Chapter Four

Story by Chakat_Shadowstripe on SoFurry

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#5 of Tiger-Tiger

More things are happening now. This cat has too get moving or more people may be at risk... he doesn't really belong with wolves, though he's made a few friends among them.


The instant she passed out and fell to the sheets in front of me I found myself standing over her, as a tiger growling loudly. Something had happened and had caused my little Katy unimaginable pain. Less than three minutes later the door to the room opened and I saw Oscar standing there, in Were form with a sword, very much like the one he had given me, gripped in his large hand.

"Mark!" He challenged me before he saw Katy laying slightly behind and between my forepaws. On seeing that he lowered his weapon knowing that I would take any more movement towards me, and Katy as a threat.

My reply to his challenge was a series of angry threatening growls and I felt that my cat was almost incandescent with rage at the monstrous pain that we had felt from Katy.

Behind Oscar, Olwen came through the door before she too stopped, seeing a very angry cat standing, protectively over, Katy. "Mark, please let me look at her. I need to make sure she is okay. Her bonds to her parents... we lost them... he..."

I inhaled at the news because I could guess the rest and roared out in rage! We would make him pay for what he had done if it was the last thing that we did.

Oscar looked at me and placed his sword on the floor before shifting human. "Mark, let us help you, and her. She needs you now more than ever, you are all that she has left."

I pulled control back from my outraged cat and shifted, pulling back slightly with tears streaming down my cheeks. "Alpha, he's hurting you to get at me... Jack told me that he wanted to kill me, but your wolves saved my life."

Olwen knelt down and softly touched Katy's forehead before she turned and nodded to her mate before reaching over and hugging me tightly. "Mark, she's bonded to you now. You've taken her parent's place you can't let this, very natural, desire for justice and vengeance cloud your judgement."

"What am I supposed to do?" I choked out as I hugged her tightly. "As long as he's alive he will try and poison everything I build."

"Mark, I want you to go to Blackwater. Join your kind, learn from them, when you are ready face him and bring him low. Then you can mail us his tail!" Oscar growled out angrily. "The last thing Damien sent to me before that animal killed him was that he wanted your chains broken so that you could go and learn the full power that you've only touched the surface of. Damien knew that you couldn't leave Forest Edge while he and his mate lived... He told me as much, but at the same time..."

I turned and hugged Oscar tightly, though I could barely see through my tears. "Oscar... what of her bonds to the pack? I can't ask you to..."

"I've already done it, she will go with you." He told me and from the shaking in his voice I could hear that he was also in tears.

"To lose three pack members in one evening." I cried, feeling an edge of what the pack was feeling, the heartache and loss gave me a hollow feeling in my chest. "Oscar... their memorial... I will attend, it isn't up for debate." I told him between aching sobs of sorrow, though I felt their pain I also could feel the incandescent rage of my cat as he raged in the back of my mind. "Tomorrow you will tell me everything you know about him and I need transportation and a map."

"Save that for tomorrow, now get some sleep and wake up early." I nodded and found myself shifting back to tiger before I curled up around my newly adopted daughter and tried to get some sleep, though I did feel that my tiger wouldn't get much sleep, if any at all.

I woke up at just a bit after six in the morning, and felt different, after looking around I realized that I had three wolves sleeping beside of me. It took me half a second to realize that it was the Alphas, and Jack. Oscar was on my left and Olwen on the right with Jack also sleeping curled up beside her. I looked at the child that I was curled up around and huffed slightly.

Before last night I was her friend, someone that she was fascinated with, but now I was responsible for her. Whether she became a good wolf or not was entirely dependant on me and my choices and actions. I fully intended on taking care of the monster than had not only had the gall to turn me but also who'd started to hurt others to get to me, but that was secondary now. I would protect my little pup even if it cost me my life.

"That is proper." I heard the voice of my cat tell me, though his voice was still choked with anger and rage. "We must focus our energy on protecting those who cannot protect themselves, that is what a Pride Protector does." He told me with a rough growl. "These wolves have given us time to get strong enough to travel to our own kind. Now that they are under threat we must fulfill our role and leave in order to protect them from harm."

"I agree, but before we leave we are going to honour our cub's parents, they sacrificed themselves so that we can leave." I told him. I got a feeling of agreement from him and then laid my head down on my paws again. "Once everyone is awake I feel that you need some rest. So, I want you to take it when you can."

"I will keep us safe until we are in a place of safety, that is my pledge to you and to those who we care about. I will not be far from the surface..." Was the best I could get from him, and I knew that it would take a great deal of convincing to get him to sleep.

Within half an hour the three wolves awoke and before Olwen or Oscar could say anything young Jack shifted and stood with his hand on my shoulder, while I was still in my tiger form, "Alpha I am going with him. I can't abandon him now, he trusts me and I can feel that my wolf wants to go with him."

"Jack before you go make sure to talk to your parents and tell them why. You are still underage, so that means that we make that decision for you." Olwen said before her mate stepped forwards and he softly shook his head,

"In this case love I actually agree, for the most part, with what our young wolf is saying. He's a strong wolf and needs to forge his own path. If his path is not here with his parents at Forest Edge he has to find it, and I can think of nobody better to help him find that path than our friend Mark."

I stood up quickly and hopped down from the bed, looking at a small bit of rags from the underwear that I had been wearing the night before when I'd been getting ready to go to bed with Katy and shook my head. After shifting I put my hand on Jack's shoulder "Are you sure this is what you want Jack? You do know that once we get out to Blackwater the chance of you getting back here right away isn't going to be good, especially since you were there when he made me."

Jack nodded, "I know that Mark, but my wolf and I both agree that we need to see this thing finished. Not just for your sake, but also for the sake of all of those that he has hurt and killed over the years."

"Jack, you do know that I am not going to ask you to fight at my side, I can't because I know that he would go after you first since he'd see you as a weak point in my defenses."

"I understand Mark." He replied before wrapping his arms around me in a hug. "You may not be a wolf, but you seem to understand us." I looked at the three of them before Katy's voice interrupted us and I could instantly tell that she was crying.

"Kitty... they gone!"

Without even thinking I turned and picked her up holding her close letting her cry against my shoulder while I gently patted her padded bottom softly. "Katy..." Words failed me as I hugged her gently. I simply couldn't find the right words to express what I was feeling at the moment nor could I come up with anything that could even begin to assuage her grief.

I looked over at Oscar as he grabbed the blade that he'd left by the door. "Oscar... I don't really know what to do..."

"Mark, no person who's had this responsibility has ever really known precisely how to handle it. The best you can do is follow your instincts and listen to your cat. So far you've done well with your dealings with her."

Olwen looked at me as she gathered her things and got dressed, "Mark you've already learned so much just by being around her. Samantha said you'd never even had to change a child before and yet she says within a remarkably short time frame you've become proficient and adept at it."

"That's part of what I mean? I don't know how to get her back to using the toilet, her mom said that she almost got it licked but..."

Olwen stepped close to me and placed a finger on my cheek, "You'll know when the time is right Mark. Right now, I wouldn't be all that surprised if she takes a few steps back. After all she just lost her parents and that is a tremendous shock to the system, especially for a Were, since we are bound to each other via Pride and Pack Bonds. The bonds are even stronger among children and their parents as well as mates."

I nodded, not trusting my voice to tell her how I was feeling at the moment as I made my way to the bathroom, giving the Alpha's my leave to carry on with there morning. "Katy... can you do something for me?" I asked her softly.

She looked up into my face, tears still running from her eyes. "Kitty..." I could see her wolf in her eyes and could tell her wolf also was crying for all she was worth.

At that sight, I choked back some tears of my own and hugged her before I recalled that I had to get her changed for the day, as well as getting her something to eat. I closed my eyes from a second before my cat silently told me how best to handle it.

It took a rather painful side-trip to Samantha and Damien's quarters to pick up a few things for Katy before we made our way to the dining hall. Now she wasn't crying as much, but she was nursing softly on a pacifier and hugging a small grey, white, and black quilted blanket which smelled rather strongly of both of her parents. "No wash Kitty... Mommy made this for me when was born. It made with fur from daddy an' mommy." As soon as she said that I knew that during this time she would need it to be close, a comfort item.

As soon as I stepped into the dining hall one of the pack's senior wolves stepped up to me and bowed his head slightly to me and Katy.

"We feel your pain and loss. If there is anything we can do to help, all you have to do is ask."

"Thank you, Roger, I wish this hadn't happened. This was a loss that none of us was ready to accept." I told the Elder as I started collecting a plate of breakfast for myself and Katy.

For his part, Roger picked up a small plate and grabbed some things from the buffet and smiled at Katy. "Looks like you have your hands full now Mark."

"I'm afraid I do Roger, I have to keep that in mind. Though I don't really think that it is much trouble, in a way she is helping me right now."

"What do you mean by that?"

"My cat really wants to go out there and take a run at that thing that made us, but with Katy here I know I can't. I have responsibilities that must be taken care of."

He nodded grabbing a cup of coffee and following me to the table where I set my plate down before he set the small plate and the coffee down beside mine. "Just sit down and spend time with her Mark. Right now, that's probably all that you can do to help her with what she's just lost."

"Thank you, Roger." I said as I sat down with Katy in my lap before I gently removed her pacifier and handed her a small fork. "Katy, you need to eat baby. I know that you are hungry."

She looked up at me and then took the utensil and started eating though I could tell that she really wasn't all that interesting in eating. The pain that she was feeling was making her appetite vanish and it wasn't helping mine either. When she finished, she snuggled up to me and reached for the pacifier, but before she could get it I handed her a bottle of milk and sighed when she took it and began nursing on it.

"It is going to be even harder for me to break her of the bottle and pacifier now than before."

A wolf who was sitting on the other side of me shook her head. "Right now, isn't the time to think about that. If something gives her comfort than let her have it. Her world has been torn asunder and she needs what stability she can get."

I nodded, I couldn't smile, not now and replied. "I know that, but I don't want to delay her development as a young wolf by too much."

The woman nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. "We all trust that you will do your best Mark, no parent is ready to be a parent, we all do the best we can and learn along the way."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence Madeline." I told her as I continued to finish my meal, at the urging of my cat.

Normally by this point Katy would have jumped down and gone to join some of the other pups her age to play and burn off some of the energy that they had, but today she stayed in my lap and I could sense that she didn't want to leave me. I fully understood her reasoning but it would make my meeting with the Alpha a bit harder to take care of if I had a pup clinging to me.

When I was finished eating I took care of our dishes before heading to Oscar's office. As soon as I entered, Olwen walked up to me and gently gave me a hug and then looked at Katy, who was still nursing on her bottle, and said. "Katy, can you let Kitty talk with Alpha for a few minutes?"

Katy looked at Olwen for a moment and then nodded, before I handed her to Olwen.

"She might need a change soon, though I am not sure." I told Olwen quietly as I turned to go into Oscar's inner office.

"Mark, much of what I am about to tell you is more or less classified on a need to know basis." Oscar told me after I closed the door. "We've managed to identify the rogue who turned you, and I've submitted that he be reclassified as a Class 1 Rogue. That means that he has an automatic global kill on sight order. His name is Mikel Vladislav Berekov and he's been a rogue tiger for the past forty years."

"How in the hell has he managed not to become a fur rug in all that time Oscar?" I growled out harshly.

"He's not stupid Mark, and he's dangerous. He's been careful and always made sure that he hasn't turned anybody up until now. The only reason that you are still breathing is because of our intervention."

"That is something that I can never thank you enough for." I told him and I could feel the agreement of my cat at that. "Where is this damned cat from anyways?"

"You aren't going to like this Mark, but the fact of the matter is that he was expelled and classified as a rogue by the Pride you are heading for. What is unusual is the fact that he's never been this far west." He looked at his computer for a second, and growled. "For some fucking reason, he's not had the class 1 Rogue status confirmed... even though four other packs and two prides have kill on sight orders." He growled again and began working on something on his computer. "Sorry Mark this will only take a few minutes."

"Take your time sir, I understand that it's important." I replied as I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths and trying to talk with my cat, though he was still in no mood to be comforted.

"Okay, I've submitted a report and a warning that Mikel is now classified as a Class 1 Rogue. The only reason he didn't have it before was that he never turned anybody before, you are his first Turning. He had been classified as a Class Two"

"I just hope nobody gets him or herself killed trying to take him down." I growled softly.

"Carrying around that classification is going to make it much harder for him to follow you, though I do believe he will follow." He told me before turning his monitor around for me to see as he pulled up a map of Alberta and BC. Each of these territories, represented by the different colour coding's, belong to a different Pack or Pride. In the legend, there is a listing of the Pack names as well as their senior Alpha."

I looked down the list and then stopped. "Damn... is that where he's been hiding for the past year?"

"What do you mean Mark?" Oscar asked me, a bit of surprise in both his voice and scent.

"Oh nothing, just that a friend of mine disappeared about a year ago, with nary a trace of where he was going, though his roommates did say that he'd found a girlfriend and that he was moving out to BC."

"Oh, and you think it's one of the Alphas on the map?"

"Yeah, I can't be sure but this pack here," I pointed to one particular territory. "They have their Alpha listed as Adam. I can't be sure it's the same Adam as I knew, but perhaps there is a chance."

"Let me see... Wild Valley, yeah they are a relatively new pack, and their Alpha is a turned wolf, though he is unusually strong for a turned wolf. It couldn't hurt you to find out if he is your friend."

I nodded slightly, "Yes and perhaps it would be safer going that way, I mean it is almost a side-trip, a tangent from where I am going, but it could throw Mikel off of the scent for a few days."

"Could I get this map as a print-out? Or an E-Mail? I will need it to figure out which way I will go. I can't make the trip in one day. Besides, I don't think my cat would enjoy being cooped up in a car for that many hours straight, nor for that matter would Jack or Katy."

Oscar looked me up and down for a moment and closed his eyes before shaking his head. "You will have to do without Mark, if this information were to fall into the hands of the humans..."

"I understand sir, though that will make planning my trip a bit less flexible."

"Mark the easiest solution is to plan the next leg when you are still at the home of a Pack or Pride that you are staying at, though I am not sure if a Leader or Alpha will give you access to plan your next step."

I nodded and growled my ascent to his idea before the door opened and Olwen came in with Katy following her. "Mark, can you take care of Katy? She won't let me change her... I know she trusts me but..."

"I know Olwen, right now I don't think she wants anybody else, other than me doing something where she's placing so much trust in the person who is doing it. Besides, I think that it is time that she has a bath. Speaking of which, I noticed that her parents didn't have much in the way of supplies to take care of her and..."

"Think nothing of it Mark." Oscar told me quickly. "I'm already having everything prepared. Oh, and before I forget." He placed a ring of keys with a key fob on the desk in front of me, along with a new Alberta ID card, though this one said it was a proper driver's licence. During the past few months I'd worked hard, with one of the pack's trainers and passed all the requirements to posses a driver's licence. "We also made sure that everything is in your name, you just have to sign some paperwork and you'll be good to go."

"Sir I..."

"Mark, you need wheels, and I don't think that letting you have a truck is too much." He said before I sputter anymore comments, pushing some documents across the desk to me. "Now be a good cat and sign these."

I growled slightly, not enjoying the aroma that was reaching me from my pup, as I quickly moved to sign the paperwork. "Sir this sheet here says... 2015 Raptor... That thing is really pricy. I don't need..."

"Mark sign it, and take your keys!" Oscar growled out roughly.

I returned his growl before I signed the last of the documents before grabbing both the paper that I needed to have on me, my licence, and the keys.

"Now go take care of your pup, she needs you now. We will make sure that you have everything that you need for your trip."

"Sir someday I will repay your kindness to me." I told him earnestly as I headed for the door, Katy in one arm, my documents in my free hand.

"You don't need to Mark, now go." He said with a vague shooing gesture as he turned to his computer to work on some other piece of business.

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

Adam had set up a notification when there was any updates on rogue activity within Alberta or BC, but he jumped when the alarm for a Class One Rogue came up. He excused himself from the table, as that wasn't something he wanted to be looking up on a smartphone, and quickly headed to his office.

Pulling up the shared reporting system that was starting to replace the mailed reports between the packs and prides, he growled. He quickly reviewed the report and growled again. The turning was several months ago, but had just been linked to what had been a Class Two rogue, as there had been no report of a Turning attributed to the cat. Nor had it been noted that that cat was the rogue in the area.

Making a note, he was going to have Lea work with security to review and either amend, correct, or even redo the documentation on how to make reports.

When he got to the note about a mated pair being killed he snarled, and his wolf was whimpering at the note about the pup that was orphaned.

The name of the turned finally clicked for Adam, and pulling up a picture and his bio that he hadn't even glanced at when the first turning report came though, he started to laugh.

Brook came in the office, "What's with the hysterics?" she asked.

Adam finally caught his breath, "The rogue-turned human, there was an update. It bumped a Class Two to a One, but only as Oscar finally linked the turning to the profile of the rogue. It should have been obvious, as he's the only rogue Siberian on the continent! Identification should have been easy!" he growled, "Sadly, it cost two wolves their life and orphaned a young pup."

Brook snarled as white hot rage came off her in waves. She shifted to her Were, and the couch was reduced to splinters, little bits of fabric, and fluff before she calmed down.

"The funny part," He told his mate, wanting to distract her, "Is the person the rogue turned is someone I was friends with before I met you! From what I know that if the cat had asked, he would have agreed to be turned. Or if the rogue hadn't been trying to kill him, he would have wanted to thank him."

Turning back to the reports, he noticed the rogue was still in the area, *Pack Alert! Condition Yellow. We have a Class One Rogue in the area. Make sure to stay in range of the shelters.* he told the entire pack; the sensors and patrols were up and running, and the main shelter here was finished. The second at the gym was not. The one here was big enough to house everyone, barely.

The last thing he did before going to calm his mate, was to send off an e-mail with an offer of help to Oscar, along with his condolences for his loss.

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

Four hours later I walked into the gym, with my sword in my hand. I'd managed to get Katy to stay with Jack for a while, it had taken me leaning on her a little bit over our bond, but I needed let my cat exercise some of our frustrations out on a target. I wouldn't spar with anybody today... because to do so would mean that whoever I sparred with would probably walk away... or crawl away with more than a few injuries and I couldn't do that to my friends in the pack. I'd also had a chance to go down to the garage to take a look at the truck they'd foisted off on me and I was able to say that I was very impressed. The vehicle was a super-cab truck painted jet back, with the decal delete option, which pleased my cat immensely since I really didn't like the decals that came with the Raptor.

After spending some time warming up with a training weapon I went to town on one of the pack's more worn looking training targets with the training sword until I heard the tough wood of the weapon crack under the abuse I was giving it, and the rather inoffensive target. When I heard the crack of the wood I stopped and stood there panting loudly as I looked at the crack in the wood before I sensed the senior pack trainer come up behind me and stop a respectful swords distance away.

"Mark that was... terrifying." He said softly, before approaching me more closely, holding out his hand for the training weapon.

I handed it to him without a word and let him survey the damage. "Sorry about the sword. I didn't intend to break it."

"Think nothing of it Mark, I'm glad I have this recorded... I can use it as a training video in the future, to demonstrate that no matter how good any of my students think they are that there is always more that they can learn."

I nodded slightly and grabbed a towel and headed to the showers to clean off. My cat was feeling a bit better about things now that I had worked some frustration out and destroyed something, though I knew that sooner or later I would have to go out and hunt something down and taste blood before I could really say that I was on an even keel.

That evening, when I walked with Oscar and Olwen, to where the memorial for Samantha and Damien was being held I carried Katy with me and felt her sorrow. "Katy it's okay to cry." I told her softly as we entered the clearing where a single large bier had been constructing for the two.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She cried and than broke into loud cries and I couldn't help but start shedding tears with her. In the time that I'd gotten to know both Sam and Damien I'd grown to respect them as friends and good parents to their daughter Katy.

One of the younger wolves, who I knew to have been a friend of Samantha walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Don't be ashamed of your tears, they are something that you have every right to shed in their memory."

"I am not ashamed of them Kaitlyn." I told her softly before Oscar stepped forwards and began giving a short speech about Katy's parents.

As he was finishing his speech I reached out to Jack, "Jack, can you join me for a moment... my cat wants to make a tribute to Sam and Damien but I would rather not shred my clothes."

"I'll be right along, I'm guessing you want me to hold onto your clothes and keep Katy from shifting too?"

"I don't think I can stop her, we'll get her dressed again when we get back to the house, but you should take her clothes too." I told him before I retreated to the edge of the gathering where I first helped Katy out of her clothes, though the only issue she had was with her underwear, she couldn't take it off by herself. Once I removed it she shifted to her small puppy form, but stayed close as I waited for Jack.

He didn't take long and soon I was walking back towards the bier, at that point it was burning fiercely and those of the pack who were in their Were forms or wolf forms were howling mournfully. As soon as we approached as close as we could to the fierce heat of the bier Katy began her high pitched yelping cries and some of the wolves stopped their howls to hear the one most affected by their deaths add her little voice to the proceedings. The wolves who were closest to us gave us room as they saw me standing a bit behind her, but giving her enough space so that she could lift her head to howl her pain and grief. I wanted to stand over her, like I had the night before, but I controlled that impulse and instead stood behind her till she cried herself out and laid down, still whimpering softly. Only then did I take my protective position over her and looked to the Alpha. "Alpha with your permission my cat and I would like to also express our feelings. I know a roar isn't a great way to express what we feel but under the circumstances... I can't think of any other way to say what we need to say."

Oscar and Olwen moved to flank me and Katy before Oscar replied "I would be honoured Mark and I think so would Damien and Samantha."

"Thank you Alpha," I told him before I pushed my mind out has hard as I could so everyone could hear and understand me. "We all lost two great people last night, and I can't begin to express how sad that makes me, and my cat feel. Instead my cat and I are going to join you in shouting our feelings to the sky." With that said I inhaled deeply and unlike the last time I roared, this time I let all of the pain and hurt that I was feeling over the deaths into it. I was surprised when I stopped for breath that more than one wolf had joined his voice with mine in our expression of sorrow.

"We all felt that Mark. Your tribute was a fitting one and if I was in human form I can honestly say that your voice there would fill me with tears."

"Thank you Alpha, now if you'll excuse me I must be going. I know the memorial will last a good deal longer but the longer I delay, the more at risk you are of losing more. I don't want Damien and Samantha's sacrifice to be for nought."

Oscar nodded his head and watched as I gently reached down and picked Katy up and carried her towards the packhouse with Jack following us, by now in his Were form.

"Mark mine was one of those voices you heard... I needed to do that." He told me before we got inside and I put Katy down before shifting back to human and quickly dressing.

"Katy, can you please shift for me?" I asked her gently, though I did feel my cat pushing a bit on our bond to get her to listen.

For her part the exhausted pup lifted her head and then quickly shifted before holding her arms up crying softly. "Kitty... I miss mommy an' daddy." She told me tiredly.

"I know Katy, I miss them too." I told her as I got her dressed and ready to travel, though I had decided to dress her in a warm sleeper so that she could sleep while I drove.

"Jack, I think it would be best if you dressed warmly as well, since I think it would be healthy for you to grab some sleep while we're on the road."

"I can sleep in whatever I am wearing." He told me firmly with a bit of a push of his own, though I could easily ignore it if I wanted to.

"Very well Jack. You are a good young man, so on this I will trust your judgement. Have you got everything that you need, and have you said farewell to you folks?"

"Yes, everything is already in the truck Mark, and I know that my folks, and the Alphas are waiting for us to get there." He replied before I did one last check of the room before I smiled at a mark that I'd left in the room earlier in the day. A single long claw mark on the mantelpiece over the fireplace.

"In that case, we'd better get moving." I told him before we headed to the garage.

When we arrived in the garage, as Jack had already told me, we were greeted by both the Alphas as well as Jack's parents. They'd pulled the truck out to be ready to leave and I could see that inside the canopy that covered the bed were all of the possessions that I decided to take with me, along with all the things Katy needed or wanted.

After watching me buckle an almost somnolent pup into her seat Winston, Jack's father, stepped forwards and took my shoulders in his hands. "You have the fate of my son in your arms Mark. Please keep him alive for us."

I looked into Winston's eyes as I replied, "I will take good care of him Winston and try and keep him from being hurt or killed, but I can't promise you anything."

"That is all that I can ask Mark." He told me before moving to hug his son.

"Mark, I have some good news for a change. I found a place for you to stay that should be safe from Mikel's attacks for a few days... Wild Valley. They've offered sanctuary for you when you get there." Oscar told me.

"Thank you, Alpha, I should be there in about six hours, give or take, depending on the condition of the roads."

"You take care Mark, and keep your eyes open till you get there." He told me before giving me a rough hug.

I hugged back tightly, "Thank you Oscar for all the help, I will not soon forget Forest Edge, and I will endeavour to return some day when things are a bit more stable and I don't have to run, for the moment, from that thing who made me."

He smiled and let me go, so that I could climb into the vehicle. "I will hold you to your word Mark, now get going."

I nodded and closed the door starting the vehicle and looking over at Jack. "Guess we'd better get moving eh?"

He nodded and I could tell that he was going to miss this place, it was the place he'd grown up in, where he'd become a man in.

I kept my thoughts to myself as I pulled out of the garage and headed out.