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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 130: Monster (Our Resolve Part Two)

Day 999 (noon on Strawberry Island)

"The captain is coming back for us right?!" Tess said watching the yacht take off in the distance. "He is just repositioning the boat. Right?!"

And so the nine of us waited.

1 PM...

2 PM...

3 PM...

"Where is he?" Tess asked nervously.

"Who ever that serval was, he wasn't the captain." The little aardvark said to the female bison.

"It looks like we are going to be here for a while." Neil said.

"How much of a while?" Doria asked.

"I don't think we are going to make it back before curfew." Ember added.

"We need to change our mental state; from vacation to survival." Cinder said piling on.

Everyone looked at the boy genius.

"That's fine, but does anyone know anything about how to survive in the wilderness?" Bess asked.

*crickets*

"And you call yourselves beastials." The little aardvark face-palmed.

(He said what I was thinking.)

"We are all domesticated." Dongo admitted at last.

"Fortunately I know a little on the matter. We need three things to survive and/or thrive here until we are rescued. Food, water, clothing and shelter." Cinder said.

"I will agree with that." Niko added. "Why don't we fan out and do some exploring, you know like a group fulfillment exercise?"

(You know, one where our survival hangs in the balance.)

"Dongo and I will head northeast along the beach." Doria said grabbing her hyena.

"Bess and I will head northwest along the beach." Tess said.

"Neil we can head southeast into the interior."

"Well..." Neil started to say.

"Don't worry I will protect you." The she skunk said.

"What do you mean WE?" Neil responded as he was pulled away.

"Right, I guess we will go southwest into the forest." I said to Cinder and Ember.

"Meet here at 5 PM." Cinder called out to everyone.

"Wow quite forest-y. I have bad memories of the forest." Ember said as we made our way into the foliage.

"You mean strange lights and getting sucked up into the sky?" I teased the four foot brown aardvark.

"Yeah."

"It would appear that we aren't the first to stand here on this island." Cinder said staring down at the forest floor. Not five hundred feet in front of us were foot prints.

"They appear to be human." I said pulling out my PDA.

"Are we sure these are recent?" Ember asked.

"That print is rather modern looking and/or fairly recent." Cinder said correcting his cousin.

"Let me guess you are familiar with styles of footwear?" I said studying the print.

"I did a report for class. That particular print belongs to the kangaroo brand. Size 8 1/2; it belonged to an adult male."

"Great perhaps we aren't alone on this island then." I said grabbing the two aardvarks and moving deeper into the forest.

Not far from the footprint of the human male the three of us found another a of a female. Fairly recent as well and then another, and another and yet another. It appeared others had been stranded on this island at one time or another as well.

(But were they still here?)

We continued to search the forest south west from beach until we reached the other side of the island nearly falling back into the water. We didn't find who ever made the footprints or figured out where they were going. The food prospect was also slim.

"I was hopping to find at least some strawberries- you know strawberry island." Ember said in disgust.

"Strawberries are only in season April through August cousin, not October." The little aardvark said.

"Well there are a few apple and pear trees and mushrooms, that is a start." I said.

"We should check on the others." Ember added.

After walking across the island, we decided to try to track down the others, so we headed northwest along the beach in the hope of running into the buffalo calves.

"This is a nice little piece of paradise!" Bess said when we found him.

"What did you find?" I asked the male buffalo calf.

"At the northwest end there is a complex of rocks along a small lake." Tess said.

"That will be our drinking water." Ember said to the teen.

"The rock complex could shelter us from the elements and/or danger." Cinder said.

"You two didn't have any luck finding food did you?" I asked.

"Only pears and apples." Tess said.

"That will suffice the omnivores and non-meateaters. But what about the carnivores?" Bess added.

"You find any ants?" Ember asked.

"Hey guys!" Doria said running up to greet us. Dongo was following close behind his female.

"You five find anything?" The hyena asked.

"Yeah you could say that." Bess answered our leader.

"We found a complex of rock structures and a pond at the north end." Tess answered.

"We found some scenic views along with pear and apple trees." Doria said.

"What about you three?" Dongo asked the aardvarks and myself.

"We found human footprints in the forest near the plateau. It would appear we weren't the first ones here."

"Interesting, there doesn't seem to be anyone else but us out here." Dongo said

"So basically we have been abandoned on a deserted island away from the empire." Cinder said recapping. "There is no communication because we are far from civilization and/or air traffic and our food supply is limited due to it being late fall."

"I suppose we could supplement that by fishing." Ember added.

"There is also the sub watercraft we used to come to the island- we could try to head back to World Five in that." Bess added.

"Just one problem Bess dear." Doria said looking at the male bison. "Which way is World Five?"

"You could be hopelessly drifting." Dongo added "And there is no guidance because we are so far from the empire."

"So we best settle in and get comfortable?" Bess asked the seven of us.

"Well can use the the rock structures we found on the north end of the island." Tess said.

"There is a pond there we can use for drinking water." Bess added.

"There is fruit toward the interior." Doria added.

"And we can probably fish the lake." Dongo added.

"Then I would suggest we use the north end of the island as our camp." Cinder determined. "We also need some type of lookout point where we could see all around the island so if any ships happen by we could alert and/or signal them."

"That would also be the plateau at the south end of the island." Bess said.

"Alright then it is settled." Dongo said. "Bess, Tess you set up camp at the north end of the island. Alex, Cinder and Ember get to work on some type of observation signaling platform on the plateau and Doria and I will work on fetching dinner." The leader of the Consortium said assuming some authority.

It was at that point Ember raised his paw.

"A question?" The hyena asked the aardvark.

"Yes what about your other two members the female skunk and the brown haired human?"

"You're right we should have caught up with those two by now." Doria said looking at Dongo.

"We better go look for them." Dongo said taking Doria. We will meet you at the north end of the island in a couple of hours.

With that the group split up. Bess and Tess started to make camp at the base of the rock formations and the lake.

"I think the first thing we are going to need is a fire pit." The boy buffalo said to his sister.

"If you are going to have fire, then you are going to need wood as well." The girl buffalo said to her brother.

"And then there is the bedding and sleeping arrangements." The two of them said in unison.

"Those two are so much in synch." I said to Cinder and Ember.

"Probably because they have had to grow up without their father around." The older aardvark said.

"We better get going that plateau looks like it is going to be a big hill to climb."

"The bigger the better." Cinder stated. "We need something that would give us a great vantage point."

So the aardvarks and myself started to make our way up the green and brown hill at the south end of Strawberry Island. We thought the trip would be treacherous, but we found out that it wasn't; there was a trail.

"Hmm... someone made this." Cinder said.

"Which means others were here before us." Ember added. "What if they are up there?"

"It would explain why we haven't seen anyone else here." I said as I took lead.

It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the top of the hill. The view was gorgeous; we could see all around us unfortunately the yacht was no where to be seen. Nor was anything else for miles and miles in either direction.

"That's it we are going to be stranded here permanently!" Ember said.

"Not necessarily." Cinder said to his cousin. "All we really have to do is wait for the greys to come and collect you then we can ask them to drop us back of to civilization."

"Don't even joke!" Ember and I said in unison to the surprised little aardvark. "There is no guarantee that they would do that."

"There is not guarantee that they wouldn't either." The boy genius said correcting his cousin.

"Cinder that is not a good outcome at all. The greys would mark you, Niko, Dongo, Bess and Tess and would perform horrifying experiments on all of you while leaving Doria, Alex and Neil here on the island."

"And then there would not be any guarantee that they would return you back to the planet. They just might decide to keep you as test subjects or breeding stock." I said to the little aardvark.

"Ulp! Right alien abduction and/or abstraction is not an option. I do remember the stories you told us about your experiences about their sky ship Alex."

"They weren't pleasant and there was no chance of escape. If they didn't want to let you go, you weren't going." I said to the Consortium's boy genius.

"Hey guys can we change the subject- to something less autobiographical?" Ember asked.

"Like what?" Cinder asked his cousin.

"Like why you decided to join this group?" The older aardvark asked.

"About a year and a half ago, I was combing the hub and came across an advertisement; the Consortium was looking for recruits in Worlds Four and Five. I decided to join up." Cinder said. "Although I was rather young per Dongo and Neil, I have proven my usefulness in other ways."

"Plus World Four is a tough city to work in by yourself." I said as we started combing the plateau.

"Yeah it would have been nice to have a few more members around to help out." Cinder said.

"Um guys over here!" Ember said calling to us.

"What did you find?" I asked.

"Only a message carved into the plateau."

The three of us stared at it. 'HELP!' It was spelled out in large lettering in both English and Animanian.

"Looks like someone and/or others have thought of this as well." Cinder said.

(Again we didn't find the previous inhabitants. I wonder if they managed to get off of the island?)

"The lettering is the right size we just need to find some way to illuminate it at night." I said to the two aardvarks.

"Let's use my cube. I can set the illumination to shine on the letters. Hopefully that will allow it to be seen from a distance." Ember said.

"That is if there is anyone out this far to see it." Cinder added said.

"Uh oh! Something is going on back at base camp." I said pointing.

Ember, Cinder and I noticed that Dongo, Doria, Niko and Neil had arrived. They were carrying lots of fruit.

"Looks like dinner is ready." Ember said.

"We better head back." I added.

Cinder, Ember and I arrived back at camp just after Niko and Neil did.

"Hi everyone, so what is this?" The skunk girl asked.

"Camp, our home away from the empire." Bess said.

"It looks like it will be for the near future too." Tess added.

"There is drinking water, places to sleep in or if you prefer we have the beach." Doria said.

"And we brought back apples and pears." Dongo said.

"So did you two find anything interesting and/or remarkable?" Cinder asked.

"Foot prints." Neil said.

"We saw the same thing in the section of the forest we explored." I added. "We tried to follow them, but they didn't seem to lead anywhere.

"We had hopped that there were others on the island. But if there are we can't find them." Ember stated.

"We ended up following our foot prints. They led into some complex grotto." Niko said.

"I would very much like to know what is down there." Neil said to everyone.

"I feel if we aren't discovered, we will have plenty of time to do some exploring. But it is getting dark we should wind down for the night." Dongo said sitting down next to Doria.

So as evening turned to night, we settled down to eat what meager supplies we had while watching the sun set. Everyone paired off and started to talk amongst themselves.

"It really is beautiful isn't it?" Bess said to me. "I don't think I have seen a sunset this way before."

"You know out here looking at this, it makes Counter Earth's problems seem so distant." Neil said as the skunk girl glommed on to his arm.

"Looks like we will be breaking curfew Neil sweetie." The white skunk next to my doppelgänger's brother said.

"I don't think that will matter, not like there is anyone here from the knights to enforce it." Tess added. Watching the first stars of night appear in the sky.

That night we decided to sleep on the beach under the stars. It was weird being away from home and my mistress but I made due. I watched as Dongo and Doria snuggled together, then Neil reluctantly with Niko. Ember and Cinder. Then Bess and Tess. I grabbed a deck chair and placed it next to the bison siblings.

Looking back, I think we should have established a watch system being on a remote island and all. But they say hindsight is 20/20.

Day 1000

The next morning began not with a beautiful sunrise but with alarm.

"I can't find Doria!!" The hyena said panicked.

"You sure she didn't wander off to relieve herself?" Cinder asked groggily.

"Neil is gone too." Niko said looking around.

"It is not like her to leave and not tell everyone where she is going." Dongo said nervously.

"Neil does that all the time to me." The skunk girl quipped.

"Let's give them a few minutes. Maybe they went for a walk." The boy bison said yawning.

Twenty minutes came and went while Bess, Tess, Cinder, Ember and I watched our leader and the skunk girl pace back and forth.

"Enough of this!" The hyena grumbled. "We better go search for them. Bess and Tess search the forest. Ember, Cinder you take the beach and lagoon, Alex stay here in case they come back."

(Ulp!)

"And you?" I asked the consortium's leader.

"Niko is going to show me that grotto she and Neil found yesterday."

I watched as my colleagues split up to search for the two missing humans in our group while I stayed at base camp.

(Alone again- naturally.)

And so I waited and waited. I soon realized that my time could be spent on more productive things- like cleaning up around camp. I picked up the leftover remains from dinner and organized the deck chairs. It was as I was burying the leftovers that I noticed there was a peculiar set of tracks just outside our camp. They looked beastial.

(Damn it.)

We were being watched yesterday evening. But by who? I started studying them trying to see if they belonged to Dongo, Niko, the aardvarks or the bison teens. I didn't get far.

"Alex!! The others!! Help!!" Bess said appearing out of no where.

"What happened?" I asked as the male buffalo calf started pulling me.

"The others! It was horrible! They are sinking in quicksand!"

"All six of them? But they went in separate directions Bess."

"We met up at the southeast end of the island in the forest!" The he beast said as he pulled me along.

"But if time is of the essence, why didn't you try to help them yourself instead of coming to find me?"

"The southeast end of the island. We have to hurry!" Bess said ignoring my question.

!!!

I noticed that Bess was very agitated, but I guess that was to be expected. I let him bring me to the south end of the island where the others had supposedly become trapped.

"Oh no we are too late!" He said dropping to his paws and knees in front of a pond.

As I looked at the brownish colored water, I noticed that the adolescent buffalo calf seemed to be flickering!!

"Say Bess we have known each other for a long time." I started to say.

"Alex is this really the time?! Something profoundly tragic has happened!"

"Humor me for a bit. When was the first time we met?"

"At the Consortium's first meeting in World Three, almost three years ago why?" The young bison said standing.

(It was as I thought.)

!!!

"You aren't Bess." I said looking at him.

"My you are good." The young bison said lunging at me. I quickly dodged as he came in for another punch.

But it was all a diversion; I never saw it coming.

**SWACK!!**

Something hit me from behind while I was dodging his attack from the front.

"UGH!!" I moaned.

"But not that good." The bison imposter said.

I was out cold for a good bit only awaking to screaming around me.

"Alex! Are you alright?!" Neil Winter asked.

"Neil? Doria? You are alright!"

"Not really." Dongo's squeeze said to me.

"What happened to you two?"

"Lured away from camp by our captain here who made it look like we were being contacted by others stranded on the island." Neil said to me.

"We were brought here- his killing zone." Dora said motioning me to look around. "He has been toying with us while waiting for you to come to."

We were in a cave, most likely the grotto Neil wanted to explore. But there was also more- it was the captain's or whoever he was dumping ground we saw skeletal remains on either side of the cave along with the smell of death and decay. Most likely they were the makers of the footprints. Neil and Doria also had burn marks on their bodies from laser fire.

"Hello again Mr. Winter!" The serval said stepping out of the shadows. "So you and Bess met before the Consortium's first meeting eh? I will have to remember that."

"What happened to our friends?" I said as I realized that I was now bound to Neil and Doria.

"They are fine I think. Regardless, their little peace-making group will go on without you three." The serval said.

"Captain Intex or whatever your name is, why are you doing this?" Doria asked our captor.

"Because you humans are a stain on an otherwise brilliant canvass. Your kind has blighted the land for far too long making the High Evolutionary's grand experiment, less grand."

"It all makes sense now!" I said as I struggled within my bindings much to Doria and Neil's frustration. "Look at the evidence!"

"What makes sense- that we have been caught?" Neil said exasperated.

"Or that we are being held by our guide." Doria interjected as the serval listened to us prattle.

"That Morris Hunter was not working alone. That was why he was able to kill so many in such a short time!" I said.

"You mean that tabby that went on that crusade in World One to free the world from all humans?" Neil asked me.

"Yes, the knight core worked with a wild life expert to track and finally apprehend him. Our expert said that the evidence pointed to a cat-like beastial. But that was only half of the team." I said to my Consortium companions.

"So when Morris was finally captured, it appeared the killing had stopped." Doria added.

"It didn't, it just took another form." Neil concluded. "Our dear captain lured his unsuspecting victims here outside the empire where he killed them and dumped their remains without detection."

"Just more names to add to the missing person's lists." I said disgusted.

"You three are very perceptive. For filthy stinking vermin."

"We are not vermin. Unlike you who lied to us we are actually trying to make this world a better place." The female brunette said to our serval captor.

"I am too, by eliminating the most vile and dire threat this world has ever faced- humanity." The serval said. "Only then can this world truly be free from that which threatens it."

"Do you really believe that rhetoric? I know for a fact that not all us humans are bad and not all beastials are good. You for instance." Neil Winter said eyeing our captor up and down. "If we filthy stinking humans are wiped out the planet will still be imperiled. Do you want to know why?"

"I have a feeling you are going to tell me anyway." The serval said.

"Evil beastials like you who believe in unholy crusades for the betterment of the planet." My doppelgänger's brother said.

"Only love will conquer hatred and fear." Doria said. "That is what we are trying to do build a better tomorrow, a better future a better world through peaceful coexistence, tolerance and understanding."

(I couldn't have said it better myself!)

"Well your group has a long way to go. I personally think it is appalling that you are dating a beastial! What is he thinking!" The serval said.

"That our philosophy is superior to yours." I said as the horrid beastial drew his weapon and aimed it at the three of us.

"So you are just going to murder us in cold blood?" Neil Winter said looking the he beast in the eye.

"I love shooting, impaling and decapitating my prey. As you can see from your predecessors. It may be bloody and less inefficient than inter-blast, but there is a certain joy I derive from watching the life drain out of my victims along with ignoring their pleas for mercy." The serval grinned devilishly. "And the purge of humanity continues!"

!!!

"GET DOWN!!" Neil Winter screamed pushing us out of the way as the serval opened fire.

**ZAP** **ZAP** _**ZAP** **ZAP**_

Captain Intex's imposter got several shots off before....

*WHACK!!*

The serval groaned and fell face forward on the ground in front of us. Behind him stood a hyena, skunk and two buffalo calves and two aardvarks.

"Dongo, Niko, Bess and Tess?"

"Sorry it took so long to find you." The white skunk said. "The grotto was quite long and complex to navigate.

"Everyone ok?" Bess asked.

"I am." I said checking myself.

"Doria?" The hyena said running to her.

"I am fine baby." The brunette said.

"Neil?" The skunk girl asked her reluctant beau.

"Ughhhh."

"Neil!" Niko screamed.

Ember and Cinder quickly untied us and looked at my doppelgänger's brother.

"I can't breathe." Neil wheezed.

"He took that laser fire directly." The little aardvark said looking at the burn marks on his shirt. "He most likely numerous internal injuries and/or bleeding!"

"And we don't have a healer." Tess screamed.

"Actually we do." I said looking at Ember.

"How bad is it Alex?" Neil wheezed.

"Very bad." I replied.

"Neil!" Niko said grabbing his hand.

"There is a way." Ember said kneeling down next to the skunk girl and myself. "You are not going to like it. But it is the only way that you will survive."

The brown haired human nodded. "What ever it takes. I refuse to be that that monster's latest victim."

"Come on everyone! Let Ember work. He needs some privacy." I said ordering everyone out of the cave.

Dongo, Bess and I picked up our imposter captain tying him up in the same rope that he he had bound Neil, Doria and myself in.

"Niko keep and eye on him." Doria ordered the she skunk. "If he so much as moves...."

"Right." The she skunk said.

While we waited to find out if Ember could save Neil, Bess and Cinder strip searched the serval.

"Exactly what are you two looking for?" Tess asked.

"How our ahem 'captain' managed to pay us a visit without his transportation." The little aardvark said.

"I believe the yacht is still out there, just hidden." The boy bison said.

"Found it!" Cinder said removing some kind of remote from the serval's pants.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A remote control." *FITZ* "It let's you hide in plain site." The little aardvark said as he disappeared.

"Good work Cinder." Dongo said. "Take Tess and go and find the yacht." The leader of the consortium ordered.

It took Ember about twenty minutes to 'treat' Neil. He was totally grossed out but thankful to be alive.

"He is out of the danger zone." Ember said emerging from the cave tightening his belt buckle.

Just as the brown aardvark had said that Niko ran in to see Neil. I then decided to join them as well.

"You were worried about me?" My doppelgänger's brother said.

"I care about you, you goof." The she skunk said. "No, it is more than that."

"Don't tell me you have developed feelings for me?" Neil said stupidly.

"Then I won't." Niko said kissing him. Neil Winter kissed her back.

(Wow, I guess I did enter too soon.)

Shortly afterward Cinder and Tess returned. They had found the yacht on the south end of the island right behind the plateau and the nine of us took the sub watercraft back to it and were on it within the hour but there was still a small problem.

"Does anyone know how to operate this?" Doria asked.

"I was watching the serval earlier I think I can figure it out." The little aardvark said.

"This is going to be a long ride home." The brunette said.

"Sweetie assist our little boy genius" Dongo ordered. "Niko, Bess, Tess take our so called captain to the observation deck and guard him."

"Can I at least have my clothes back?" The serval asked.

Everyone gave the second Cleanser a dirty look when he asked that.

"Alex, Ember a word." Neil Winter said ordering us below deck.

The Consortium's second in charge had me and the brown aardvark sit down in one of the crew quarters under the observation deck.

"Ember, thank you for saving my life. You have made a friend today." Neil said hugging the aardvark tightly.

"I just did what was the right thing to do. The eight of you are something special." The brown aardvark said.

"We would like to make you the ninth Ember." I said to him. "Please say you will join. Neil could use the back up in World Three."

The brown aardvark was silent for a moment. "Very well if the two of you promise not to greet me with a bear hug every time we meet and to keep my secret otherwise I may have revaluate saving you Winters in the future."

"Done." Neil and I said in unison.

"Good. See you top side." Cinder's cousin said leaving.

"And Ember saves yet another Winter from perishing." I said to my doppelgänger's brother. Who surprised me with his silence.

"Bro, you and I need to talk." Neil at last said to me.

"Neil, I am not your brother." I started to say.

"Yes you are- rather you are an alternate version of him from another reality."

(Oh crap.)

"How do you know about that?" I winced.

"When Ember was healing me, we shared minds." Neil said looking me right in the eye. "I saw his memories and his memories of your memories. How he healed you aboard the grey's sky ship, how you arrived on Counter Earth from another world entirely and how you accompanied me and Aurora to that hover vehicle show two years ago. You know the one where we became unwillingly employees of Beastial Beauties. That was you right there along with us the whole time!"

(Oh crap.)

"So we are going to have a conversation. One where you tell me exactly who you are, how you got on this world and why you were impersonating my brother otherwise I am going to tell our colleagues that there were two imposters aboard this cruise."

To Be Continued....