Chapter 1

	The trees grew closer as she ran, all around her came noises that frightened and pushed her to run faster. Slowing a little to follow a turn in the path, she glanced behind her quickly; the creature was still close behind. She couldn't make out it's shape through the dream haze, but it looked like a cross of a human and something from her worst nightmares. On a sudden impluse, the girl turned to her right off the path, ignoring the branches that scratched her and ripped at her clothes. The creature, having monentarily lost it's prey, sniffed around until it picked up the scent of her blood and followed. After several minutes of running, a cliff appeared from out of nowhere in front of the fleeing girl and brought her up short. Standing at the brink, she heard behind her the creature's cries grow louder, ringing in her ears and seeming to come from every direction. She figured the rocks below would be a kinder death then her pursuer. Gathering up her courage, she lept off and forward of the cliff, her eyes closed through the freefall. Suddenly , she heard an echoing sound from above. She looked up in time to see the creature's claws reach for he as they both fell. She knew then that even a clean death had escaped her and let the claws tear into her  without so much as a scream. She did think it was strange that the claws made a shrill ringing sound as her mind sank into blackness.....

	Angela awoke in a sweat from the dream, her phone ringing loud on the desk beside her. Through blurry eyes, she answered. "Hello?"
"Ang? It's Melanie," replied an all too perky voice for 8 a.m.
"Yeah, I guessed that. What's up?"
"You said you'd be here to go with me to the beach. You ready?" the girl's voice on the other end asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a bit to wake up and I'll be by your house soon."
"Great. I'll be ready. Bye." Melanie said and hung up.
Angela just looked at the phone, shaking her head.
"How can she be so awake, especially since we just started our summer break? She missed classes because she slept in most of the days...." Angela stood and stretched, then walked out to the bathroom, tossing her nightshirt on the floor with a pile of other clothes.
Taking her time to wash and splash some cold water on her face, Angela slowly woke up more. But, she sighed to herself, she had better get going before Melanie called again. Brushing out her waist-length red hair, she looked at herself in the mirror, blue eyes looking back. The face looking back was a little tired looking for a 19 year old, so she gave her reflection a smile. But the memory of that dream still haunted her. Shrugging off that thought, she dressed in a one-piece swimsuit, covering it with a t-shirt and cut-off shorts. She jammed the rest of her beach gear into a backpack and headed downstairs. Her parents were gone again, off on a business trip; Angela didn't mind. There were home often enough and she just had to keep the house clean while they were gone. She checked that the door were locked, grabbed her bike and pedaled off.

	Melanie's house was a couple of miles away, but Angela had ridden the the route so many times before, it took her very little time to get there. Her friend lived in a remote area, set aside  for those who owned horses and such; Angela always loved visiting the neighborhood. Melanie lived in the guest house behind her parent's house, so Angela just rode up the driveway and into the back. But true to Melanie's style, she wasn't waiting out front.
"Probably fell back asleep, waiting." Angela thought. Wouldn't be the first time, so she just let herself into Melanie's room.
The place looked like a riot had gone through it. Clothes that weren't scattered around the room were hanging out of various dresser drawers. Filling up the rest of the space was a large desk, used mostly as a place for Melanie's computer. Against the far wall was a single-sized bed, it's usual occupant curled up under a pile of blankets. Angela carefully made her way to the bed, tring not to step on anything that was sharp. She did howeverfind one of her friend's many stuffed animals by tripping over it. Out of a pile of clothes, Angela pulled out a small fox toy, though the way it was made had it looking like it could walk; it even had a felt fadora hat on it and small belt around the middle. Angela shrugged and tossed the stuffed fox towards Melanie's bed, aiming for the head.

	The fox bounced off the pile of blankets, which in turn gave out a moan of discontent. This was followed a few seconds later by a head poking out from under the cover, blonde bangs falling over both brown eyes.
"Huh? Oh hey, Angela." Melanie threw back the covers, no where near dressed and ready for the beach. "Let me just pack a few things."
Angela just nodded, leaning against the desk; she noticed the computer on top was still warm.
"You spent all night on this thing?" she asked?
"Oh, yeah," Melanie's answer came from the bathroom. "Found a couple of new furry chat rooms...."
Angela cut in. "Furry?"
Melanie stepped out, finishing pulling a t-shirt over her two piece bikini; Angela couldn't help but notice, as always, how much of a better body her friend had, though she was shorter then most.
"I thought I mentioned them before. You know, they're anthropomorphic creatures that..."
Angela quickly nodded, cutting Melanie off again. "Oh, right. I remember now." Animals that walked and talked like humans. Please, Angela thought. What kind of sensable person would believe....?
Melanie was searching random clothes piles as Angela left her thought hanging; she watched for a moment, then kicked aside a stuffed mouse holding a spear.
"Now what?" she asked as her friend finally came up with a key chain.
"Mom said I could borrow the LTD today." Melanie grinned as she grabbed her stuff, then Angela's arm, hauling her outside.
"What? After what happened last time?"
"That wasn't my fault; that tree should've known better...."
As soon as the girls stepped out and the door locked behind them, a grey mist filled Melanie's room. Tendrils of mist touched various objects before whirlpooling into itself and vanishing without a sound.

	Later as the two girls sat on the on beach, talking and enjoying the warm weather, Angela got a weird feeling from nowhere, causing her to sit upright.
"What's wrong, Ang?" Melanie asked, nudging her friend and waking Angela from her thoughts. "You've been kinda quiet all morning." 
Angela shook her head. "I'm not sure. I had this nightmare right before you called; the same one I 've had several times in the past month."
"Well, maybe now you'll stop eating those leftovers when you're on your and come out with the rest of us more often."
Angela gave a small giggle, but it didn't last long as that uneasy feeling came over her again. She sighed and leaned her head back, letting the sun warm her face; only there was none. Angela blinked.
"Hey, where that dark cloud come from?"
Melanie removed her sunglasses, looking at Angela for a moment. "What cloud? The weather man said it was going to be hot and...." Melanie broke off as she looked up, staring at the same dark and grey cloud that was growing bigger, filling the sky.  Inside bright flashes, maybe lightening, could be seen; both girls agreed it was time to leave, and so did everyone else on the beach. But as they stood, the wind turned from a light breeze to a near hurricane force. Tring her best to move, Angela found herself pushed back to the water, where the wind whipped over the rapidly growing waves.

	"Help!" Angela heard someone scream from the shore. "Please save my son."
Looking around, Angela was just able to see a young boy flailing helplessly in the water. Moving as best she could, Angela made her way to the boy and helped him to shore.
"Come on, Angela," Melanie cried over the howling wind. "You have to get out!"
Reaching out, Angela almost made it to her friend's hand, but a suddenly strong gust of wind pushed them apart, blowing sand and water around. Melanie stumbled back a little, clearing her eyes just in time to see Angela disappear in a whirlwind of sand and water. Melanie ran over to help, but another burst of strong wind, seeming to come from the whirlwind, blew her back to the shore; Angela's cries of help could just be made out over the screaming wind. Before Melanie could get up and try again, a long bolt of lightening struck the whirlwind, detonating in a white blast and caused the mix of sand and water to vanish. After standing in shock for a moment, Melanie rushed to where her friend had been standing, ignoring the cries of warnings from other. She splashed through the surf, only to find the tattered remains of Angela's swimsuit. Melanie looked up in a silent prayer, tears streming down her cheeks, then noticed the storm had dissapated as quickly as it had come in, the bright sun shining down once more.

			*********************************

	The first thing Angela noticed as she came to was the clearing she was in. Located on top of a small hill, she could turn in a circle and look over a forest surrounding the hill to the north, south, and east, with more mountains to the west.
"Where the hell am I?" she asked herself out loud. Not expecting an answer, she got scared when she heard a crashing noise behind her. A huge creature rose out of the brush, reaching some eight feet in height. The bear-like animal was covered in green-brown fur, it's eyes a hollow looking black. It let out a loud roar, starting towards Angela on it's hind legs. Getting over her shock, Angela turned and ran, only to smack into a soft and furry, yet quite unyielding body. She sat down hard, covering her head at the flash of a spearhead. Angela could just make out the thrower was a type of feline before the newcomer, threw the spear beyond Angela, right into the chest of the large creature behind. The thing let out a blood-flecked scream before falling to the ground. Walking over quickly, the yellow furred and black spotted leopardess thrust her spear into the body again to be sure it was dead.
"Are you all right?" the walking feline asked, turning towards Angela.
Before Angela could respond, another roar brought both their attentions to the other side of the clearing. A creature similar to the first appeared from the trees; this one was much larger, somewhere over 10 feet tall. It let out another roar and charged. The feline girl seemed to have problems pulling her weapon out of the creature's fallen mate and Angela once again froze in fear. The creature lunged towards  Angela when it's mid-section exploded.

	Angela coverd her head as she fell flat to the ground, missing the blood and gore that flew over her. Angela lifted her head as the creature hit the ground, sending a rush of air and dust out from underneath. As she sat back on her heels, Angela was able to make out a body coming out of the settling dust. The wolf walked upright, she noticed right off, like the cat. He stood taller then either of the girls and unlike the feline he carried a large gun in his hand, the barrel still smoking. The wolf wore a tan jumpsuit that covered all but his head, right arm and tail. The fur covering his head and left paw was grey, but the right arm and the right half of the wolf's face were metal, his left eye brown and the right a glowing red.
The wolf glanced at the dead bear-like creture, then up at Angela and the feline.
"You two okay?" his deep voice asked. Right then the leopardess managed to yank  her spear out of the first creature; she quickly turned and made ready to throw it at the wolf. The other was just as quick, bringing his heavy-looking gun around on the feline. Angela scrambled to her feet, getting inbetween the two, not thinking of her own safty or noticing she no longer wore her bathing suit. Her action, lack of clothing, or both caused the animals to pause, then lower their weapons.
"That's better," Angela gave a relived sigh. Before she could say anything else, the leopardess turned back to the creature she had killed; she pulled a short knife from her belt and began to skin the animal. Angela watched for a moment, then turned back to the wolf, who had set down a backpack she hadn't noticed before and was rummaging around in it.
"Um, here." He finally said, handing Angela a green blanket.
Angela took the blanket, blinked up at the wolf, then looked down at herself; she quickly grabbed the offered blanket, tring not to blush too hard. The wolf glanced at the working feline, then turned to walk around the edge of the clearing, gun over his shoulder.

	This left Angela standing alone. She turned and walked over to the feline after a moment. Her fur looked very short and soft, some of the spots cut off by the brown-furred top and shorts she wore; Angela found herself hoping those clothes weren't made out of an intelligent animal. The leopardess twitched an ear towards Angela as she walked near.
"It was foolish to be out here by yourself, espically without clothes." Angela stopped a few feet away.
"Well, I was wearing a bathing suit before I woke up here." She watched the other start to gut and skin the creature on the ground. "I'm Angela, by the way."
The feline gave a grunt as she tore some of the fur and skin back from her kill.
"You can called me Vicki," her words were a bit strained as tugged some more on the fur. "My given name would be too hard for you to pronouce, I think." 
Angela just gave a small nod, then looked across to the wolf, who was poking around the bushes on the far side of the clearing.
"Why did you try to attack him? I mean, he did save us."
Vicki never looked up from her work. "Back in my village, you learn quickly to never trust any males from the canine tribes."
>From across the clearing, the wolf suddenly called out. "That's a laugh coming from a damnable feline." The wolf walked over to the two girls, shifting his gun to his left arm.
"I'm Trom, private, serial number J-W-1177." Angela gave a smile and put out her hand towards  Trom.
"I'm..."
The wolf cut her off as he smiled. "Angela. I heard you two talking."
Vicki stood quickly. "That much is evident....unlike your intent for us."
Trom  growled. "Say what you mean, cat. I don't even know where this is." Vicki brought her bloody knife up to point at the wolf.
"Do not act like you had nothing to do with me coming here...." Angela could see where this was going and quickly stepped in again.
"Will you two stop that? I though it was bad enough listening to cats and dogs fighting without being able to understand them...."

	Both Trom and Vicki gave Angela  a questioning glance, then Trom turned to look at the feline; after a small pause, he extended his metal arm.
"I suggest we put aside whatever grudges we both have until we figure out what's going on.."
Vicki looked like she was going to tear the arm off but finally sheathed her knife and took the metal paw in her's.
"Agreed." she simply said. Angela smiled and put one of her hands over both paws; for that moment, there was no tension among the trio.


	"It's good to see the three of you became friends right away." A new voice cut in. "It would be a shame for your quest to end before it even starts...."