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Fines Malum: Tooth and Claw by foxgamer01

Ch. 13

Even though telling him about what had happened yesterday afternoon and what happened afterwards is one of the last things I wanted to do, we told him about the person named Keme clad in black clothing and the Animam and Anthro he had delivered. We also told him about the morning meeting at the enclosed basketball court, our entrance in the REA building, and the events that happened afterwards.

When we've finished, Mr. Timeo said, "That's a interesting tale you people told me. This Keme must be among those in the higher up in REA."

"Why do you say that?" Tim said glaring at him.

"Because," he said, "1) he knows about the building and labs here, which's not common knowledge even in REA, 2) he knows what Anima can do if it's not stopped, which only the researchers here and the higher ups know, and 3) he had eaten the triple A's, which's only allowed to be consumed by the inner circle, which Mr. Incertus's a part of, and the three heads, Mr. Rego, Mr., Exitium, and Mr. Atra."

"Anima?" Kyler said. "Triple A's?"

“While it’s called MiracleX to the public, it’s known here as it codename Anima. The triple A’s the formula combination that can change a person into an anthro animal,” he said. He then became thoughtful. “Perhaps that would explain the fire…”

“Fire?” I said.

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “You see, last month, there was a fire around the secret elevator that you used to get in here. While it was nothing serious, there have to be some repairs. In fact, they just finished yesterday. Before the fire, there were always at least a couple of guards there at the hallway to stop anyone from sneaking in, but the fire force the hallways to be empty for a while. But now that the first part of this plan’s nearing completion, it was consider a waste of time, so the guards were sent elsewhere. If there wasn’t any fire, I believe that the guards would still be there.”

“No wonder why there wasn’t any resistance when we first got here,” Kyler said. “Keme must have caused the fire so that we’ll be able to sneak in.”

“Yes, he must have,” Mr. Timeo said.

“Mr. Timeo,” Anna said, “you’ve mention something about the first plan being finished. Keme also mention about the plan being called Fines Malum. Do you know any more about it?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “But before I tell them, please don’t think of me as an evil man. I… never agreed with it, but I have no choice. It’s to either go along with this or leave town since I wouldn’t be hired here, but since I don’t have much money to leave here, I have to go along.”

“Ok,” everyone except Tim said.

“Fines Malum,” Mr. Timeo began, “is REA final resort plan since this Solid Fox person destroyed the last one so utterly. To do what, I don’t know anything except the rumors that spread across the company, but one of the parts in the plan’s to recruit soldiers. But they can’t just recruit people off the street. They needed special soldiers that can deal with stressful situations. That’s when we’ve decided to created Anima and later the others.

“Anima is a formula that can awaken unused DNA in the human body. You must understand that humans have a bit of DNA from all living animals from reptiles to mammals. But it isn’t express except in small amounts because that part of the DNA is consider junk and remained unused. But Anima can awake the junk DNA.

“While Anima is successful since we got what we wanted, it’s more then we bargain for. It turns out that Anima only turns people into animals, not anthro animals. So we searched for a way to have Anima only partially turned them. That’s when we founded Anthro.

“Anthro is a formula that, when combined with Anima, turns a person into an anthro, what we wanted. We also discovered that it could undo the full effects of Anima to those that were completely changed. It wasn’t perfect at first, since it leaves the person that’s been turned into an animal by Anima insane when that person turned into an anthro. This was later perfected.

“But it wasn’t enough since it leaves us with another problem. While it did what we wanted, anthro animals that were once humans, it wasn’t enough. It turned out that their minds were altered by Anima which Anthro couldn’t undo, thus having the minds of the animals they represent. For example, supposed we have a person that taken Anima and Anthro and they’ve changed into an anthro fox. That person would act like a fox. What we needed then is something that would have the anthros have minds like humans. So, we've then created Animam.

"Animam is a formula that, combined with Anthro and Anima, can transformed a person into a anthro while retaining their minds. Again, this was without it problems at first, but we're able to perfected it to its final form. We thought this was what the higher up's wanted, but they wanted more than this.

"They decided not to recruit their own people into their plans because they feared that, due to Solid Fox destruction at REA previous plan, their people would be afraid to fight now. Instead, they decided to have people transformed into anthros with human thought, but their memories erased."

"Why would they want their memories erased?" Tim said. "I mean, couldn't they just get people off the streets to joined?"

"Because they believe that they would be easier to control," Mr. Timeo explained. "They feared that people would reject the Fines Malum plan when they found out the goal. So, they believe that by destroying their past self, they would lose their free will and would be able to command them.

"So, we experimented on the triple A's a bit to see if there was a way to do this. After a while, we've founded that if we hold out the Animam until the effects of Anima are completed, with or without the Anthro, then the subject would have amnesia of their whole life. We don't know why that is, but it was enough to please the higher ups."

"So, our friends at school," Ethan said, "The ones that didn't get Animam before they're transformed, will they be able to remembered after a while?"

"I'm sorry," Mr. Timeo said with tears in his eyes. "But it has been shown that they would never be able to regain their memories. So, while they're physically alive, they're dead mentally."

I looked downed at the hard floor, gritting my teeth in angered at REA. We've just lost our friends and it's because of REA. I then promised to myself that I'll not lose another person I'd cared to REA again.

"But why high school students?" Ethan said. "Why us?"

"Because of two reasons," Mr. Timeo said. "One of them is that REA notice that teenagers are more susceptible to free items than adults. The older folk learned, from experience, that free items are, more often than not, traps, but teenagers don't have that experience. Another reason is that teenagers seem to have a sense that, at that age, they're invincible. Though they may know that, one day, they would die, teens believe that they won't die until they're over seventy years old. Because of these reasons, we believe that the teenagers will take that free sample while expecting to 'live' the next day."

"What about Fines Malum?" Anna said. "How does turning people into animals and then anthros help with their plan?"

"I," Mr. Timeo said, "don't know all of the details about it, but here's what I know. It is an three step plan.

"The first step's to give out the Anima to all of the teenagers that are in high school that day. Once most, if not all, of them has transformed into animals, we'll gather them all and get them ready for step two. What we're in fight now is between step one and step two.

"The second step is to send them all out of the country and into REA training facility, inject Animam and Anthro into them to change them into amnesic anthros, and trained them for step three.

"Step three's where we're not completely filled in since the only one who know the whole details are the higher ups. But there're rumors throughout REA that tells that the anthros will be sent to Russia to steal several nuclear warheads."

"You mean," Kyler said, "they plan to use those weapons of mass destructions?"

"I think so," Mr. Timeo said. "Here's what I believe what they'll do with them if the rumors are true. They'll send them out to every major city around the world that's not American and destroy them some, if not all. This will cause the world to believe that the United States has intentionally attacked them. Once they all believe that, they'll all unite to do one duty; to destroy the United States into nothingness."

"WHAT!?" Ethan said. "Why you would work on a plan that'll destroy this country!?"

"We didn't know at first," Mr. Timeo said with tears on his eyes. "It wasn't until a few days ago that the rumors first started. But, by this time, I've lost all I care on this world."

"What do you mean?" Ethan said.

"My son Zak," Mr. Timeo said, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, "he volunteered for a test here. He was injected with just Anima and Animam to see if it was possible to have an person transformed into an animal and still have their thoughts intact. But Mr. Incertus declared it an failure and my son will be used for Fines Malum. This, along with the fact that my wife left me for another man four years ago, leave me with nothing to live for in life."

'That explained that stutter yesterday,' I thought. 'And his attitude now. It was because he's feeling guility of what he did to us, like he did to his son. But... why do I feel like that's the wrong assumption?'

"But," the anthro silver vixen said, "that doesn't make sense. From what I've know of Earh Rego, he's a patriot to this country. He fought in the Vietnam War and was the Senator of this state. Why would he set up a plan that'll destroy this country?"

"I don't know," Mr. Timeo said. "But it's what all of the evidence points at. The rumors of nuclear weapons and the name of the plan."

"You mean 'Fines Malum'?" Karson said. "What does it mean?"

"It's Latin for 'territory evil'," Kyler said.

"Yes," Mr. Timeo said. "He plan to make the United States, to the world at large, evil territory and make the world destroy that territory."

"Even though this alliance will lose," I mumble to myself.

"Huh?" Mr. Timeo said, noticing me mumbling to myself. "What did you-"

“Mr. Timeo! The-“

We all turned around and stared at the entrance of this room and saw a guard with a M4 Custom on his hands. He has a looked of feared and surprised in his face. He then aimed the gun at us.

Ch.14

Mr. Timeo held up his hand and said, “No need to kill them. What is it?”

“B-b-b-b-b-but sir,” the guard said. “They’re the-“

“They’re under my protection for now,” Mr. Timeo said. “Now, what is it?”

“T-t-t-t-t-t-t-the test subject 201 has escaped!” he said.

“T-t-that’s impossible,” Mr. Timeo said. “That room is designed to keep it there. How could it have escaped?”

“I-I-I-I-I-I don’t know,” the guard said.

“Excuse me,” I said in curiosity, “but what’s test subject 201?”

Mr. Timeo said, “Test subject 201 is-“

“There’s no time!” the guard said. “It’s coming here now!”

“Right!” Mr. Timeo said. He then turned to us. “There’s only one thing to do now and that’s run!”

We ran out of the room and saw a row of six guards aiming their M4 at the left end of the hallway. They all looked nervous about fighting this test subject 201. I guess whatever they're talking about is dangerous.

One of the guards said, “We’ll hold it off. Just get out of here.”

“You can’t fight it!” Mr. Timeo said. “Bullets can’t stop it!”

“There it is!!” another guard said.

We looked down that hallway and what we saw is, I guess, the test subject 201 they’re talking about. He looked like us, an anthro wolf, but there’s something different about him. He stood about seven to eight feet tall and looked more feral somehow. Maybe it’s because of the savaged looked on his face or maybe it because he’s not wearing any clothing.

When the werewolf saw us, he charged at us on all four of his limbs. The guards fired their guns at the werewolf, hitting him directly. The werewolf winced at the pained of being shot and ran away from us; away from the gunfire. As soon as the werewolf’s out of our sight, the guards stopped firing.

One of the guards turned to Mr. Timeo and said, “There. He’s gone.”

“He’s not dead,” Mr. Timeo said. “We have to run now.”

“The wolf’s dead or crawling to his death,” the guard said.

“I’m telling you bullets can’t stop it!” Mr. Timeo said.

“And I’m telling you that I’m not going to sleep tonight until I have his pelt as my blanket!” the guard said.

The guard walked towards the end of the hallway where the wolf fled to. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Mr. Timeo with a looked of feared in his face.

He signaled us all to come to him and said, “We can’t stay here. The test subject 201 will come back and second now.”

“But no living thing at that size can survived gunshots like those,” Kyler said.

Just then we heard sounds of gunfire and screaming where the werewolf and the guard chasing him are. Then there’s a sound of living flesh being tore apart by tooth and claw. Those sounds then stopped and the werewolf appeared with blood on his mouth and claws with no wounds. It was as if he was never shot at to begin with.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Mr. Timeo said in horror. “Run!”

We all ran away from the werewolf that’s out to killed us, leaving the guards, who foolishly try again to killed him, behind. I didn’t see what happened, but from what I could tell from the sounds, gunfire, screaming, tearing the flesh off, and a howl, the werewolf killed all five guards there. This only makes us run faster.

I then heard the werewolf following us now to killed us. My heart pace’s quicken and I’m breathing harder, mainly because of fear of being killed in such of gruesome way. We ran for awhile until we can hear the thump sounds the werewolf makes when he’s running becoming louder and louder.

“H-he’s catching up!” I said.

Looking ahead, I saw a guard pulling out his sidearm. As soon as we passed by him, he fired it at the werewolf. We stopped running and looked back at the werewolf; who’s wincing in pained. The werewolf then ran away from us again.

“Ok, I’ll hold it off in this position,” the guard said. “You hide from it.”

“Bullets can’t stop it!!” Mr. Timeo shouted at the guard.

“Even if that’s true,” the guard said, “I still have to do my duty. Mr. Rego’s still here.”

Mr. Timeo had a looked of shocked in his face and said, “But he was supposed to be long gone by now. Why’s he still here.”

“He was, but then you lot,” the guard said, glaring at us, “trespassed here and threw Mr. Rego schedule out the window. He’s waiting at the lower floor for the news of your capture.”

“Then why don’t you capture us now,” Tim said.

“Because you lot are the lesser of two evils compare to that thing you’ve helped escaped.” The guard said. “That really ruined Mr. Rego plan to leave now.”

Ethan said, “We didn’t-“

“Don’t try to deny it,” the guard said. “You knew that, despite of your intrusion, Mr. Rego decided to leave the labs to call the planes that have the animals for training. So you decided to release the monster to stop Mr. Rego plan altogether. That fails, because Mr. Incertus’s taking Mr. Rego place to call the planes. He’s doing it right now.”

‘Mr. Incertus,’ I thought.

“Now go!” the guard said. “Don’t worry about me! I can handle this!”

Mr. Timeo just sighs and said, “All right.”

Mr. Timeo waved at us to followed him and we all ran, leaving the guard to his fate. After we ran about twenty feet, we saw a wooden door with a carving of corn on it. Mr. Timeo opened the door with little difficulty.

“Get in!” he said.

We’ve got into the room, just as we heard the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and flesh being tore apart. I looked at the entrance and I saw Anna outside of the room, looking directly at the fight we’re hearing. Her silver vixen face’s filled of terror, as if she's afraid to moved.

“ANNA!!” I shouted.

It then happened again; the feeling of time being slow down to a crawl. I ran toward Anna and I quickly grabbed her. I then threw us into the inside of the room. As soon as we’ve hit the hard floor, time seem to gone back to normal.

Mr. Timeo quickly slam the door shut and Chris place a table in front of the door to hold off that werewolf. We all stared at the door, waiting for him to forced himself in.



Ch. 15

Nothing. The werewolf didn’t try to get in. Even if the door’s made oak, I would expected that something that could ripped human flesh apart would be able to break down a door with a table in front of it. But he didn’t.

I slowly gotten up from the floor and walked towards the door. Getting onto the table, I applied my ear onto the door and listened to the other side. I felt the werewolf presences at the other side, like he’s listening to me as I’m listening to him. Then his presences left without trying to get in.

“Daren.”

I turned around and saw Anna still on the floor. Her face’s filled with shocked and surprised.

She slowly got up and said, “How did you got to me so fast?”

“W-what do you mean?” I said.

“One second I was standing in front of the entrance to this room,” the anthro silver vixen said, “and the next I’m in here on the floor with your arms around me.”

“Yeah,” the anthro coyote said, “you were like a blur.”

“I’ve always knew that you’re fast,” the anthro wolf said. “But that was very fast. You’ve done that in one second.”

“What!?” I said. “B-b-b-b-but it felt like three seconds. How could I do these stuff in one second?”

“Perhaps,” Mr. Timeo said, “you’ve gotten the side-effects.”

“Side-effects?” I said. “What side-effects?”

“You see,” Mr. Timeo said, “when we tested the ones that have the triple A’s, we’ve noticed that it somehow enhances one of their abilities to a very high level. Perhaps your side-effects are that it makes you faster, the same as Mr. Incertus has. But yours is faster than Mr. Incertus.”

“But it feels so slow,” I said. “How could I be so fast?”

“The reason why it feels like that’s because you’re going so fast the surrounding area’s slow compare to you,” Mr. Incertus said.

“Daren’s side-effects are enhancing speed?” Kyler said. “Is there a chance that we’re affected by side-effects too?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said, “but not in the same way like Daren have. Your side-effects may be different too. It was only coincident that his is the same as Mr. Incertus.”

“I believe that my side-effects are enhancing hearing since I’ve heard every phone conversations with Daren and Keme and I’ve heard the guard coming up there when the others couldn’t,” Kyler said.

“And mine’s enhance strength since I’ve put a hole in that oak door,” Chris said.

“And test subject 201 is enhancing healing since it recovered from even fatal wounds,” Mr. Timeo said, “which’s why the guards aren’t able to stop it.”

“Mr. Timeo,” I said, “what’s test subject 201?”

“Test subject 201,” Mr. Timeo said, “is the first one who had gotten Anima and Anthro. We’ve used a teenage boy we’ve have as prisoner since about two years ago as the test subject. Remember when I said that there were problems at the beginnings. Well, that was it. It makes the person an anthro, but larger and more feral than we needed.

“REA kept it though, believing that if we could make it have human thoughts, then it could become a powerful leader for the others. We’ve injected it Animam early on without proper testing on the order of REA so it would have it leader. But… instead it went mad and becomes even more dangerous since it perceives anyone as prey.

“This, along with its enhances healing, makes it almost unstoppable. We were only able to control it because we’ve trained it so that it have a reaction, that’s similar to a bad allergy, to corn.”

“Corn?” Ethan said. “This room’s one of those that has that carving of corn on it.”

“A carving wouldn’t be enough to scare him away,” I said.

“Unless…,” Ethan said. He rushed onto the table to the door and put his hands at the sides of the carving. Getting closer to it, he opened his mouth and licked the carving itself. He then got off the table and turned to Mr. Timeo. “REA poured corn oil onto the carving so that werewolf cannot get in here,”

“Of course,” Mr. Timeo said. “Why else would I lead you guys in here? Because this is one of the few rooms in this floor that monster’s too afraid to get in here. The lower floor has only one door which has that defense while the upper floor has none, only steel doors.”

"Ok, but how do we get out?" the anthro grey fox said. "As far as I'm concern, we're trap in here for good."

"There's a way out," the anthro wolf said.

"What do you mean?" Tim said.

"There's no way out," Mr. Timeo said. "There's not even a secret passageway out of here."

"There's always a way out," Kyler said. "Look at where we are."

I didn't get a good looked of the room earlier since I was so focus on saving Anna. The room on one side's filled of filing cabinets and at the other side looked like a break room, with a couch, table, and a refrigerator. The ceiling has vents large enough for a large man to fall through.

"This is only a gathering room where we all gather to exchanged ideas and put in notes," Mr. Timeo protested. "There's nothing in here that would help us fight that beast!"

"Underestimating your own research, eh," Kyler said.

"You've just insulted him," I said to Kyler.

"And I've meant that one," the anthro wolf said. He then walk towards the filing cabinets. "We've have note, the greatest weapons in the world! With them, we could find out how to fight that werewolf."

Kyler turned around and looked at us. He then reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of glasses and put them on. I sighed when I've recognize them, Kyler brainy specs.

"Kyler," I said, "you don't need glasses."

He grinned at me and said, "I know. I put them on to make me look clever."

He turned back to the filing cabinets and, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out several folders. He then walked towards us and handed one of those folders to each of us until everyone has one.

"Arm yourself," Kyler said.

All of us opened the folders and started reading its contents, looking for something that could help us fight that werewolf.


It has been a half a hour and we still haven't find a solution. I rubbed my eyes in weariness and look at my watch.

1:10 AM

'I need a boost and fast,' I thought.

I closed my folder and putted it on the ground. I then walked towards the refrigerator, hoping for a Diet Pepsi to drink.

"Hey!" I heard Kyler said. "Where are you going?"

Without turning around, I said, "I'm going to check out the fridge to see if there's any Diet Pepsi."

"You do know that caffeine's bad for you?" Kyler said.

"So?" I said.

"It causes your blood cells to die," Kyler said.

"So?" I said.

I heard Kyler sigh and said, "Whatever."

I opened the fridge and saw a Diet Pepsi just waiting to be open. I've reached out and grabbed it.

I've just opened it up when I've heard Kyler said, "Hey, look at this!"



Ch. 16

With the soda in my hand, I rushed to Kyler to see what he was shouting about. We crowed around the anthro wolf with curiosity in all of our eyes.

“What is it?” Jon said.

Kyler then show a large piece of paper that’s some type of blueprints of large laser cannon, like the ones from those science fiction movies. Around the end of the laser there seems to be a diamond implanted in it; for what, I’m not sure. But at the corner of the blueprints, it has something typed on it. It said: An1maAn1mamAnthr0.

“Could this be something useful Mr. Timeo?” Kyler said.

“How could I be so thoughtless!?” Mr. Timeo said. “Yes it is useful!”

“What is it?” Ethan said.

“This is the Deanima,” Mr. Timeo said. “It’s a weapon designed to fight against the ones with the triple A’s or two of the three.”

“What does it do?” Ethan said.

“It disrupts the awaken DNA down to the molecules,” Mr. Timeo said, “efficiently reversing the changes the Anima and others did.”

“You mean that if I get hit by it,” Anna said, “I get turned back into a human?”

“Yes,” Mr. Timeo said. “But only while you’re being hit by the Deanima. Once it stops, the awaken DNA will start again and you’ll change back into an anthro.”

“But that’s only a temporary solution,” Chris said. “We need something that’s permanent.”

“There’s one,” Mr. Timeo said. “Because you’re being hit by a laser that does damage to a molecular level, if it’s on the highest level, then the body will dissolve into thin air.”

“But that would mean killing him,” I said. “Do we have the right?”

“We have to,” Mr. Timeo said, “before it kills anymore people here.”

“Shall we make a mad dash towards the Deanima now before that werewolf comes back?” Tim said.

“Yes- Oh God!” Mr. Timeo said. “I forgot again! The Deanima isn’t completed yet!”

“WHAT!?” we all said in union.

“It’s not ready,” Mr. Timeo said wearily.

“What do we need to do to get it completed?” Anna said.

I had become disinterested with this Deanima and Mr. Timeo excuses on why it’s not completed. Drinking my Diet Pepsi, I walked towards the filing cabinets to see if there’s any other way to defeat that werewolf. Opening the bottom drawl, I’ve removed several folders and then I saw some type of box. It’s small, yet a hard box; meant to protect something important. Curious, I picked it up and opened it. Inside is a diamond, a beautiful one. It’s about a size of my fist and it crystal clear.

“So all we’re missing is a diamond?” I heard Chris said.

“Yes,” I heard Mr. Timeo said. “Without it, the laser alone isn’t powerful enough to reverse the changes.”

I turned around to the others and said, “You mean this diamond?”

The others turned and looked at me and the diamond I’m holding. All of them looked shocked that I’ve founded the diamond we needed. Mr. Timeo there seems to be the most shocked of them all.

“Y-yes!” he said. “But how-“

“I found it in the bottom drawl,” I said. “Maybe the person who brought it was lazy and, instead of inserting it to the Deanima, he brought it here and forgot about it.”

“Yes, now all we need to do is-” Mr. Timeo said before he stopped himself.

“What is it?” Anna said.

“It’s something that you’ve said about the time you’ve intruded in the underground labs,” Mr. Timeo said. “The timing isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” Chris said. “We entered the labs ten after seven. What’s wrong with it?”

“You see,” Mr. Timeo said. “When I heard about the intruders in the labs, it was at-”

But we then heard a sound, like someone’s going through a hollow tube. We looked up to the air vents and it all hit us like thunder.

“That beast is going around the door by going through the vents!” Mr. Timeo said.

“ALLONS-Y!!” I shouted while dropping my drink.

We ran to the door and, after Chris shove the table aside to the wall, we ran out of the room, leaving the door open.

“Why, for the love of God, did you think of making the air vents that large?” Chris said.

“It was to preserve the notes in there,” Mr. Timeo said, “by having the temperatures at a level that would not damage them.”

“It didn’t do a good job preserving us in there!” Chris said.

We ran towards the room where the Deanima’s supposedly in. After about a half a minute, we heard a collapsing sound of metal hitting the floor. We then ran faster to the room. After about an minute, we’ve reached that Deanima room and we all, except Mr. Timeo, entered it immediately.

When I’m at the other side of the door, I said to Mr. Timeo, “Get in!”

“The door doesn’t have corn oil on it,” he said. “So it won’t be able to hold off that monster for long. I’ll buy you some time.”

“Perhaps there’s something in here,” I said. “Like a table or something that can make the door last longer.”

“I’ll buy you some time,” Mr. Timeo said. “You’ll need it.”

“But-” I started to said.

“Leave him Daren,” Tim said.

I sighed and said, "Alright."

I closed the door, locked it, and headed towards the Deanima itself. It’s exactly like the blueprints, but only bigger and real. It’s about four feet high and five feet long. At the end of the laser, there’s a closed opening where the diamond’s supposed to be. Next to this Deanima is a computer that controls the Deanima. Ethan’s on the computer itself, trying to get it to work, with Kyler by his side.

“Come on!” Ethan said. “Come on!”

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“This Deanima’s password protected,” Ethan said. “We need the password, or else the laser won’t work.”

"What!?" I said. "Can't you go around it?"

"No! I can't!" Ethan said.

We then heard an growl outside of the room. We turned around and looked at the door, worried about Mr. Timeo. We then heard Mr. Timeo shouting to what I believe is the werewolf.

He said, "I've served REA for too long now! Now, REA will fall! I'm sorry for causing you agonize for the time you're a werewolf! I hope you'll find peace in your death! And I hope I'll be forgiven for my sins of killing my son and all of those that had taken the Anima! Now, I'll die with honor!"

Then there's a scuffled outside, with flesh ripping apart and when the scuffling stopped, we heard the werewolf howl.

"Let me do this!" I heard Kyler said. I turned around and saw the anthro wolf taking control of the computer from Ethan. He then typed in some keys on the keyboard and a computerizes voice said, "Password accepted!"

"How did yo-" the anthro ethropian wolf said.

"No time!" the anthro wolf said.

We then heard the oak door being tore apart. While the door's holding well, it can only last for so long now.

Ethan franticly said, "Hurry up!"

"Annnnnd," Kyler said, follow by a ding. "Yes! Open the compartment and put in the diamond Daren!"

I quickly opened the part where diamond should be, put it in, and closed it. Kyler then hit a few keys and we heard a charging sound from the Deanima. Just then the door collapsed and the werewolf, stained with blood on his teeth and claws, ran in to attack us. Luckily, the Deanima power up completely and fire at the werewolf.

It hits the werewolf with a white laser that, for some reason, looked...soothing. His arms and legs spread out as the werewolf's transforming back to his former form with the laser light acting like some type of clothing. When he transformed backed to human, my mouth opened wide in shocked as I recognized. He's around the same age as me with short dirty blond hair and blue eyes.

"M-M-M-Mason!?" I managed to said.

"Make it brighter," he just said. "Give me peace."

Looking at him, like this, I wondered what should I do; whether to killed him or spared him. On one paw, he's one of my friends and I wondered if I could be forgiven for killing my friend, who's as close to me as Kyler's as close to me. But, on the other paw, he's suffering because this is the only time where he could control himself. We can't run the Deanima forever and when we do turn it off with him still alive, he'll just changed back into a werewolf and he'll keep on killing. He could even kill his best friend without even realizing it. After a while, I've decided on what to do.

I went to the computer and pressed on a few keys to set the laser on its highest level. Looking back to Mason, I saw the laser get brighter and brighter until it could be misunderstood as the sun. Still, I sadly watched as Mason fade away into nothingness.



Ch. 17

Kyler hit a few keys on the keyboard and the Deanima’s shut down. He then gotten up and walked towards the area where Mason had faded away.

He turned to me and said, “Who was he?”

“I,” I said, “don’t want to talk about it.”

“Talking helps,” Karson said to me. He then turned to the others. “Could we have some time alone? I think it would help.”

The others just shrugged and left through the broken doorway, leaving just Karson and I.

The anthro cat turned to me and said, “I think the name Mason sounds familiar to me. Can you tell me about this?”

“Well,” I said, “do you remember my friend Mason I’ve mention at the upper floor. He was the same Mason I’ve killed.”

“I thought there was a connection,” Karson said. “Still upset about letting your anger gets the better of you in front of him?”

“Not only that,” I said. “I’m upset that there was no other way to save him other than to kill him. If only I’ve stopped him two years ago.”

“What happened?” Karson said.

“Two years ago,” I said, “before the day my mom died, Mason had heard of her state and called me, telling me that he believes that REA have the solution to curing cancer and they’re intentionally withholding it to make people suffered, whether physically or emotionally. He said that he’ll sneak into the REA building and steal the cure. Since it was April Fool's Day, I thought he was only joking ‘till now, so I just said ‘yes’.”

“It’s all right,” the anthro cat said. “You didn’t know.”

“That only makes me feel even guiltier,” I said. “It makes me feel like I should’ve known. I guess what Dickens said in the Christmas Carol’s right; there’re two major problems, ignorance and want, and we should stay away from both, especially ignorance.”

“That doesn’t make you completely guilty,” Karson said.

“Doesn’t make me completely innocent either,” I said. “Like how Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he still did them.”

“True,” Karson said, “but Oedipus found forgiveness for what he did from the Greek Gods. If he could be forgiven, so can you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “Thank you.”

I walked out first, followed by Karson after a few seconds, out of the room to the others outside. They’re all looking at what’s remained of Mr. Timeo, who was killed by Mason. The remains are so gruesome, I cannot describe them.

“And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,” Kyler said, “for the ashes of his father, and the temple of his God.”

“Mr. Timeo,” Tim said, “I forgive you for what you’ve done to us. If only I could’ve told you when you’re alive.”

“We all forgive you,” Anna said.


After about fifteen minutes of mourning of Mr. Timeo and Mason, we’ve continued on to the lowest floor of the labs. Step by step by step, we’re closer to Mr. Rego and maybe Mr. Incertus. But I kept thinking about what we are going to do when we meet them. With Keme lost to us and Mr. Timeo dead, we have no more leads excepted that Mr. Rego’s down there.

‘We go to Mr. Rego and what?’ I thought. ‘Try to convince him that his plan to destroy the US is wrong? Or kill him? If only someone could help us. Someone, anyone, help us.’

Just then the cell phone, the one that Keme gave to me, rungs. Everyone stopped and looked at me in surprised. In a state of surprise, I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the cell phone.

“What?” I said. “But how?”

“I thought Keme's a prisoner now,” Tim said.

“Answer it,” Jon said.

I flipped the cell phone opened, applied it to my foxy ear, and said, “Hello?”

“Hello,” a non-distorted voice said. “Who’s this?”

“What happened to the distorted voice?” I said.

“I removed it. Again, who are you?”

“That’s what I would like to know about you. You’re not Keme. Who are you?”

“Of course I’m not Keme. Why were you expecting this Keme?”

“Well, he had called us several times so I thought-”

“Just because he had called you several times, doesn’t mean it’s always is going to be him."

“And who are you? Mr. X?”

“No. Call me Fuchs. Fester Fuchs.”

“Fester, how in the world did you called us? We don’t even know what’s this cell phone is.”

“Simple. I hit redial on this cell phone.”

“So you got Keme cell phone. He must have left it when REA captured him.”

“Was he on the line when he was captured?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You see, if he was captured, like you said he was, I would’ve expected that the cell phone is on the floor, opened, and broken. But I found it on the desk, closed, and unscratched.”

“B-but it really did sound like a scuffle,”

“Tell me, how did you get in?”

“Through one of the secret elevators."

“Is it the one from the room 101?”

“How did you know that?”

"I’ve entered here that way too. Did you see or heard anything during that so called scuffle?”

“No. Why?”

“Because the elevator and the room where I’ve founded this cell phone are next to each other.”

“What!?”

“I guess he had faked his captured.”

“But why would he faked it,”

“I think-”

The called ended suddenly, with no signed of a scuffled on either side. I looked at the front of the cell phone and, when I saw it, I groaned.

“The battery died,” I said.

“Who was it?” Anna said.

“Someone named Fester Fuchs,” I said.

“Fuchs,” Chris said. “I’ve heard of it before, but I can’t remember where.”

“What happened at that call?” Ethan said.


I've quickly explained about the called. I've also explained the contradiction in our thinking that Keme's captured by REA.

When I've finished, Ethan said, "Great, with our ally scamming us about his captured and running away, should we leave now?"

"We should leave since we can't trust Keme now when we do meet him," I said. "But, if we do leave, we may never learn the truth behind this. Like if Fines Malum's about destroying the US or who's Keme really is. I intend to know everything by the time leave and the only way to know that is go forward, to Mr. Rego. Who's with me?"

Everyone here looked at each other rather uneasily for a few seconds. They then looked at me. Anna raised her hand up first, then Kyler, then Karson, then Chris, and finally the Libertas brothers, with all of their eyes showing determination.

"Dziękują," I said.

"All right guys," Anna said. "Let's find the truth."

"Let's find Mr. Rego," Tim said, "without getting caught."

The others went out first, to the next floor. I was going to follow them, but I felt Karson tapping my shoulder.

I turned around and said, "What is it?"

Karson went to his pocket and pulled out something. The anthro cat then held it out and, when it saw it, my eyes widen in shocked. He's holding the diamond that I've placed into the Deanima several minutes ago.

"Take it," he said.

I said, "How did you-"

"The compartment was never locked so I was able to open it," the anthro cat said.

"What for?" I said. "It really have no more uses now."

"It have one more use," Karson said.

"Which is?" I said.

"A gift for Anna," he said. "It's obvious, by the way you've looked at her and how much you tried to protect her. You love her, don't you?"

"Yes," I said, "I admit it. But what if she doesn't love me back?"

"You'll never know," the anthro cat said, "unless you try."

"Alright," I said. I took the diamond from Karson and put it in one of my biggest pocket. "Let's rejoin the others."

Fines Malum: Tooth and Claw

foxgamer01

This is the fourth part of Fines Malum. I hope you'll enjoy this.

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