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When I had finally reached the center of the camp, I grabbed a rifle, a bayonet, helmet, and the camp sign. I made a small memorial, and saluted it. I stood there for about five minutes, when I saw something move.

I dropped into a crouch, and drew my .45, as well as my knife. I wasn't going to be easy prey to take down, and also it gave time for the others to get away.

I moved over to where I saw the movement, a little hut that served as a guardhouse. I flipped the safety of my sidearm, and leaned against the side of the hut, ready to breach it.

I quickly kicked in the door, and was surprised by what I found.

I just stood there, staring. I mean, wouldn't you? There, laying on the floor unconscious in front of me was one of the animorphs. It was a rabbit, about 5'8, jet-black and was decently toned. He had on woodland camouflage pants, with tactical vest and an Ak-47 beside him. I quickly grabbed the weapon, and slung it over my shoulder. He had a small cut over his left eye. I checked for any other weapons, to which I found only a small pocketknife. I also removed this. I then sat back, and thought about what I was going to do with him. He looked about as old us, and had an innocent looking face. I couldn't kill him, not in cold blood. By checking his weapon, he hadn't even fired it, so he didn't kill any of the soldiers on the base. I finally made my decision about what I was going to do.

I quickly put his hands behind his back, and put a zip tie around his hands? Paws? Whatever they were. I also put one around his feet, and thought jokingly that I could have made a fortune of the luck from his feet. I then threw him over my shoulder fireman style, careful not to impale him on the AK's barrel. I quickly moved to where our humvee was, and gently put him in the tailgate of the humvee.

"Drive" was all I said. I wanted to get out of there as soon as humanly possible. (There was another phrase I had to lose!) He drove without questioning me on our extra cargo. I showed no emotion on my face, and at the halfway mark, I had him pull over so I could take my turn driving, while he sleeps in the back. It had been a long day, and he crashed in the backseat for the rest of the ride.

We finally made it back to camp at 22:00, and the others looked up from the campfire, and watched us pull in. Nick ran over to me and grabbed me in a huge hug, and soon it ended with all of us rolling around on the ground! We had a great night, blasting music and dancing around like madmen!

While everyone else was partying around, I grabbed a loaf of bread and water, and snuck around to the back of my humvee. I looked around, made sure nobody was near my tent, and grabbed my prisoner and quickly moved him to my tent.

Once inside, I gently put him on my cot, and covered him with my blanket. I quickly bandaged his head, careful not to get any of the tape on his fur. This was the first time I had paid attention to the feeling when I touched his fur. It was very warm, and soft. He also had a very interesting smell about him. I finished bandaging his head, and cut the zip tie off of his hands and feet, so he could eat the bread and water I left him and stretch, and then re-zipped up the tent. I was hoping that he didn't get into too much trouble while I was having fun.

It was about 1:00a.m when I finally had gotten back to my tent. I went inside, and noticed he had eaten the bread, and had completely drained the water. I went back outside and grabbed a fresh bottle, and put it on the fold up table next to him. I then grabbed a secondary sleeping bag, set it on the floor, and fell asleep on the ground. At promptly 6:00 in the morning, I woke up to the sound of my alarm. The rabbit jumped, and I quickly un-holstered my .45, and aimed at him. He froze, looking very nervous.

"Good morning. My name is Christopher Geier. I am sixteen, and I am from Pennsylvania. What about you? Let's start with a name?" I asked slowly, lowering the weapon. He had just been frightened by my alarm clock!

"My name is Ahote. It is what you call, "Native American" for 'restless one'. I am 15." He spoke very good English, and his voice was as soft as velvet, yet still strong.

"Very good. How are you feeling? I was careful to patch that scrape above your eye." I still kept my hand on my sidearm, more out of habit than nervousness.

"I am feeling fine, and thank you for providing first aid to me. That was very kind. Most of you humans are not so nice..."

"Would you like to come out and meet the others and grab some food, and more water?" I chuckled, because he had drained the other water bottle.

"I would happily take more food and drink if it is offered. As for meeting the others, I am not so sure." He looked down at his feet, and shuffled them out of anxiety.

"That is perfectly okay. Just letting you know, I am the group leader, and all of us are the same age pretty much. Again, up to you" He perked up (I could tell by the ears) at hearing that there where no adults. He finally agreed, and I led him from the tent, and just in time for the rising of the sun.

"You don't howl like a wolf or anything, right?" I asked, with a grin on my face.

"Very funny. Har Har Har. Any other jokes, or would you like to rub my feet for good luck before I kick you with them?" He jested back. I laughed so hard, Nick poked his head out of his tent, and started to yell, until he caught sight of Ahote. I ran over quickly and tackled Nick back inside his tent, and covered his mouth.

"Relax. We need to talk, outside, in normal voices. Got it?" He nodded profusely, so I let go of his mouth.

"Asshole. You didn't have to tackle me!" He was whispering hoarsely, but keeping quite, which is the only reason I didn't put my hand over his mouth again.

We went back outside the tent, and Nick just stood there and stared at Ahote. He just shuffled his feet, and kept looking up at me.

"Nick, introduce yourself, I am going to go get food and water. Don't do anything stupid, got it?" He just shook his head, and I truly hoped he didn't act like a complete idiot to Ahote.

When I returned with food and water, I saw the two were chitchatting, nervously. I walked up and handed out granola bars and water bottles. Nick didn't even touch his granola bar, and took only a sip from the water. I told Nick to wake people up, one at a time, to be introduced to Ahote. I ordered him not to mention why, and cautioned him on being careful.

When Nick walked off, I decided to ask more about Ahote.

"Where were you born?" I asked, after rolling the water bottle around in my hands.

"I was born here in Washington. We kept ourselves secret to prevent from being stuffed and mounted on a proud hunter's wall. And before you ask, yes there are differences from us and the truly wild animals, and no, we can't talk to them." He chuckled, and I was happy that he was willing to freely talk about this.

Before he could continue, Nick brought over Austin, who stared at Ahote. Again, Ahote sat there uncomfortable. I could see that when he was nervous, his ears twitched ever so slightly. When he was relaxed, they lie flat against his head. Austin soon left, and I could see that Nick was starting to be more comfortable around Ahote.

When Nick left to get up the next person, I was about to ask more when he preempted me by asking the same question to me.

"Like I said, born and raised in Pennsylvania, where you are more likely to die of boredom than any other way. We all won a vacation for two weeks out here before you guys attacked." When I said that, I realized that it came out a little harsh, so I gave him a playful shove. He just laughed, and returned the gesture.

Alex was the next one up to meet Ahote. Ahote extended his paw to shake. Alex didn't move at first, but then I picked up his hand and put it into Ahote's paw, he finally got a grip in reality, or at least a grip on the handshake.

He soon left, of to work on a plan I had wanted to complete since we got here. I wanted to build a large dirt buildup around our camp sight. We would get the dirt from the trenches, which were also being built. I wanted a good defensive position in to engage the enemy of necessary. Also, we had sandbag nests around the embankment, to serve as guard towers.

After Alex was out of hearing range, I picked back up with the conversation. I picked a lighter topic.

"Did you guys play any sports?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes, yes. We had all of the popular sports like soccer, football, baseball, and other such games. We really didn't have our own sports, just variants off of your sports." He said, quietly, yet I had no problem hearing him. For most people, they had to shout for me to hear them!

The next person Nick brought was Josh. Josh looked apprehensive, but he was the first to stick out his hand to initiate the handshake. Ahote smiled, and returned the gesture. He even told Josh what his name meant when Josh asked, and I noticed Ahote's ears where laid back. I think he approved of him. Josh grabbed a shovel and headed out with the rest to work on the trenches.

I realized that the questions had gone in a back and forth motion, so I continued on about myself. He sat there and listened to every word. He did ask one question, which made me think.

"How are you so comfortable around me, when the others are not?"

"I really don't know. I know that you aren't a threat, because you are about as dangerous as a cotton ball!" I said, laughing. He turned and tackled me to the ground, pinning me.

"And where did you learn that trick?" I asked as he let me up.

"I trained with my friends, as preparation for the attack on mankind. By the looks of it, we didn't even need to train!" He chuckled. Now it was my turn. I turned and knocked him of balance, grabbed his foot and sent him flying. When he hit the ground, I quickly jumped on him, pinning him.

"Now, we are even!" I said, out of breath. He just shook his head, and submitted. I got up and helped him up.

By now Nick had brought over Joey, who had watched our wrestling match.

"You both have terrible form!" He shouted. He then shook hands with Ahote, and laughed and joked with him. He seemed a little nervous, but not to bad. Ahote had gotten used to the process by now, and was comfortable enough around everyone, but still looked at me during the embarrassment, awkward silences. I realized Ahote had ice blue eyes.

Once Joey left, we continued talking, but not wrestling. I learned that he was able to see in color, a dumb question, and that he was a vegetarian. Made sense.

Nick came up with Levi next, who stood there nervously, until Ahote initiated a small conversation, and Levi just answered with less than complete sentences, still as if he were in a dream.

After he left, I commented on everyone's anxiety around him.

"These guys, not even a week ago, underwent a rigorous training, being shot at with live rounds, and hand to hand combat, and now they are spellbound by you." I said, as an observation.

He chuckled, and replied with, "You humans are always amazed by act of nature, or you would have set up grand national parks, or strived to reach the sky, or dive to the ocean floor."

"Yes, but in these creations, man has destroyed what he strived in competing. Not very sportsman like, is it?" Before he could reply, Nick came up with Ryan.

Ryan had the same attitude as the others, but quickly began to joke with Ahote. I added that it was Ryan who got us here, when he won the trip. He shied away at the credit, and continued on about other things. Before long, the conversation began to teeter off, so I sent Ryan out to the others.

I offered to get him my water, because I hadn't even opened it, and he had drained his. I guess he was still recovering from his head wound, mixed with dehydration from being out so long. He kindly accepted, and opened it and took a long swig from it. I noticed a small white spot under his chin.

Zach was the next to come over, and just couldn't get a single word out. Ahote tried to get a conversation started, but it ended in a very awkward silence. I just gave Zach a pick for the trenches, a stern look for not even saying a single word, and sent him of to work.

"Well, that was..."

"Awkward. Sorry about that. Zach is quiet on a normal basis, but, well. You know." I finished, as if that was supposed to make it better. I tried to imply that it wasn't him, but he laughed and told me it was fine.

Nick brought over the last member of the squad, Justin.

"Haven't I already met him?" He asked, thinking that I was trying to pull a joke on him.

"Nope, they are twins. Well, introduce yourself!" I said as I shoved Justin forward. He stood there, dumbfounded. Ahote came to the rescue by introducing himself, and extending his paw as an offering. Justin caught on, and shook his hand introducing himself. I then told Justin that he was to reinforce the walls of the trenches with the two by fours we had taken with us for the outing. I told him that we would probably be going back to grab more. He nodded Ahote, and saluted me before heading off.

"Well, that is everyone. What do you think?" I asked, leaning on the bumper of one of the humvees.

"They are strong, yet hesitant. A very interesting mix, but you seem to make it work. I am curious how this will continue." He said.

I got up and grabbed one of the shovels and tossed it to him. He grabbed it out of midair, and looked at me.

"Time to work prisoner!" I laughed, and gave him a wink. He shook his head, and I told him to go report to Nick for work. He started off, and I radioed ahead to Nick to warn him, and told him to keep an eye on him. I went back to my tent, and grabbed both my mg3 and my M82, and headed for the guard tower, which was really just a sandbagged position on the top of a small hill. I kept close watch, scanning back and forth. When it became noon, I called up for a replacement for guard duty. Joey came up, so I grabbed my gear and headed back down to the center of camp.

Everyone was there, grabbing food. I saw Ahote was eating in seclusion, with Nick keeping a weapon trained on him. I sat down next to Nick, and started eating.

"He been any problem?" I asked, around a mouthful of food.

"No, didn't even speak really, just hummed and worked. He worked hard too."

"Alright, I am going to call him over. Don't shoot him." Nick chuckled, and I motioned of Ahote to come over. His ears perked up, and a smile grew on his face.

"Hey, heard you worked hard. I guess you owe it to me, considering you suck water down like a fish!" I laughed, and pointed to his empty canteen, which I had given him. He laughed, and I told him there was a nearby spring, thanks to the planning of Captain Coles. Thinking about that name, I wondered what ever happened to him. I shook the thought out of my head. There was no time to live in the past. I grabbed a shovel, and headed out to help the guys digging the trenches, and to see how Justin and Austin were doing on reinforcing them with the wood planks. Both were proficient in carpentry, so they made a good, simple, and strong system.

I noticed that Ahote gravitated wherever I went. I didn't mind.

By that evening, we had most of the trenches done on the West and North side of the camp. Ryan went out hunting with Joey, and they brought back a decent size buck. I looked to see Ahote's face, but he showed no emotion.

Nick gutted the buck, and buried the guts 100 yards down wind of us. Justin stuck them on a spit, and slowly turned them. I cut up potatoes, carrots, corn, chives, and a few other herbs and spices and threw them into water, creating a vegetable stew. This was for Ahote, because he deserved more than bread after all the work he put in today. When everything was ready, everybody dug in. While everyone else gorged themselves, I held back and only ate a small amount. I didn't want to fall asleep on guard duty, which I had first shift. Alex was up there at the moment, with the thermal vision we had managed to snag from the Communication Center back at the camp. I also gave everyone night vision goggles. I guess when they looted the place, that they didn't need them!

As I headed up to relieve Alex, I heard a rustling from behind me, and I quickly swung my self around, and pointed the mg in the general direction of the noise. It turned out to be Ahote, who blended in well because of his fur color. He just put his hands up, and flashed me a grin.

"Sorry, thought you saw me coming." He whispered, well aware to keep his voice down.

"You just gave me a heart attack! Jesus, don't do that!" I whispered loudly.

"I know, I can hear your heart from here," he chuckled softly.

"Can you really?"

"No, but I can tell by your increased rate of breath," he said, very factual. I just shook my head and continued toward the guard tower.

When we got there, Alex just looked up and nodded, and grabbed his gear and headed down toward a warm meal and a good nights sleep. I set the M82 aside, and planted the legs of the mg3 down on the sandbags. I picked up the thermal vision binoculars, and started scanning. Ahote just sat there, watching me.

"You trying to learn the guard schedules, so you can plan your escape?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"No, no. Just I don't need as much sleep as you humans do." In the dark, he was next to impossible to see.

"Ah. Hey, is your hearing more sensitive than ours? What about the other senses?" I asked. It never hurt to learn about the enemy.

"Yes. Very much so, because just by hearing I can tell when you move because of your boots scraping against the rocks under your feet." I looked over at him, and looked carefully to make sure he wasn't kidding with me.

"Huh, good to know. Does it differ from species to species?"

"Yes, we all have our perks and downfalls." I left it at that, continuing to scan the perimeter. I heard him finish his canteen, and I turned and tossed him mine. He caught it, and looked at me with a curious stare.

"You aren't the only one with good hearing," I chuckled.

"But, in camp, you ask people to speak up. Why?"

"Surprise is a man's greatest weapon. You must keep some talents hidden, otherwise you are able to be read like a book." He got very quiet, as if mulling over the concept. I just looked up at the moon, which was at about half way lit up, but I couldn't remember if it was waxing or waning.

The next hour was spent watching, and quietly chitchatting. The only thing that made me spook was an owl calling, and a flock of birds flying into the night sky. Both times I swung the mg in their direction, and I grew red in the cheeks for being spooked so easily. Ahote just laughed and laughed. Not really at me, but at my actions. I noticed his laugh was quite deep for somebody his age.

The next few hours were spent doing the same thing, chitchatting and scanning. I let him look through the optic lenses, and he was amazed with how they worked. He looked at my face with the lens.

"Hmmm, not any better looking." I grabbed them from him, and he jumped back out of swinging range and laughed. I just shook my head, and looked at my watch. My replacement was supposed to have been here ten minutes ago. I suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes, and I pulled out my sidearm and aimed in the direction of the noise.

"It is just your next lookout. I think it is Josh." Ahote startled me by speaking. Even still, I kept my sidearm trained on the location. When Josh finally came crashing through the brush, he was looking down the barrel of my gun. I flipped the safety back on, and lowered the weapon.

"You are late, and I am tired. I catch you sleeping up here you will not wake up. Goodnight." I headed off, and Ahote said his goodnight as well. Josh picked up the lenses, and started scanning.

When I finally got back to my tent, I took of my boots and left them outside. I made sure Ahote whipped his paws, and I walked inside the tent. I set my weapons down, and laid down on my bedroll on the ground. I looked up, and Ahote was just standing there, staring at me.

"What?"

"Why are you laying on the floor? You have a cot right there."

"And where are you expecting to sleep, hmm?" I just looked at me, and nodded his thanks. I turned over and started to drift off when I felt him put a blanket over me.

"Thanks."

"It is I who should be thanking you. You really are different than the humans we were told about. All of you."

"You caught a lucky bunch, I guess. But if I ever catch you doing anything stupid, I am going to turn you into a pair of slippers." He laughed, and rolled over and went to sleep. He snored gently. I don't even remember falling asleep.

Nick woke me up the next morning, and I shook Ahote awake. He looked startled for a second before he realized where he was.

"Morning sunshine. Might want to comb your fur, you got bed head." I said as I headed out the door, tossing a comb his way.

Once out of the tent, I put on my boots, and put the mg3 on my back, grabbed a shovel, and headed out for the trenches. He heard Ahote zip up the tent behind me, and I told him to grab a shovel. As all of us except Zach, who was on over watch, headed out to work.

About 10:00, it started to rain. My squad seemed fine, but I noticed that Ahote was trying to suppress himself from shivering. I stopped working, and started to head back to my tent.

"I gotta go piss, I will be back. Hey Justin, can you grab one of the rolls of duct tape from the humvee and put it outside my tent please?" He nodded, and headed off to complete the task. Ahote kept working. Good, I had a surprise for him...

When I finished, I headed back to my tent, and went inside, grabbing the duct tape and a sharpie. I put a strip of the tape on the back of the jacket, and wrote in bold letters, "PRISONER". I laughed, and put a cap on the sharpie and headed back out. The rain had stopped by now, but it was still pretty chilly.

"Here, you looked cold," I said, as I handed him the jacket. He put it on, and Nick and the others burst out laughing. He looked confused, but quickly realized I had something to do with it. He took the jacket off, and started looking it over, and then noticed the "nametag" I had left on it. He busted out laughing, and put it back on.

"I hope you like it."

"Oh, I do. I will remember this..." He warned, jokingly.

My radio, which was situated on my chest rig, suddenly came to life with Zach's voice. Everyone shut up immediately.

"Overlord, does anyone copy? Over."

"Overlord, we hear you loud and clear, over."

"We have contact, I see four plus foot mobiles headed your way, on the northern side of the camp. They are armed, expect company in two minutes, over."

"Shit. All right, Ryan, take your rifle and head up to Zach. Joey, go with him. Buddy system. Josh, take Justin and head to the north side. You two will be greeting our "guests". Make sure your Kevlar is zipped up tight, got it? Austin, Alex, move and get a firing solution on the trail that they are going to be coming out of. Levi, head to the southern end of the camp, make sure they don't try to flank us. Nick, Ahote, with me, we are going to move one of the humvees with the .50 on top to greet them. Gentleman, you have your tasks, now go, and best of luck to you."

Everyone went to where they were told to do, without question. I warned Zach that Ryan and Joey were headed up, and warned him to watch the west and east, to make sure they weren't going to broadside us. He out copied, and I jumped on top of the closest humvee, with Ahote in the passenger seat, and Nick driving.

We pulled up, and then waited. We had put the camo netting on the humvee to hide it. It was always good to have an ace up your sleeve. Now, we waited for them. We didn't have to wait long.

They came out of the forest, and I quickly told Josh to stay hidden, but to yell to them once they were in his range, and to keep his mike open so I could hear what was happening. He said okay, and then the radio went dead. I had binoculars on me, and sat in the turret, observing them.

I saw four men, who looked very rugged. Two of them carried hunting rifles with low powered scopes, one carried a sawed off double barrel shotgun, and the final had an AK-47. I warned Josh to be careful, and called up to Zach to see if there were any more hiding in the woods. He said no, and Joey confirmed it.

I heard Josh yell to the men. "Halt. Who goes there?" I unintentionally laughed, but the men answered.

"We are renegades, running from those beasts who took the town. Who are you?" I told Josh not to answer their question.

"I am going to ask you to please leave the area. This is a restricted zone, and we have no quarrel with either side." I was happy with how he worded it.

"We will leave, once you give us supplies. We ask for them kindly, but we will take them by force. We are not afraid of a few children."

"You take your life, and the others around you in your hands if you decide to attack this camp. Up to you, but you will not receive supplies from us. Again, I ask you to leave the premises." I could see this guy getting visibly upset, and suddenly, he charged the position where Josh and Justin where.

"RYAN, DROP THAT SON OF A BITCH! LEAVE THE OTHERS ALONE!" I yelled over the radio. I heard a pause, then a sharp crack of a rifle. The man fell, dropping his hunting rifle. The others dropped down, and didn't move. I now pulled the camo netting off from the humvee, and yelled at the men myself.

"LEAVE NOW OR DIE!" One of them took a pot shot with the Ak-47, and I opened up with the m2, tearing him in half, and the others were quickly decimated. Once the firing had stopped, I checked to make sure everyone was ok, and told Zach to recheck the area for any other enemies drawn in by the fire. I heard about a minute of pause, and then I got the all clear, meaning nobody else was in the area. I dismounted from the humvee, and told Nick to go park it, and re cover it back under the camo net.

Once I had reached the bodies of the men, the smell of blood and shit filled the air. The others looked sick, and I couldn't even imagine what Ahote was going through with his enhanced sense of smell.

"Gentleman, you did good. I do not think this could have gone better. They had plenty of opportunities to leave the area, but they chose to die. So be it. Grab their weapons, ammo, and anything else that might be of use. Discard the bodies at least a mile from here. Take one of the humvees, and for God's sake, put a tarp down first. I don't want blood covering the inside of my humvees." The others didn't move, so I started going through the one man's gear, grabbed the ammo and weapon, and headed back to camp. They all started working after that.

After the bodies were dumped, I started everyone on lunch. Everyone ate, no problem. Then, we headed back to work on the rest of the outer wall. It was almost finished, with the two sides almost coming together.

By the end of the day, both sides had met, and we all were hooting and hollering like wild men!

"Gentleman, I would like to personally congratulate you, but we must move on to the next project is much more simple, but before we start, we are going to need more material. Justin, after dinner, come find me. We need to talk." Everyone groaned, until I unveiled the surprise I had kept hidden. From the back of one of the humvees, I unveiled something the guys hadn't seen for almost 2 weeks. Mountain Dew. Everyone went wild! I got bear hugged by Josh, and everyone else tried to join in at the same time, so we ended up on the ground in a huge dog pile. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt, and I couldn't breathe. It was a good night. I completely forgot to talk to Justin about my upcoming plans.

The next morning, I was up at 6:00ish, and I got up, trying not to wake up Ahote. Stepping outside, I noticed the weather was getting warmer. I put on my boots, and went over to Josh and Justin's tent. I knocked against the side, and stepped inside. I shook Justin awake, and put my finger over my lips, and pointed outside. He nodded, and followed. I pulled him over to the edge of camp, on the top of the dirt wall.

"Justin, you are going to be in charge of the next project. Do you know how to make proper huts, like the ones back at camp freedom?"

"Yea, they were a simple construction. I could only build one about the size of the one we lived in. Unless we get more supplies."

"Do you think we will need more than one?"

"For supplies and gear, as well as a covering for the humvees couldn't hurt."

"Good, then get started. Take anybody you need. I am going to head over to a logging camp to see what they have, and will not be back for another couple of hours. Keep yourself out of trouble, got it?" He nodded, and went to go round up workers to help him get started. I meanwhile headed back to my tent.

"Good morning." Ahote was up.

"Ah good, you are awake. I need a number two to go with me. Grab your Ak, and be ready to go in 10 minutes." I grabbed a duffle bag with my spotter scope. I also grabbed my m82 and the mg3. I picked out one of the ATV's, and loaded my gear onto the front of it. Ahote came out, in his chest rig, a pair of BDU pants, a knife strapped to his leg, and a grenade on his vest as well.

"You ready to go?"

"Yes. It feels good to be back in uniform." I was sure it did, I couldn't even imagine getting out of my uniform now!

About a half an hour down the road, he shouted over my shoulder, "Where exactly are we going?"

"A logging mill, which will have cut up boards, which will be very useful around camp. I hope they abandoned it when you guys attacked." He said nothing at the remark, but kept directing me; from the map Sarge had given me when we left. 10 minutes later, I pulled the ATV off the road, and hid it in shrubs alongside the side of the road. He looked at me in curiosity.

"We still have about ten minutes to go. Don't tell me we are out of gas!"

"Nope, from here we hoof it from here. Less noise, although with how big of feet you have..." I winked at him, and unloaded my gear. He picked up a pile of leaves and threw them at me. I laughed, and handed him the duffle bag with the spotting scope.

"Careful with this one, it holds my spotter scope. You crack it, it is going to be almost as worthless as you!" Again, he started to come at me, and I dodged quickly. He laughed, and we headed out to find a good ridge top to over look the camp.

About 20 minutes later, we found a good spot about 900 yards out, and I started getting all of my readings. Humidity, wind, distance, and then calculated all of them to come up with a firing solution. I looked down on the camp with the now adjusted scope for anybody down there. I didn't see anybody, but I did not move. Ahote sat completely still next to me. We sat there for about an hour and a half, with no movement. I slid backwards, so I was out of view of the logging camp. Ahote backed up as well.

"What do you think? I didn't see anybody."

"I didn't either, and it was very quiet. I saw the supplies that we needed. Lets head back, and tomorrow we go forward and pick up everything in the humvees. Lets double-time it back. I don't' like being away from the others." He nodded, and we packed up our gear and headed back.

We got to the ATV no problem, and I strapped my stuff back on the front. He hopped on the back.

"Nope. You are driving, and I am going to navigate. I already talked to Nick. I brought you because I wanted to test how you would do. All you have to do is get us to the camp in one piece, and you will be a member of the team. That is, if you are willing to except. If not, we let you go free. Up to you."

"No, I would be honored to join your team. Thank you." He started tearing up, and I gave him a hug. He wrapped me up in his arms. Once he let go, we looked at each other and started laughing, and I blamed my teary eyes from his fur getting in my eyes.

I gave him the basics on how to drive, and we were on our way!

When we got back, everybody came running over to us. I stood up from the back of the ATV, and yelled to everybody, "HE IS ONE OF US!!! THREE CHEERS!" It wasn't exactly three cheers, but a happy dog pile did the job just fine. He laughed and rolled around, wrestling with everyone in a playful fashion. I sat back and watched, until Justin grabbed my foot and hauled me into the fight. I tackled him, and we kept at the horseplay for a good half hour.

Once we were done, I grabbed Justin and asked him what he had created so far. He showed me the plans for it, and I noticed something was different about it.

"Why does this look kind of funny?" I asked, pointing to the main support beams.

"I designed it so the whole thing is collapsible, in about 10 minutes, in case anything should arise." I sat there, thinking, and then clapped him on the back, happy to see him using his head.

"I do have good news, you will have plenty of supplies. The lumberyard seems abandoned. We are going to go pick up the material tomorrow. Get a good nights sleep. It is going to be a quick grab, and then we are getting out of there." He nodded, and went over to the others to tell them the plan.

After dinner, it was my turn up on Guard duty. I took the m82 with me, and mg. I had to begun to head up, when I caught Ahote sneaking up with me, trying to make it look unsuspicious.

Without turning around, I called out, "If you wanted to come up, you just could have asked Ahote." He looked stunned, and walked out of the bushes. He jogged to catch up with me.

"How did you hear me?"

"I didn't." That was the only explanation he was going to get! He just shook his head, and walked next to me. The guard duty shift was uneventful, so I broke down the mg3 so I could clean it. I wanted it to be in pristine condition for tomorrow. I asked him if he knew how to break down his weapon and clean it. He nodded, so I told him to do so, so it would be ready for tomorrow. He worked quickly, and finished before I did.

Joey came up to relieve me, and I chitchatted with him for a minute or two. I then headed down to my tent, and immediately knocked out.

The next morning, I woke Josh, Nick, and Ahote up at 4:00a.m, and they quickly moved. I got into one humvee with Nick, and he hopped up on the browning .50. Josh picked out the humvee with the Mark 2 40mm grenade launcher. Ahote was driving.

"Ahote, remember that when I say hop on it, I don't mean it literally!" I yelled, than gave him a wink. He flipped me off, which Josh taught him how to do, and we headed off.

About an hour later, we pulled into the camp, and I quickly go out and looked around. Nothing sprang out at me, or shot at me, so I opened up the tailgate of the humvee, and started grabbing the two by fours that were stacked neatly, ready to be shipped off by the company. But, they never got it off. So, now it was going to be put to good use. I tossed a pair of work gloves to Ahote and Josh. Nick stayed up in the turret, to keep over watch. We all worked hard to quickly pile the wood into the humvees. We got out of there without a shot fired, with all the supplies we ever would need.