“Stop that!" Daws yelled, giving me a light cuff to the head as we ran into the woods.

I managed a weak glare, stumbling out a few more notes of the tune. It wasn't perfect, but most zombies went after us, turning away from those resting by the road. The zombies chasing were too many for the military furs, and far more than Daws and I could handle. I stopped whistling, having gained their rabid attention. I focused on my running.

“Dammit," snarled a pissed-off wolf, making sure I was keeping up. “What were they thinking!? A strange house? To pee!?"

It wasn't the time to bring up anything, but I suspected we'd been set up. Helaina, Peter, and Michael had looked more excited with anticipation than scared of the armadillos.

Daws fired off his pistol, downing a zombie. He pulled out an ammo cartridge, but fumbled it out of his paws in our hurried rush away into the woods.

“Shit!" Daws yelped.

Our odds weren't looking good. Zombies behind us tried to howl through mangled throats, causing a savage, loud racket. Any more in the woods were heading our way.

“I need to get you out," snarled Daws. “Before anything else, I need to get you out!"

There was a zombie in front of us. Two. Three! More!

We were running out of options, and there was no time to deliberate. Daws yanked me by my sling, causing me to stumble a new direction with a yelp. He shoved me towards a large tree with low-hanging branches.

I nearly ran into the bark before realizing I was to climb the living thing. I pulled myself up onto the lowest branch, dead and short, with only my one arm. The next was higher.

“Climb!" barked Daws.

“I can't!" I called. I tried, but I couldn't pull myself up with just my one arm. I slipped my other arm out of the sling, but the next branch was too high.

“Step on my shoulder!"

“Daws!"

“Do it!"

I stepped on his shoulder, making it to the next  branch. From there, it looked more climbable, even with one paw. I pulled myself to the next, looking down. The undead were closing fast.

“Daws!" I screamed, offering my paw.

He had pulled himself up onto the first branch. He reached for the next, starting to pull himself up to clear his paws. I couldn't breathe. Daws screamed when the first claws pierced his calves. I screamed too, sobbing and wanting it all to stop. Daws was pulled down, his face full of horror, pain and dismay. Claws and teeth punctured his hide, staining his shirt with spreading blood. It couldn't be happening!

“Climb!" Daws managed, his voice becoming garbled as blood rose and came out his muzzle. He was pulled dawn among the crowd of thoughtless undead.

I howled in anger and fear at the attack below me. I screamed at the sights and sounds and smells. The wolf's cries after were unintelligible. He went silent, but even with all the noises below, I couldn't help but keep hearing his screaming in my head.

I pulled myself up a branch, then another. I had to stop, but not from exhaustion. I couldn't do it. It was too much to endure. I sobbed as noises below continued. I had to be quiet, but couldn't. They'd soon target me again.

Guilt. Why did I get to survive? Daws had pinned his hopes on me but ended up dying. What if those hopes were for nothing!?

I'd been the one to whistle. If I hadn't? Would others have died?

I sobbed into the bark around the big trunk, leaning my cheek against the woodsy shield. I clung to the roughness with my good paw, blunt claws digging into the bark cracks. Below came sounds of crunching. They feasted on- couldn't think of it. I had to hide my eyes, shutting it all out.

I cried until I felt numb. I clung there, perched on a branch, shivering. I was quiet, finally. Around me was not quiet. As the sun got low, the early evening settled over Furdom. No other furs. No Shadow. I was alone.

***

It had been a few hours. A large moon chased away the worst of the darkness. I cursed my keen fox night-vision, as I was unable to look down without seeing the things wandering beneath. With my fox eyes I could see the details of the surrounding trees. Nothing else, just trees and zombies.

The undead had gone mostly quiet. My horror and numbness settled. All that was left was confusion, fear, and a lot of guilt. I'd whistled the things to chase after us. I'd taken the opportunity to climb to safety first. I was glad to be alive, but it felt rotten. It was a terrible, costly victory.

A victory? I scoffed. What kind of victor was pinned up in a tree? I would still lose. Daws had delayed my death. My choice was to go by zombie or by Curtain. Which would be worse?

A faint hope filled me, thinking someone would find me in my big tree and cart me off to safety. How likely was that in the middle of the woods? The chances of Shadow and Burt coming, barreling through the woods in an off-road truck, blasting away with a machine gun rigged to the back was- well, it was ridiculous.

Shadow's last look kept coming to mind; really it was a glance. Had I looked back, told him with my soul how much he meant to me? There had not been time.

I was alone. I felt soulless, lost without Shadow. Without him, my survival wasn't guaranteed. His survival was also in question. We wouldn't be okay.

Or was any safety an illusion? Each day before the Curtain, we took for granted how a fur might not be there tomorrow. That you might not be there tomorrow.

Anything could happen to you in the world. It was an illusion of continuance, of safety we looked forward to the guarantee of the next day. In the new Furdom, the perceived guarantee was further away, more separated. Furs had to face that they might not make each tomorrow.

I wanted more tomorrows. I wanted more tomorrows with Shadow. Was wanting it enough to make it real?

Back at the farmhouse, Shadow and I had connected for the first time, physically and emotionally. We'd opened up, made our tomorrows. We'd learned about each other. I'd had my first kiss and a pool party. The thought brought a glimmer of a smile to my saddened muzzle.

Was it wrong to smile, to laugh, when furs died? I'd smiled at Shadow right after my mom and Kaylee had died. Was that wrong? Was it wrong to love after loss? Was nothing wrong, was there only what we faced and how we dealt with it?

I'd smiled at Shadow. The first night Shadow had stayed in my room, before the zombies woke, he'd been nervous I'd jump him. In the morning, he'd been so attractive, if I'd had the nerve, I just might have. Was that wrong?

I had topped him later, even though he had still retained a good bit of control. He'd enjoyed my terrible fumblings. He'd been so much better at it, playing with my willing body. We'd connected first through friendship, through playing around. We'd found ways to connect deeper and deeper.

My soul cried out for him. I missed him. I missed the familiar feeling of safety, of affection, of love. Had I shown him enough of my feelings, of my soul? He'd bared his own to me.

I clenched my eyes closed, feeling the numbness fade and upset take over. I had to cry again, but I took care to be as quiet as I could. At the base of the tree, a few zombies were trying to clamber up. I touched the hammer, stuck in my shorts. I hadn't even used it to try and defend Daws. And Daws was dead.

A shadowy form in the dark clambered up to the first branch and my heart stuttered. My heart jolted.

Shadow? The glowing eyes and snarling muzzle seemed far out of place on the wolfy muzzle. It was-

It wasn't. It wasn't Shadow. Just another wolf. I felt so relieved, so guilty, all over again. I sobbed into the trunk's bark.

“Go away!" I screamed. “Haven't you had enough!? Go away. I just want to be alone. I want Shadow."

I mumbled Shadow's name over and over. He was all I wanted. Screw everything else I might have in the world, skip everything left. I wanted to be with my Wulf. Why couldn't I have him? Just him?

The wolf still tried to clamber up, doing better than the other gathered undead. It's footpaws set on other zombies' shoulders and backs, getting it a little higher by chance. It fell but turned to try again, so focused and persistent.

It felt unreal. The trunk seemed to twist beneath me, the eyes' glows smeared in my eyes. I had to close them, knowing I was stressing out too much. My sensitive ears picked up their unnatural sounds from the ravaged throats.

“It's not Shadow," I reminded myself.

It wasn't him. Shadow was out there, looking for me, wanting me too.

“Dammit all," I growled low, picking off bits of bark and bits of a branch above my head. I tossed the woodsy bits down on them. Some landed in glowing eyes, but they didn't do anything, just continued to strive for my flesh without trying to remove the bark bits in the eyes.

Creepy.

Several zombies had wide gashes, healed over by strange flesh. The new flesh would be humming and growing. Growing? Were they becoming their own life forms? Didn't life grow? Didn't life try to overcome obstacles and heal to try again?

I shuddered. The undead weren't alive like the furs I knew. They couldn't be the same. They couldn't. But? If they were, what would it mean? What did the 'thing' I sensed in the Curtain have to do with any of it?

It was too much for my brain to handle after the crazed day. Had it really been earlier this same day we'd left the FurShopper?

With my good arm, I clung to the tree, my head against the trunk. I tried to rest my eyes, jolting awake as I slumped, drifting towards sleep. Damn. This was not the place to catch 20 winks. I had to keep occupied, had to keep awake.

Bites. Zombies bit. Shadow bit too, bit me. I snickered, surprising myself.

Shadow biting me was far different than a zombie bite. His bite into me meant something. I wasn't entirely sure what it meant to him, but to me, it meant everything. It meant Shadow was comfortable enough to let himself go. It meant he trusted me, wanted me, accepted me, claimed me.

A zombie bite meant nothing. Both might hurt. Both might appear the same, but the difference was in the connections. Zombies had no connections to each other. There was some link to the Curtain, but how could it be like connecting with someone?

I rolled my eyes. If my mind kept wandering, it was going to be a long night.

***

It was very late. I couldn't sleep. I was afraid to sleep, though I kept catching myself dropping into a doze. The stars were out, and the half-moon blessed the troubled world.

I touched my pocket, feeling the cat angel toy and the zombie kitty dangler. I had a moment of terror, thinking I'd lost my family's picture, but I felt it when I shifted. My other pocket was heavy with my unused hammer.

I blinked up into the moonlight, feeling blinded with its quiet light. It was a wonderful, beautiful night if one might ignore the monsters beneath. I closed my eyes, letting the gentle light soothe my eyelids.

The tree shook a little as some zombie fell off, causing me to jump, clutching the trunk. My heartbeat thundered, and my first thought was I'd fall. I didn't fall, but the fear was long to dissipate.

Clinging to the tree, I missed Shadow more than ever. I missed my family, my whole and complete family, existing in long-ago memory. I missed the sunny memories of my childhood.

Also sunny was the memory weeks ago in the farmhouse when I ate oatmeal with Shadow. It was after my first kiss, and he 'rescued' an embarrassing glob of oatmeal off my chin. Another sunny memory of sparkling water, flying through the air in our pool party.

Memories and moments with Shadow. The moment in the FurShopper before I'd fought for Shadow. The upset moments when he'd soothed me through my troubles, when I'd soothed him too. The long, quiet moments in the farmhouse closet were the first time I felt one with Shadow. One with Shadow; nothing else mattered.

I found myself smiling and relaxing, even though zombie noises continued below. I leaned into the tree, but its small comfort was not what I craved. I wanted Shadow.

>>>>[[[[NOTE: DAY 22]]]]<<<<

The dawn dimness improved with every moment. My dull claws dug into the bark, anchoring more than my body to its living firmness. It had been a long, long night, full of short dozes. It was scary, thinking I might fall into the zombie chaos below.

Exhaustion dulled my mind, making every movement and thought harder. The day I would die had begun.

Others had died. It was my turn. Zombies still gathered below, and I wished my eyesight wasn't so very clear with the weak light. Fewer zombies were below, but still plenty to pick my bones clean.

Many had died. Mom and Kaylee were gone, and it still hurt to think of them. Siku Radi and Mia had gone together. I realized I had hardly known the two, and I would never know them. Steve the big rabbit and lovely, white Jenny were gone. I hadn't known Drew well, but the tiger had been full of life. Margaret, Susan, and the young Labrador couple, I'd hardly seen much of. And Jacob had been a hard loss for the collie family, and I wondered who would mourn me.

Burt would be sad, but he had his growing family to distract him from grief. I doubted my dad- Mr. Evans would feel much. A few more furs would miss me a little, but Helaina would feel some kind of relief or even joy at my passing.

What worried me was Shadow. If I died, what would happen to him? I was sure he'd survive the armadillo house, given that Helaina wanted him to survive, and she'd had a paw in setting things up there. What about after? What if he gave up worse than when he'd stuffed me in the farmhouse pantry? What if he stayed outside into the Curtain, as Susan had done?

I needed to find a way out of the tree and back to Shadow. For me, for him, for our survival and happiness. I couldn't think of any way it might happen.

Zombies circled the tree, growling through damaged throats, crudely clawing at the living bark. They frustrated themselves, trying to reach me. I frustrated myself trying to think of a way past them.

Frustration was too much for my exhausted body. Thoughts faded. I tried to hold them together, fading into the darkness behind my eyelids. The sun kept rising.

***

It was bright daytime when I jolted awake yet again. Something had woken me. What had it been?

I didn't hear anything in the bright sunlight. The tree branch was supportive under my rear, comforting in its roughness. A strange, distant sound didn't disturb the calling of the local birds. It did disturb my sluggish awareness as I tried to haul myself more awake.

The sun was well above the horizon. I didn't even remember the moon setting or the dawn. Much of the later night and early morning was a blur of exhaustion and fear. I'd heard something, but didn't know what it was. I tried to remember what it had sounded like. Was it nothing? Maybe the distant moo of some poor cow.

I yawned. It didn't help me wake up. I was out of it and exhausted and dehydrated. My mind felt numb. Ugh. Still in the tree. Still zombies below? For some reason, there was only one. The wolf zombie moved around the tree base, gaze fixed on me.

Where had the others gone?

Daws body was gone too, whatever had been left. A large smear in the ground at the tree's base, reminded me of reality. I had whistled. We had led the zombies away. Daws had died. Noon was approaching, and I would die. I would die, having protected everyone else. Wasn't it the sort of self-sacrifice I hated most?

But in exiting the house, I had not thought of myself in my whistling. I had thought of the furs waiting, the young and the innocent. I didn't want to die. I just didn't like leaving anyone behind to die.

I'd hated it when the sacrificing was from someone else. With it being me, with my death coming, I didn't regret whistling away the zombies. I did regret that Daws had died with me. He had sacrificed himself for me, and I for the other furs. My sacrifice had caused Daws to die. It was something I'd always carry… for the next hour or so.

But it wasn't over. I wasn't dead yet. I wasn't dead….

Daws had died for me. For me!

I wasn't strong, but curse my soul to the deepest furry hells if I wasn't going to save the life Daws gave me. Didn't I owe it to him? Didn't I owe it to myself for making it this far?

I'd made it up into a tree, growling and glaring at the groaning zombies. Only the wolf reached for me now. It's eyes glowed in my direction. It's eagerness to get to me showed in the tree trunk's claw-marks. The tree was clawed, scarred. It would live.

I had as much right to live as anyone. I had the desire to live. I had loved ones – maybe not the ones I'd expected to have, but I had furs I cared about and loved.

I plucked a leaf from the tree. It was alive. I had killed the leaf, but the tree lived. Did that mean something? Did it mean nothing? Somehow, the leaf felt important. It was a symbol. I dropped the leaf. As it flipped and fluttered, I clambered down a few branches.

When I was a little above the undead wolf, I paused, pulling out the hammer in my good paw. If it was to be used, if I was to fight, if I strove to live, the moment was upon me. Now or never. I lived, and living gave me the right, and the strength, to fight. To live.

“Live!" I growled, staring at my fierce grip on the hammer.

The wolf below got excited. It fueled me. My anger turned into a hot rage. But I calmed my rage. It would make me leap out of the tree, where the big zombie would overpower me. My rage, I redirected into motivation, into un-fear.

The wolf reached for me with black paws. I swung the hammer, smacking the paws, smashing the reaching fingers. Again. Miss. Miss. Again. Again! When the fingers were mangled and useless, I stared at the wolf.

It wasn't black, like I'd thought, but a dark gray, with light-gray footpaws. It wasn't Shadow. It clearly wasn't, but I still felt hesitation. Could this wolf be somehow salvaged? Could the mind be recovered?

I was wondering because I wanted Eric back. I wanted Shadow back if he ever became a zombie. I wanted the world back.

Anger flared. I pulled off the arm sling, throwing it over the wolf's head. It turned, drawn to the motion. When it bent over, arms and muzzle reaching for the sling, I used the opportunity to leap to its back. It fell heavily to the leaf-strewn ground. The filth-matted fur of its back was under me.

I smacked the hammer down, but it glanced off the big skull. I hit it again, and it sank a bit into the skull on the side, near the ear. I howled my fear and anger. It howled some kind of excitement, trying to rise. It tried to grab me with damaged, useless paws smacking my thighs. Fingers crumpled against me, unable to grip.

I swung down again. Again!

The thing dropped to the ground, groaning beneath me. I kept smacking the thick head until it was silent and losing colorful fluids into the ground. I hit it again. It was dead, and no longer undead, but I still hit it. I stood and kicked it with a yell. Tears streamed down my muzzle.

I hated it. I hated this. I hated the world.

Stopping, I crouched over the open cavern of damaged skull, holding my head. I shuddered and dropped to my knees sobbing. I needed to move, to be quiet. I couldn't. I looked down at my paws, smeared in rotten blood and blood-tainted fluids. I wanted to live. Couldn't I just live!?

I touched my face in an attempt of comfort, smearing gore on myself, but I didn't care. I was alive. Perhaps not for long, but I was alive. I would struggle. I would live. The strange sound again, not as distant as before. It was far enough away to be unclear amid the forest birdsong.

I got to my footpaws. I had no idea where I was, so it was easy to choose the direction of the sound as it repeated twice more. I followed my muzzle that way, passing through a gap in the trees. A second gap, and the next.

I emerged onto a wide field of tall grain, waving seeds in the light breeze. Shadows were small, and I knew it was approaching midday. A farmhouse in the distance was dwarfed by the large, brown and white barn next to it. I trotted that direction, appreciating the waist-high grains brushing against my paws.

With one paw, I touched my lips, trying to bring back those warm, warm memories of my first kiss. The farmhouse bed with Shadow. Our lips meeting. Hesitation and surprise turning into something more. Memories to filter in my last moments, brushing the grains with one paw.

There was nothing better to do with my last moments. I would enjoy the summer sun in the endless field, rippling in faint breezes. I might find safety at the nearby farmhouse but more likely would not. I would try. I must try. I was done accepting fate and lying back, letting things happen around me.

The sun warming my shoulders cleared my mind. My paws trailed over the tops of the growing grains, leaving ripples behind me. I had to smile. A little effect of my presence while I still lived. Would I cause a thunderstorm on the other side of the world?

I was almost to a packed-dirt area in front of the farm buildings when something new caught my attention. I looked up. The sky looked weird. Damn.

It was coming. I had tried and failed. I shivered and stood still, closing my eyes and trying to pretend I was okay with my fate. What would zombie-Tyler be like?

A blaring sound crossed to me. What a strange sound from the Curtain. It had never made that sound before.

I opened my eyes, frowning. The ripples of Curtain approached in the far distance, falling to the ground, in wide waving streams. They layered on more layers of itself, approaching my position.

The blaring sound again caused me to look down. A small box truck was parked on the pounded dirt at the farm center. A fur waved from the front, honking the horn and getting out of the driver's seat.

In the days before the Curtain, one might turn the other way, especially from a similar rifle-carrying fur. But as the big fur waved to me with a piercing whistle, I ran forward, stumbling on uneven field ground. The loose dirt beneath me hindered my even sprinting.

Would I make it?

I regained my balance, and hurtled towards the truck. I leapt a row of logs, lining the road into the farm. It reminded me of the previous farmhouse, when Shadow and I had raced each other and been chased by zombies. I ran for my life, jumping fresh-killed zombie bodies lying on the packed driveway. The bovine fur waved a big hoof as he moved to the back of the truck. It looked like Burt-

But it wasn't. It wasn't Burt. I didn't know who it was, but I knew we were both heading for the safety of the old box truck's cargo space.

I was breathing hard, pushing myself faster. The Curtain approached. It neared.

I was practically thrown into the back, and the big bovine scrambled in after me. Someone else closed the door to the rear, shouting something I didn't catch through my heaving pants and the horror of the Curtain falling over Furdom.

It dropped, roaring vibrations into my unready body. I collapsed to the floor of the truck, and the stinging vibrations raged into me. The tune surged. The hint of presence hunted for me. I wasn't ready to dance along the waves of vibrating madness. Everything stung, shot with mixed signals of pain and distress.

It felt like something clawed inside my brain, tearing into my thoughts. My consciousness fragmented, trying to hold onto itself, hold on to anything.

Then it was over. And the nothingness smashed back into me, a backlash of void. My mind was finished, and I slipped away into the blackness.

***

A blink later, paws were on me, searching my body. I tried to swat them away with feeble paws.

“Where!?" a voice cried out, sounding upset. The voice cracked and wavered, distorted and sharp in my half-conscious mind. “Where's he injured!?"

Another voice. “Is he okay? Do you know him?"

I groaned. “Where?"

“Easy there, Foxy," said a voice, sharp and distorted.

I groaned, wanting some kind of peace from the pained numbness. My half-awareness stung as paws and hoofs turned me. I mumbled protests.

“Tyler! Where are you hurt?" called an upset voice. “Where's your sling!?"

I knew that voice.

I wanted the voice, wanted its user. I reached with numbed paws and paws met mine. The warm grip let me know I lived, that I had someone.

“I don't think its his blood. Look it's all dark and old too. Zombie blood."

“Is he bit!?" yelped a wolf. My Wulf.

“Shadow?" I whispered in a vague and distant voice.

“Tyler!" Shadow called to me. “Are you bit anywhere?"

“No," I sighed. “I hit him, Shadow. I hit the wolf dead. It wasn't you."

A voice deeper than Burt's chuckled. “Well, I think he'll be just fine after a bath. Both of you."

Shadow laughed. “You're a bit rank yourself!"

Deeper Voice said, “I'm surprised you can tell over your own reek. Damn, pup. I thought I smelled."

I managed a flicker of my eyes. It was dark. A large flashlight was wielded by an even larger fur. A side-door opened out into bright light.

I cringed back. “The Curtain!" I yelped.

“It's gone. Well, until tomorrow," griped the best fur in the world.

With what little energy I could muster, I launched myself at him. I kissed and licked anywhere which wasn't me.

“Tyler," Shadow grinned. He gripped me close, while I wriggled in his lap like a puppy.

He licked my ear, smiled, then licked it again. I closed my eyes, settling to enjoy his heartfelt licks. I had a lot of loose fur on my tongue. I tried to spat it out, but my muzzle was too dry.

Shadow gripped me tighter and I calmed down. His bright, golden-yellow eyes gazed their wolfy affection at me. “Your sling?"

“I had to throw it, distract a zombie." I grinned my sadness and terror away. “I thought I was going to die and never see you again. I wasn't sure you'd even made it out of the house alive."

“I'm alive," he grinned. “Can't you see me?"

“You mean the most handsome, wonderful wolf alive?"

Shadow grinned, and I saw tears in his worn-looking eyes. “I couldn't find you," he said, stroking my head between my ears. “Daws?"

I shook my head, my gaze sad.

Shadow gritted his teeth. “But you're safe! I had to come back out and find you, look for you. Furry Heavens! If we hadn't been here, just now..."

I nodded. “Don't want to think about it."

I clung to the warm, black-furred body with my good arm. The big fur outside opened the side-door of the truck wider. He was a big bison, another rarity around the Furnon area. I'd seen bison before, but the fur was huge for his species.

“Out-cha go, pups. Can't afford to stay here long," said the bison, tugging at the edge of the neck brace he wore.

I nodded, not wanting to be here any longer either. “Where are we, anyway?" I asked.

“Some farm we'd pulled over at to spend the Midday," said the bison in his very deep voice. “We honked the horn hoping to catch any survivors after driving around hunting for you."

I tilted my head. “Who?" I asked, glancing to Shadow.

“Oh! Tyler! This is Cade!"

My eyes widened. “Is he-"

Shadow's grin brightened my world. “He came all the way out here looking for me."

“I'll fill you in, pup," the bison said. “But right now, let's get out of here, head to the Green Zone."

I grinned. Cade was the bison Shadow had known before the Curtain started messing with the world. How wonderful was it that he had survived? That he was here!

We all clambered into the front cabin of the box truck, sitting on the bench seat with me in the middle. I had to be careful of my arm, as my shoulder still felt a little strange. Shadow passed me a bottle, and I took the most refreshing drink of my young life.

Cade started the truck, maneuvering around the dead. The driveway was long and full of potholes, causing the truck to slow. Once we bounced up onto the main, paved road, Cade spoke up.

“I'm relieved we found you safe, Tyler. Shadow was literally pulling out his fur over having been separated from you. I've never seen the pup look so upset. I've known him a few years now."

I picked up Shadow's paw, holding it my own. I looked into his golden eyes, seeing a glow far more beautiful and pure than the glow of a zombie's clouded eyes. I smiled and kissed between those eyes, giving his cheek under his ear a shy swipe with my tongue.

I had hoped Cade wouldn't notice, but he did. The big bison just grinned.

“Aw." The grin was wide, and flat-toothed. “Always knew you'd find someone, pup. Just like I found my wife, years ago. With her gone, it's never the same. If this is the one you care most for, pup, make sure to keep him."

“Mine," growled Shadow playfully, nipping my ear.

My blush might have been seen past my fur. Cade grinned.

I faced the road, gathering my thoughts. “I thought you lived far from Furdnon… ah, Mr. Cade."

“Please. Call me Cade. Cade Heartstone is my name, but Mr. Heartstone was my grandfather."

I nodded. “Cade," I repeated quietly.

“I'd had a flight booked out here the next week after the Event started. I've spent these two weeks pulling every string and contact I know to get out here to look for this guy."

I blinked. “I'm amazed you'd do that."

“For this wolf?" Cade grinned. “He's like the son I never got a chance to raise. He's family. I'd do anything for family."

I blinked down into my paws. Anything for family. A father who does anything for family-

“And fox pup, if you ever break his heart, I have to warn you:  you'll find yourself faced with a very pissed bison."

“Um. Yessir," I mumbled, leaning away from the big black-and-brown fur.

“Cade!" Shadow snapped. “Quit threatening! He's mine!"

“Always," I whispered.

It was overwhelming. Riding along in a truck, bumping over a few dead limbs here and there, crawling back to civilization – one which would not be the same I was accustomed to.

“See? Now you've scared him!" growled Shadow.

I was surprised he showed his temper in front of another fur, especially one so big as Cade. Was Shadow with Cade still the same Wulf I knew?

“Sorry, pup. It's just- Hold on." He cursed and swerved the truck. When the truck steadied on the road again, speeding at a crawl, Cade continued, “It's just- I had to pull a lot of strings with unwilling furs to get out here. It was a huge risk, knowing most furs perished. But I'd heard there was a young, black wolf here. And Shadow has had it rough, and I couldn't stand the thought of all he'd gone through. For him to deal with this alone.... I'm glad he found someone, and wasn't alone."

I managed a shy smile at the big fur. “I was alone too, and we found each other," I mumbled.

“Oh?" Cade grinned and looked back at the road. “That must have been something. What are the odds?"

“He's perfect." My Wulf grinned like mad, his tail thrashing behind us.

That had Cade laughing. “Pup, I'm glad to hear it. You know Tyler, this pup here didn't know how to approach furs at all, he was a mess when I first met him. Now look at him. Boyfriend and everything!"

“Mate!" Shadow said, but then his grin faltered. “Um, Tyler. It's okay that we're mates?"

“Yes," I said. “I mean, I haven't thought much on it, but I'm okay with it. I've never felt closer to anyone. But… what does it mean for wolves? You've mentioned it before, after you gave me that bite."

“You didn't!" Cade shouted in the small truck cabin, causing me to flinch.

“I did," the wolf mumbled. He looked at me. “I hope you accept me. I just- I couldn't stop myself when the time came. It felt so natural to just… do it."

Cade grunted. “Welp. I've heard that before. You're not the first wolf."

The bison looked at me, a mix of emotions in his steely gaze. Had I done something wrong? It sure felt like it.

“What? What did I-"

“It's not you," the bison admitted, keeping his eyes on the road. He swerved the truck twice before answering. “It's a wolf thing."

Shadow nodded, smiling in question. “I want you, Tyler. Forever."

“I want to be with you forever, Wulf." I turned my focus to the bison again. “How is it different for wolves? I know other species have mating bites among bonded or married couples."

Cade sighed. “It's deeper for wolves than many other species, almost unique to them. A wolf claims another with a mating bite, and it cements their bond. But it's more than a physical sign for others to see. It's not one which fades like others."

“How is it different?" I asked. “Other species can divorce and move on."

Cade shook his head. “Wolves can't do that. It's a marking deep within their mind too. If he marked you, did he seem different right after? It seemed to hit him harder?"

I frowned. “I'm not sure. Maybe?"

“Well, between two wolves, both partners experience the same… I dunno, I've heard it called 'rightness.' With a mating bite pairing, the sense of rightness and joy cannot be replaced by another. Even when not in intimacy, the feeling of wholeness and rightness continues when just around the mate."

“But Shadow's mother?"

Cade's eyes widened, glancing at us from the road. “Shadow told you about his past? Well, I am impressed. You've improved, little wolf pup."

“I'm not so little," Shadow grumbled, but he seemed pleased with the praise.

Cade grunted. “Shadow hasn't told me much of his past, but I know it was pretty awful. Poor pup kept having nightmares and night terrors all the first year. Constantly. Hard to sleep around that, you know?"

“I told Tyler." Shadow looked a bit proud, like he might have been strutting if we were all standing. “Pretty much everything."

“Pretty much?" I asked. “There's more?"

“You know all the big stuff. But there's other things. Um… I'll tell you later okay?"

I kissed the side of his muzzle. “You can tell me whatever, whenever you want. I'm here for you."

Shadow grinned, but he was crying too. He sniffled and rubbed his teary muzzle, trying to make it look like his usual scratch of his muzzle scar.

“Well, damn. Shadow hasn't even told me everything," Cade griped with a half-grin. “It's great you've found someone you can confide in so much, pup."

“Stop calling me pup, Cade." Shadow groaned into his paws.

“Well, now that you've found someone to mate, I guess I'll have to." Cade laughed, winking at me.

A question came to my mind. “Can wolves use a mating bite more than once? What happens if the mate dies?"

Cade looked saddened, eyes fixed on the road. “Well, that happens too, and it's a sad sight. The bond only happens once. Some neurobiology thing."

I looked down into my paws. I hadn't realized Shadow felt so… sure about me. I felt a heated, happy warmth, but at the same time it felt like such a heavy weight.

“Shadow? What if I had died just now?" I asked, tears filling my vision. The gray truck interior faded. “You would have been alone forever."

The blur of Shadow shook a head. “No. Not alone. But it would never be the same again, with anyone."

“And that's the strength of the mating bond?" I breathed.

“Yup," said Cade. “It's a wonderful thing, until it's not."

We bumped along in a heavy silence towards the Green Zone and the promise, the hope of a better tomorrow. Shadow joined our paws, sharing with me occasional gazes of mixed emotions. Mated.