The Military Camp

Drums and Guitars filled Monkey’s ears as he charged at one of the guards, the lyrics finally began to the song. “Don't want to be an American idiot! Don't want a nation under the new mania! And can you hear the sound of hysteria? The subliminal mind -bleep- America!”

The dog-boy swung his makeshift staff at the first soldier. The man blocked the first swing with his right arm, and the second with his left arm. The attacker grunted and swung directly upward, hitting the soldiers chin and making him fly back and fall to the ground unconscious.

It was dark now and the floodlights that had been installed were turned on and aimed at Monkey. He swore under his breath and hoped Zo was successful with her part of the plan.

“Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alien nation. Where everything isn't meant to be okay. Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. For that's enough to argue.”

Two more soldiers ran at the Monkey, one swung a combat knife at him. He jumped back, knocked it out of the guy’s hand with his staff, then bopped him on the head. The soldier collapsed while his comrade took his place. Instead of aiming at his attacker, the soldier swung under, hitting the staff with a clank. He twisted his arm and knife, taking the staff with him and disarming Monkey.

“Well maybe I'm the sound of America. I'm not a part of a redneck agenda. Now everybody do the propaganda. And sing along to the age of paranoia.”

Monkey backed away as the soldier brandished his knife. The dog boy chucked and grabbed one of the baseball bats that he had and swung it at the man’s stomach. With a satisfying “Urg” the man fell to the floor.

Monkey smiled, so far everything was going to plan on his part, he just had to wait for Zo’s signal. His concentration was broken when he heard the “ka-click” of a gun. He turned around to see several soldiers with firearms. He said another profanity under his breath and ran the other way.

“Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alien nation. Where everything isn't meant to be okay. Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. For that's enough to argue.”

---

The Cell

Ayane’s ears kept twitching, something was going on, but she wasn’t sure what. All she knew was in all the panic outside, this was the perfect time to escape. She tapped the bars to her cell and took a deep breath. She grabbed the bars and attempted to bend them. After a bit they started to buckle, not meant to withstand a creature with twice the size and strength of a human. Ayane’s ears twitched again as a device on the wall started to beep and electricity was sent through the bars, shocking her and making her let go.

“Do you think escape would be that simple,” The man with the high rank uniform asked, walking in the room, “After that… incident yesterday, we have full knowledge of your strength and speed. ” He paused and tapped the bars, “These have enough power to stop a Rhino! I’m sure it’s enough to stop you.” He looked at her with a ‘check mate’ look and continued, “…but what I fail to understand is why you freaks were here in the first place?”

Ayane didn’t respond, but bit her tongue at the freaks comment.

“Oh, give it up! We know you freaks can talk! We even have a report of you talking to a civilian, something about looking for a friend?” He waited to see if the creature would respond, but it didn’t. “…tell me, he didn’t happen to have dog ears? Did he?”

Ayane’s eyes widened and in the back of her head she yelled with delight, ‘MONKEY!’

“So you do know it? Well I have a deal for you. Make it stop and we wont have to kill it.”

Ayane looked down at the floor and thought…

“So what’s your answer?” The creature sighed and looked back up at him. “Well?”

The creature said something in reply, but it wasn’t in English. She replied in a language that sounded German or Swedish. The man grunted and walked into the other room. When he entered, the guard that watched the monitors looked at him.

“Sir,” He asked confused.

“What is it,” The General replied.

“If you don’t mind me asking sir, what did she say?”

The General chuckled a little and answered, “Old military technique for when captured. It’s a meaningless phrase meant to confuse your captors when interrogated…”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” He said, approaching the monitor that showed the dog-freak being chased by soldiers, “That these things are smarter than we thought…”

---

The Military Camp

“Please be tranq’ rounds,” Monkey repeated over and over as he ran from three soldiers firing semi-auto machine guns. He jumped into the forest, hidden behind a bush. The gunfire stopped and he peeked up… the tree to his right exploded into bits of wooden shrapnel and Monkey ducked back down screaming, “…those are real rounds!” and was about to run for it but something kept him from doing so and urged him to go back. He wasn’t sure what, but he assumed it was his music as the song changed. He turned around, bat in hand, and jumped over the plants and back into the battle. One of the soldiers shot at him, and the entity that guided him told him to dodge left. He obeyed and swung his bat at the soldier, knocking the weapon out of his hands.

“Yeah here we go for the hundredth time. Hand grenade pins in every line. Throw 'em up and let something shine. Going out of my fucking mind!”

Monkey ran behind the disarmed soldier as the two others shot at him. They hit their comrade, knocking him down, but thankfully for them his body armor had protected him.

“Filthy mouth, no excuse. Find a new place to hang this noose! String me up from atop these roofs. Knot it tight so I won't get loose.”

Monkey ran left and right at the other two soldiers, thankful for the guidance he was given. He swung at one soldier, hitting the side of his helmet, the man fell down.

“Truth is you can stop and stare. Bled myself out and no one cares. Dug the trench out laid down there. With a shovel up out of reach somewhere. Yeah, someone pour it in.
Make it a dirt dance floor again. Say your prayers and stomp it out When they bring that chorus in!”

As the main verse of the song kicked in, Monkey was shot in his left dog ear. He still ran towards to the other shoulder, not flinching in pain, or screaming, or even bleeding for that matter. He let the music control him and swung at the remaining soldier.

“I bleed it out digging deeper just to throw it away. I bleed it out digging deeper just to throw it away.…”

Monkey looked down at the floor and smiled. With the momentary peace he picked up one of the soldiers’ rifles.

---

Behind a Humvee

Zo caught her breath, hidden behind the shadow of a sleeping metal beast like the ones she had seen before. Although it was easy to stay undetected, considering how effective Monkey was as a distraction, Zo’s main problem was not to get stepped on. Humans were running all over the place! She sighed and continued her mission, not worried about Monkey… that much anyway. She assumed as long as she still heard explosions in the air, Monkey was still alive.

She looked all around the military base, looking for the object Monkey had told her to find… unfortunately to her… she did find it.

“Oh, hell,” Zo said with a gulp, looking up at the behemoth of a machine. It was about the height of those metal boxes, but half the width. It had a few vents that let out smoke, and several devices and wires attached to it. What Zo noticed the most about it was it constantly rumbled like a never ending earthquake. She gulped once more, “S…so…that’s a generator…” She took out her dagger and jumped up onto a vent. She coughed a bit and covered her mouth with her ninja mask. “…her goes nothing,” She lied to herself and climbed inside. She could have cut the wires to get her task done… but if she did, they would electrocute her… and to such a small being it would definitely kill her…. Then again, electrocution seemed much more peaceful than the giant gears of death and giant furnace that were within the machine.

---

Back at the battle

Five more soldiers ran towards Monkey and were greeted with a maniacally howling dog-boy. He raised his gun with an evil grin.

“..I bleed it out, Go stop the show. Choppy words and a sloppy flow. Shotgun opera lock and load. Cock it back and then watch it go.”

Monkey aimed and fired several rounds at the soldiers. They either hit their body armor or the ground where the soldiers were standing. He just made sure to scare them off and not hurt them. As they retreated, he backed away, smiling.

“Mama help me I've been cursed. Death is rolling in every verse. Candy paint on his brand new hearse. Can't contain him he knows he works.”

As Monkey snuck away, he bumped into something and turned around. He had bumped into one of four more soldiers, which made the dog-boy scream. He jumped back and pulled the trigger. His machine gun only made a “Klick …klick klick” sound. Monkey smiled sheepishly and backed away, dropping the gun.

“Your freak life is gonna be a living hell after this,” One of the soldiers said, cracking his knuckles. The others laughed and kept their guns aimed up at their target. The entire camp was now eerily quiet.

“…this hurts, I won't lie. Doesn't matter how hard I try. Half the words don't mean a thing, and I know that I wont be satisfied, so why try ignoring him? Make it a dirt dance floor again. Say your prayers and stomp it out, when they bring that chorus in!”

“What’s that,” The soldier asked ticked, just barely hearing Monkey’s music. He noticed the wire attached to the left side of Monkey’s head and yanked it off. He looked at the headphone confused, then looked back at the dog creature’s headband. He pulled it off and two human ears were revealed. His dog ears fell off onto the ground. The soldier watched and then looked at the creature’s paws. He grabbed one of them and pulled it. The fur came off as well as the claws, like a Halloween glove. “…this one’s a human…”

Kevin laughed nervously and walked back. The soldiers followed with deadly glares. “heh…heh…funny thing about that,” Kevin said backing away, “…I’m going to jail, aren’t I?”

“You wish,” One of the soldiers replied.

---

The Cell

Ayane pulled against the bars with all her strength, after a few seconds the bars began to electrocute her. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming and kept at it… but she finally let go and fell back, smoke drifted from her paws. As she caught her breath, she laid down and relaxed. “I guess it’s up to Monkey….” She stared at the ceiling… and swore under her breath.

---

The Cages

“This is cruel and unusual punishment,” Hero yelled  at the near empty room. With no response, he fell back against the bare, plastic floor of his cage.

“Giv it up,” Phyre yelled from the other cage. They had been separated, and everything in the cages had been removed to make sure there was no chance of escape. “It’s hopeless,” Phyre said as she sat down, curled up.

“You ok Phyre,” Hero asked, not hearing the usual, happy disposition of his friend‘s voice.

“No I’m not ok,” She replied near crying, “We’re trapped like…us…”

“So,” Hero replied, “We’ve been captured before.”

“Yeah, but not like this! This place feels cold… I’m never cold! I need something to hug!”

Hero sighed, not sure how to reply. Their cages were about a half a foot apart so there was no hope for him to even try to grab on to his girlfriend’s hand. “…we’ll find a way out somehow…”

---

The Generator

Zo stared at the main gear, sweating from the smoke that formed inside the machine… as well as the fear of this thing. It was easily twice her size and made cranking sounds as it spun. She tightened the grip on her dagger and reached for the screw that held it the gear together. She needed to be on her tip-toes to reach it and used her dagger like a screw driver. She twisted it about ten times, before the screw started to shake uncontrollably. With an “Eep” Zo ran off as the gear began to fall apart.

“Time to go,” Zo said as she ran faster. The gear fell to the floor with a loud thud, and started to roll towards her. It made rumbling sounds as it rolled, which got louder as the giant wheel got closer. Zo leaped towards the vent she had entered from and hit the ledge of the vent opening. She held on with one hand, pocketed her knife, and climbed up. As the gear was just about to reach her she jumped off and onto the floor. The gear collided into the wall, with a horrifying sound to anyone was unfortunate enough to hear it.

Tap!

The machine continued to make rumbling noises, but the other lights around the base started to flicker.

---

The Military Camp

“Alright kid,” The soldier barked, “Nice and easy, take the bats, and put ‘em on the floor.” Kevin sighed and grabbed one in each hand. The soldiers raised their rifles. “Don’t try anything funny or your gonna get a face full of lead.” Kevin nodded, and noticed the lights were starting to flicker. He couldn’t stop the grin on his face. “What are you smiling about?”

“Oh… just happy for how awesome my friends are,” He replied as the lights went out, the entire camp was dark.

“Hey, what’s going on!?”

There were a few “biff” and “clunk” noises, followed an “Ugh” sound. Some gunshots, and then a few more “biff noises.” which were followed by more “Ugh” sounds. The entire area was quiet and dark. Then a small square light started glowing and bobbing towards the main trailer/building.

---

The Security Room

With subject two and three separated, and subject one no longer trying to open the bars, it was pretty quiet… then the lights went out.

“What the,” One of the guards said.

“The lights,” Another yelled.

“Someone, get the emergency power going,” The voice of the General boomed.

After a minute or two, a red light filled the room as well as the other rooms. The security screens were full of static, but then cleared up and the pictures were back up. The guards looked back at their screens and one finally said in a nervous voice, “uh…sa….sir…you may want to see this.”

“Good god,” He replied, pushing the man aside, “What the hell is so damn importa…” He stopped when he saw the ripped open holding cell for subject one. “oh hell. We better-”

Before he could finish, the main door opened and Ayane limped in the room, having to duck to keep from hitting her head. She looked at the people in the room with vengeful grin, cracked her knuckles and said only one thing.

“So I’m a freak am I?”