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Pain. I woke up to pain. Not the most pleasant experience. It blocked out all my other senses for a while. As it receded, I was able to detect the sound of fire, my ears automatically twitching to help me locate the source of the sound. Smell came next, burned flesh and fur, blood, and hot metal assailed my nostrils. Then I opened my eyes, emergency lighting illuminated the corridor I was lying in. The door behind me still closed as it had been when I had blacked out.

Everything was brought back into focus by the ting of metal objects striking the floor by me. Looking down, I could only watch in fascination as my body healed from its wounds, pushing the bullets that had struck me back out to fall to the floor. I lay there mesmerised by the sight. Then, memories began to flood back; the attack, the screaming, the last push to get this door by me closed.

Pulling myself to my pawed feet, I examined the controls of the door. They still had power. Activating the opening sequence, I was dismayed as it displayed a message. "Automatic System Override! High radiation levels detected. Door unlock denied."

High radiation? I didn't think that could be right, but then I realised I was itching all over. I felt the fur down my back and tail stand on end as I realised my situation. I only knew one way out of this place, and it was going to take me to a room I did not want to see.

Steeling myself for the course I had to take, I took a deep breath, noticing the pain that spread through my lungs as I did so. Taking my first steps away from the door, I was loath to leave, but I had to get out. At first, my steps fumbled as my wounds continued to heal, but I managed to adjust my steps to work around the pain.

A sound to my right alerted me to the next corridor being blocked by fire, before I could even see it. Why weren't the fire suppression systems active? The flames were too set in to use the nearby extinguisher. The clouds of smoke rolling along the ceiling. If they continued much longer, I'd have to start crouching to not walk through it.

The fire forced my journey to be longer. I passed the location of Halcyon's room, yet I didn't. The door was gone. A panel of wall, seemingly identical to the rest of the corridor in its place. I didn't have time to think about it. My lungs burned with every breath and I had to escape to the surface.

Eventually my stumbling brough me back to the canteen. Bodies of both military and scientists lay on the floor, what flesh I could see, blackened and bubbling to some unseen force, the smell blocked by the overriding smoke that still filled my nostrils. Then I noticed the device in the centre of the room, or at least, the remains of it. It it's centre, a dull grey rock, splintered with shards scattered about the room. As I edged toward it, my skin felt like fire, my rust-coloured fur shrivelled. I believed I knew what it was, but I could do nothing about it now.

Turning towards the exit, I fell to my knees at the sight that greeted me. Draks lay sprawled on the floor, the blood pooled beneath his scaled draconic form matching his primary colour. I gathered my senses enough to move towards him. As I got closer, I saw, like me, he bore almost no sign of the bullets that had torn through him. Those had had not gone through, were now shining atop the pool of blood, having been expelled from his body. But if he had healed like me, why had he not awoken yet? I turned to look at the device, whatever it was, it had to be causing him to stay comatose.

Leaning to place my ears by his mouth, I was exhilarated to learn he was breathing, though slowly. I had to get him out of there. Putting my own aches aside, I pulled him over my shoulder and started for the doors, my now bloodied feetpaws making the journey treacherously slippery as I navigated passed the charred remnants of some of the attackers. Those few not expecting the fiery breath of a dragon to bellow down the corridor.

Eventually we reached the lifts to the surface. I hoped the emergency power still had them operational, there was no way I could carry Draks up the stairs. I was rewarded with a ping, and a set of doors opening. Struggling through with the limp dragon, we managed to escape the underground facility.

This was going to be my first time on the surface since arriving here some months back. I didn't really know what to expect. As I made it out of the building containing the entrance lifts, I collapsed in the darkness of the cool night and fresh air that greeted us.

I had forgotten how few buildings were on the surface, considering the size of the complex below. The main entrance was built to look like a simple storage shed. There were other building around: a hangar, one larger, obviously multi-room structure, and a couple of other outbuildings, an obvious workshop and now wrecked vehicles that looked like they were once for aircraft refuelling.

Once I had regained my strength, I headed towards one of the outbuildings, I had to find somewhere secure to hold up until Draks regained consciousness. The first few buildings I checked were useless; either full of crates and other materials, or wide empty structures that provided no real protection. Then, towards the edge of the structures, I came to one that looked like a guard house. With no sign of anyone around, I entered the structure. It was rather small but contained a couple of rooms. A small room containing a bed, a combined kitchen and living area, a shower and toilet room, and what appeared to be a work room with a radio station and a sliding window on one side that sat beside the road out of the area. As a temporary home, it would be perfect.

Checking the cupboards for supplies, I found them quite full, and my belly reminded me of how empty it was. Grabbing something I could eat on the go, I retuned to the still sleeping dragon. With something in my belly, I felt my strength returning, and with the fresh night air, I was easily able to transport him to our temporary home.

Laying him carefully on the bed, I gently dripped some water into his mouth. His bodily instincts made him cough it back up, along with a small amount of blood. Turning the lights on in the main room, I bathed by own arm that had been withered by approaching the rock, in the sink. The water stung a little, but I could already see that the dead flesh was being forced away by new growth beneath. Even at that rate it would take a day or two before it fully healed. This eased my mind about Draks. He had been in that room for longer, but having survived, he should heal the same way.

My thoughts were disturbed by shouts from outside. A very clear command: "Come out with your hands up!"

I panicked a moment, but then realized, that if they kill me, I'd probably just wake up a few hours later as I had already done so. Stepping from the building I raised my handpaws over my head, and saw two soldiers, rifles to their shoulders, ready to shoot. One of them nearly dropped their weapon upon seeing me. I must have looked quite a sight. Bullet hole-ridden clothes, dried blood, matting my fur, my withered looking arm, my tail drooped behind me.

The soldier that held his composure asked, "What the hell are you?"

I realised then, that nobody had escaped the Augmentation Research Facility, and these soldiers probably had no idea what had truly happened here. I responded gently, trying to sooth his fears. "My name is Arco, I was augmented in the program at the facility here."

"Why do you look like a fox?" the soldier asked, slightly less authority in his voice.

"That is what this program did. Altered us, to be stronger and made us look like animals. There are ten others still trapped inside, and one other unconscious in this building."

"This is an aviation research facility. We did a full sweep of this area. We never saw you, where did you come from?" his voice became more authoritative as he dismissed my statement.

"You never went below ground, did you? This surface facility is just a front. The real purpose of this site in in an underground complex. I can show you the entrance. But be warned, there is a material down there that makes the air sting, and burned my arm, just because I got too close."

"Sir," the other soldier interjected. "The General did mention radiation in his briefing."

"Radiation? That could explain the sensation you described," the first soldier accepted.

"One of the doors would not open because of high radiation levels," I added.

"Come to think of it, that doctor also mentioned that some of the bodies we saw may defy conventional explanation," the first soldier mentioned.

"Doctor?" My ear pricked at the mention of the title, "Do you mean Doctor Halcyon?"

"That was his name, yes."

"He's alive? He must have had a secret exit. Can I put my arms down now?" I asked, as they were beginning to ache.

The soldiers lowered their weapons, and I lowered my arms in response.

"I'm going to have to report your presence to the General. Stay in this building until I return." The first soldier ordered. "Stand guard to ensure he doesn't leave."

"Yes, sir!", the second soldier saluted and ushered me inside, before turning to stand guard outside the door.

The interchange with the soldiers, left me shaking slightly, from fear, excitement, or what, I couldn't tell. One thing the lead soldier had said, echoed back to me. Doctor Halcyon had told them to expect bodies, not living survivors, so even the doctor didn't know about our advanced healing. But then, even I hadn't known about it before waking up again. I returned to the bedroom and tried to feed Draks some water again. This time, he automatically swallowed it. No coughing, no blood. At least he was healing. How long before he would wake, I would have to wait and see.

The light of the dawning sun was stretching over the sky by the time the lead soldier returned. His orders were simple. We were not allowed to leave the compound, and they were to let no people into the compound. If we were running low on supplies, I would have to radio him at the guard house so they could be requisitioned. Apparently, the officials were trying to downplay the attack, and didn't want to add to public fear by sending in a clean up unit. At least not right away.

I settled into a routine of sorts. At first, caring for Draks before he woke up, which took three days. I had fully healed by the second, but Draks was healing slower. I blamed his high dose of radiation for that. When he was able to care for himself once again, I started to make trips into the underground facility. The fires had not spread far from their starting points, having starved themselves of oxygen. So the first time I unsealed the doors to below ground, I was knocked off my feet as air was sucked into the facility. I went down and removed the bodies. The canteen was the worst location. I had to run through, or risk being burned by the concentrated radiation in the room. As it was, I still had to limit my time underground, or else I became sick, and even away from the canteen, my flesh would slowly burn.

After about a week I reached the area that had been under quarantine. The doors that had once been sealed, had been blasted open during the attack. I found the remnants of the mouse colony in the lab. Something stood out about them. They were similar to me. They had walked on their hind legs, though theirs had retained the digitigrade design of all mammals, where mine were like human legs. This made sense, as we had come about due to different means. But whatever had made them like this, must have been the subject of the quarantine, and that had been broken during the attack.

Every time I returned to the surface; I took a few days to recover from my exposure below ground. On coming topside this time, I reported my findings to the gate guards, who in turn, reported to the General.

That day was the first time Doctor Halcyon called me, and the last time I would ever hear from him. "You are sure the quarantine was broken?" he had asked.

"Positive, I was walking around within the area myself."

"Things could start getting interesting. I will leave you in full command of that site. I will issue instruction to that effect. If you say jump, others will ask how high. I will be working on containment of this problem. If it can be contained. Do what you can to save the others, no matter how long it takes."

And that was it. The last I ever heard from him directly. I wish I had been able to meet with him a few more times. Maybe things could have turned out differently, but that did not cross my mind back then. I had a sense of what was coming and so I acted upon it. Calling in a radiation clean-up crew, we were able to do much work in removing the smaller shards of the Dirty Bomb, as they called it, but even their protective gear was no match for getting close to the main chunks.

It wasn't long before the men were called away due to reports of civil unrest, but they left behind all their equipment, so that I could continue my efforts by myself.

About one month after the attack, I was laying in bed once again, recovering from my solo attempts below ground. Draks was tending my wounds, when there was a tiny, almost inaudible knock on the door. I was in no condition to get up. I heard him open the door and someone ask if he was me, then he called out, "Arco, your food is coming to you for a change."

His comment confused me for a moment, and slowly my mind put the information together. It had begun. I called out painfully "Don't worry. If you can talk, I won't eat you. Come in." Through the open bedroom door, I saw three mice climb up onto the dining table. One of them cleared its little throat, as it kept looking nervously towards Draks.

"Mr, Arco was it?" I nodded in affermation. "We have come to help you save the Ten. I believe that is why you keep going inside."

I had to wonder where this little mouse had gotten this information, and why it was able to talk. "Quite astute of you, little one." I responded, "But you can't help. You would die within minutes."

"My name is First, and these are my siblings, Fourth and Fifth, and if you can survive, surely we will."

It was wrong to laugh at their naivety, but I couldn't help it, until I was topped short by pain. "Ow! No, we two are special, like the Ten. I made sure they were safe. I must make sure they get out. I think I may have a job for you to help that will not kill you. I'll tell you about it in the morning. Now I must sleep. At least the three of you won't eat all our food." I couldn't help but fall asleep.

When I next woke, I was sure that had happened must have been a fever dream, but as I opened my eyes, I saw a construction hanging under the dining table. It almost looked like a dolls house, with the front open. The three mice were standing atop the table, nibbling at some pieces of cereal. One of them saw me stirring.

"Greetings, Mr Arco. Draks says not to worry, he's just finally checking out the larger building. He helped us to build some sleeping chambers here, he said we were your problem."

"That sounds like him," I commented as I sat myself up. The pain of the previous day had subsided substantially. "I think I recall promising you a job that you can do to help. It will be dangerous as there are predators around."

"Sir," The one that had called himself First, spoke up. "There are people out there that want to meet The Ten. Some miss them having spoken, I believe they used the word online?"

"They won't be able to be rescued for a long time yet." I responded, "But there are things we need to do. If you have appeared, then more like you will begin to show up soon. We must have homes ready for them. Can you build homes that creatures of your sizes would like to live in? We will also have to start to farm the land around us. The resources are here to help teach you those skills."

The mice agreed to the jobs I offered them and after showing them how to use the computer in the house, I radioed the guards. They told me their orders were to keep people out, and I asked them to keep interpreting their orders in that manner. As I recovered, I oversaw the efforts of these anthropomorphic mice. Draks found that the larger building had a med bay that would much more suitable to assist in my recovery periods. There were also some experimental, aircraft in the hangar on site, that looked similar in design to helicopters, but there were no rotors, just a pair of ring units on either side. A stack of telescopic octagonal pads also stood stacked in one corner of the hangar.

I would have to examine them at a later date, as within a few days of the mice showing up, some rabbits arrived as well, offering their services. Their parents apparently were hutch rabbits, and their human owners had spoken of a famous group that were trapped here. It took me a while to learn, but those that had interacted with The Ten online, had managed to piece together the events here through various media and government reports. And they were spreading the news to those that they knew were sympathetic, and that news spread to pets, or was overheard by the changing wildlife.

The Ten became some sort of religious focus for those that came to us. And we soon had a village of many mixed species. Eventually the influx stopped as we heard of a war raging amongst the humans. They were divided in their acceptance of the anthropomorphic species, anthros for short. The war, miraculously, never touched our village. And my work to rescue my friends continued.