Walker muttered, "You've got to be freakin kidding me?"

Eileen looked shocked and said, "No way."

Tabitha looked shocked as well, "I don't believe my eyes."

After last night, this morning I went to Tabitha, Walker, and Eileen and surprised them when they find Jade in the barracks with me. Yeah imagine a lioness in a marines base.

While Jade was sitting on my bed and getting all the attention on her, she waved her paw at them and said, "Hello."

I translated for them, "She said hello."

Walker looked at me after he was done looking at Jade, "Casper, how did she get in the base? I thought there's a very tall fence that surrounded-"

I interrupted him, "Jade used a tree to jump over the fence and not surprisingly, she made it inside. I know guys I'm surprised by all of this as you are."

Tabitha walked up to Jade and gave her a hug, "Oh baby girl. I'm glad you're here." Jade was pretty surprised by the hug and then she nuzzled Tab and started purring.

Eileen said, "Casper...Have you lost your mind? I mean, do you know where we are? This is not a camp, this is a marines base. I mean what if someone finds her? If they do they might shoot her by mistake."

I nodded, "I know Eileen. But I couldn't leave her alone and plus it's too late now anyways. She's already inside the base and she can't leave now. The only way out of the base, would be to go past the guard station at the entrance of the base. And even if Jade just waltzed over to that station, she would never make it. So for the time being, she's stuck here."

Tabitha let go of Jade and turned around to look at me, "She's taking a big risk coming here."

Walker walked up to me and said, "Yeah man, she's taking a big risk here."

I said, "How do you think that makes me feel? I don't want her to stay here either. But..." I trailed off.

Tabitha crossed her arms, "What?"

I took a deep breath, "Chad abused Jade, physically."

All of them gasped, and Eileen muttered, "That bastard."

I nodded at all of them, "That's why she came here, to get away from him."

Walker shrugged, "So how are you going to take care of Jade? I mean it's like we said, this isn't like the camp. So you do know that you can't keep this secret forever, someone is bound to find her."

I nodded, "Yes, I know. But it's a chance I'm willing to take."

Eileen smiled, "Somehow I knew you were going to say that."

I giggled, "Figured it out, huh?"

Then all of us laughed, except Jade who was confused. Jade said, "Ok, what are you laughing about?"

I shook my head, "Nothing."

Jade narrowed her eyes at me, "It better be nothing."

I laughed even harder after she said that.

*****

It wasn't really easy getting some food for Jade. In all honesty this is a base, not a camp, so even the marines would get suspicious. But at least I wasn't caught getting food outside the mess hall. One of the rules for the marines base mess hall was never take food out of the mess hall, but I broke one of them after I snuck out of there with food. I wasn't going to let Jade starve.

After I gave Jade food, she said it was even better than the food at the camp. Which I'm not surprised I thought it was good as well.

Of course Jade couldn't do much here, since she's stuck in the barracks with me. I mean she can't take a walk during the day without getting caught. Not to mention she can't leave the base to go to the savannah either. I have to find a way to get her out of here one day, without getting caught.

Lets just hope she doesn't get antsy while she's stuck here. Or else otherwise she might start sharpen her claws by clawing the wood here!

Meanwhile, here I was a few hours later after I fed Jade, I was taking a walk around the base. Just thought I get my exercise in. Then I saw Amber and her father Nick having a walk as well. Amber waved at me and she said, "Hi Casper!"

I smiled and waved back at them, "Hey guys. What's up?"

Nick smiled and said, "Well just having a father and daughter stroll. Just haven't had it in a while."

I nodded, "Nothing wrong with that."

Amber asked, "Do you want to join us?"

I shook my head, "No thanks, but maybe later." Then I walked past them. I didn't want to waste anymore time. Jade might get bored and then she might somehow sneak out of the barracks and try to find me and that could be a serious problem.

After that has happened I already came back to Jade and we sat around together on the bed in the barracks.

While Jade laid her head on my lap she asked, "Hey Casper I keep forgetting to ask you this."

I looked down at her, "What?"

"What's a marine? I don't even know what that is."

I frowned, "Well...It's kinda hard to explain."

She looked up at me, "Just try. I'll try to understand."

I tried to think of how to describe a marine, "Well....A marine is a soldier, a fighter. You see a marine is part of a military. Let me put at it this way, a lot of marines are like pride members. They stick together and they fight all the time. They even call each other brothers and sisters. Because they all fight for the same thing."

Jade asked, "Were you ever a marine before?"

I laughed, "Good question, but no. When I first met you I was still in school. You see you can't be a marine while you're in school. You have to do a lot of training to become a marine. I never became one."

Jade only said, "Oh."

I shrugged, "But not everyone in my species is a marine. There are a lot of us who are marines. But not all of us are."

She nodded, "I get it. Not all of your kind is a marine. I understand it now."

I smiled at her and said, "You're cute when your curious, you know that?"

Jade giggled, "Whatever, human."

Before I could laugh, both of us heard knocking on the door. My eyes went wide, crap someone's coming. I pushed Jade off of me and then I urged her to get under the bed. You see the plan was if anyone tries to come in here, Jade would either hide under one of the beds here, or in the shower room.

Jade whined and said, "I don't want to get under the bed. I'm too big to get under it."

I urged her again, "No time."

Jade gave in and then she crawled under the bed and stayed under it. After that I went to the front door before the second knock came. I opened it and saw that it was Robyn.

I smiled at her, "Hey Robyn."

Robyn smiled back, "Hey kid, can I come in?"

I asked, "Why? Do you want to talk to me?"

She nodded, "Actually I thought that maybe we should get to know each other. I mean I feel like I want a break from being a corporal for today."

I tried to think of an excuse to say no, but I couldn't. If I try to say no, she might get suspicious, I can't take the chance. I beckoned her with my hand, "Come in."

Robyn came in the barracks and then I closed the door. Robyn was looking around and then I asked, "Everything alright?"

Robyn turned around and said, "Yeah everything's fine. Its just...I haven't seen you most of the day. It seemed kinda odd."

Crap now she's getting suspicious, got to make a good excuse. I said, "Well I wasn't in the mood to do anything today. I mean I walked around in the savannah for the past three days already and now I just wanted to take a break for today."

Robyn frowned, "You're fidgeting."

I looked at my hands and realized she was right, I am fidgeting. I stopped and said, "Oh uh sorry."

Robyn then smiled, "What's wrong? You don't like talking to girls that much?"

I shook my head, "Oh no, it's not like that."

"Then why are you nervous?"

I tried to make another good excuse, "I...I..." I faltered.

She giggled, "Listen I'm not into you. I have to get to know you to be into you." Then she sat down on my bed with Jade under it!

Crap, I'm glad her weight didn't cause Jade to cry out. The space under the bed is not wide at all.

Robyn frowned again, "Casper? You're acting weird again."

I tried to keep my cool and then I sat down beside her, "I'm not acting weird."

Robyn got suspicious, "Look Casper, if you don't want me in here, I can leave if you want."

I held out my hand, "No, no, you don't have to. I mean it's just I feel....I feel like..." I trailed off again.

Robyn then said, "You know what? I'm going to leave now." Then she got up from the bed and walked to the door. Oh good she didn't catch Jade.

She turned around before she went out the door and said, "Look Casper, I'm not trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I mean I'm trying to be your friend. I mean your aunt told me that you didn't have a lot of friends back then and I thought maybe I could-" She stopped when she saw something.

I followed her gaze and realized that she saw Jades tail sticking out form under the bed!

Robyn asked, "What's that?"

I panicked, "Nothing."

Robyn walked to the edge of the bed and said, "Bull crap it's nothing, what is it?" Then she raised her foot and stepped on Jades tail.

Jade cried out from under the bed and came out of it. When she emerged from the bed, she growled at Robyn.

Robyn gasped and took a step back with her hand to her mouth.

Jade took a few steps toward her with an angry face, "What did you think you were doing?!"

I ran to Jade to calm her down, "Jade no! Its alright, its alright." Jade finally calmed down and looked at me.

Robyn was hyperventilating and she tried to scream. But before she did I put my hand to her mouth and stopped her. I said, "Robyn, listen to me. I know what it looks like, I know. But she's not a threat, she's my best friend. Now when I let go of your mouth, you have to promise not to scream, ok?"

Robyn looked at me, then at Jade. Then she nodded and I slowly lowered my hand from her mouth. Robyn was still nervous but then she took slow deep breaths and looked at Jade.

Jade cocked her head and realized what she has done, "Uh Casper, did I scare her?"

I looked at her and said, "Yep you scared her, big time."

Robyn looked at me and asked, "Casper? What is this? Is that a lion? What's going on here? And...Did you speak to it?"

I raised my hands and said, "Look it's a lot to take in, but I can explain everything."

Which I hope I can as best as possible.

*****

Robyn was still in here when I told her everything. About what happened to me three years ago, about Jade and her family, about how I learned about my ability to talk to lions, about everything I could think of.

Robyn frowned and said, "Wait, you said that your mom and dad knew about this secret government experiment? What happened to it really?"

I answered, "The government scrapped the project, and with that leaving no trace of it anywhere."

Robyn looked down at her feet, "And the government made this kind of thing? I never knew that."

I shook my head, "No one does. Not even me. The whole thing was some big secret made by the government and basically several people who worked on it knew about it. Not even the president around that time knew about it."

Robyn then said, "I really don't believe any of this."

I closed my eyes, "I don't blame you for thinking that way." I opened my eyes and looked at her, "But I am telling you the truth. Look I really can talk to Jade. I mean she's the only one who can understand me. No one else but me."

She nodded and said, "Oh I believe you about Jade. I just don't believe that our government worked on this stuff. I mean that's crazy in a way."

I giggled, "Hard to believe?"

Robyn nodded, "Yep."

I said, "Listen, I'm sorry. About not telling you all this sooner. I mean I wanted to tell you, you seem nice to me. But I couldn't say anything because I thought you wouldn't believe me."

Robyn then said, "Honestly I thought you were just shy. You know because I'm a girl and you thought I was into you. Trust me if I was trying to do anything inappropriate with you here I would lost my job as a marine."

I laughed, "Well the reason why I was nervous is, because I thought you would find Jade and guess what, you've succeeded.

She giggled and shook her head, "Well you don't need to worry about it. I won't tell anyone about her. Besides, I wanted to have more friends here other than marines, and to tell you the truth. I actually liked lions when I was a little girl."

She got up from the bed and went to Jade who was lying on the floor. Robyn got on her knees and she started to pet her.

Jade looked at me and I said, "She's alright Jade. She won't tell anyone."

Jade muttered while she was being petted by Robyn, "Well still she didn't have to step on my tail."

I laughed, and then Robyn looked back at me and asked, "Did Jade talk to you?"

I nodded, "Did you hear her grunting?"

Robyn nodded, "Well she made a low roar, at you so yeah I thought she was talking to you. I can't really understand her, can I?"

I shook my head, "I wish you could, that way she would have more humans to talk to."

Robyn giggled, "Yeah it would be cool to talk to animals." Jade started purring when she got used to her petting.

I smiled at them. Looks like Jade found a new buddy. Guess I should've told Robyn about this after all.

Then Robyn let go of her and stood up and faced me, "Well I need to get going. And don't let anyone else know about her, alright? The other marines might not be as understanding as me."

I shook my head, "Don't worry I won't let anyone see her."

Robyn then smiled and said, "You know, she's very lucky."

I grinned at her, "Why?"

She answered, "To have a friend like you." Then she went out the door. Leaving me alone with Jade.

Jade looked up at me and said, "Well at least it wasn't so bad."

I shot a glare at her, "You almost attacked her."

She shot back at me, "Only because she stepped on my tail! Remember that I told you I don't like it when someone steps on my tail?"

I stared at her for another second and then I laughed and she laughed with me. I couldn't stay mad at her forever.