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"Wait, what?!" Kevin stood up straighter.

Next to him, Mary gasped in utter alarm and frightened shock. So did my father, who appeared as if he were on the verge of collapsing backwards on the bed. Mom, however, didn't hesitate to grab their suitcases left in the corner.

"Adam, you better go join him and grab your clothes." She motioned over to Lowell, "I want you to help him and join us downstairs, can you do that, Lowell?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lowell turned to me. "Adam, let's go!"

He grabbed my paws and pulled me with him out into the hallway, the shock wearing off as soon as I noticed my reflection in the elevator's chrome door. I looked haunted, disconnected from the whole experience. The whites in my eyes were bigger, the fur on my face standing up on end, as if my instincts knew about an incoming threat I couldn't even see. How in the world did the Devout government suddenly know where we were?

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Lowell stomped the ground of the elevator. "C'mon, get up!"

The door finally dinged open.

"This can't be happening." I murmured over and over after we burst into our suite's bedroom, then made a beeline for our clothes and the emergency suitcases beneath the bed, piling them in. "This can't be fucking happening!"

"Well, it is, sweetie!" Lowell grabbed his poetry book and stuffed it right into his jacket's pocket. "Johanna wouldn't be running this unless it was a planned drill!"

Everything felt disconnecting for me. Out-of-body experiences felt akin to watching a movie in a solitary theater, except the audience member could feel the motions and bubbling stress crawl under the poor protagonist's skin and fur. I couldn't fully remember the motions, but I did remember seeing several things. The elevator door opening and closing. The abrupt jerking motion of it landing on the ground floor. A quiet hotel lobby. Olivia and Lucius pushing a frantic Oscar in his wheelchair from the neighboring elevator doors. Each of them carried bags, with Oscar covertly, frantically typing on his flip phone.

Lowell pulled me hard down to the bar and grill restaurant suddenly packed with several hotel staff: the restaurant's manager Daniel, a couple barista girls, Matt the bellboy. The front manager and a few other staff members. All of them wore stern expressions as each of them stacked hotel furniture in front of the windows. I almost said something when a sudden noise cut through the white noise, and I returned to reality again.

The fire alarm!

"Won't they come for this place?" I shrieked over the blaring siren and shouts as we went for the restaurant's back kitchen, behind the bar. "Firefighters and police!?"

"Not for another ten minutes!" Lowell answered me in the same volume, visibly wracked with flickering worry in his expression, then swiveled his head to a familiar bear. "Hey Matt, it's...it's been an honor knowing you. All of you!"

"Will do, Low," the bear cackled.

"Live another day, and it'll make up for the stolen liquor, boy!" quipped Daniel.

That was when it struck me. The hotel staff did not plan on joining us in evacuating.

"W-Wait!" I pulled my paw away from Lowell's, pausing mid-step. "You can't! You'll get killed! They'll shoot you all dead!"

"We fucking know that kid!" Daniel shouted. "Hey, Marie, put the table over there on its side! Pete, make sure each of us have rounds!"

"Yessir!"

I tried stepping towards one of them, tears forming in my eyelids. Lowell firmly snatched my wrist holding onto my luggage case, frantically telling me to follow. As I started stepping back, feeling like the wolf's arm around my waist was practically lifting me from the floor, I saw Matt offer me a glance. He seemed determined and content. He also appeared more eager than ever as he cocked a shotgun produced from behind the bar's countertop.

"Don't give us that look now, Adam!" He smiled at us. Lowell paused his insistent pulling to let me hear his convincing words, "We're saving this country. My job's to keep the place clean, help guests, pretend to be something I'm not..."

"Our job now's to buy you all some time," Daniel mentioned before glancing to a female bellhop turning over a table in the lobby. "Lana, make sure those doors going to the gym aren't locked!" the graying timber wolf ordered.

She bolted out of the small restaurant, moving out of the way of guests tiredly fleeing the building. I couldn't tell if she was a rabbit or a hare. Or even what her full name was.

"Yeah. Fight another day." Matt smirked down at me, then cocked his shotgun. "Go."

"It was nice knowing you, Dan." Lowell glanced back to the fellow, older wolf.

"You too brat!" He barked, snarling. "Just get outta here, Low! Go, now!"

Everyone in the cell gathered into the loading dock of the building. Some were bewildered like me, but I could spot Lowell remaining stoic and calm as Johanna hadn't appeared yet. Some were already making their way to the kitchen's loading dock.

Kevin and Mary Lange were visibly struggling to not panic, with Mary in particular covering both her ears as her husband comforted her. As for my parents, they appeared incredibly worried and lost until Mom spotted me with Lowell. She pointed Dad to our general direction on the other end of the small gathering of cell members. They exhaled in relief after I'd waved back, knowing they couldn't talk too much over the loud noise, and I felt content that they knew I was safe too.

One thing caught my eye in the ensuing chaos. From the far door, Jordan and Abigail emerged with a weak tigress being carried by her arms. Everyone instantly gave the trio a wide berth. I curled my tail and almost dropped everything to assist them with Jeannie. Wearing only a clean hospital gown, she sobbed in confusion and pain, shaking as they brought her inside one of two big alcoves that I finally realized were the opened doors of delivery vans.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the crowd. As well as the fire alarm.

"I will explain the situation once we're leaving!" Johanna practically screamed us into silence. "Liv, you leave your brother to us. I'm gonna need you to drive the left van. Tell the other driver to wait for my order on his CB!" She motioned them to be in the same van as Jordan and Abigail, the latter of whom was focused solely on comforting Jeannie. Then, the commanding doe snapped her fingers at us nearby, "Lowell, I want you with me! Adam, join your parents with the Langes. Go, go, go!"

My canine boyfriend turned to me quickly, "Be safe, okay?"

I nervously smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'll just be with my parents--"

His kiss didn't surprise me so much as its bold display. In front of my parents, in front of the Langes, our comrades, in front of Johanna and against the world falling down around us. No sooner did his lips touch mine did they depart though. Whatever embarrassment or fear I felt before disappeared when I opened my eyes to see Lowell bolt towards Johanna's van, determined.

I finally found the strength to swiftly join my parents in the other van.

Stepping inside and feeling various shoulders press against mine brought back memories of the previous time I'd been in one of them. Only I didn't have a cocktail of unknown drugs in my blood system, and I could feel my legs and tail tremble in fear. It didn't pass as Mom and Dad held my paws in iron-like grips, nor when the door slammed shut and the van jerked forward, knocking down our forgotten luggage on its sides.

Lucius has joined us in our van at the last minute, with the other one already crowded with Lowell, Johanna, Abigail, Jordan, their patient Jeannie and Oscar. As the vans made sudden turns down a road and raced up to just slightly around the speed limit, Lucius steadied himself near the doors while sitting beside Mr. and Mrs. Lange. To say everyone sat in frazzled silence would have been a complete understatement.

The tech-savvy raccoon pulled something from his solitary backpack, stuffed to the brim with clothes, some gadgets and wiring. We realized from the dim interior lighting it was a walkie-talkie.

A sudden pothole or indent in the road made us jump where we sat.

"Be careful there, Liv," Lucius muttered before promptly turned his device on. "Johanna, this is Luc. Can you hear me?" He spoke up.

"Johanna here--Pete, watch for potholes," she barked angrily at who I presumed to be the driver of her van. A faint apology could be heard through the radio piece belonging to someone else. "Ugh, yeah. I'm here. Is everyone doing alright over there?"

"We're still breathing for now," Lucius replied, then winced. "Sorry, bad turn of phrase there. We're all good. We're accounted for."

"Good. Then I want you to turn up the volume for me, please," she requested, to which the raccoon turned the walkie-talkie's small knob. The doe's voice carried out over the ambience of squealing tires and outside noise. "It's been confirmed: the D.C. cell's backdoor into the List has been discovered and traced back to the Maverick Hotel. None of them are safe anymore, and it's likely that many are being raided as we speak. So, me and the other leaders decided to make the order of all Defiant cells within the Devout States to evacuate. Right now, our sole mission is to survive and make our way North to the Canadian frontlines."

"The frontlines?" I asked over her words. Nobody answered me.

"We will regroup at the Columbus Yacht Club in Uptown, then board the boat of a supporter to the cause. His ship will take us up Lake Michigan and hopefully escort us to safety. Hector and Blu are already making their way to the evac point, as are a couple of other cell members who weren't at the hotel when I sounded the alarm."

After handing the walkie-talkie radio over to me, my paws gingerly gripping the device as if it carried my fate, Lucius reached down to pull out cardboard boxes hidden under our metallic seats. My fur nearly stood on end when the raccoon revealed its contents.

"Looks like Jo's training isn't gonna be a waste after all," he muttered to himself, cocking the handgun once he loaded the small magazine. One of his fingers clicked the safety on.

"One more thing," Johanna said with electric insistence, "I won't sugarcoat it: we're no longer safe anymore until we rendezvous with Canadian resistance or the Canadian Army. It's always been a priority for the Defiant to avoid innocent casualties and unnecessary deaths when the situation called for it, but the chips are down. I am giving explicit permission to defend yourself however it takes. No holding back...I repeat, don't hold back, because it's them or us."

Radio silence lingered. So did our hitched breathing. Mom appeared nearly as terrified as Mr. Lange, while Mary hid her face into her paws. Their tails curled tightly. Dad struggled to remain stoic, as if even showing a hint of fear would make him collapse into the same nervous breakdown I desperately wanted to despair towards. They had abandoned our home for another in a hotel, only to discover it was no longer safe.

Nowhere was safe, really. Our safe havens throughout the continental Devout States had become tombs, and nobody knew if we were the only ones to make it out.

One of my biggest regrets was not finding the opportunity to fully know the Maverick's staff. I never even had a full-fledged conversation between me and Matt. I never knew if the bear in his thirties had a wife, girlfriend, some kids, or family to mourn him. His likes, dislikes, interests, beliefs in the Almighty or beliefs in the lack of an afterlife. I never asked Matt if he had passions that went beyond the hotel's sanctuary walls, or at what point he realized how fucked up the Devout States happened to really be. I never got to know him as anything more than a martyr for the Defiant, living forever in my memories.

What about the D.C. cell, though? What about the Springfield cell and Vox the Fox himself? What about Hector and Blu?

"Stay with us," Lucius notice the collective emotions of everyone in the van. "I know things are bad, really bad. This isn't something we put together all of a sudden. The leaders knew something like this would happen one day."

"You knew we'd be on the run again?" Kevin growled out of nowhere.

"You don't defy the government and expect it to last forever, dude," Lucius scoffed as he held the handgun on his lap, pointed away from us. "If anything, it's a miracle we stayed underground for this long. I'm willing to bet that the Maverick brand's gonna be wiped off the face of the Earth by next week."

"It'd make sense," Dad eventually said something. "I remember Boeing being a big airline until it supplied trips to Cali and Oregon..."

"What's Boeing?" I pondered aloud.

"Devout Airlines," he corrected. "It got nationalized in the old days a month after the civil war started."

"Same thing's gonna happen to the Maverick Hotels across this damned country," Lucius sighed. "I doubt they'll even acknowledge the staff members defending our cell bases even existed at all. They're gonna be turned into nameless ghosts, dead or alive."

"So are we, if they catch us!" Kevin trembled despite his wife's comforting side hug. "If anyone noticed these vans leaving the hotel, o-of course they're gonna connect the dots."

"We left quickly," Dad tried reassuring him, only to sit back and visibly realize, "The staff will be making it look like we're doing...a..."

"Last stand," Lucius finished for him, grimly nodding. "It's always been a part of the plan, and they each understood it when signing up. They knew the risks of knowing about our cell. And thanks to their efforts, we'll have plenty of time to reach the harbor and make our escape. If we wanna make sure their sacrifices ain't in vain, we need to survive."

"We're going to b-be...be killed..." Kevin ignored the raccoon. "We're gonna be tortured. M-Mary, we're...never seeing our daughter and grandson again..."

"Sweetie, don't say that," she whimpered at him. "Of course, we'll hug our girl again."

"And look where it got us!" He hissed while clutching his forehead and staring down at the van floor. "I agreed to support the Defiant because our daughter made honest mistakes. I agreed to house rebels and pretend to keep being an elite. It was a stable agreement and here we are on a wild race to another country's that's stuck in its own war zone--"

BANG!

A certain raccoon's fist pounded into the wall.

"No offense, Mr. Lange," Lucius glared at the mountain lion, "but get a fucking grip."

That definitely quieted the feline, who stared at the younger raccoon as if he personally told him sugar had been poured into his whole gas tank. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but later commend Lucius for taking a page from my boyfriend's book. Sometimes, foul language had the benefit of catching someone's strict attention.

"You knew the risks too. We all did," Lucius reminded him and motioning to everyone present. "Unlike you lot, I didn't have the luxury of growing up what you call 'normal'. I don't have any happy memories of living in that fucked-up society out there. Me, Liv, Lowell, and Oscar--we were raised in Maverick Hotels. Our parents and guardians raised us knowing each sunrise could be our last. Losing our homes isn't going to make a damn difference, and it shouldn't to you either."

My parents stared with unreadable expressions, yet I recognized renewed faith in Mom's eyes when we glanced at each other. I felt it too.

"The Defiant's not dead as long as we're not either," Lucius concluded.

Kevin clearly wanted to say something back, only to close his maw and shift towards his wife to hug her. She returned it without question. Mary secretly gave a thankful look to Lucius, who either noticed and didn't care or had been too focused on unloading his handgun. Only to load it again, then unload it once more.

"I...I never knew you had experience," I told Lucius.

"Hacking's my forte, but it helps to be prepared," he smiled at me. "If the rooms were soundproofed enough, I would've asked Johanna to let me practice with live rounds."

The van made various stops and motions forward during our discussion, but it was the first time I could smell something beyond asphalt and gasoline. I smelled trees. I also heard a faint owl hooting, as well as saw a lack of light seeping through the covered windows on the back doors. If memory served me correctly, we had either been magically transported to the Illinois countryside, or the van was driving directly on a road cutting through Schiller Woods.

"Everyone be quiet," Olivia spoke up over the radio, "I got a bobby on my left."

I stared down at the walkie-talkie, and it hit.

"Police car?"

"Shh," Lucius held up a finger, then held the gun up, pointed towards the ceiling.

Unease filled the back of the van as it continued driving down what I presumed to be an interstate road. Either Route 19 or some other road cutting out from Schiller Park. The scents of woodlands disappeared, only to be replaced by urban asphalt and familiar scents of the inner city. I cursed myself for not memorizing Chicago's roadmaps when I had all the chances to do so. In all fairness though, the lack of a clear window helped neither.

We waited in frightened stillness. Nobody dared to breathe. For all the policemen casually driving beside us knew, our vans were simple delivery vans. They didn't house the entire Defiant cell of Chicago. One van didn't hold a mysterious hacker, recovered seddie, his loving parents, and the loving parents of a Western Republic citizen. It wasn't driven by a female otter who yearned for a better world for her twin brother. The other van didn't house my boyfriend, the only living grandson of David Farthing's brother, nor did it hold a wheelchair-bound hacker, an elderly rabbit nurse, a former doctor, their tigress patient recovering from severe trauma and prolonged sedation, and a transgender doe who led our group of misfits.

For all the police officers knew, we didn't even exist beyond propaganda.

"All clear," Olivia whispered through the walkie.

I exhaled in relief. So did the rest of us.

"Stay at the speed limit, even if we're drifting apart," Johanna ordered. "Olivia, keep close to Pete but stay one or two cars back. We can't be separated."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Who's Pete?" I asked Lucius moments later. "I don't remember him."

"Dude's a badger," Lucius mentioned. "He's usually living on the streets and acting as a deliveryman. He's a pretty cool guy when you get to know him--"

"The cop car's back," Olivia warned us.

Police sirens blared like banshees beyond the doors.

"Drive faster!" Johanna shouted from the walkies.

Suddenly, the entire van lurched forward and everyone nearly fell off their seats, with Lucius pushing back against the doors' handles.

"Johanna!" Lucius snatched the radio from me. "Permission to engage!"

"You have permission, Luc. Aim for the tires!"

"Get to the back and kneel down!" Lucius ordered us.

Me, my parents and the Langes did so without question. The back door blew open slightly, causing air to burst through and the wind to blow in our faces, only for it to be deafened by two loud thunderclaps. Our ears ringed. I caught the sound of squealing tires and a fading siren as the van sped up without slowing down. Lucius fired one more time, then snapped the door closed as echoing bullets struck at the door. I only saw the faintest dents coming inward, and silently thanked whoever thought to give the hotel's delivery vans some armored plating.

My eyes closed shut, and I held onto my parents. We prayed to live.

"We're nearly there! Keep driving!" Johanna's voice whispered through gunfire.

Honking horns. Cars swerving out of our way. Flung curse words. Screaming sirens.

"Defiant scum, you are ordered to surrender!!"

"No thanks," Lucius growled without looking away from the covered window. Another volley of loud gunfire vibrated at the semi-closed door. "Shit, I can't aim at anything!"

Then, his eyes traveled to something above me and my folks' heads.

"Hey, Adam! What's in that box there!? The one on the shelf!"

I looked up to see a cardboard box placed precariously on a shelf bolted to the back wall and grabbed it like a madman opening a Christmas present. The opened flaps revealed a meat mallet still in its packaging. It certainly got the raccoon's attention for a moment, and he grinned reminiscent of a certain timber wolf.

"How's your aim?"

My ears rose. It clicked in my head what he wanted to do.

"Probably not as good as yours!" I answered honestly.

"I just need an opening to get that last car, dude!" Lucius told me. "Mr. Grimwald, we'll need your help if you're up for it! Make sure Adam's not gonna fall out!"

Stepping forward, I hastily used my own paws to peel away the saran wrap. My right paw grasped the handle. I yelped the moment my father grabbed the other end of my tail, and I glanced over to see him hold it with both paws, and he nodded firmly at me. I didn't get a chance to nod back. Or see Mom watching me closely, worryingly.

"Aim for the windshield. Miss or not, I'll cover you. Ready?"

Absolutely not. What choice did we have though?

"Now!"

It all occurred so rapidly; Lucius swung one of the doors open. Gusts of wind blew over our ears. Honking horns and the siren mixed with a few gunshots, screaming into our ear drums. I did as my brother-in-arms asked. I held the metal handle of the mallet, raised it high, stared right at the target, and flung it with all my might.

The nighttime sky in downtown Chicago never looked so beautiful.

Either they didn't fire at us, or the bullets never hit me.

The mallet struck the top of the hood, then bounced directly into the windshield. Cracks appeared like tangled lightning. I caught glimpses of silhouettes behind the spider-web glass and flinched when one of them in the passenger seat reached their pistol-wielding paw back inside.

One of Lucius's shots missed, but the second struck the engine, and the third hit one of the front tires. I didn't know it was the left until the entire vehicle swerved leftward, and crouching pedestrians peeled out of the way. The sight of the police cruiser slamming into a storefront wall became replaced with a closed van door, and I stumbled back while holding back overwhelmed laughter.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Lucius guffawed and pulled me into a fast hug. "You did it!"

It wasn't until Dad finally let my tail go that the pain from his grip registered. Even then, the throbbing aches felt like nothing compared to the adrenaline-laced awe. I barely noticed Mom pulling me into another hug, Dad patting my shoulder in approval and the Langes sitting stupefied.

"Hey, guys!" Lucius cackled as he took the walkie into his paw. "You're not gonna believe this, but Adam here just helped me take down one of the coppers. He-He actually took it out with a goddamn hammer, hahaha!"

"You're joking, right?" Lowell's shocked voice carried from the device.

I promptly pulled it from the raccoon, finally finding my voice. "A meat mallet!" I corrected him between breaths. "I found a meat mallet and threw it at the last cop car!"

"Fuck, I love you," Lowell cackled on the other end, "I love you, Adam!"

"I love you too, Low!" I answered back with equal, disbelieving cheer.

"Focus, lovebirds!" Johanna cut through the feed. "We're approaching the evac point! I need you lot to keep--"

An explosion outside the van deafened everything. What could only be described next was utter chaos as our enclosed space shook, swerved, and collided with something solid.