad's forehead. She leaned in almost close enough to touch noses.

Brad felt her push the butt of the gun hard into his stomach.

"Bye bye, Bradley. This is what happens to naughty boys who don't cooperate."

She flinched as she pulled the trigger. Brad jerked hard and nearly fell over. She caught him. She liked seeing him all curled up in a ball like this, fearing for his life.

Brad thought about his mother.

Dr. Beatrix pulled the trigger again. She smiled tenderly.

A line of blood ran down Brad's lips.

"Oh, what the hell." She pulled the trigger a few more times until it clicked empty. She tossed the gun aside.

The snow-white rabbit placed a tiny kiss on Brad's forehead. "Rot in hell," she whispered.


*****


     -VICTOR-

He was crying. He thought maybe this was karma. Just like Clifford had said a few minutes ago in the hallway that he didn't want to hurt anyone, Victor had the gun in his hands now and was saying pretty much the same thing. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want this to stop. Please, please stop."

Nobody moved.

Kuri and Will both tightened their grips on their weapons. They were fast, but some things are faster. A bullet was one of them.

Holly, Keith and Rubiella took the opportunity to relax a bit. Of course, this just made all their many injuries speak up and remind them they were there.

Benjamin thought that his shy little buddy Victor holding a gun was one of those impossible things that he'd never see in his lifetime. Like a flying pig, or an honest elected official.

Dr. Beatrix's office was almost completely silent. A breeze from the smashed window in the hall crept inside to rustle some papers.

"Just stop," Victor pleaded. His hands were shaking badly. "This is wrong. I just wanna go home. I wanna see my dad. There shouldn't be any funerals. I just want everyone to go home."

"That's a really good idea, Vic," Holly said gently. "Maybe you should put the gun down, then. You're shaking like a leaf. You might shoot someone by accident.

The little skunk sniffed back a sob. "I know," he said apologetically. "But if I put the gun down, you'll all start fighting again. I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

'This is ridiculous,' Kuri thought. 'He's crying so hard he can barely see.' Even though the gun was pointed right at her, she was confident the skunk kid couldn't possibly aim well enough to hit her. Slowly, she lifted her foot to take a single step forward.

"NO!!!" Victor roared, brandishing the gun in front of him, the barrel swinging wildly. "Not until everyone agrees to just walk out of here and not hurt anyone else!"

"I would," Ruby said meekly.

"We all know you would, Ruby," Holly told her softly. "I'm sorry I made you fight."

Forgiveness was easy for Ruby. "S'okay," she said.

Forgiveness was not easy for Kuri though. She watched Victor's every move closely. The skunk was weak, tired and just about ready to fall apart from stress. Yeah, this would be easy. All she had to do was get off one good high jump over the area she'd just been, and then if he fired it'd sail right under her. Simple. Then she'd get the gun away from him and-

Then what? For just a second there, she had seen herself taking the gun and just blasting everyone's heads off. She was a good shot. Just because she preferred knives didn't mean she hadn't also gotten high scores in marksmanship. Just 'pop pop pop pop pop' and then she and Will could go find Auntie Beatrix and this would all be over with.

'I'm thinking calmly about murdering five kids my own age,' she realized to her absolute horror. 

And then, an almost impossible thing happened: For one brief instant, Kuri Rennault thought for herself. 'I don't care what The Project says! What the hell have they done to me and my brother that I could even *think* something so horrible!?'

She took a step forward, meaning to call out to Victor that he was right, this fight wasn't important anymore. She was willing to back down if he would and then they could all go home.

Unfortunately, Victor saw movement, and his finger did the rest.

*BLAM*

Will saw the skunk's trigger finger move.

He saw his sister's expression; she wasn't trying to attack, she was trying to calm him down. He saw the skunk's expression; tears in his eyes, firing completely by accident.

Will saw the bullet exit the barrel of the gun.

In that instant, there was only one fact in the universe that mattered: If he was not fast enough, his sister would die.

Will surged forward, putting every ounce of power his miracle body possessed into his legs.

The bullet came closer. Victor was just now beginning to react to the loud noise and realize he'd fired the gun.

Will pushed himself harder.

Kuri's expression was changing slowly to one of horrified realization. She was trying to overcome her forward momentum but couldn't. She was stuck.

Will leapt.

The bullet was a foot away.

He reached out and caught it.

Of course, this caused his wrist to shatter like balsa wood.

Will hit the floor screaming in pain. He jumped to his feet, tried to cradle his wrist, screamed again at the pain and held his arm out in front of him as if he could fling the agony off him.

Kuri's first instinct was to run to her brother and help him. But her second instinct was revenge, and it won out. While the others were too stunned to do anything, she barrelled past the fat squirrel and the tiger girl to grab the fox with glasses and put her knife to his throat.

Benjamin went rigid as marble. He was so scared he couldn't think. But when Kuri's blade touched his flesh, he suddenly knew she'd used it to cut up Will's birthday cake a few months ago as a goof.

Kuri screamed at the rest of her enemies, her voice as sharp and deadly as her blade, "I don't know why you were protecting this little fag, but if you don't want to see me cut his head off, you'll fucking do what I tell you!!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Victor said, crying his eyes out, as he dropped the gun on the floor.

Saying the word 'fag' around Keith was similar to pulling the pin on a hand grenade and not throwing it. Keith's mind went blank with anger. His hair caught fire. In about five seconds, he was going to leap at Kuri and burn all her skin off.

Sherri had been watching _everything_.

Just like Holly had told her, the little bunny had stayed invisible the whole time, watching the bloodbath unfold and waiting for the perfect time to step in. There had been plenty of opportunities, but she'd wasted them. She knew it, and she was ashamed of herself. She was even crying. To her own astonishment, she *cared* about these people. It wasn't just that the sight of all these bodily fluids and violent acts made her wanna puke. She actually wanted to risk herself to save these other kids. It was a horrible feeling. But the pain from it came only from her own shame at realizing that this was what *normal* people felt all the time. She wasn't alone in the universe and never would be. Other people were just as real and just as important as she was. She didn't have to be social _all_ the time, but she also knew she needed to stop trying to force the world to change to suit her whims. She'd been given this power for more than just securing some quiet time while she read a book or drew a picture.

Sherri had watched the epic battle and tried again and again to do something to help her friends. She just couldn't though. Not that her heart wasn't in the right place; her instinct for self preservation simply kept making her hesitate until the perfect moment was past. She could have stopped this a long time ago. She could have grabbed those cat kids' weapons away, or tripped them, or knocked them unconscious with the stapler on Dr. Beatrix's desk. But then they might've caught her and hurt her. She didn't like pain. She knew exactly how selfish that was, given how Holly, Ruby and Keith all looked like they were about to drop down dead. Sherri had failed a dozen times to do something with her newfound capacity for empathy.

The one time it absolutely mattered the most though, she did just fine.

When Will, still stumbling around and screaming, was in the perfect position, she ran up and gave him a good hard bulldozer shove right in Keith's direction. She even did her best not to put pressure on the cat boy's wrist. Keith looked rather dumbfounded that anyone could move sideways like that, so Sherri had to physically grab his arms and wrap them around the cat boy.

She made herself visible. "Okay, WAIT!! Everyone just hold it!" she shouted wildly.

"Where the shit did SHE come from!?" Kuri yapped.

"Way to help us out, Sherri," Holly grumbled.

Sherri cringed, "I know, I'm sorry. I kinda suck, don't I?" She held up her hands and waved them all around, trying to get everybody's attention. "Okay, just everybody listen! Cat girl, you've got Benjamin, and Keith's got your brother. You love him, right? Well then, don't hurt Benjamin or Keith will cook his head."

"Right," Keith agreed, suddenly tightening his grip. "I'll barbecue his nuts off."

Will mewed in pain.

Kuri was pissed as hell and full of adrenaline and didn't know what to do anymore. Her introspective thought was lost for a second there when she heard her brother's scream of pain, but now it was back. She looked around the room and saw the situation for what it really was; a bunch of scared kids who she and her brother had basically tortured, nearly to death. And now her brother's wrist was bubblegum. She could tell from the way his hand was hanging off like there'd never even *been* bones there.

'I did this,' Kuri realized.

She shivered.

'I think I deserve to hate myself now.'

"Hey! Whatever your name is!" Holly barked.

"Kuri."

"Okay, Kuri, let's switch. You're angry at me, remember? Ben's just an innocent bystander. Let him go and take me instead."

"Yes, please," Benjamin readily agreed. Unlike Holly, he was pretty sure he couldn't get decapitated and still live.

Kuri shifted position slightly, tightening her grip on the knife. "I... can't."

"Keith?" Holly called out without looking.

The fox grunted.

"Kill him."

"NO!" Kuri screamed. Fuck The Project, fuck Dr. Beatrix, fuck King's Orchard. Nothing else in Kuri's life mattered more than her brother. She pushed Benjamin away so fast he tripped and landed elbow-first on the carpet.

"Oww," he said.

In her zeal to prevent her brother's death, Kuri realized she had completely forgotten to grab Holly after she let Benjamin go. "Dammit."

Holly grinned.

Kuri stood there in the bloodstained office, feeling the carpet stiff and sticky under her feet, trembling with fury, clutching her knife so hard she drove the imprint of the handle into her palm. She was helpless now. No matter how fast she was, there was a good chance the flaming fox kid could still incinerate her brother before she could stop him. She wanted to drive her blade right between that smug, fat squirrel's eyes. Finally, she settled on property damage.

With a screech of frustrated rage, Kuri drew back and stabbed Dr. Beatrix's plate glass window.

Oh, it was a spectacular sight.

Cracks raced along the glass, making the black night seem suddenly to come alive with blue lightning. The window held together for about a half second before exploding into shards. It looked like the whole thing had just magically turned into sparkling pixie dust. Glass rode on the wind and came down to Earth like deadly rain. It was a very good thing that Dr. Beatrix's office was on the side of the building farthest away from the parking lot, or what was happening directly below them might have had an extremely unhappy ending.

The cold night breeze swallowed the room, sending a shiver through everyone's skin.

Kuri sheathed her weapon. "Let my brother go," she said.

"Toss that knife out the window first," Holly commanded.

Kuri looked personally insulted. "Why don't you just ask me to cut off my *hand* and throw it out the window!?"

Holly didn't quite understand that, but guessed certain people had a strong affinity for their weapons. "Fine. Just get the hell out of here and then I'll tell Keith to let your brother go."

"No," Kuri said forcefully. "Give him to me now. I won't try anything; you've won. You have my word of honor."

Holly sneered and wiped blood from her mouth. "Honor doesn't mean a god damn thing to me."

"Well it does to ME!!" Kuri screeched, her words as powerful as a blow.

Holly thought for a moment. "Sherri?"

"Still here," the lapin assured.

"Go get that gun from Victor."

Sherri nodded and darted off. She plucked the weapon up off the floor. Victor seemed _very_ glad to get it out of his sight. Sherri brought it over to Holly obediently.

Holly pointed it right between Kuri's eyes. The wind whipped her red hair all around. "Okay Keith, now you can let him go."

Keith looked into the other boy's eyes, wondering just for a moment what things might have been like if they'd all been able to work side-by-side. He grunted and pushed Will in Kuri's direction.

The kittens hugged immediately. Kuri rubbed her brother's arm, feeling where it was already starting to swell up to gargantuan proportions. Will whined in pain. She kissed his hurt paw.

Victor stepped forward, looking like an emotional train wreck. He spoke to Will with eyes crimson from tears. "I'm so sorry... It was an accident. I didn't mean to. I just wanted everyone to stop fighting..."

Will looked back at him. He didn't see anything but sincerity in the skunk boy's eyes. He thought about saying 'I know' or 'I forgive you', but he couldn't. His sister had nearly died because of this kid's carelessness. He was glad his wrist was broken. It was a million times better than the alternative.

"Go," Holly told the Rennault twins.

Kuri nodded to her. "If we ever see you again, we'll kill you," she stated as a simple fact.

"You just go ahead and try that," Holly said with a condescending smirk.

Kuri checked her brother over one more time. They exchanged glances, coming to a decision without words. Kuri held onto him tightly. Will did the best he could with his one arm. She cast one more look at her enemies, fixing their faces in her memory.

Then she stepped backwards out the window.

Holly and the others gasped. "Jesus!" Holly shouted.

Benjamin couldn't comprehend it. "They... killed themselves!?"

"No way," Holly said. She stepped as close to the window as she dared and looked over the edge. "Oh. Okay."

The others gathered round to look. Will was holding on to Kuri's back while she made her way down the side of the building. She would hook onto a window ledge with hands and feet, let go, hook on again to the next one down, then let go again. Kuri was not the type of furson to end her life while she still had a vendetta to finish.

"Watch out for all the broken glass!" Victor called out to them.

Holly gave him a weird look.

"Well, I don't want them getting hurt any worse," the skunk explained.

"They were mean," Ruby assessed.

Holly stepped back from the abyss and looked the office over. With all the blood, it was amazing none of them had actually died. The side of her face was healing nicely by now. She walked over to Beatrix's desk and pushed it farther away from the gaping hole in the office. "I don't want the computer to fall out the window," she explained. "I want it right here when the cops are crawlin' all over the place."

"Thank you for not letting her kill me," Benjamin said suddenly to her.

Holly shrugged. "You're welcome."

"What now?" Sherri asked.

Holly started heading for the door. "Now we gotta find out whether there's anything left of Dr. Beatrix after Brad killed her ass."

"We gotta walk down all those steps..." Keith sighed.

"I gotta piss so bad..." said Benjamin.


*****


     -BRAD-

Beatrix took a second longer to admire her handiwork. Brad looked quite cute dead. Maybe she'd have him stuffed and mounted in her bedroom, she thought.

Brad grabbed her by the shoulders and bit as deeply into her neck as he could.

Her first thought was, naturally, 'This is not happening'. After you shoot someone five times, they're supposed to stay dead. Beatrix's eyes were wide open, unseeing. She could feel Brad's sharp feline teeth digging into her skin like a beartrap.

Brad pushed her back and used her as a brace to get to his feet.

When he did, Beatrix saw five bullets roll off his lap and bounce merrily on the floor. Brad's shirt was ripped to shreds, and his whole torso would soon be one gigantic bruise, but his skin was intact.

The bullets had literally bounced off him.

That wasn't to say they hadn't done some damage first. Brad knew his insides were pretty tore up right now. He thought he must be bleeding internally. He felt a little woozy, and the coppery taste of rabbit blood in his mouth wasn't helping. Brad thought he might be dying.

If that were the case, no force on Earth could stop him from taking Beatrix down with him.

With a savage scream, Brad spat out Beatrix's flesh and punched her in the face as hard as he could. He knocked her off her feet and heard a good, satisfying crack when her head bounced off the concrete.

He jumped on her. Clutching her collar in one hand, he punched her again with the other. He punched her again and again. WHUD! WHUD! WHUD! Bones cracked and flesh slid over them like old leftovers. WHUD! WHUD! WHUD!

Beatrix got her second wind and wrapped a hand around Brad's throat, squeezing it hard as iron, enjoying the feel of her small sharp claws digging in. She rolled them both over and smashed the back of Brad's skull into the floor.

Brad lifted his foot and planted his shoe right between Beatrix's tits, knocking her off him. Beatrix growled like a madwoman and jumped at him again, punching him in the cheekbone. He punched her, she punched him, he kicked, she kicked. Suffice to say, it went on like that for quite a while.

It was the most brutal, primitive, uncivilized boxing match any sane mind could ever hope to witness. Brad was elastic and Beatrix couldn't take damage. They hated each other equally. Their higher thoughts were nonexistent. For each of them, their lives had taken on one single mission: KILL.

Beatrix made a grab for the gun. Even if it was empty, it was still a heavy sumbitch. She raised it like a caveman about to strike stone to stone and make fire. She brought it down on Brad's head hard enough to swat him clear across the room.

Brad landed badly on the unopened boxes of supplies. He felt something cut his ribs. At this point, he really didn't care what it was. At this point, he was starting to think that lying down and falling asleep forever might be a really great idea.

Beatrix got to her feet. She staggered over to Brad, not knowing how to kill him anymore but determined to give it her best effort.

Brad tried to get up again but he'd fallen at such an awkward angle it was hard to get his footing.

There was no sound in the room but their hot, wet gasps of breath.

The rabbit grunted something that might have been witty if she'd been able to articulate it. She raised her gun, holding it by the barrel like a hammer, meaning to bash Brad's skull in.

Brad knew he had neither the time nor the strength to roll out of the way in time.

"Yo, bitch!" a jovial voice called out from behind them.

Brad looked up.

Beatrix turned around.

Tyler was standing there in the doorway, milking his dramatic entrance for all it was worth.

He grinned at Beatrix, ratlike and feral. "Thanks for the nap."

"Disobedient li'l asswipe," she slurred, completely punch drunk. "Gitcher ass back in bed."

Tyler shook his head. "Actually, I think it's time for you to witness the power of this Fully Armed And Operational Battle Station!!!"

Brad really thought he was hallucinating when Tyler shot lightning bolts out of his fingertips.

Beatrix went rigid as an ironing board as several thousand volts of electricity rampaged through her body.

Tyler giggled. "That's so cool." He gave her the juice again. Beatrix jerked and twitched, dancing like an animatronic scarecrow.

Brad fumbled his way upright. He walked forward, feeling like his guts had turned to hamburger inside him. He watched Tyler put on his little show with as much interest as he could coax out of his brain.

The electricity lit up Tyler's face eerily as he made Dr. Beatrix dance and dance like a puppet on a string. He jolted her ceaselessly, blasting her backwards until her face hit one of the big machines and partially fused there.

Tyler hit her with everything he had, but eventually he ran out of power. No biggie. He kinda figured this was only a temporary side effect from his adventure in the wiring. When it was all over, most of Dr. Beatrix Beverley's snow white fur was soot black. Her hair looked like a science experiment. Her face... Well, some things are simply too upchuck-inducing to describe.

The smell of deep-fried rabbit filled the air. Aside from the burned fur stench, it almost made Brad hungry. "She dead?"

Tyler leaned in a little closer. Part of Beatrix's cheek crackled and slid off. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure," he said with a grimace. Then he perked up. "Hey, maybe if I consume her heart, I'll absorb her powers!"

Brad gave Tyler a look asking if the mouse had lost his mind.

Tyler shrugged it off. "Never mind. Saw it in a comic book." He looked Brad over. "Geeze, you look like shit. You okay?" he asked tactfully.

"I think she killed me and I'm too dumb to die," Brad replied.

Tyler chuckled. He came over and put Brad's arm around his shoulders. "It's over. We're all gonna get out of here now. The cops are gonna come and they'll see everything that happened. We won."

"Cool," said Brad. "Is Karen okay?"

Tyler nodded. He wasn't the strongest of mice, but he was nevertheless able to help his roommate out of the supply room and eventually out of the rest of the basement. "Karen threw up a whole lot, but she's okay now."

"Huh?" Brad asked.

Tyler cringed a little. "She, uh, made kind of an icky discovery. While I was realizing I could make sparks come out of my fingers, she decided to see if she could maybe wake up some of the other patients."

"Any luck?"

The mouseboy shook his head sadly. "She said their souls have moved on. Their bodies are alive, but they're all dead. Like, permanently. And then she lifted the sheet on this one kid and found out exactly why they've been keeping kids in comas instead of just dumping us in the river or something."

Brad felt like maybe he didn't want to know, but had to ask anyway. "Why?"

Tyler looked like he had something really filthy in his mouth. "Living autopsies," he said.

Brad came pretty close to barfing right then. It made perfect sense though. Keeping someone alive costs so much more than just killing them off. Why bother, unless you're getting something out of it? And in this case, The Project was: all the experimental specimens they could ever want. "To find out why we're weird," Brad concluded.

Tyler nodded.

The two boys emerged from the maintenance area back into Ward Zero's room of beds. Karen was there waiting for them. Overjoyed that he was alive, she immediately gave Brad an absolutely gargantuan hug. His eyes got very big and he tried very hard not to scream in pain. After he explained that he'd just been shot multiple times at point-blank range, Karen apologized about six billion times.

The trio left Ward Zero behind. The crowd was still gathered at the entrance door when they emerged, only now it was swollen to preposterous size. Karen, Brad and Tyler nudged their way through the crowd and started immediately up the stairs to reunite with their friends and tell them the good news. Ding dong, the witch was dead.

Had they stayed with the crowd at the doors a little while longer, they might have run into Monsoon, and then things might have turned out quite a bit differently.


     ~~~


Back in the supply room, Beatrix twitched.


*****


     -MONSOON-

Driving like a mountain out of hell, Monsoon screeched into the parking lot in front of King's Orchard and nearly slammed into a lamppost.

One look and he knew the voice in his head hadn't been a hallucination. Through the hospital's thick glass windows, he could see dozens upon dozens of furs, patients and staff alike, all pounding on the glass and begging for help. Random people from town had trickled in and were standing around staring stupidly (all of them waiting for someone *else* to do something). Eventually someone with a cell phone thought to call the cops, but wasn't sure what to tell them other than that the doors up at the local nuthouse were stuck. The dispatcher did not place this at a high priority, but sent two cars out anyway. They had not yet arrived.

Monsoon left his vehicle and thundered across the parking lot, mad as Mars and just drunk enough to not care what he was doing. He didn't even shut the door behind him.

Some stick-thin woman got in front of him. "Um, excuse me? Do you know what's going on here?" she asked feebly.

"No," Monsoon replied. He moved her effortlessly out of the way with one hand.

Beyond the glass it looked like a sardine convention. The people inside were just a few moments away from trampling each other. Monsoon could already see some of the smaller kids shoved roughly up against the windows as bigger kids, and even staff, took turns looking out into the parking lot, screaming and pounding the window as if they thought it could make any difference.

Monsoon scanned faces until he saw Camilla. He got as close to her as he could, having to step through some ornamental bushes by the side of the entrance to do so. "What's Going On?" he brayed.

The bobcat could hear him fine, even though the glass made him sound a bit like a fish. "The fire alarm went off and the doors won't open!" she shouted back.

Monsoon nearly replied, 'Can't you break the glass?', but then realized that if they could, they already would have. "How close is the fire?" he shouted. He couldn't see any flames from the outside.

"I don't think there is one!" Camilla responded. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

The problem with a false fire alarm is that if a fire *does* start, no one notices. On the fifth floor, one of the staff had bumped against a coffeemaker in their rush to escape the droning alarm. It had brushed against some paper. The paper made contact with the hot metal and started to burn. It was a fire small enough that someone could have doused it with a styrofoam cup if they'd noticed in time. No one did though, and instead it began to spread in earnest.

Monsoon tried to think past his booze-buzz. If the fire alarm had gone off, why weren't the revolving doors opening? Then he thought of something obvious. "You've tried the fire exits, right?"

Camilla looked at him as if his head was full of rocks. "Of course, dammit! They won't open either!"

"Th' fuck?" 'Since when do fire doors not open when there's a fire?' Monsoon thought. He felt unreal, like this had to be a dream. He was standing half in a bush while his coworkers acted like caged zoo beasts and the fire doors wouldn't open.

Then he felt a shiver go up his spine. This was Beatrix's doing. Had to be. Given what he'd seen the night before, he knew nothing was too evil not to believe about this place. The idea that the mad doctor had wired it to burn everyone alive if a fire broke out was startlingly plausible.

Monsoon assessed the situation. He was strong. Could he bust the door open? No. There was a limit to even *his* strength, and metal was it. Inch-thick glass too. Was there anything in his SUV he could use? He consulted his mental index. Spare tire. Jack. Tire iron. Toolkit...

He stopped suddenly, feeling like a moron. The solution was obvious.

The windows on either side of the door were big and wide and made of glass. He had an SUV. A big, black, tough-as-shit SUV. Eureka.

"Get everyone to move back!!" he roared at Camilla.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to drive through the window and get you the hell out of there," he said with false calm.

"Monsoon! You can't!!" she shrieked.

"Why not?" he replied immediately.

The bobcat's mouth snapped shut. Sure, the cops might show up soon enough. But they also might not. There might be more important things for them to respond to than a false fire alarm and a bunch of panicking kids. Plus, the phones were down everywhere in King's Orchard. No one in the hospital had been able to call for help. (Except Veronica of course, and Camilla was already fairly sure she'd dreamed that part.)

"Okay, everyone, get back! We have to get away from the windows now!" Camilla called out. She started waving her arms in a shooing motion. The rest of the staff caught on and tried to help her, but it didn't do much good. The kids were crazy, spooked and confused, and making far too much noise already for the staff's voices to register much.

Monsoon decided the direct approach would be best, as it usually was. He turned and stomped back to his truck. Some fool had his head through the door, looking around inside. Whether out of curiosity or thievery, Monsoon didn't give a rat's ass. He picked the fool up by the collar and flung him off into the night.

Monsoon got behind the wheel, closed the door and fastened his seatbelt. Safety first.

He made the engine growl. He turned on the high beams. Some of the more rational kids inside the lobby realized what was coming and started scrambling away as fast as they could.

Monsoon pushed his mighty vehicle forward slowly. He ran over a concrete divider. The giant vehicle laughed. Monsoon was not an uneducated car buyer. He hadn't chosen this machine for its looks, but because it was the toughest four-wheeled motherfucker money could buy. He felt that a man's vehicle should be a reflection of themselves.

One of the decorative bushes died gruesomely as a fat, heavy tire squashed it to salad. Monsoon skillfully tapped the hospital's window with the fender. He revved the engine twice.

At that point, pretty much everyone knew what was coming. Staff and kids alike all ran for their lives, dragging along anyone else who didn't grasp the inevitable yet.

Monsoon shifted into reverse. He backed up until he felt the divider thunk against his rear wheel. He thought that'd be far enough.

He depressed the brake and pumped the gas a few times. The engine made sounds like a prehistoric monster about to charge and kill. Monsoon had to admit to himself, this was all pretty cool.

He waited until he was absolutely certain no one was in his way. Even the parking lot rubberneckers had enough sense to give him a wide berth.

Monsoon put a death grip on the steering wheel and stomped the accelerator.

The SUV roared forward like a lion. Monsoon had just enough time to turn away before the front end plowed into the glass. Just as the massive window shattered, Monsoon pumped the brake. He didn't really want to plow into a support beam. As glass danced in the air, the mighty SUV rolled on through like a cannonball.

A giant white fist appeared out of nowhere and punched Monsoon in the face.


     ~~~


The next thing he knew, the sound of a fire alarm was in his ears and his cheek hurt like bloody hell. He opened his eyes and was surrounded by white. The airbag.

Monsoon did a body check. Nothing broken as far as he could tell. He tried to move. No sudden, horrendous pain signalling that an artery was punched through by craggy shards of glass.

Monsoon tried the door and it opened as obligingly as always. He got out and surveyed the damage. It was just like the movies. The adolescent in him couldn't help but smirk.

The lobby was messed _up_. The window had vanished into sparkles. Tire tracks were ground deep and dirty into the nice, colorful carpet. Paintings had fallen off their hooks and were ruined forever. The tropical fish were all very grateful that their tank was far enough away to come out unscathed. In all, Monsoon had bagged two couches, four chairs, a table, uncountable magazines and was about two feet away from the receptionist's desk. Miraculously, he hadn't hit anything fixed.

He looked over his SUV's front end. It was scarred up pretty bad. The bumper was twisted like silver licorice. The hood looked like a mad cyborg had used it for a bongo drum. And the windshield was swiss cheese. But the beast still looked like it could get him home tonight. Monsoon smiled affectionately and gave the hood a pat. "Good girl."

Camilla came out of hiding. She stared for a moment at the path of destruction, then noticed Monsoon standing there, muscles rippling, looking like a page out of a comic book. "Oh, you're not dead! That's wonderful!"

Monsoon jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Made you a way out, too," he said, smiling casually, as if he drove through buildings every day.

Relieved furs began pouring out of Monsoon's makeshift exit, careful not to scrape themselves on the jagged bits that still remained in the window frame. Those who were barefoot were lifted up and over the glass by helpful staff. The former captives of King's Orchard spilled out into the night, breathing in the cold, clean night air, whooping it up and feeling free.

Camilla gave Monsoon a hug. "Thank you, T'halu. You were like a knight in shining armor."

He grinned, savoring this moment of ultimate coolness.

"That was _bitchin'_!" Ginny piped up. She skittered out of hiding to gleefully inspect the chaos. "Did you do that on purpose? And can you come to my house next!?"

Monsoon winced. "Just out of curiosity, what color is the sky in that little world of yours?"

"Toilet water!" she shouted triumphantly.


*****


     -KAREN-

As soon as they stepped into the stairwell, Karen, Brad and Tyler were met by three enormous security guards.

"This blows," Tyler whined.

The three guards looked like mean machines. They all had great big muscles and black sunglasses that hid their eyes. They didn't have the regular hospital uniforms on. They looked like they'd been shipped in from a prison or a military base. Karen thought it was likely they'd been ordered in especially to deal with the coming rebellion. She hoped that Beatrix hadn't planned on it taking place so soon, and that there wouldn't be more of these guys all over the hospital for Holly and the others to deal with.

"You're coming with us," the guard in front said mechanically.

Tyler was still propping up Brad. He whispered in the catboy's ear, "Should I see if I've still got any volts left?"

Brad thought about that a minute. His head was clearing now, but he was still in an awful lot of pain and didn't think he could stay conscious for another fight.

"No," Karen said defiantly, making the choice for all of them.

The guard in front made a short, clipped laugh. "Kid, we're ten times bigger than you and we've got guns. Drop the cute stuff."

"Dr. Beatrix wants you back on Ward F," another guard said. Those had been the last orders she'd given. None of them knew she was now lying charbroiled in the basement.

That gave Brad an idea. He stepped forward.

"Okay," he said with a shrug.

Karen looked at him like he was crazy. Brad giving up? Impossible!

He looked back at her. "We were going up there anyway and I don't feel like climbing all those freakin' stairs," he explained in a whispered hiss.

Oh. That made sense. "Okay, I give up too," she told the guards.

"Same here," Tyler concurred.

The guards were mildly stunned. They'd been told to expect a fight and that they'd probably have to use restraints. "Well... alright then. No bullcrap though. Just come with us and everything will work out fine."

Brad smirked ever so slightly. "Okay, dude. But you'll have to carry me."

One of the guards snorted. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope," Brad said. "Look at me. I've just been through a meat grinder. There's no way I can make it up there on my own. Maybe if you gave me a week."

"He's really hurt bad," Karen added, trying to help his case.

The guard growled and rolled his eyes. "Fine." He picked Brad up and the tomcat obligingly went limp as a noodle. "Fuckin' kids..."

"Thanks a bunch," Brad said.

"Um, I gotta be carried too," Tyler said.

"No goddam way!" was the response.

The mouseboy looked indignant. "They did laboratory experiments on me, man!"

"Um, I threw up a lot just now. I don't think I can walk either," Karen said, now realizing how perfectly they could turn this situation to their advantage.

The other two guards cursed a bit but finally gave in and picked Tyler and Karen up as well. This job was just a paycheck to them, after all. They were told only what they needed to know and no more. Since they'd figured on having to drug these brats and drag them back upstairs anyway, doing it this way didn't make much of a difference.

With that, the trio of guards carried the trio of patients up the stairs, back to Ward F. Karen allowed herself to relax. What a great opportunity to rest up and get back some strength before taking on whatever challenge the night might throw at them next. If Beatrix had been down in Ward Zero waiting for them, who knew what was waiting upstairs for the rest of her friends? Probably more guards. Karen was pretty sure Holly and the others could handle mere mortals though. Her group might be looking for her and Brad and Tyler right now. Of course, they might also have been captured and sedated. Karen didn't think that was likely though. She had a pretty good feeling that the worst was over now.

The guards huffed and puffed. Karen lounged in the arms of her bearer like a queen on a moving throne. Brad was actually napping. Tyler was nothing but dead weight, having slipped out of his body moments ago to make sure he still could. It appeared all systems were go. He slipped back inside himself and smiled. Being back in his own flesh-and-blood bod felt great. Just as cozy as he remembered it. Getting to hang around inside Karen had been an interesting experience, but he was glad it was over with. He was even more glad that she hadn't needed to pee while he was inside. Some things he simply did not want to explore.

About halfway to their destination, a sound like a minor explosion rocked the lobby and made all of them stop and look over the railing. It sounded an awful lot like someone had just driven a truck through the front entrance at high speed.

"Was that the canisters in Ward Zero?" Karen asked Tyler.

"If it was, you wouldn't be able to ask me that. You'd be splattered all over the place like bug guts," the mouse said grimly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler's guard asked.

"We're crazy people! Pay no attention to us!" Tyler declared.

The guard just grunted and continued on up the stairs.

Brad was starting to feel a bit better. His insides didn't hurt as much as they had before. He thought maybe they were beginning to rearrange themselves. His ear still hurt from being marked by Beatrix's bullet though. The puncture there would never grow back. He could only bounce, not heal himself like Holly. Or Beatrix herself. Brad chuckled at the irony. The crazy bitch hated him and all the other kids so much because she couldn't stand to see so many little reflections of herself day in and day out. 'Pathetic,' he thought.

After they'd reached the sixth floor, the fire alarms abruptly cut off. The silence was so sudden it was almost frightening. No one knew why it had happened, but they all knew their ears were grateful.

Karen looked down at the steps beneath her. How they seemed to move backwards as her guard carried her forward. It was mildly hypnotic. She looked up and realized there was just one more flight to go before they reached Ward F. She had no idea what would happen then. The guards might lock her up, or drug her, or put her in restraints. But without Dr. Beatrix to turn their prisoners over to, what would the guards do then? Would she and Brad and Tyler be set free when the cops finally showed up?

These questions were laid to rest quite suddenly as they came around a corner and saw Holly standing there on the landing, looking pissed as a vengeful Greek goddess and holding a gun.

Karen smiled brightly.


*****


     -HOLLY-

The three guards were suitably stunned. With their arms full of tired kids, there was no way they could grab their weapons in time to defend themselves. Their hearts weren't hard enough to just drop the children on concrete.

"Hi there, rectumheads," the pistol-packing squirrel said to them. She was a mess. She looked like she'd been bathing in blood. Five other kids were behind her, all looking like they'd also taken the long way through Hades and left no witnesses behind.

Holly brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I've got a gun and I've always wondered what it'd feel like to shoot someone's testicles off," she said matter-of-factly. "You're going to put my friends down. Gently. Then you're gonna run. You're gonna run all the way back downstairs without stopping. Though I can't guarantee I won't shoot you in the backs like a bunch of virus-covered cockroaches when you do."

Tyler grinned ear to ear. "How I missed those dulcet tones!"

"Shutcher yap or I'll plug you too, maggotbrain," she snapped, but she was smiling fondly when she said it. She couldn't disguise the fact that she was incredibly happy to see her friends all okay. Especially Tyler.

The guards did the smart thing when faced with a crazy, blood-stained squirrel holding a firearm. They put Brad, Tyler and Karen down. Gently. And then they fled like Olympic sprinters.

Holly fired a warning shot behind them just for fun. "Yarrr! Run like the lily-livered cowards ye be!!"

"What the hell was that?" Benjamin asked.

Holly shrugged. "Dunno. I just felt all piratey for a second."

With that out of the way, the two groups were finally able to rejoin. They whooped and hollered, expressing their joyful relief that none of them had kicked the bucket. The nine children all converged on the stairs and shared hugs and plenty of winces as sore spots were accidentally squeezed. Everybody told everybody else what had happened. The news that Dr. Beatrix had met her richly-deserved demise was met with great jubilation.

Brad and Keith slapped palms. "Dude?" Brad asked, pointing to Keith's shoulder.

The fox grunted. "Broken arm. You?"

"Shot five times."

Keith's eyebrows went up. "You win."

"Elvira!!" Tyler shouted. He ran at Holly and gave her an enthusiastic embrace. "Didja kick some ass?"

She nodded. "Sorta. We got the crap beat out of us by these two hyper speedfreaks with weapons, but we got rid of them. Beatrix?"

"Fuckin' *dead*!" Tyler gleefully reported.

"ALRIGHT!!" Holly yowled.

Tyler described the scene with animated hand gestures and sound effects. "She and Brad got into it and she shot him a few times, but the bullets bounced right off him like Superman! They pounded each other for a bit. Then I showed up and electrocuted the living shit out of her!"

"How!?"

Tyler made an 'I dunno' gesture. "I guess I built up a charge. It was like the biggest static electricity poke in history! Didn't last long though, but I *totally* fried Dr. Bitch-trix's brains! It was like perfect poetic justice!"

Holly hugged him tight. Her voice lowered so that no one else could hear as she dropped her tough-girl act for a fleeting moment. "Even though I insult you a lot, I'm really, really glad you're okay," she whispered.

Tyler was touched. Before he could stop himself, he responded by planting a red-hot smoocheroo on her lips.

When he pulled away, Holly's eyes were wide open and she looked like her mind had blown a fuse.

The mouseboy grinned sheepishly. "Uh, heh..."

Without warning, Holly grabbed the back of Tyler's head and smashed his lips into hers. She drove her tongue into his mouth and showed him what a *real* kiss was like.

"WHOA!!" Tyler gasped when it was over. "You kiss like a twenty-ton sewer pump!"

"I hope that's a compliment, you skinny dweeb. I could crack you like a stick right now."

He smiled suavely. "That's exactly what I love about you."

Her expression softened, turning just a little puzzled. "Are you serious? Like, are you really not kidding this time?"

Tyler was blushing and trembling a little, but his eyes showed nothing but sincerity. "Holly, I really like you. Seriously. Totally. You're smart and cool and I love how you can match wits with me like we're arch-enemies. But it's fun knowing we're really not. And, um..." He bit his lip and looked extremely unsure how she'd take this. "And I think you look really sexy too."

"What!?" she yelped in total disbelief.

"Well, not *now* obviously. You are kinda covered in blood..." Tyler clarified. "But normally, yeah. I love the whole punk thing. You look strong and all self-assured 'n stuff. I *know* you could snap me in half if you wanted to, and that's sorta scary, but it's also kind of a turn on. Plus, I like your butt."

"You've _gotta_ be lying now," she said flatly.

"No way!" Tyler insisted. "It's all round and hot! I wanna spank it!"

Holly laughed out loud, starting to cry just a little as she realized Tyler was serious. She'd crafted her outward image to reflect her hatred of her family and her desire to be the antithesis of them. She _wanted_ to look repulsive. The very idea that someone could *like* the way she looked was too impossible to consider. Yet the little cheese-eater was looking more serious than she'd ever seen him before. "...Thanks," she said softly. "I, um... I like you a lot too."

He giggled stupidly, happy beyond words that this hadn't backfired on him. He'd been pretty sure though. 'Why else would she call me all those names if she wasn't secretly wild about me?' he reasoned.

She smirked. "I always kinda thought you were gay though."

Tyler shrugged. "Sometimes."

Holly swirled a lock of his hair around her finger. "Isn't there some rule against dating chicks you meet in an insane asylum?" she asked, her smile grateful and genuine.

Tyler opened his mouth...

"...and if you say 'rules were meant to be broken', I'll punch you in the face."

He giggled. "Naw, I was just gonna say that anyone who thinks so can eat a pound of rhinoceros shit."

Returning his giggle, she kissed him again.

Rubiella snickered. "Oooooooh! Tyler 'n Holly are kiiiiissing!" she said with a grin.

"Damn straight," Holly mumbled out of the side of her mouth.


*****


     -KAREN-

"We should go, guys," Karen spoke up. All the I'm-glad-you're-okays were done now. Getting the hell out of here was top priority. Especially considering that most of them could benefit from a trip to the emergency room.

Ruby nodded. "My nose hurts."

"Do we have any unfinished business on Ward F? Anything we left behind?" Karen asked.

"My comic books!!" Tyler suddenly wailed, panic in his voice. "You *can't* make me leave them!"

Karen rolled her eyes. "We're supposed to be _escaping_."

"Do you have any idea how much those things are *worth*!?" he countered. "Okay, admittedly, not much. ...But they will be when I'm fifty!"

"I wouldn't mind spitting on Thurston's bloated corpse a few times," Holly added.

"My wallet's back there," Keith mumbled.

Karen 'grrr'ed. "Okay, fine. We'll all go back to the ward. But we gotta make it Really Quick! Everyone run to your rooms and only grab stuff you can't possibly leave behind!"

With their leader's permission, the battle-weary group went up a few more stairs and were back in the place they'd hoped they'd left behind forever. It looked thoroughly deserted now. Triumphed over. Karen smiled at that idea as she carefully stepped around the gunk Ginny had reduced the airlock doors to.

The kids scrambled to their rooms. Tyler made a beeline for his comics. Brad remembered the book Dr. Jones had given to him, and wondered if there was any way he could return it someday. Rubiella and Victor both had stuffed animals that meant the world to them. Keith grabbed his wallet, though the money meant nothing compared to the photos inside. Holly fished around in her folded clothes for her secret spare nose ring and clipped it on; she'd felt naked without it. Benjamin was practical. After getting a few things of his own, he ripped off his roommate's stash of candy, figuring the other kid wouldn't be needing it anymore. No one saw where Sherri went, naturally.

Karen herself stood in the hallway and kept a lookout. She didn't need anything from her room. It was all old junk now. She'd started to think of her life before King's Orchard as her 'old life'. She was a new furson now. She didn't want that to go away when she returned to her parents. In fact, the more she thought about it, she realized she really didn't care if she ever saw her mean ol' mommy and daddy ever again. She felt proud of herself for finally seeing them as they truly were.

After inserting her nose ring, Holly went immediately to the quiet room to defile Thurston's remains. She kicked his ass and spat a fat gob on his tail. "Have fun burning in hell, ya creepy pedophile piece of shit," she told him. She really wished she had to pee too, but no such luck.

Victor came out to the hallway and called out, "I've got a backpack if anyone's got stuff they want me to carry for 'em!" Brad and Tyler took him up on the offer, sheathing their books. Ruby gave her stuffed bunny a kiss before plopping it in the bag too.

Benjamin approached. "Hey, dude, let me carry that," he offered. "I'm holding onto the list anyway." Victor thought that was a good idea and passed the backpack over. Benjamin took the scratchy envelope out from under his shirt (it had been driving him nuts all this time) and stuck it inside. "Besides, we don't want anything in the way of that killer butt of yours next time it goes off!"

Victor groaned. "Do you have to keep teasing me about that?"

"Of course," Benjamin said with certitude.

Far down the hall, a lost-sounding voice emanated from the airlock. "Is anyone still here?"

Karen recognized it immediately. She swiveled around. "Doctor Jones!?"

It was indeed. The pudgy mustachioed otter stepped gingerly over the melted doors, his thick tail moving behind him like a reluctant pet. He looked befuddled, as if not quite sure if all this was a dream. "Karen! My goodness, what are you doi-*Oof*!" The little raccoon didn't give him time to finish as she lunged at him and wrapped him up in a hug.

"You're okay!" Karen sang out.

"I'm certainly glad to see you too!" he said, patting her on the head, startled but happy. He noticed all the other children in the hallway. "Benjamin? Ruby? What are you all still doing here? Didn't you hear the fire alarm?"

"There's no fire, that was just Keith," Benjamin blurted.

Keith scowled at him.

"Uh... Yeah. Keith threw a ball and it hit a sprinkler head," Ben quickly recovered.

Dr. Jones knew a lie when he heard one, but didn't press it. He had been downstairs in the lounge when the alarm went off. Since then, he'd been wandering the halls trying to find someone to tell him what was going on, and also checking to make sure everyone was safely evacuated. When the alarm abruptly cut off, he'd been heading for a last stop at his office to get his briefcase. Then he'd heard voices that sounded a lot like his patients.

"Hi, Doc!" Ruby said happily.

"Oh, hey," Holly said as she exited the quiet room. She really hoped they could keep him from seeing what was in there.

Dr. Jones saw her and did a horrified double take. "My God, Holly! You're covered in blood!" he exclaimed. He took a closer look and realized that most of the other children looked roughed up too. Curse his nearsightedness! Further proof he needed a stronger prescription on his glasses.

"Um yeah..." Holly tried to think of a way to explain it without really telling him anything. If Dr. Jones was truly innocent in all this, it was probably for the best that they keep him in the dark. At least until they were all safely out of here.

"It doesn't matter," Karen said firmly. She fixed a fierce gaze on Dr. Jones, demanding he believe her. "All that matters is that we get out of here right now."

He hesitated, then nodded. He'd never seen Karen act so commanding before. "Yes. Whatever's the case, I think that would be for the best."

He took Karen's paw and turned back towards the door.

He froze in shock.

BAM!!!

BAM!!!

BAM!!!

The three shots were so loud they ripped the universe apart. A sound like a kick in the chest. A sound with teeth.

Red flowers bloomed from the side of Dr. Jones' face, his shoulder, and his stomach. His glasses flew through the air like a butterfly. Karen had to scramble back out of the way to avoid being flattened by his falling body.

Standing in the airlock with a smoking gun, Dr. Beatrix smiled with satisfaction. She'd had to go back to her office for more bullets (and to turn off that fucking fire alarm) and was not at all happy with the state it was left in. She felt much better now though.

"I never liked you anyway, you pompous ass," she remarked with a giggle.


*****


     -BEATRIX-

Her clothes were burned black in multiple places, stained red in others. Her hair was an explosion of scorched strands. But the albino bunny's fur was snowy-white as always. Reassembling herself had been a touch painful this time, and certainly time-consuming, but not the worst she'd ever come back from.

Holly was paralyzed for a second's worth of shock as she watched one of her favorite grownups die in a blaze of bullets not ten feet away from her. Guilt hit her like a brick as she realized she was still holding a gun, but hadn't been able to use it in time. There was still time for revenge though. Snarling with fury, she put Beatrix in her sights.

Dr. Beatrix was unconcerned.

BAM!!!

Another pullet passed through Holly's forehead, through her brain, and out the other side. Holly's expression of shock as she fell looked almost comical.

Screams of rage and sadness came as the remaining children couldn't figure out whose side to rush to first.

Dr. Beatrix sniggered. "Oh, don't get all worked up about it. She'll pop back up in a few minutes anyway."

Tyler was cradling Holly's head in his lap, feeling her blood run down his fur and tears run down his cheeks. "You bitch, I fucking COOKED you! WHY AREN'T YOU DEAD!?"

"Because I'd never allow myself to be killed by someone like you, you filthy, loudmouthed turd," she replied curtly. She waggled the gun at him. "Now, please keep that mouth shut or you're next. And if you or anyone else touches that gun, I'll blast your face right off your skull like a peanut-butter sandwich."

Brad tried to take Dr. Jones' pulse. Nothing. He shook all over as a razor-sharp sob passed through him. This man that had tried to understand him instead of flinching from him or screaming at him, this man that had made him feel like a strong, smart boy instead of a 'problem child', was gone.

Tyler was trying to force life back into Holly by smacking her cheeks and whispering threats in her ear that if she didn't get her ass up right this instant, she'd never be able to insult him again. His humor and anger could not conceal his hurt though.

The other children were all weeping and frightened. Only Karen was still standing. Her eyes were blank. She looked like a mannequin. Her rage had not yet pushed past her shock, but it would soon.

This was what Dr. Beatrix liked. Not necessarily the violence or the crying, but the fact that she was the center of attention once more. As she should be. She commanded their respect now. No snappy insults from Tyler. No heroics from Bradley. Little Karen had gone stiff as a scarecrow. Dr. Beatrix fondled the butt of her gun like a hard cock. Power felt good.

"I think you've all forgotten whose hospital this is," she announced. Ward F's hallway was dead silent apart from her clear, cold voice and the sound of tears. "You've been very bad little boys and girls. You've caused a lot of mischief and you're up past your bedtime. You're also a bunch of disgusting freaks who ought to be breathing dirt and maggots right now instead of air. Just having to look at you little monsters every day makes me want to puke."

Brad glared at her, wanting to say something back but not daring to. Not while her finger was still on that trigger. He was _furious_ that she was not still lying dead in Ward Zero. Furious at her, but also at fate. What sane universe would give the power of immortality to a madwoman?

Beatrix smiled as a dazzlingly wonderful idea came to her. "Children, I think we should all play a game," she declared, sounding like a kindergarten teacher.

They looked at her like she was crazy, which of course she was.

"This game doesn't have a name, but I think you'll like it nonetheless," she continued. Her eyes twinkled merrily and her grin was unspeakable. "Here's how it works: I'm going to give you all one chance for most of you to survive. One little chance. If one of you steps forward and offers their life, I will spare the rest of you. I will shoot the volunteer through the head and make it swift and painless. Then I'll put the gun in your hands, Bradley." 

The tomcat's eyes widened. He couldn't have heard that right.

She smirked at his reaction. "Oh, don't worry. Seeing as you're already in a mental hospital, I don't think you'd go to jail. You'd just come to live with me forever as one of my patients. I would have so much fun 'treating' you," she said with a razor smile. Then she thought of something. "And no, you can't volunteer. It has to be one of your friends."

'Fuck,' Brad thought. He'd been just about to. Death would be a million times better than spending the rest of his life with her.

"Also, if no one volunteers quickly enough, I'll just shoot all of you. In the gut, so you'll suffer," the rabbit said. She giggled. "Doesn't that sound like fun? Choose quickly now!" Dr. Beatrix was in a very interesting mental state at the moment. She felt positively elated, high as a kite. She wondered if Tyler had done something to her brain.

In fact, he had. Beatrix's brain had not been able to reconfigure itself exactly after Tyler's lightning had scrambled it. It was now malfunctioning quite badly. She was just beginning to spiral out of control, but was getting worse at an exponential rate. Soon she would lose all contact with reality and all concept of consequences. God save us all.

Tyler glanced at the hole in Holly's head and noticed that it was already starting to close up. Maybe she'd recover in time to put an end to this. If she didn't though, Tyler wondered if he volunteered, could he simply jump out of himself when Beatrix pulled the trigger? Would he become a ghost then? Or would his spirit just vanish once his body died?

The children were silent, terrified, enraged. Every one of them thought about Dr. Beatrix's choice. They all thought about whether they had enough courage to die for their friends, and if Beatrix was even telling the truth that she'd let the others live.

Shattering the uneasy silence, Benjamin suddenly spoke up. "I'll do it."

The frail fox had slipped the backpack off and nudged it behind Victor with his foot a moment before. Now he stood up and faced Dr. Beatrix. He felt cold inside. He'd been thinking about Keith, Holly and Ruby defending him from those ninja twins, about how cowardly he felt watching his friends lose blood to protect him. He'd come through that horrorshow with barely a scratch. His glasses weren't even broken. He thought that maybe this would make things even.

Beatrix smiled. Her finger caressed the trigger of her gun obscenely. "Really now?"

     ~~~

Karen was just on the verge of breaking out of her trance and rushing at Beatrix to grab the gun when a voice whispered in her ear.

     ~~~

"...Are you sure?" Beatrix asked Benjamin, putting a sensual purr on the end.

     ~~~

"Karen? I'm sorry I haven't been helping you guys out so far, but I've been fuckin' *waiting* for a chance like this with you and that evil bitch together in the same room!! This is it!" Always-Jimmy-Never-James's voice was nearly vibrating from intensity and glee. Karen thought she'd never heard him sound so crazy.

     ~~~

Victor tried to hold Benjamin back by grabbing his ankle. Benjamin cried a little, but did not look down at his friend.

     ~~~

"Do you trust me, Karen?" Jimmy asked urgently.

     ~~~

Benjamin nodded to Beatrix.

     ~~~

Fearfully, Karen whispered as low as she could. "What are you going to do?"

     ~~~

"What a good boy, laying down his life for his friends," Beatrix simpered. "How sweet."

     ~~~

"Do You Trust Me!?" Jimmy demanded.

     ~~~

Beatrix took aim.

     ~~~

"I trust you," Karen said. She did not believe herself though. Her instincts said that whatever Jimmy had planned was something he'd been planning for years, and that it was going to be hideous when it came.

     ~~~

Benjamin pictured his mom crying at his funeral. Assuming The Project wouldn't just whisk his body away and dump it in the desert somewhere.

     ~~~

Jimmy grinned, his nicotine-stained teeth bright and sharp. "Then LET ME IN." Karen did not have time to ask what he meant by that. She felt a spiritual force hurl itself into her. An invading presence with incredible, brutal strength. Horrified, she allowed it to take over.

     ~~~

"Any last words?" Dr. Beatrix asked.

     ~~~

Karen burst suddenly into tears. *Loudly*.

Beatrix was so startled she jumped, but she didn't lower the gun.

"I'M SORRY!" Karen screamed.

Bawling, she ran at Dr. Beatrix and clamped her arms around the woman in a hug. "I'm a bad girl! You're right! Please don't hurt my friends! PLEASE! I was stupid! I never should have disobeyed you! Please, please, Dr. Beatrix!"

The rabbit was more than a little surprised. Karen, the leader of the rebellion herself, was boo-hooing like a baby? How fascinating! That meant she'd successfully broken the little snot! All the girl's toughness was gone and she was reduced to nothing more than what she always was; a pathetic child. Moments like this were what Beatrix lived for.

Grinning hard enough to hurt and not noticing at all, the white rabbit placed the barrel of her gun directly on top of Karen's head. When she made the shot, the bullet would go straight through to the floor and Karen would shit all over herself. The mental image made Beatrix squeal with delight. She knelt down to Karen's eye level. She adored seeing someone's will destroyed, but she had to see it in their eyes to make absolutely certain.

"Karen? Karen, sweetie? Look here. Look at Auntie Beatrix." 'Look at me so I can see your expression when you die,' she added in her mind.

Still sobbing and sniffing pitifully, Karen wiped her eyes and tried to open them far enough to see the woman in front of her. "Please, Dr. Beatrix! Do you want me to call you Auntie Beatrix? I will! I'll do anything! Just *please* don't hurt my friends! Let them go home!"

"I will let them go home, Karen," Beatrix lied. "Just let me see your eyes."

Karen sobbed even harder, trying but failing to open her eyes. Dr. Beatrix leaned in closer, nearly touching foreheads. "I need to see your eyes."

Karen's eyelids snapped suddenly open. It was not her eyes behind them though.

Beatrix was startled for just a second.

That was all Jimmy needed.

Using Karen's hands, he grabbed the sides of Beatrix's face and forced her into a violent, vengeful kiss.

Beatrix writhed violently like a fish on land. Fighting to get away from the revolting child and unable to comprehend why it was doing such a disgusti-

Then she stopped completely. Still as stone.

Karen broke away, gasping and spitting. "Jimmy! What the hell did you just DO!?"

Dr. Beatrix was frozen, her eyes blank as marble. She looked like someone had flipped her off switch.

The children watched, scared and confused. They'd gone through so much tonight their systems couldn't take much more.

Then slowly, Beatrix rose.

She stood up straight, then looked around. Complete disbelief was on her face. She moved as if she'd just been born.

Slowly, she looked down at the gun in her right hand.

Then she put the palm of her left hand directly over the barrel and casually blew a hole in it.

BAM!!!

The sudden noise made Karen and everyone else jump back. Blood flew from Beatrix's paw and the bullet sailed clean through into the floor.

Beatrix lifted her hand and looked through the hole, right at Karen's face.

Karen stumbled back, nearly tripping over Dr. Jones.

Then Beatrix began to laugh. Slowly at first, then building. Rising in pitch and volume, reaching a crescendo of a cackle that seemed to shake the hospital's walls. The classic madman's laugh of triumph.

"I DID IT!!!" Jimmy screamed.


*****


     -JIMMY-

The wolf-in-rabbit's-skin was still for a moment, simply luxuriating in this delicious, impossible moment. Ward F was deathly quiet. The overhead lights were blindingly bright and the stench of blood clung to the air.

Jimmy grinned. Beatrix's lips split like flesh peeled off a skull. Jimmy's eyes bulged in her sockets like cueballs. He giggled. "Hee... Gwee-hee-hee-hee..." He looked like a man who'd been shot with a lethal dose of psychotropic drugs and was enjoying his last seconds of life to the fullest.

Slowly, savoring every second, Jimmy reached up to Beatrix's face.

He tugged her left eyelid down and probed the eye. Soft like Camembert cheese. He inserted one finger all the way to the back of the socket. Then another.

Giggling still, he ripped Beatrix's crushed eye out and flung it over his shoulder. It landed with a soft 'plop' on the carpet.

"STOP IT!!" Ruby screamed. She'd seen far too much gore this night already.

If Jimmy heard her, he gave no indication. His grin grew a little wider though.

Karen was aghast. Her heart pounded. She stared, horrified, wondering what in hell she'd helped unleash. 'Why didn't I stop him taking control of me!?' she wondered. But she already knew the answer. She had known that Jimmy's plan had to involve Beatrix, and Karen wanted to see him hurt her. Karen wanted to see Beatrix suffer. It was a cruel desire, but she knew she was justified in feeling it. Dr. Jones' corpse lying motionless a foot behind her was proof enough of that.

But this wasn't what she'd expected. What Jimmy had just done was nothing short of torture. Like pulling the legs off a helpless insect. Karen couldn't see anything of the Jimmy she knew in the furson before her. She wondered if he'd lost it. She wondered if taking over Beatrix had driven him insane.

His grin never waning, Jimmy took in a long sigh, tittered, then cast Beatrix's glassy, remaining eye directly at Karen.

The little coon's heart stopped.

"Karen," Jimmy breathed. "Karen, Karen, Karen... You were perfect, you know." His voice had a rusty door-hinge creak to it. The voice of a jack-in-the box clown left to rot in an attic for decades.

Trembling, Karen hesitantly asked. "W-what do you mean?"

He licked his/her lips. "You went along with everything I said. You believed me like a good girl. And most importantly, you never asked the wrong questions..."

Karen had no idea what Jimmy meant by that or what to say back to him. He seemed completely out of his mind right now, and he was still holding a gun.

Jimmy tilted Beatrix's head to the side. "Aren't you going to ask them now? This is my big moment, after all. The one I've been waiting for for TEN FUCKING YEARS!!!" Spit and blood flew from Beatrix's mouth as he screeched.

Karen jumped back and just barely kept herself from tripping over Dr. Jones. "Jimmy, you're scaring me again! You said you weren't going to do that anymore!" She was starting to cry now. Not from fear, but worry that her wolven friend in the leather jacket was gone forever.

Jimmy paused. Like a machine powering down, his grin fell. His mind was all clockworks and confetti now from trying to keep Beatrix safely locked away inside him (Oh, he could feel her in there, screaming and screaming and screaming for release and he *loved* it), but a small shred of his rational self forced its way through. "That's right. I did say that."

A spark of hope. Karen took a step forward as she noticed Jimmy's eye didn't look quite as mad anymore. Also, something white was festering in Beatrix's other socket. The bunny healed quickly, it seemed.

Always-Jimmy-Never-James spoke quietly and slowly now, over-enunciating because it took so much concentration to speak like a sane man. "Here's the question you never asked me, Karen: 'Jimmy, what kind of powers do you have that made The Project come after you?'"

Karen gulped. She _hadn't_ ever asked that. And for the life of her, she couldn't understand why. Maybe it was because Jimmy was so guarded about his personal life. But still, it was a natural thing for her to wonder. Why *hadn't* it occurred to her? Was that a part of his power right there? Had he clouded her mind?

Speaking cautiously like a hostage negotiator, Karen asked, "Okay, Jimmy. What is your power?"

Dementia flashed in Jimmy's eye again and the grin returned. "Hee hee hee... I DON'T HAVE ONE!!!" He jumped up and did a little dance, celebrating the insanity of it all. He jerked Beatrix's limbs like a puppet, which she effectively was.

Karen didn't understand. "Then why'd they pick you?"

"It was a MISTAKE!" he shrieked, grinning hard enough now to stain Beatrix's teeth red. "All I am is your garden-variety psycho headcase! There's not a damn thing special about me! Never was!"

He pointed a claw right at Karen's nose. "...Until now."

The claw had blood on it. Karen was nearly hyperventilating.

Jimmy saw the terror on her face and shut his eyes for a moment (the left one was almost fully formed by now). He took a deep breath, shivering at the end of it. He was dangerously close to flying off the edge of reality there, but he reined it in again. This was Karen he was talking to, he reminded himself. Karen, who he cared about, even if he'd used her cruelly to get himself where he was now. "You finally gave me a superpower of my very own, Karen. I can't tell you how grateful I am."

Karen looked up. Jimmy was Jimmy again. She couldn't take this back-and-forth much longer. "I still don't understand..."

He smacked Beatrix's forehead. "Oh come on! It's right in front of your nose! Or rather, Beatrix's nose!" He snickered. "I'm *inside* her, for fuck's sake! Do you have any idea how many times I tried and failed to possess this bitch!? Standing there in her office, watching while she destroyed people's lives, punching her and kicking her and trying to do *anything* to hurt her and I COULDN'T!?"

He stepped back and flung his arms out wide, taking in the glory of the moment. "But now here I am! And here *she* is!" He poked at Beatrix's temple hard enough to break the skin. "Trapped! Caught like a fly in a pitcher plant. My itty-bitty prey. Man oh man, you should hear her scream. You should hear some of the shit she's saying right now! The threats she's making!" He chortled. "She really thinks she's in control! She doesn't get it yet!!"

Jimmy reached up and drove the barrel of the gun into Beatrix's forehead. "_I'm_ driving this bus, you bitch! ME!!" he screamed at his prisoner.

Karen jumped at the sight of the black metal. "Jimmy, don't!" she cried out.

To her astonishment, he hesitated.

He looked calmly contemplative. "Actually, Karen, you're right. Why should I? I mean, we all know by now it wouldn't mean anything. She'd just come back to life in a half hour or so."

"Right," Karen said, nodding. She hoped Jimmy was understanding the futility of it.

He wasn't. "That'd take too long! I wanna have fun NOW!" Jimmy said brightly. Smiling a deranged little smile, he shoved the gun between Beatrix's legs and blew off her crotch.

BAM!!!

A deluge of fluid poured from the wound, not all of it blood. Pieces of Beatrix's anatomy flew everywhere.

Jimmy squealed in delight, drunk on glee. He could hear Beatrix's wails of pain but couldn't feel a thing himself. So wonderful!

Everyone else recoiled. Shock and disgust was written across their faces. They all hated Dr. Beatrix, but everyone, even Brad, thought this was going to far. Victor turned his head and quietly barfed on the carpet.

Karen had her paws over her mouth, in horror as well as to keep out the smell. "Oh Jesus, Jimmy! Stop it! Please!" she croaked.

"Now why would I wanna do a thing like that?" Jimmy asked. "I'm just getting started!"

Beatrix had been reduced to making guttural, mindless animal sounds of pain that echoed off the insides of Jimmy's soul. If being forced to stand after having a crater blasted through her groin was agonizing, being forced to walk was *excruciating*. Jimmy knew this and happily turned the screw, stepping closer to Karen and smiling.

Beatrix's left eye was almost back to normal now, except that the pupil was malformed. It looked almost like the number eight.

Karen thought she was very close to wetting her pants.

"Karen, I know this must be hard on you to watch, but you cannot understand how much I hate this woman. Do you get that? You Cannot Understand How Much I HATE This Woman."

Karen turned her face away, unable to look at that mutant eye anymore. "Fine! Hate her! We all do! But why do you have to torture her like this!?"

"Because she deserves it," Jimmy said firmly. "She _needs_ it. And more than that, *I* need it. I've been waiting ten years for this moment, Karen. Nothing's gonna stop me from doing what I have to do."

The way he'd said that, Karen knew immediately what he was planning. "Jimmy, no..."

"I'm gonna kill this fuckin' whore," Jimmy said. He was smiling casually, basking in the glow of his triumph. Handling Beatrix was easier now. He'd gotten the hang of it. He was very nearly back to his old self. Good. No fun experiencing the greatest moment of your life if you're too insane to fully appreciate it.

Brad spoke up suddenly. "You can't. I already tried."

"Well then you just didn't try hard *enough*!" Jimmy corrected. "I'm gonna take her out to the power plant. I'm gonna make some Kentucky Fried Beatrix."

"But I..." Tyler started.

Jimmy nodded to him. "I know. That's where I got the idea from. But this time I'm going to hit her with so much raw voltage she'll turn into _dust_! Let's see her come back from THAT shit! And if she does, I'll just kill her again! And again and again and again!" He jumped up and down to punctuate each 'again'.

Karen could see by the look in his eyes she was losing him again. "But what if it *never* works, Jimmy? Are you just going to keep torturing her forever?"

"Of course," he replied immediately. As if the answer was as obvious as two plus two. "Karen, I'm in her MIND, goddamnit!" he snapped at her. "You have no idea the things she's done. The atrocities she's pulled off here at King's Orchard are only the tip of the iceberg. She's been The Project's number one brainwasher for decades. She's killed more people than you've ever met in your life. I'm in her *memories*! I can see everything she's ever done and everyone she's done it to! I can..."

Jimmy stopped abruptly and stared off into space.

He'd stumbled across something. Something interesting. It took him a second to realize the full magnitude of it. When he did, his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Why, you sneaky bitch!" he exclaimed. "You were hiding that all this time!"

Without warning, he suddenly rushed across the room, straight at Keith, and latched onto the fox's broken shoulder with both hands.

Keith had no time to react. As soon as those albino fingers touched him, pain erased his ability to think. Tears burst from his eyes and a shrill scream burst from his throat.

"Oh my God!! What are you *doing*!?" Karen yelped.

"Let him go!!" Victor yelled.

Jimmy's face was the epitome of concentration. "Gimme a second. I've never done this before."

Keith screamed and screamed. Louder than any fire alarm in the world. He was in so much pain right now he wished God would strike him down with lightning.

"LET GO NOW!!" Rubiella bellowed. She rumbled over and grabbed Jimmy's shoulders, intending to rip him off Keith and fling him across the room.

Instead, Jimmy shot out one of his hands and hit her palm-first in the nose. He clamped down. She grunted in confusion, then screamed too as pain unthinkable ripped through her whole face.

Karen ran up and started pounding Jimmy with her fists. "You're killing them! Let them go! Let them go!!"

He turned to her and spat savagely, "Karen, will you fucking TRUST me for a second!?"

She was stunned by that. Mostly by the fact that he'd sounded completely rational when he said it, even though it was obvious he was straining with all his might from intense concentration. What did he mean though?

Keith was almost out of breath from screaming at the top of his lungs for so long. But then he noticed the pain was starting to ebb. Like water running down a drain, it all went away quite rapidly. All of it. Including the pain from his broken arm.

Ruby stopped screaming soon after. Jimmy released her poor nose and she reached up to touch it. The cut Kuri had given her was gone. She ran her paws over her face. *All* her cuts were gone! Not just on her face, but her whole body!

Keith held up his paw and wiggled his fingers, needing visual confirmation before he could believe the miracle. "Dang," he said.

"You're welcome," Jimmy snarked at him.

"You could've fucking *warned* me first!" Keith said.

"How was I supposed to know it'd hurt that much? I've never done this before!"

Tyler was trying to comprehend this. "Wait a minute... Beatrix is a _healer_?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yep."

Tyler twitched. This new information was making it suddenly very difficult to believe in a sane and rational universe. "You're saying that of all the people in the world, that power got wasted on HER!?"

"Ironic doesn't even begin to describe it," Jimmy said. "She's never used it once. Except on herself, of course. Just imagine, though! She could've become a world-famous surgeon, or travelled to some third-world country and become the messiah."

Brad understood perfectly. "But she didn't... Because that would have meant admitting she's a freak like us."

"Exactamundo," said Jimmy. Looking through her brains, he could see just what a sick little bunny Beatrix was. The woman's whole life was an elaborate denial mechanism. Beatrix had been been born with a head full of bad chemicals anyway, but when she'd realized she was also a freak, she drove herself into full-blown insanity fighting the idea. She was *normal*, she insisted to herself. She had to be! She worked so _hard_ at it! She was just like any other little girl in the neighborhood, not some science-lab mutant! When The Project took her, they found the unthinkable; a patient who eagerly *begged* to be rid of her abnormality. She responded so well to treatment, she was given tasks 'helping' the other patients. She excelled beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

Jimmy cocked his head at Brad. "That's an awful lot of blood on you," he noticed.

Brad stepped back, shaking his head vigorously. "Hell no! You're not putting her hands on me!!"

Tyler tried to reason with him. "Dude, she shot you in the stomach! What if you're internally hemorrhaging 'n stuff?"

Brad knew that was probably true. But *still*... The idea of those pigmentless paws touching his fur was anathema.

Jimmy approached, fingers flexing.

Brad grit his teeth and looked away. "Fine. Do it! But make it quick!"

Jimmy put his hands on Brad's shoulders.

"Wait!" Brad suddenly piped up.

"What now?" Jimmy snarked.

"Leave the ear if you can," he said. He thought about all those images of tough-guy cats with notches in their ears, and about how those wounds symbolized victory in battle. "I think I'm starting to like it. Besides, I'll get to tell everyone I got shot and survived. Instant cool points."

Jimmy shrugged. "Whatever."

Beatrix's hands tightened and Brad screamed.

Tyler couldn't help but feel a creepy parallel to what he must've looked like getting zapped the night before. He held Brad's paw while his cat friend shook and shrieked.

Brad felt like giant sewing needles were flying around inside him. He felt like his intestines were full of molten metal. He felt like miniature atomic bombs were going off in his gut.

Then it was over.

Jimmy took Beatrix's magic paws away and Brad nearly collapsed. He was shaking and panting. Tyler had to prop him up.

"Hurt, huh?" Keith said.

Brad nodded weakly.

"Feel better now?" Jimmy asked. "It was like I could 'see' your insides. You were really fucked up in there. You would've gone to bed tonight and not woken up the next morning."

"Thanks," Brad mumbled. He didn't want to die of course, but the experience had been very nearly not worth it.

Jimmy turned and saw Holly lying on the floor. "Let's see if I can do something about her."

He knelt down beside the squirrel and Tyler did too. Jimmy put his hands on Holly's forehead. "Oh, this one'll be easy. She's nearly there. She just needs a little boost." The black wolf focused Beatrix's power and gave Holly a good, solid blast of it.

Holly sputtered and jerked, coming close to sitting bolt upright before flopping back down again.

"Holly!!" Tyler shouted.

She opened her eyes and made a sound like, "...hwaaaah..."

Tyler patted her cheeks. "You're okay! You're okay!"

She grumbled like she'd just woken up with a hangover. "Did I die again? Goddammit..."

Laughing with relief, Tyler hugged her.

Jimmy stood up. "Anyone else?"

Karen, Tyler and Sherri were all mostly unscathed, save for some bruises. "I know I've only got some cuts, but I'd still rather die than let those hands touch me," Benjamin said. Victor nodded in agreement.

Jimmy made a 'suit yourself' gesture.

Karen gently poked Jimmy's shoulder. "Um, do you think you could do anything about him?"

Jimmy turned and saw where she was looking.

Dr. Jones' corpse.

He flinched. "Jesus... I have no idea." He got up and knelt down again by the otter's body. "I'll try."

Karen stood back and hoped, hands clasped together in front of her muzzle.

Jimmy put his hands on Dr. Jones. Beatrix's hands. The hands that could heal, the hands she'd never even tried to use. 'Selfish cunt,' he thought. Concentrating hard, he grunted and released her power.

The body jerked.

"He's alive!" Karen shouted.

Jimmy growled at her. "That was _me_. I moved him by accident! Just be quiet for a second and lemme do this!"

Karen backed off, hurt by his tone.

The black wolf tried again. He was using Beatrix's body like jumper cables. With each jolt, he could 'see' every inch of Dr. Jones' insides. Every nerve, every cell. He could see how extensive the damage was. He flooded the corpse with the rabbit's power, but it was a futile effort. It didn't have the man's own immune system to feed on. Growling again and again as he forced the power into Dr. Jones, Jimmy looked like a man giving CPR to someone who was beyond help.

"Fuck!!" He stood up suddenly, furious. He stood there breathing hard. The body did not move.

Karen padded over to Jimmy. "You tried," she said.

"I tried and it didn't work," he responded sourly.

"Well, you still helped me," Brad said, trying to be helpful. "You kept me from dying."

Jimmy acknowledged that with a mumble. "Can't raise the dead though. That sucks. Beatrix can save her own ass as many times as she wants, but not anyone else."

"Come on, Jimmy," Karen said. She touched his paw gently. "Let's just get out of here."

Jimmy shook her paw away. "You guys can, but I've got somewhere else to be."

Karen realized what he meant by that and was furious. "You're still thinking about the power plant! You still want to kill her!"

He fixed a hard, cold look on her. "I never *stopped* thinking about killing her."

Turning his back on her, he started heading towards the airlock.

"Jimmy, wait!" Karen ran after him.

The wolf paused, but did not turn around. "You're not going to stop me, Karen. If you try to stop me, I'll hurt you. I'll have to. Believe me, I don't want that." His tone made it clear that the discussion was over.

Karen was stunned that he'd say such a thing to her. She couldn't think of anything to say back. She felt helpless.

Blood dripping down her legs with every step, Jimmy forced Beatrix's body through the double doorways. He disappeared down the hall.

Karen stood like a stone and watched him go. Her heart was a mess.


*****


     -KAREN-

Tyler was helping Holly to her feet. She was understandably flustered. "What the frogshit is going on? Beatrix kills me, then she saves my life?"

"It was actually that ghost guy Karen's been seeing. He took over her body," Tyler explained.

Holly nodded. "Right. I thought that was it, I just wasn't sure."

Karen stared at the empty airlock. She felt lost for a moment. She pushed the feeling away with anger. Gathering herself, she turned around and faced her friends. "We have to go stop him," she said resolutely.

Tyler sneered. "Why?"

Karen growled and balled her paws into fists. "Just *because*! It's not right!"

"I can't see a damn thing wrong with it," Sherri said unexpectedly. Her voice was ice cold.

Keith nodded agreement.

Karen stamped her foot. "You *guys*!" Her frustration wasn't just because they weren't agreeing with her, but also the fact that she couldn't even come up with a reason to agree with herself. "I thought I was supposed to be the leader! I thought you were sposto do what I tell you!!" she yelled petulantly.

Holly came over to her, her expression gentle but firm as concrete. "Karen, normally we would, but Beatrix just killed Dr. Jones and shot me in the goddam face. I don't care _what_ Jimmy does to her."

"I know!" Karen shot back. "...I know. I don't care what he does to her either. I just..." She reached for it within herself, and finally understood why she felt so strongly. "I'm just worried what will happen to Jimmy. I don't want him to go to hell for being a murderer."

Benjamin snorted. "You believe in that shit?"

"SHUT UP!" she snapped at him.

He flinched, surprised by her fierceness.

Karen reached a decision. She hung her head but spoke clearly. "I don't care what the rest of you do. I'm going after him. Even if he's gone nuts, he's still my friend and I care about him." Making her heart a stone, Karen turned and walked away.

She heard footsteps behind her and then felt a paw on her arm. She jerked it away. "Don't try to stop me, Brad."

"I'm not," he said calmly. "I'm going with you."

"No you're not!" she yelled at him.

"I'm going with you," he insisted.

Karen grunted angrily. She gave him a hard, angry shove with both paws. "You just want to see him kill her, don't you? You just want to watch her die!"

Brad's expression didn't change. "So? Even if I do, I'm still coming to make sure you don't get hurt."

Karen was surprised by that, but didn't soften. She 'hmph'ed. "I'll be fine."

"I don't care, I'm still going."

They stared at each other with venom in their eyes for a moment, then Karen spun away huffily and dashed through the airlock. Brad ran after her.

"You can follow me if you want, but I'm not gonna slow down for you!" she called over her shoulder.

"You don't need to!" Brad shot back.

As her feet hit the hard stairs and her heart thudded in her chest, Karen thought back to him, 'Thank you.'


*****


     -JIMMY-

Because Beatrix's brain was at his command, Jimmy could recall all her memories as easily as his own. She was a go-kart and he was behind the wheel. It felt glorious. It felt like he was wearing her like a costume. She was trapped somewhere in his stomach, screaming and fighting but unable to get out. That was by far the best part, listening to her scream.

Because he had her memories, that meant he knew about her secret elevator. He sprinted up to the eighth floor. Running fast sent unimaginable spasms of pain through Beatrix's groin. The harder he used it, the more he kept it from being able to heal itself. Beatrix was bellowing mindlessly in torment. Jimmy chortled. Revenge was the sweetest feeling in the world.

He found the elevator easily. It was inside one of the many featureless doors along the U-shaped hallway. He typed in Beatrix's passcode and hit the lobby button.

The doors closed and machinery hummed. He tossed the gun in the corner. He didn't need it anymore.

He knew Karen would try to follow him. He knew why, too. She cared about him. He hated having to abandon her like this, but this moment had been scripted in his mind right from the start. It wasn't just a matter of getting Karen and Beatrix in the same room, he'd had to help Karen's revolution succeed first. He had to gain her trust. He knew possession would only work if she allowed him in.

He'd never dreamed it would be so easy though. The more time he'd spent with Karen, the stronger he became. First she could see him when she wasn't dreaming. Then he was able to touch Tyler with his cigarette. It was then that the idea came to him of using Karen for a bridge. It had worked so beautifully. Better than he could ever have hoped for.

He wasn't proud of how he'd acted back there. He hated the fact that he could be so cold-blooded. But punishing Beatrix was more important than sparing Karen's feelings.

Jimmy no longer cared what happened to his immortal soul. It didn't matter where he went after Beatrix died. He didn't even care if he ceased to exist. He would murder her in cold blood, and he would enjoy it. He was doing this for revenge, yes, but this was bigger than his own desires.

He would have done it for himself anyway, but thinking about all the graves this woman had filled made it a necessity.

The elevator doors opened.


*****


     -KURI & WILL-

Beyond King's Orchard was a wide green meadow. Now in the night air, the kelly grass shifted and strained under the persistent breeze. A chill breeze. One just cold enough to cut. The meadow was there not just because it looked so aesthetically pleasing in the brochure photos, but for a practical reason too. If anyone escaped, it left them no cover to run to. They could be picked off easily by tranquilizer darts as they fled.

In front of the hospital, pandemonium reigned. Police vehicle lightbars flashed everything red and blue, red and blue, red and blue. It gave the madness a kind of carnival-like atmosphere. Staff members were shouting explanations to slack-faced cops. Children were running amuck everywhere; some screaming, some singing, some fighting. One kid's hand got stepped on and she wailed like a banshee. One kid slipped off to piss on the side of the building just because he could. Dozens of kids ran off into the shadows and freedom. Others begged the police to help them find their mommies and daddies. Several looky-loos from town were clustered about, pointing at the fire on the fifth floor and wondering when the hell the firefighters were going to show up. People took pictures with their cell phones. Monsoon was busy ripping the airbag out of his steering wheel with a pocketknife so he could see out the windshield again.

Resting against the bark of a wide oak tree on the very edge of the property, Kuri and Will Rennault saw all of this. But none of it concerned them.

Will was crying. He told himself it was shameful, that this was how a baby acted, not a man. But he still couldn't help it. He couldn't take his eyes off the rushed but careful bandage job Kuri had done on his wrist. It was swelled up to the size of a softball now. It throbbed with his heartbeat, sending jabs of pain shooting down his arm every second. 

Kuri was seated right beside her brother, arm around his shoulder. While he watched his injury, she watched the hospital.

There was nothing they could do now. For starters, they had no idea where they were. They knew nothing of this part of the country. King's Orchard had been their world for so long, they didn't know where anything was beyond its walls. No doctors, no emergency rooms. They were certainly not going to get up and ask the police for help. Aside from the fact that they were both still sticky with blood, Kuri would have sooner given up her life before her blade.

Will stared at his wrist and wondered how long it would take for his hand to wither up and fall off. He wondered how he was going to live the rest of his life as a cripple. He wondered if maybe Kuri could make him a hook to wear.

Kuri's face was marble and her eyes were steel. "We could go after them, you know," she said softly. Her tail twitched.

Will was quiet for a moment. Then he sniffed back a sob and said, "No."

Kuri narrowed her eyes. "Will, they took your hand."

"No, _I_ made that choice," he corrected her. "What happened was an accident, and I gave my hand to protect you."

"Still..." A low growl came from her throat. "They're still in there, and they're not expecting us to-"

Will hissed angrily. "No, Sis! Just shut up! Leave it!"

She turned and looked him int he eye, incredulous. "How can you be defending them!?"

"I'm not," he said. "I'm just worried for you."

"Me!?"

"I'm willing to drop it but you aren't. We lost, okay? There's no shame in it. It was six against two. We *almost* won, but we didn't. I'm still alive and you're still alive. We'll manage. I don't want you to get all obsessed over this. You talk in your sleep sometimes, and I don't wanna hear you going on and on about some stupid vendetta."

She scowled, angry at how well her brother knew her. "Eat my shit, Will."

"I will if you'll shut up about this," he cracked.

Kuri was about to reply, but her ear twitched in the direction of King's Orchard. Someone was coming.

They were on their feet with weapons in hand quicker than it takes to tell it.

Will squinted. "Is that...?"

"Holy shit it is!" Kuri shouted, hope rising in her heart. "Auntie Beatrix!!"

The twins sheathed their weapons and ran to greet their protector. Everything would be alright now! Dr. Beatrix would know what to do. She always knew what to do. She'd do something about Will's hand and everything would be okay again.

"Auntie Beatrix!" Kuri called again.

The figure stopped.

"Auntie ...Beatrix?"

The rabbit had Beatrix's form and her fur, but the expression was someone else's. It gave off an air of 'who the fuck are you two?'

"It's us..." Kuri said meekly.

The figure glared. "I don't _care_ who you are. Get out of my way."

The twins exchanged a look. This was definitely not their Auntie Beatrix. Something had happened to her. Amnesia? "Did you get hit on the head or something?" Will asked.

The figure ignored them and walked right past, heading towards the power plant.

Will dashed around in front of her, brandishing his staff with his good hand. "Stop."

"You're in my way," the figure growled.

"Who are you? You don't act like our Auntie Beatrix," Kuri said from behind.

"That's because I'm not *anyone's* damn 'Auntie'! Leave me the fuck alone!!"

"You're an imposter," Will said.

"Give her back," Kuri said.

"_Now_," Will said.

The figure paused, and then it smirked. "You really want her back? You really want Beatrix Beverley back?"

"That should be abundantly clear by now," Kuri said. She poked the imposter just hard enough with her knife to make her point.

The figure grinned. "Fine."

Jimmy closed his eyes, and Beatrix opened them.

"YOU WORTHLESS, USELESS LITTLE PIECES OF SHIT!!!" she screamed.

Freed so suddenly, Beatrix didn't know which one of them to kill first. She made a lunge at Will and when he easily jumped away, she snatched at Kuri. 

"Do you have ANY idea how much goddamned MONEY we spent on you!? You were supposed to be up there *killing* them! You were supposed to protect me and The Project! What the Christ are you doing outside? What, did you join their side? I bet you did, you little traitors! I'm gonna rip your fucking tails off and make you EAT them!!"

Horror flooding their eyes, the twins stared at her as she attacked them again and again. Beatrix was swinging drunkenly and too mad to think, but murderous intent leaked out of her pores like gas. They knew if she managed to catch a handful of their fur, she'd tear their throats out.

"Get BACK here!!" Beatrix screeched. "I OWN you little fuckers! You weak, stupid, lazy FREAKS!!"

This was not a trick by the imposter. Even twisted by hate, the twins knew their Auntie's speech and body language. This was her, revealed to them for all that she truly was.

Transfixed, unable to reconcile this bloodthirsty madwoman with the mother-figure who had read them stories and said 'goodnight' to them, Kuri was frozen.

Beatrix made a lunge at her, hands outstretched to strangle...

And then she went rigid as a board. Beatrix fell face-first into the grass as if she'd been shot.

Kuri gulped. "D-did you do that?" she asked Will.

Will shook his head.

Beatrix began to get up.

The twins were side-by-side in an instant, weapons out, ready now to defend themselves properly.

But it wasn't Beatrix anymore. It was the imposter. To their shame, the kittens were relieved.

"_There's_ your Auntie Beatrix," the figure said.

Kuri felt like her life was shattering. "How? Why was she acting like that? I thought she loved us!"

For the first time, the imposter's hard expression softened. He knelt down beside Kuri at eye-level. "Listen close, kid. She has never loved you. Get it? _Never_. She's incapable of love."

Will immediately protested. "But what about all those times she was nice to us!?"

"An act," the imposter replied. "You were nothing more than two loaded pistols to her. I'm inside her now. I can see all her memories, all lined up in front of me like a poster gallery. She's never cared about you. Not for a second. All she cared about was that you were her backup plan in case things went FUBAR."

"What's that mean?" Will sniffled.

"Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition."

"That sure sounds like tonight..." Kuri admitted softly.

The imposter looked away from her at Will. "Your wrist broken?" he asked.

The kitten nodded.

The impostor sighed. "Here, lemme see it."

"What are you going to-" An unholy scream of pain ripped the night. Will was bellowing at the top of his lungs as the impostor squeezed his wrist like a grapefruit.

Kuri's blade was jammed deep in the imposter's guts in an instant. "LET HIM GO," she thundered.

The imposter showed no sign that he felt anything at all. He looked at her with mild annoyance. "It hurts for only a minute; he'll be fine."

Kuri twisted the knife. "I don't think you heard me."

"I don't think you heard ME!" the imposter shouted in her face.

Will had been roaring like a lion, but now he was mewling like the kitten he was. The pain was fading. When the imposter took Beatrix's hands away, Will stared at his wrist in amazement. He wiggled his fingertips. Good as new again. No swelling, no pain. He looked at the imposter but was too awestruck to thank him.

Kuri touched her brother's paw gently. Will didn't flinch away. His wrist was healed to perfection.

The imposter stood up. "I want you two to think about something," he said, and his tone made it clear that they'd damn well better listen closely.

They did.

"Beatrix _could_ have done that, but she didn't. I did. I don't know who the hell you are and I don't care anything about you. But I fixed your wrist. Beatrix wouldn't have done that with a gun to her head."

He loped off towards the power plant again. "She's _never_ loved you," he repeated.

Kuri and Will stood silently and watched Beatrix go. Not just her form, but their illusions of her.

Their hearts were sick and heavy.

Will massaged his wrist.

The night breeze skimmed the grass tops and sent shivers up their fur.

The twins watched Beatrix for a long time, then turned away as if given some secret signal. 

"Come on, brother," Kuri said sadly.

She took Will's paw in hers. They began to walk.

Their direction didn't matter. They were completely alone now, no matter where in the world they were.


*****


     -KEITH-

With Karen gone, there was nothing left to do but get the hell out of King's Orchard and say goodbye to it forever. It wouldn't be a good idea to be standing around in a room full of dead bodies when the cops finally showed up.

Hand in hand, Holly and Tyler led the way out the airlock and back down the stairs. Hopefully for the last, *last* time. Even though those of them with injuries had been healed and all of them felt a bit refreshed, the thought of slogging down those seven flights of steps again was torturous. They had forgotten that with the fire alarm turned off, the elevators were operational again. This turned out to be exceptionally good luck.

"Do you think Karen and Brad will be okay?" Victor asked Benjamin.

The fox shrugged. His hand was on the rail and his head was pointed down as he walked. "Maybe. I guess so. Jimmy'll probably kill Beatrix no matter what. In fact, I hope he does. Karen will be sad about it, but I'm sure she'll get over it."

Victor nodded. He couldn't think of anything to add to that. He hated Dr. Beatrix too, but his heart wasn't hard enough to want to see her dead.

"Do you smell smoke?" Sherri asked.

The others sniffed the air.

"Yeah..." Holly said uneasily.

Tyler leaned over the railing. Two floors below, he could see it. "Shit, there really *is* a fire!"

"Are we trapped!?" Victor yelped.

"I can't see yet," Tyler said.

"Good. I hope this place burns to the goddam ground," Holly said.

Tyler snarled. "That would *not* be a good thing, remember? The canisters? All the evidence in Ward Zero that'll go BOOM!?"

Holly remembered now. "Oh my god! All those coma kids are gonna die!"

Uneasily, Keith spoke up. "Maybe I can do something."

"Like what?" Holly asked.

The fox shrugged. "I dunno. I got a feeling." He turned away and started off down the stairs. The others had to hustle to keep up with him.

The smoke started to really stink a half-floor down, and past the sixth floor landing it became unbearable. Everyone was choking on it. "It's *smelly*!" Ruby whined.

Keith didn't like it either, but it wasn't affecting him anywhere near as much as the others.

"What's your plan?" Tyler asked him.

"I don't _know_!" Keith replied angrily. Before anyone could talk him out of it, he ran further down the stairs, straight into the smoke.

"He's sure got some balls," Benjamin had to admit.

The smoke stung Keith's eyes, but he kept on going. He wasn't confident at all about his idea, but not trying it would make him a coward. He thought about all the evidence that would vanish with this building if it went up in flames. Sure, they still had Benjamin's list, but it wouldn't mean much without physical proof.

The fire was obviously coming from the fifth floor. The smoke was so thick Keith could feel it on his fur; greasy, and the smell was making him nauseous. He pressed onward.

The door on the fifth floor landing had smoke oozing out of it like a black waterfall. Keith could barely see past it.

He reached for the handle. Instantly he yipped and yanked his paw away. The metal was red hot. Keith braced himself, gritted his teeth and grabbed it again. He felt his flesh sear. He pulled the door open anyway.

A wall of flame hit him like a tidal wave.

Keith shut his eyes tight. The fire was all over him, *eating* him. The heat didn't bother him, but the flame itself felt like a huge, heavy animal on his chest taking tiny chunks out of his flesh.

In desperation, he whipped his hand back like casting a fishing line. Calling the fire to him. He prayed it would work.

Like a well-trained pet, the fire obeyed.

Howling like a tornado, the fire swirled around Keith, drawn towards him like a vortex. There was so much of it, Keith didn't know if he could contain it all. He had no idea if he'd die trying. He did not break the connection though.

The fire poured into him with the force of an oncoming train. The entire ward was aflame and there was more fire inside than Keith had ever seen before in his life. It was all around him, licking at his face, turning his clothes to ash, tearing at his fur.

In a strange, terrible way, he enjoyed it. Felt a kinship with it. Even as it was tearing him to pieces.

And then it was over.

Outside, the firefighters (who had finally arrived just minutes earlier) looked at each other in slack-jawed astonishment. They'd only had the hoses turned on the blaze for two minutes, and then the flames just up and disappeared. Many a head was scratched.

Keith took in a huge breath, gulping for air. He was flat on his back on the concrete. He felt sore and raw all over. He reminded himself that that meant he was alive.

He looked through the Ginny-melted doors of Ward D's airlock. Everything was scorched to ash beyond it. The whole place was gutted, a total wreck. But there wasn't even a single burning ember left. Keith had absorbed it all.

"I did it," he said, surprised as anyone else. A puff of smoke emerged from his mouth. "Sweet."

He was still panting when his friends arrived a moment later. Tyler and Benjamin immediately helped him to his feet. "Jesus, is there anything *left* of you under all that?" Tyler gasped.

Keith looked down at himself and realized he was covered head to toe in soot. He was as black as a bear. His clothes had been reduced to cinders, so he was also buttnaked.

"I'm fine," he croaked. "I could use a glass of water though."

"And some clothes," Holly teased.

"If you want, I'll run back up and get you some," Victor offered. "Your room's number 12, right?"

Tired and uncaring, Keith waved it away. "Screw it. I'll just check on the fourth floor to see if anyone there's my size."


*****


     -KAREN-

If Jimmy had not encountered the Rennault twins, Karen and Brad would have never caught up to him in time. Sometimes fate takes interest in the lives of mortals long enough to dip her cosmic finger into our reality and give it a little swirl.

Karen hustled down the steps at a punishing pace. She forced herself not to stop until she reached the bottom. She blanked her mind and thought of nothing else but Jimmy in Beatrix's skin, and what he planned to do to her. She kept running. To her immeasurable relief, Brad stayed behind her every step of the way. Hearing his footsteps reassured her. She'd been stupid to storm off in a huff like that. She knew she'd need someone else to help her track Jimmy down and bring him back to reality. She was glad she had a friend as dependable as Brad.

By the time she'd reached the first floor, she'd burned all her anger off like the alcohol in a rum cake. She let her body's needs take over for a moment. Right that second, all Karen cared about in the whole world was the drinking fountain a few feet down the hall. She stomped the pedal and her mouth filled with orgasmically cold, clean, delicious water. Brad popped up beside her a moment later and they took turns, gulping water then gasping for breath.

When their thirsts were sated and their chinfur was soaked, they looked at each other and nodded. No apologies were needed. They were simply done being mad over something so silly. Their purpose united, they hunted for a way outside.

With the fire alarm turned off, the doors weren't sealed shut anymore. Karen and Brad exited through the same door that Clifford Markman would never use to catch a smoking break ever again. (Months from now, after the hospital declared him physically fit to stand trial, his smokes in his lawyer's office would be the last shred of pleasure left to him.)

The cool breeze wrapped around them soothingly, cooling their tired young bodies down after their long run. It ruffled their fur and made them feel energized.

Across the meadow, there was the tall, fenced-in spires of the electric plant.

Karen allowed herself a very small moment to enjoy the night air a moment longer, then started running again.

As they hustled across the flat, grassy area, they could hear all the hullabaloo behind them. By now it was a regular circus. Police and fire department vehicles ringed the parking lot. No one was talking quieter than a shout. A few reporters had shown up in a news van and were trying admirably to get a coherent story out of the patients.

Kuri and Will were far enough away by then that the closest either of them came to meeting Karen and Brad that night was a fleeting glimpse of movement in Will's eye as he looked back at King's Orchard, the only home he'd ever really known. (The two pairs would not actually meet until much later, under very, very different circumstances.)

Karen and Brad reached the fence. Karen stopped to lean against a twisted old maple a few feet away. Brad bent over and held his knees, panting hard.

"You're not gonna throw up are you?" Karen asked, concerned.

Brad just shook his head side to side. "I'm alright," he said as he straightened up.

Together they looked at the fence. It rose up into the sky, much too high to climb and topped with barbed wire to boot. Beyond it lay a wide, colorless field of gravel. Huge sun-bleached machines hummed in there. They looked like enormous drill tips, or freakishly mutated offspring of the Eiffel Tower. This place did an extremely good job at looking foreboding.

Brad took a step towards the fence.

"Wait!" Karen said. "It might be electrified." She had no idea if it was, but it seemed a plausible idea, given the location.

Brad shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll check it out." He reached out and grabbed the chain link with both paws.

Immediately, he stiffened and a look of agony came over his face. He shook like a lightning rod.

"BRAD!!" Karen screamed.

He let go of the fence and grinned at her. "April Fool's."

She gave him the Evil Eye. "You're an asshole."

He smirked, not denying it.

Karen did her best to keep scowling and not smile. She had to admit though, he'd gotten her good. And she'd been so on edge worrying about Jimmy, a bit of comic relief was much-needed at this point. "So how are we gonna get in? How did Jimmy get in, for that matter?"

"Over there," Brad said immediately.

"How do you know that?"

He pointed it out. "Just follow the blood."

Karen squinted and saw what he was talking about. She padded over to a ragged hole in the fence a few yards away. It stank of blood. Dried redness and patches of white fur were caught on the edges of the rift. It didn't take a lot of detective work to figure out that Jimmy had found a small hole and had simply forced Beatrix's body through it. After all, what did it matter to him how much pain he caused her?

Brad took hold of the bent metal and pulled it as wide open as he could. He gestured with a jerk of his head for Karen to go first.

She nodded thanks and did.

Brad squeezed through afterwards, scratching his shoulder in the process. Just bad enough to be annoying.

They were inside now. The gravel felt treacherous under their feet. Easy to slip on. Not too fun to slip and land knee-first on a bunch of tiny, dirty rocks.

"We gotta find Jimmy," Karen said.

Brad held up a paw. "I thought I heard something." He closed his eyes and his ears swiveled around like two miniature radar dishes. "I think he's over there. I heard someone talking, I think."

"Okay," Karen said.

Brad started off.

Karen touched his arm and held him back.

He swiveled around. "What?"

She hesitated. "I'm sorry I acted like a jerk to you back there."

He made a little 'feh' sound; No apology necessary. He waved her to come on so they could finally end this night.


     ~~~


They found Jimmy hunched over in the maze of electric towers, splotched all over with blood and gibbering a mile a minute to the soul he'd trapped within her own body.

Karen's foot skidded on the gravel.

Jimmy whirled around to look at them.

It was a moment that practically demanded a hard rainstorm and a flash of lightning in the background for maximum dramatic impact. But all there was was the chilly night wind.

Jimmy's eyes were full of murder. "I warned you," he said.

"Hurt me then," Karen said defiantly. She took a few steps closer, showing that she was not at all scared of him and that she wasn't going to tolerate his bullshit anymore. "Kill me. Fry me like you want to do to Beatrix. I'm not going to let you go through with it though."

Jimmy was floored for a second, then laughed a sharp, high-pitched laugh of derision. "What is your deal?" he brayed. "You're telling me you _don't_ wanna see this blackhearted bitch kick the bucket forever?"

Karen had finally come to terms with exactly that. "Of course I do. She's a horrible, evil furson and, yeah, I want her to suffer. I know it doesn't make me a bad girl to say that."

"So why can't you just leave me alone to do this?" Jimmy asked. Reasonably enough, he thought.

"Because this is about *you*," Karen said.

Jimmy stood silently for a moment. "I don't care what happens to me after I kill her, Karen. Her death is more important than I am. I'm like a bullet that kills a monster because it needs to be done, that's all."

"Bullshit!!" Karen screamed viciously.

Her anger actually startled him.

She pointed an accusatory finger at his face. "Maybe you think you're not worth anything, but I think you are! I think you're a really smart, nice guy who made me feel better about myself and made me feel confident and..." Karen realized she was crying. "And I care about you!!"

Jimmy's heart was not so stony he wasn't moved by her words just a little. "Even after I used you to get to Beatrix?"

"Of course I do. You don't stop being friends with someone just because they do one really selfish, mean thing to you."

That stung. "Karen... you don't know the whole story."

"Then tell me," the little raccoon shot back. "I've got alllll night!"

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. You're just trying to stall me. Not gonna work." He moved towards the nearest machine.

Karen ran up and jumped in front of him. "You're gonna have to kill me before I let you kill Beatrix," she growled, fierce as a lynx.

Jimmy was flatly shocked. "You're serious about this..."

"No duh," Karen said.

Jimmy pondered her behavior. "I don't GET you, Karen. Why the hell are you going on this big crusade for my soul?"

She was tired of his playing dumb. "I already told you."

Jimmy stepped back. He looked, for just a moment, remorseful. "Karen, what I showed you... was an act."

She shook her head. "I don't believe you. I trusted you; I know you're a good furson."

His eyes hardened. "Karen, I'm a goddam sociopath. We're really good at lying."

This time she _really_ refused to believe him. She shook her head. "Nope, I don't buy it. I saw on a TV show that sociopaths don't have a conscience. I _know_ you have one." She remembered how bravely he'd defended her from the legion of dead souls the night he'd given her the courage to 'broadcast'. She remembered lying with her head on his leather jacket when she was cold and tired.

Always-Jimmy-Never-James took a few more steps back, now feeling slimy disgust slither like a worm over his heart. "I was born without a conscience, Karen," he said. "I'm not lying. I'm not pulling the word 'sociopath' out of my ass. That's what the doctors called me, and they were right. You don't know a damn thing about what I used to be like. I'm GLAD you don't know. I don't want to *dirty* you by telling you the things I used to do before I was even your age. To neighborhood pets, to kids at school, to my teachers. To my own parents..."

Karen did not want to believe it, but his eyes were completely clear of madness. This was all coming from his heart.

"I don't know if the hospital contacted my parents or if they contacted the hospital. Either way, they were glad to be rid of me. I don't blame them for feeling that way. I wonder sometimes, did they feel a little relieved when they heard I'd been shot to death?" He took in a slow, deep breath. "I wouldn't blame them for that either."

As he let everything out, he began to pace a little. Karen kept her eyes on him the whole time in case this was a trick. "Being a monster never made me stupid. In fact, I was smarter than most other kids my age. I knew I was fucked up, but I also thought everyone else was some inferior species. I couldn't get why they all acted so fucking *dumb*. Of course I hated them. I felt like they weren't anything more important to me than lab experiments.

"But here's the weird thing. When The Project got their hands on me and stuck me in Safe Harbor - a place a lot like King's O, just a lot more primitive - it actually *helped* me. Not the fuckin' doctors. But the other patients.

"I was in Ward B. Same system as here: B's where they keep all the ones who are 'a danger to society'. Keith can tell you what that's like. Take prison and remove what little dignity's left; there you go. But the other kids, they didn't know shit about me. They didn't know I was a psycho. They just treated me like I was normal. Said 'Hi' to me. Asked if they could borrow cigarettes.

"At first I lashed out. I thought they were making fun of me or something. I did a lot of stupid things that would have made normal kids run screaming. These guys either laughed it off or, I couldn't fuckin' believe this, *forgave* me."

Jimmy patted Beatrix's breast, looking for a pack of cigarettes. "Dammit, I wish this bitch smoked."

He continued without a butt in his mouth, which made him feel slightly panicky. "They were *decent* to me, do you get that? I had never felt that from anyone before. They didn't know what an utter shit I was, so they didn't know any better. But after a little while, I realized I _liked_ it. I liked having people say 'Hi' to me in the halls instead of calling me a sicko. I started thinking that maybe I should try to be different. Maybe I should stop enjoying having a heart made of stone and try behaving like normal people do.

"When my friend Blade told me about his powers, and the rest of his friends showed theirs off too, I thought they were gonna beat the crap out of me when I told them I didn't have anything like that. Blade just shrugged. He said I was cool even if I wasn't like them." Jimmy fixed his gaze on Karen's. "Do you have any idea what that was like for me? To have someone not cast me out, but instead just accept me for who I was, as *fucked-up* as I was!?"

Karen thought she had a very good idea of how that felt. "It must have scared you at first, but then made you feel wonderful," she said.

Jimmy was startled by how well she'd nailed it. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And when Karen, _my_ Karen, started hanging around me and it finally got through my dense, piece-of-shit brain that she liked me, that cemented it. She was the nicest furson I'd ever met. It pissed me off that they'd put her in B with all the rest of us nutjobs. She stole some cars. So what? She was better than all of us combined. I was fuckin' _honored_ that she liked me. Of course, she was seeing stuff in me that wasn't there by a long shot. She thought I was withdrawn because I was all cool and mysterious and thoughtful, and really, most of the time I'd just been thinking about how to avoid people and escape from that shithole as soon as possible. But when she talked to me, it made me want to be that furson she thought she was seeing. Do you understand that?"

Karen nodded.

Jimmy brushed Beatrix's hair back out of his eyes. "I started going along with their treatments. Taking the tests, taking my meds, shit like that. I even borrowed some psychology books so I could read up on what was wrong with me and how normal people are supposed to act. I made myself better. I've always been proud of the fact that I could be horrified by what I'd used to be."

"Just because you were born without a conscience doesn't mean you can't grow one if you want it bad enough," Karen said wisely.

Jimmy slapped his thigh. "That's right! Totally right!" He paced some more. "I just faked kindness and unselfishness until I could do it for real. I screwed up a lot, but I was in a mental hospital anyway. None of my friends expected me to be perfect.

"So then one day Blade told us in the cafeteria that he'd put everything together and realized it wasn't a coincidence that all these kids with weird abilities were all locked up in one place. He thought the government wanted us for their own little science fair projects. Karen was the one who came up with the plan to escape, and Blade was the one who set everything up. We all agreed to it."

Jimmy's face hardened. "The night that we tried, I watched Dr. Beatrix open Blade's face like a can opener with that gun of hers."

He looked pained now, like he was having a heart attack. "I watched it happen, but I hadn't done a good enough job fixing myself by then. All I could think about was saving my own ass.

"I ran away. And Beatrix killed me for it."

Jimmy took a sudden, angry step towards Karen and shouted in her face. "NOW are you starting to get it? Now are you starting to understand why I don't care about anything else in this world other than making sure this cold-blooded cunt dies? She killed my friends and I couldn't stop that from happening because I was _weak_. I don't give a flaming rat's *ass* that she murdered me; I fucking deserved it for being such a coward. But dammit, I have another chance now! I have another chance to stop her before she kills anyone else!!"

Jimmy's tone was desperate, begging her to understand and give him her blessing so he could finally live out this moment he'd spent ten years suffering for. But Karen couldn't do that. "I understand, Jimmy. I really do. I hate Beatrix, Brad hates Beatrix, we _all_ hate Beatrix. She's a horrible, horrible monster that needs to go away forever. But Jimmy... I don't want you to die with her. I don't want you to kill yourself because you're still mad you made a mistake back then."

He snorted. "It wasn't a 'mistake'. I ran when I should have stayed and fought. People died because of me."

"_Wrong_," Karen said fiercely. "They died because Beatrix killed them, not you. What if you _had_ stayed and fought? What if she'd blown two holes in the front of your head instead of the back? You'd *still* hate yourself for not doing enough! You're acting like a total idiot, Jimmy!!"

Out of the blue, a part of him suggested quite rationally that he could indeed just believe her words and end this now without killing himself. But that was the easy way out, he insisted. He needed to be punished for his failure, just like Beatrix did. "No. I'm sorry, Karen, but I've spent ten years thinking about this. Nothing you can say will stop me from going through with it."

She didn't believe him. Karen knew Jimmy wanted to forgive himself and let go. She understood so much about him now that he'd finally told her all this. She wondered if it explained why he couldn't get rid of his eternal pack of cigarettes. Perhaps they were symbolic of his constant, unending punishment of himself. "Whatever you did back then is the past. You've redeemed yourself. You helped me and my friends escape. It's over now, Jimmy. You won."

He snarled, trying hard not to listen to her. "Where was I when you needed me most though, huh? In the quiet room when Thurston was trying to rape you, or down in Ward Zero when Beatrix had a gun? Where the fuck was I!? I was standing there watching, waiting for my chance to get you and Beatrix in the same room. I was only thinking of myself!!"

Karen glared angrily at him. "Screw you, Jimmy."

"See, you're pissed at me!"

"No, dammit!" she corrected. "I'm angry that you think I *needed* your help! That's an insult. You helped me find my confidence, and I'm grateful for that, but I'm NOT HELPLESS!" she shouted, her voice strong as an angel's trumpet. "I got out of both those situations just fine, without your help. I might've appreciated it if you'd offered, but I never _needed_ it."

Jimmy was, frankly, awed. How could this be the same Karen he'd met under the streetlamp just a few nights ago? He couldn't help but smirk. "Okay, okay. Fair enough. You're far from helpless, Karen."

"Damn right. I chose not to be a victim anymore, just like you can choose not to hate yourself anymore. If you've got the guts."

That was a deliberate low blow. But an effective one. Jimmy decided to end this quickly before she could say anything more to sway him. "I'm making my choice, Karen," he said calmly.

He stepped towards the machinery again. "I'm making it right now."

"Jimmy, damn it!!" Karen screamed.

"Wait," said Brad.

Brad had hung back and kept silent until now, respecting that Karen had this under control. He hated to steal the spotlight from her, but he had something of his own to add.

Jimmy sighed theatrically and ran a hand up the side of his face. "Jesus, Brad! You're gonna join in now too!?"

The tomcat nodded. "You can't kill Beatrix," he said serenely, like he was stating a scientific fact.

Jimmy laughed. "Have you not been listening? Have Karen and I not already had this conversation!? Fine. Fine! I can wait a few more seconds. What is it, Brad? Why can't I fucking zap this bunny's brains to dust, huh? Tell me why!"

Brad was unruffled. "Because if you kill her right here and now, it'll look like we did it," he gestured at Karen and himself. "And The Project will hunt us down and murder the hell out of us."

Jimmy's jaw dropped.

Karen was stunned. All her arguments rendered moot in two sentences! She was reminded of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot.

Jimmy opened his mouth to argue with that. "Wuh... Wait... No... Um..." He tried a dozen different arguments in his head.

"FUCK!!" he said finally, giving up.

Brad smirked. His record remained intact. Undefeated.

Karen began to smile too. She looked at Jimmy with a flagrantly 'I told you so' grin. "That's right, Jimmy. If you go ahead and do it, they'll find her smoking corpse and probly all sortsa evidence we were here. Fur or fingerprints or something. They'll do it; they'll track us down and shoot us in our sleep. Now wouldn't that be awfully _selfish_ of you?" she said with a giggle.

He glared at her. "You don't have to rub it in."

Karen *beamed*.

With an angry rumble in his throat, Jimmy started walking back towards the hole in the fence, his angst-bubble thoroughly popped. "You won. Happy?" he spat at Brad.

Brad nodded. "Yup."

Jimmy mumbled and swore under his breath. "Goddamned unassailable logic..." He patted Beatrix down again and came up empty-handed. "*Jeezus*, I wish this bitch smoked!"


*****


     -MONSOON-

The mountain was sitting in the driver's seat, trying and finally succeeding in getting the engine to turn over, when the stairwell doors opened and a miracle walked out into the lobby.

"Monsoon!" Tyler shouted. He looked around at the amazing mess of the lobby. "Holy balls! Did you do all this?"

"TYLER!?" Monsoon roared. He was out of his SUV in a heartbeat and had his arms wrapped around the boy a second later.

"Cripes, leggo!" Tyler gasped. "I've already been dead, I didn't like it!"

Relieved, astonished, befuddled and relieved some more, Monsoon put the boy down. "You were in Ward Zero!"

Holly strolled up. "Karen found his spirit in the TV set and she 'n Brad put him back together again," she explained.

Monsoon twitched. "I sort of understood that."

Rubiella was the last one out of the stairway. "Moosoo!!!" she suddenly exploded. She charged over like a freight train. "Give kiss! Give kiss! Give kiss!"

Monsoon was more than happy to. He covered her furry cheek in kisses. "I looked all over for you guys! I wondered where you were especially, Rubykitten. Normally, you're pretty easy to spot in a crowd," he gently teased.

She giggled.

"Sweet ride," Benjamin assessed, running a paw along a shiny black bumper of Monsoon's SUV.

"Thanks. I think she'll make it out of here too."

Holly had a fantastic idea. "Will it seat six passengers?" she asked eagerly.

Monsoon smirked. "You bet your fur."

"Excellent! You see, we just kinda killed Thurston and drove off Beatrix's security guards and Brad and Tyler both killed Beatrix a few times but she came back to life and now she's possessed by some ghost friend of Karen's and he's probably gonna kill her - Beatrix, not Karen - so I figure The Project's gonna want to assassinate all of us pretty damn soon and it would be really, really great if you could take us all to a motel or something for the night."

Monsoon blinked. "I heard 'we killed Thurston' and everything's a blur after that."

"We had to," Keith said defensively. "He was gonna rape Karen!"

Monsoon closed his eyes for a second as rage very nearly overwhelmed him. "You didn't even have to tell me that, Keith. I would have been fine with it anyway. That man is scum."

"_Was_ scum," Holly gleefully pointed out.

"How'd he die?" the mountain asked.

"Ruby picked him up and slammed him into a wall head-first. She turned his spine into an accordion," Tyler reported with gusto.

Monsoon looked at Ruby. "Really?"

Shyly, she nodded.

He hugged her. "Good girl!!"

Ruby purred.

"So, what about the motel idea?" Holly asked.

The mountain nodded. "No problem. I should have come back here to help you kids sooner. It's the least I can do."

"What about Brad and Karen?" Victor pointed out.

"Where are they?" Monsoon asked, suddenly worried.

"Remember I said Beatrix's possessed? They're all over at the power plant trying to convince Jimmy not to kill her," said Holly.

Monsoon paused a second. "...Why?"

"That's what I said!" Sherri piped up.

Monsoon opened the passenger door. "Well, hell. Climb on in. Let's go look for them."

"I call shotgun!" Tyler and Holly shouted at the same time. They stared each other down.

"Can you even *fit* in a single seat?" Tyler quipped.

Holly gave his tail a very hard yank.

Tyler giggled. "You're so damn cute when I piss you off!"

Sherri remembered something and tapped Benjamin on the shoulder. "Do you still have that list of names?" she asked.


*****


     -SHERRI-

While the others drove off in search of cat and 'coon, Sherri stayed behind to deliver Benjamin's important envelope. They'd promised they would come back for her as soon as Brad and Karen were with them.

For a scant second, Sherri realized she could simply run away right now, find a pay phone, and call her parents collect to come pick her up. But no. She had a job to do. Her friends were counting on her. That was an almost completely foreign sensation to Sherri, and she decided it merited further study. At least, that was what she told herself. She wasn't quite ready to admit how fascinating it felt to be part of a group and how much she wanted the feeling to continue.

Invisible and clutching the big envelope tightly to her chest, Sherri wandered around amidst the chaos in front of the hospital. People were scurrying aimlessly all around her. She casually dodged them. She was looking for someone who seemed trustworthy and levelheaded. She didn't know exactly what to look for, but figured she'd know it when she saw it.

...And there it was.

On the edge of the parking lot was a police car with a lanky coyote in a sheriff's hat leaning up against it, arms crossed and eyes alert. He had a big nose but was still roguishly handsome. He was hanging back, watching the show, knowing that he couldn't start a proper investigation until this mess had calmed down a bit (In reality, he was thinking about his wife's ass. But Sherri didn't know that).

The coyote's partner was a fat wolverine who was currently eating fried chicken out of a greasy box. He looked up, drumstick halfway to his mouth, and saw Sherri. "Hey Bill, there's a kid."

"I have eyes," he shot back. The sheriff then turned and tipped his hat to the young bunny. "Evening, little ma'am."

Sherri nodded politely. "Hello. Are you honest and incorruptible?"

The sheriff smirked. "I'm Bill Pardy," he said, as if that explained everything.

His partner guffawed and got chicken residue all over the front seat. "Haw! Pardy's such a goody-two-shoes, he wouldn't even steal second base!"

Bill didn't lose an ounce of composure. "Now that is really hilarious, Gus. Tell me, do you have a bunch of Emmy-winning sitcom writers following you around all the time, supplying you with great material like that?"

Gus glared at his partner. "You're a dick, Pardy."

The coyote spread his hands: 'I am who I am.'

Sherri thought this guy seemed suitable. She held the envelope out to him. "Here."

He took it. "What's this?"

"Something really important," she said, deadly serious. "Guard it with your life."

Pardy chuckled. He figured it must be some crayon doodles or something. This kid had come out of a nuthouse after all. He opened the envelope and looked inside. He was surprised by the contents. "John Edison Germaine..." His brow furrowed. "Who the heck is John Edison Germaine?"

Gus looked over, crumbs in his mustache. "What is that?"

Pardy pulled out the list and looked at it closer. He hadn't realized the stack of paper was so thick. "Names. It's a gigantic list of names. It goes on for pages like this. 'Alice Marianne White', 'Luther Thomas Goodchild', 'Charles Oscar Blackwing', 'Enzo Luigi Scapaldi'... All these dates are from the thirties." He riffled the paper. "And the forties, the fifties, the sixties..." He came to the last name. "'Tyler Phillipe Lorenzo'. Added just last night. What the hell IS this?"

He looked up, and the parking lot was empty.

He scanned it with his sharp eyes, looking everywhere for the little girl. "Where'd she go, Gus?"

"I didn't see her leave."

The coyote whacked him on the head with the list. "Your skull's as empty as my refrigerator was in college."

Gus 'harrumphed' and went back to his chicken.

Bill Pardy scowled and looked at the names again. "Whatever this is, I'm not gonna be able to sleep until I find out," he muttered, all kidding aside.

Hidden from his eyes only a few feet away, Sherri smiled. She'd made a good choice.


*****


     -ALF-

As Alf the erstwhile cook finally saw King's Orchard looming up out of the darkness through his windshield, he saw something else so brain-meltingly impossible, he stared for nearly fifteen seconds before he could believe it.

Brad and Karen were walking along together with Beatrix beside them.

A flash of unthinking rage overcame the fox. He pounded the horn and drove his little red car straight off the road, directly at the woman who had ruined his life.

As if the situation wasn't bizarre enough, Beatrix turned, saw the car, and didn't run.

And even more confusing, Brad and Karen jumped in front of the rabbit to protect her!

Alf braked and jumped out of the car. "Get away from them!!" he screamed at Beatrix.

"Hi, Alf," Jimmy said casually.

"It's not Beatrix!" Karen tried to explain. "Okay, it's her body, but this is Jimmy; he's my ghost friend. Beatrix killed him ten years ago and he's possessing her!"

Coming from Dr. Beatrix's lips, Alf never would have believed it. Coming from Karen however.... The fox hesitated. "You're okay?" he asked Karen, needing to be sure. "She doesn't have a gun pointed at you that I can't see, or something like that?"

Karen shook her head. "Everything's fine now, Alf. It's all over." She smiled brightly. "I'm _really_ glad to see you though!"

"Me too, Karen." Alf finally allowed his guard to drop. He came over and gave Karen a gentle hug. He had no bad thoughts when it happened, and did not feel guilty this time.

Brad came up and gave the blue-haired fox a smile too. "I never got to thank you for the cell phone. Sorry you got Beatrix'ed for it."

Alf chuckled at the idea of the doctor as a verb. "No problem. I took this job in the first place to make life not so sucky for you kids."

He stood up and looked over the white rabbit before him. It was Beatrix's body, but none of her body language. "So... You're really not her?"

Jimmy put his paw out. "Always-Jimmy-Never-James. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Shrugging, Alf shook the paw.

Brad had a devilishly good idea. "You know, Alf, Jimmy's in total control of her. He can hurt her as much as he wants and can't feel any of it himself."

It took Alf a second to get what Brad meant by that, but then he grinned ear to ear. "So, Mr. Always-Jimmy-Never-James, you wouldn't mind then if I, say, ...punched her right in the face?"

Jimmy grinned too. "Not at all, my good man."

Karen couldn't see anything wrong with it. "Go for it, Alf!" she cheered.

Filled with unthinkable glee and grinning like the Cheshire cat, Alf drew back his fist and slammed it into Beatrix's face with every iota of strength in his body. Blood flew from her nose and she crumpled in a heap on the grass.

"That's for showing me those photos!!" he screamed.

He radiated with vengeful merriment a moment, then looked concerned. "Jimmy? You okay?"

The black wolf giggled as he got back up. "I'm fine! Can't say the same for Beatrix, though. She's howling right now."

Alf nodded. "Good."

Karen patted his paw. "Great job, Alf."

"How'd it feel?" Brad asked.

"Better than anything in my whole life."


     ~~~


Not long after, Monsoon's SUV and Alf's little red Japanese whatsit nearly bumped noses on the road between the hospital and the power plant.

Everyone got out and lots of hugs were exchanged. Monsoon and Alf shook hands, each glad to finally know for certain that the other wasn't on Beatrix's side. Holly and Tyler were happy that Brad and Karen had succeeded, and only mildly disappointed that Beatrix was still alive. Brad asked Keith why he'd changed clothes and the fox didn't tell him a damn thing. The kids all did their best to fill in everything that had happened for the benefit of the grownups. Alf and Monsoon needed a little help believing some of it at first (Brad did his head-spin trick again and Alf nearly jumped over Monsoon's SUV), but once they learned of all the suffering the poor kids had gone through, they pledged to do everything in their power to help them. Both the mountain and the blue-haired fox were devastated to hear about Dr. Jones. Neither of them felt any remorse whatsoever for Thurston Caercase. Holly told Karen about her motel idea and Alf agreed strenuously with it. Tyler asked if they could stop at a Big Kahuna Burger on the way, since he was so hungry he could eat a chunk of fried Beatrix. Most of the other kids were equally in need of nourishment. Monsoon and Alf checked their wallets, found they had plenty between the two of them, and agreed. Then Benjamin remembered Sherri and they all drove off to pick her up.

(While in transit, Jimmy remembered something important he'd stumbled across while combing Beatrix's memory. To Tyler's considerable relief, Jimmy told him that Beatrix had been bluffing about the sterility-causing agent in the drinking water. Not only would there be no way to keep the staff from going barren too, but The Project had found absolutely no evidence that special powers were hereditary. Brad, who had only heard part of that, leaned over and said, "Wait, WHO'S trying to screw around with my balls!?")

When Sherri was retrieved and the two grownups were ready to see the last of King's Orchard forever, Jimmy said a final goodbye to Karen. He said he had some business to attend to; an idea he'd had that made him suddenly very grateful to her and Brad for talking him out of killing Beatrix. He told them what it was and they all giggled devilishly. It was perfect.

Karen gave Jimmy a long hug. "Thanks," she said.

"I should be thanking you," he said softly.

"How about we both thank each other and that's that?" she said.

"Sounds good to me." He hugged her tight, then stepped away. "If I ever get the chance, I'll drop by your dreams sometime," he promised.

Karen smiled sadly, knowing that might not ever happen. But there was always hope. "I'd like that, Jimmy."

"See ya," he said. Waving with Beatrix's arm, he walked off, back towards the hospital.

The others were bundled up in Monsoon's SUV where Sherri was telling everyone about the nice sheriff she'd given the list to. Karen and Brad were sitting together in the front seat of Alf's car.

As the fox drove away, Karen watched King's Orchard get smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror...


*****


     -JIMMY-

Always-Jimmy-Never-James looked around at all the people gathered in front of the hospital. He spotted what he was after; a nice little bunch of cops.

They were standing by their squad cars, swapping stories, trying to build a picture of what had happened that made sense. They'd gotten almost nothing but conflicting reports so far.

Jimmy walked up to them. "Hi there!" he said politely. "I'm Dr. Beatrix Beverley, director of the hospital. I'm a complete psychopath and I've killed dozens and dozens of children. I'm ready to tell you every last disgusting detail of my crimes, but first I'm about to do something incredibly stupid."

Stunned by this confession-out-of-nowhere, the officers couldn't react in time to stop Jimmy from kicking one of them square in the nuts.

They reacted just fine *after* that though.

As a hail of fists and billy clubs rained down upon Beatrix's body, Jimmy tried hard to keep the smile off her face.


*****


     -KAREN-

It was over now.

Finally, this horrible, endless night was over. This whole hellish _week_ was over. Despite a lot of pain and a lot of blood, all of her friends had come through more or less alright. Karen sat in the passenger seat of Alf's car, sandwiched between her cat and fox friends, and smiled proudly.

'You did it,' her inner voice told her.

'I sure did,' Karen was happy to reply.

The motor of Alf's car hummed soothingly. It was a very quiet car. Brad yawned.

Alf stared ahead at the road, following Monsoon's license plate. They'd decided that, after they picked up some chow, they'd head to a motel near a major intersection that they both knew of. They weren't sure how two men requesting a room for themselves and nine children would look to the motel staff, but if anyone asked, they'd claim it was a school-related field trip.

"What now?" Brad asked Karen, unable to keep the sleepiness out of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

He sat up and stretched a little. "Like, where do we go from here? There's three other hospitals like this out there. The Project's not gonna let us go this easy. What do we do?"

Karen shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out as we go along."

Brad nodded. "We're probably going to have to stay out of sight for a while."

She nodded, then realized what he'd left unsaid. "I'm sure if you call your mom, she'll come out and help us stay hidden."

Brad smiled a little. That was certainly true. He wanted to see his mom again more than anything else, and he was sure she'd do everything in her power to help them once they explained the situation. Especially since she hated Dr. Beatrix anyway. "Yeah, maybe all our parents can help out. Like an Underground Railroad kinda thing."

"Well... not everyone's parents," Karen said. "Mine won't. In fact, I'm thinking of calling them up as soon as we find a pay phone and telling them that they can sleep like babies forever because I never want to come home again!"

Brad chuckled approvingly and gave her a shoulder nudge of encouragement.

She smiled at him. Getting back to the problem at hand though, Karen thought about the other moms and dads. "Tyler's will probably. They sound nice. And Keith's, and Ruby's. Holly's parents are a _definite_ no."

The tomcat couldn't argue with that.

"Benjamin's mom might, if she can get his dad out of the picture. I dunno about Victor's dad. And Sherri's parents are a maybe."

"Monsoon'll stick with us," Brad said with certainty.

"I will too," Alf added.

Karen giggled. "Well, we already know that!" she said, and hugged him.

Alf felt a small pang of guilt then. Not about himself, but for Karen. It wasn't right for him to let her keep thinking he was just a normal, everyday nice guy. He had to be honest with her. And if she was horrified by what he said, he'd pass Monsoon, stop his car, let Karen and Brad get in with them, and never bother her again.

He couldn't look at her directly. He glanced in the rear view mirror, then locked his eyes on the road. "Karen, I..."

She looked up and made a little 'What?' sound.

"I have a secret I've been hiding from you. A bad secret. I'm a bad furson. Well, sometimes... I'm trying to get better though."

She was confused and concerned. "What do you mean?"

He was trembling. He cared about Karen, about all the children, deeply. He hated the idea of them fearing him, but lying to them to keep it from happening was simply wrong.

"Sometimes..." he said, his voice wavering. "I have these thoughts. Evil ones. Ones I've been trying to get rid of for years. Karen, I..." It was damned near impossible to just come out and say it, but he did. "...sometimes I'm like Thurston Caercase."

Karen smiled knowingly. She leaned over and rested her head on the fretful fox's shoulder. "Alf, you're _nothing_ like Thurston Caercase."

The fox was so touched by her words, the car swerved a little. He blinked back a tear. "No, no, Karen, you don't understand. I mean..."

She interrupted him. "I don't care what kind of thoughts you have, Alf. Everyone has bad thoughts sometimes. I know you'd never act on them, so I trust you."

He smiled, his heart feeling big as the world. He turned his head for just a moment to see that her smile was genuine. "Really?"

She nodded.

Brad laughed a little. "Plus, if you do, we can always have Ruby beat the crap out of you."

Alf laughed out loud. "Yeah, okay. That's acceptable."

There was a small sound from the backseat then. Everyone looked up in the mirror and was surprised to see ten tawny fingers appear on their seat backs, followed by two gigantic ears.

"Zeek!?" Brad shouted. "How the hell did you get in here?"

The little fennec brushed some sleep dirt from his eyes. "The voice in my head told me to go outside and wait behind a bush for a little red car to pull up. It did, and then it said for me to crawl in the back, hide myself, and get some sleep."

"Sorry I woke you up then, little guy," Alf said. He reached back over the seat for a handshake. "I guess ten kids'll fit in a big enough motel room as well as nine."

"Did the voice tell you why you were supposed to come with us?" Brad asked.

Zeek paused for a moment. Street lights reflected in his pale blue eyes. "You're gonna need a lot of money to hide from The Project," he said absently.

True enough, but Brad didn't see the significance of that statement. "Yeah?"

Coming up on the road was a small convenience store. Zeek pointed it out to Alf. "I think I'm about to tell you to pull in there and buy a lottery ticket."


*****


END OF BOOK FIVE