FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

~~~EPILOGUE~~~

~Over ten years after the epic, climactic battle at OGD HQ~

I stood outside the closed door and slowly reached for the handle, ready to throw it open and flush my target out of hiding.

He's in here, I can tell. I mean, after all this time, why would my animalistic sense of smell lie to me now?

There was a sudden soft, clunking sound from the inside, confirming my suspicions. I took a firm grip on the doorknob. Firm, but gentle enough that my target wouldn't know I was there.

Let's get this done... because I'm getting pretty hungry.

Three...

Two...

On---

But before I could actually make my move, the door slammed open and there was a quick flash of steel.

"Ha HA, I got you big guy!"

Okay... gotta admit, I wasn't expecting that...

Chuckling, I stared down at the blunt dagger poking against my stomach in a mock attempt to slice me open. It wasn't anything special by any means, but seeing the detail and effort its creator had put into it made up for its crudeness. "Well, technically I knew you were in there all along, so your stealth skills need some work. Tsk, tsk, Kyle..."

The boy scoffed loudly, easily seeing right through my feigned sense of disappointment. "Oh come on, Dad! I should be sayin' that about you - I saw your shadow on the ground! I KNEW you were out there, old man."

Shit, I completely forgot about my shadow! Wow, Greg, this is amateur hour... Or maybe it's because I'm just really hungry. Can't give Kyle the satisfaction, though, he'll never let me live it down...

"Which I did on purpose, to see if you'd notice it" I countered. "And you did! Great job, kiddo!"

He smiled, once again not fooled. "Sure, Dad... suuure..."

My son, Kyle... Named for his mother, he was a headstrong, frequently outspoken boy with a passion for videogaming and a sarcastic streak a mile longer than his father's. In other words, he was the spitting image of me at the same age personality-wise. Kyle always had to have an answer for everything and loved nothing more than teasing people, but he had a genuinely kind soul deep down.

Though you'd almost never be able to tell he was my son on the outside, seeing as he looked almost identical to his mother. A snow leopard hybrid, Kyle possessed a fine coat of spotted grey fur like Kyla, with a white coloring on the chest and stomach to match. Everything else was closer to resembling me; his hair was dark brown and fashioned in the same short, spiky style as mine, and his eyes were the same matching shade of brown as his hair. He was in nearly flawless physical condition from constant training and exercise, always trying his hardest to hone the ferrokinetic abilities he inherited from me. It was because they were the only superpower Kyle had received; no cryokinesis or super-speed. He initially saw that as a huge drawback, but then discovered that he had also inherited my sense of creativity. I had a penchant for swords, but Kyle often utilized his abilities in a much broader sense than I ever thought to. And that made for interesting twists and innovations when he factored in fighting styles of characters from his favorite games...

Broader, yet still unrefined... But hey, he was just a kid, and I sure had a lot more to teach him! He was a willing student, and that's what was important.

Especially considering he's a LOT better than I was when I got my powers... Ugh, bad times...

I took the fake dagger from his hand and inspected it. "Was this a clothes hanger...?"

"Heh... maybe..." he replied with a guilty grin. "I'm trying to use only a little bit of metal to make bigger things, like you said I should try an' do. And I think I'm gettin' it!"

"Well that's great!" I exclaimed. "Remember what those scientists said; you're a level 3 ferrokinetic. Meaning that over time, you'll be able to---"

But suddenly, we were interrupted by a loud shout from across the hall:

"KYLE FRANCIS OSSLAND! Come and set the table right now! Mom said!"

The person making the call exited the kitchen and walked over to us, hands on her hips and an authoritative look on her face. "It's YOUR turn to set the table, Kyle. 'Cause I always do it when you're in your room playing PlayStation all day!"

"Oh come ON, Sam! Why should I? You do a way better job at it, 'cause you're a giiirl..." He snickered at that last part, exerting his imagined sense of superiority from being both a boy and the older sibling. But before I could ask Kyle to listen to his sister, she dashed over and grabbed his arm using her super-speed, and dragged him away before he could object. For a usually sweet and gentle girl, she was a lot stronger than she looked.

"Well I'M the girl who can drag your butt to the dining room faster than you can say 'stop!'" her voice echoed from across the apartment.

Ah, those two... I love my kids so much!

While Kyle's hybrid physiology took after his mother's, minus the hair and eye color, Samantha was a hyena hybrid like me. Her fur was the same shade of brownish-gold, being a more pure brown in color on her hands and feet like myself as well. Like her brother, she was already fairly tall for her age; standing at about four and half feet in height. She also possessed my dark brown hair, though there were several noticeable streaks of blue included that she undoubtedly inherited from her mother. Unlike Kyla, however, Sam wore her hair longer, reaching down past her shoulders. Her eyes were also a mix of those same colors; brown on the outer area of the irises with a blue outline around the pupils. It was a rare form of heterochromia that had never faded away after she was born, though Samantha quickly grew to love her unique eye color regardless.

In addition to my super-speed, Samantha had inherited her mother's cryokinetic abilities as well. In her case, however, the superpower scale seemed to tip more towards speed than ice. Meaning that she would never be able to do everything that Kyla, a pure cryokinetic could do, but having two different abilities to use and combine with each other more than made up for it. It was the opposite of Kyle's case; wherein his ferrokinetic abilities would eventually surpass my own as he grew.

As for her namesake, she was named after Kyla's mother, who was one of the millions of unfortunate victims of Z-Day like my own parents. Kyla's family history wasn't exactly as... ideal as mine; a lot of tension between her and her mother was never resolved. The decision to give our daughter her maternal grandmother's name was Kyla's way of honoring the memory of someone important, just as I had done with our son's middle name. I didn't mind her choice one bit, however. I couldn't have thought of a better name for our little girl myself.

Chuckling at my children being themselves, I closed the closet door and prepared to follow them, but a knock on our apartment's front door stopped me in my tracks. Our long-awaited company had finally arrived!

I opened the door and was greeted by a blonde-haired cheetah hybrid no older than Kyle, though noticeably taller than my son.

"Guess who's baaack! Didja miss me!?"

I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Well HEY there, Adrian! I definitely missed you, but I know Kyle and Sammy did, too. Run on inside, they've been waiting for you all day!"

"All right!" the boy cheered as he ran into the apartment, stopping to give an approaching Kyla a big hug on his way down the hall.

"That boy gets bigger every time I see him!" she said. "I wonder what Harry's secret is..."

And the last member of my new family, my Kyla... The years had been great to my wife; she was still as beautiful as ever. Beautiful, strong, and still very, very sexy. It had been over ten years since we met each other, but in her case it looked more like ten minutes.

I wrapped one arm around her as we waited for the rest of our guests to walk in. "No idea, but Harry mentioned a long time ago that he had growth spurts on the early side himself. Either that or it's the other side of the family... all the men are kinda tall on her side."

But before Kyla could reply, there was a sudden 'whoosh' behind us as our next guest teleported in and squeezed himself between the two of us from behind.

"Someone say my name!?"

"Harry, you jackass!" I laughed as I nudged him in the ribs so he'd let us go. "How the hell are ya!?"

He gave us both a proper hug, dropping his ever-present childishness for just a moment. "I'm great! We're all great, it was an awesome vacation! Before I got married I always thought that hanging with in-laws would get boring and awkward down the road, but not these guys. I think I watched too many sitcoms back in the day or something..."

"Probably, knowing you..." I replied with a snarky smile.

"Where's the Mrs?" Kyla asked. "Because just Harry by himself is more than I can handle!"

Harry chuckled at Kyla's joke; they still, after all this time, loved to tease each other. Old habits die hard, after all. "Hardee-ha-HA, you're SO funny! Like, my sides are BURSTING with hilarity!"

"Oh joy, Harrison, you finally figured it out! I AM so funny!"

As Kyla led Harry into our dining room, both of them continuing their witty bantering with every step, I heard another knock from behind me. Turning around, I could see that our third visitor, standing in the doorframe with open arms and a wide smile, was Harry's wife.

"Hey, you! Gonna invite me in, or should I just stand in the doorway all day?" she asked, her expression suggesting that she fully expecting a delightfully sarcastic answer from me.

Heh, you asked for it.

I chuckled and leaned in to accept her warm hug. "I dunno; we only set the table for six people... I mean, I could always whip up a kiddie table for you or something..."

She laughed and playfully punched me on the shoulder, having gotten exactly the kind of response from me that she had wanted. "Boy did I miss you and your Greg-isms..."

"Well duh, I'm hilarious, remember?" I closed the door behind us and escorted her to the dining room, as Kyla had done for Harry. "I've got a lot of questions, but I guess the biggest one is obvious: how was the vacation? Haven't seen you guys in a month, and I want to hear everything!"

"It was so much fun! Especially for Mom and Dad; they just love little Adrian so much. He's just like his father and they find it so adorable... There's a lot we've got to tell, and trust me, it'll be a hell of a dinner conversation. But for now, it's just great to be back here, with you, Kyla, and the kids. No place like home, right?"

I kissed her on the cheek. "There sure isn't. Welcome home, Cali."

~~~

It all started with that one tearful goodbye...

"Cali, please! Don't make me do this, I... I CAN'T! I can't LOSE you again!"

"Greg... it's okay. You lost me once; you CAN do it again. But when you lost me, you found someone else; someone who made everything better. You found Kyla; your one true soulmate. And I know she's the one whose heart belongs to you now. You need to let me go. You need to move on and be happy with her... But you know I'll always love you..."

So many parts of that day would forever live in my memory for numerous reasons, but that was always one of the most prominent highlights of it all. I had always thought back to that one point; to that horrible moment where we were slowly being buried alive and I finally had to make a choice. Cali or Kyla? The voluptuous leopardess with long red hair, or the cute snow leopardess with short blue hair? The old love that I couldn't let go of, or the new love that saved my life when I needed it to? Over the years I had asked myself over and over again if I could've chosen differently and what it would've been like, but I always came to the same conclusion at the end of the day: that I had made the right choice. I not only chose to save Kyla from certain death, but in that same moment had chosen her over Cali as a mate. I loved Cali then and still did now (platonically of course), but couldn't deny that deep down I knew Kyla and I were soulmates. Two people chosen by fate, destiny, or whatever to be an absolutely flawless match for each other in every way.

But in the end, as it turned out, my choice to not save Cali's life didn't matter. Because without any warning, Harry had made his dumbest and simultaneously bravest decision yet by going right back into the building and rescuing her. Did he know if he'd be able to find Cali amongst all the rubble? Did he ever realize he could've easily been crushed, impaled, or blown up? Did he even know that as long as he and Cali were touching, his teleportation abilities would overcharge and allow him to get both of them out safely? Even though both of their powers were still supposedly drained at that point? The answer to all was a resounding 'no.'

Somehow, in the face of all logic and rational thought, everything worked out perfectly for all four of us in the end. I had made my hard choice and saved Kyla; Harry made his own choice and risked his life to save Cali.

And that was when his true feelings for my definitive ex-girlfriend began to surface.

As the old saying goes, the writing was all over the walls. Ever since the first time Cali had regained her personality from her murderous alter-ego, she and Harry had become fast friends. At the time, I hadn't thought very much of it, aside from the fact that I was simply glad that she found someone new to talk to about the twisted world she had woken up in, besides just myself. Harry, being his usual easygoing, free-spirited self, was exactly the kind of friend Cali needed. They laughed, joked, and frequently hung out together, having plenty of personality traits in common as well as mutual likes and dislikes. And when it came time to fight together, it was ironic that their fighting styles and superpowers were also very similar.

It took me a while to realize it as time went on, but to Cali, Harry had fulfilled the same role that Kyla had for me. He was the person who raised Cali's spirit when she felt she had hit her lowest point; the person that gave her life a new meaning. More of the details, though, were completely between the two of them and beyond my observation. Which was fine with me; I didn't want to be an awkward third wheel. I could hear them talking, but more importantly, I could hear Cali laughing. And, of course, there were sometimes a few... other... things I could hear... the redhead wasn't exactly the quietest lover in the world...

Eventually, the day came when Harry and Cali properly announced their love for each other to me, both sheepishly admitting that they wanted my blessing for their relationship to properly start. I found it flattering and very respectful on Harry's part, given the circumstances of my and Cali's past, but told them that the blessing they wanted wasn't mine to give.

"You guys don't need my permission; you've HAD it all along! All I want for you, Cali, is for you to be happy with someone who deserves you, and I've realized Harry's had a bit of a crush on you since the first time he saw you. You two go perfectly together, and I'm really glad to see the beginning of a new, beautiful relationship happening."

"Heh, that's kind of an understatement, brother. I wouldn't say I've had a 'little' crush on this lovely lady here..."

"Pshah, stop it Harry, you big silly... But Greg... Whether we actually needed your approval or not, what you just said means the world to me... to US, I should be saying, hehe. What you and I had was wonderful, and I know that you've found your true soulmate in Kyla... but I think I've found mine in Harry. I love this guy, here."

~~~

I stood up and raised my glass, filled to the brim with Kyla's homemade iced tea. "Everyone, I'd like to propose a toast. I've got my family here, and now my closest friends are back under the same roof, too. And we've all got nowhere to go but up... So I say cheers - to family, friends, and the future!"

Kyla wrapped her arm around my side and clinked my glass. "To family."

"To friends" said Harry and Cali with smiles as their glasses joined ours.

"And to the FUTUUURE!" Kyle shouted as he, Samantha, and Adrian prepared to clink their own glasses together. But instead of the gentle, celebratory gesture it was intended to be, the three children underestimated their own strength and shattered their glasses into each other's instead. The broken glass shards didn't hurt them in the slightest, but their drinks were now splattered all over themselves.

"Uh... woops..." Adrian muttered.

The four of us adults just couldn't help but burst into laughter.

~~~

Of course, while the four of our love lives continued to flourish, there was still plenty of hard work to do in the real world. It didn't take me and the other hybrids too long to rebuild our home base after what OGD did to it, certainly a lot less time than I expected. Through a combined effort of everyone's superior strength and abilities, we were, quite literally, our own power tools. But it also helped that there were no more of the black-armored enemies to worry about. We knew we had won the war for ourselves, but not everyone felt that way at first. Some were under the constant impression that another group of hybrid soldiers would show up at our doorstep without warning and claim vengeance for the loss of their leader. Others thought that it would be another horde of the advanced zombies instead.

But sometime after the first post-war month, someone actually did show up - an ambassador from the corrupt company we had spent so much, and yet so little, time fighting against. It wasn't a long visit, but the biggest surprise was the announcement that like us, they were slowly yet steadily rebuilding. However, the visitor explained that the anonymous person who had taken control of the company wished to assure us that there would be no more hostilities between HAC and OGD. And that even sometime down the road, we could be potential allies in our efforts to rebuild and repopulate the country. And then he left.

Most of us didn't believe him... but I did. And as time went on, his words fully sunk into everyone's minds and tensions finally dropped to nothing.

With the threat definitively gone and our home restored to complete working order after nearly a year of labor, the other hybrids and I began to plan out the rest of our lives. The HAC base had been refurbished into more of an apartment complex/community center than a scientific research facility, leaving plenty of opportunity for all of us to grow and have fun in an environment that might've resembled something before the apocalypse. Sure, there was still the occasional zombie or two, often shambling towards us in the dead of night or in the sunny afternoon. But we were always ready, because it was the world we lived in now. As we would learn years later, HAC's efforts had put a sizeable dent in our country's zombie population, but the remaining amount of ghouls was still quite large.

HAC had a plan; a vision for the entire planet, not just America. They created us to solve the zombie problem, and we were still willing to carry on that plan. Even if it would take decades, it would all be worth it in the end.

But that was only a small part of what my life had gradually evolved into. The rest was entirely devoted to the people that I had been through so much with, even in such a short span of time. My friends.

My friends... and my mate. My Kyla, my wife and lover.

And holy SHIT did I love her...

Was it weird at first, the two of us openly being with each other in front of my ex-girlfriend? Extremely. Weird, unsettling, and so much more. But at the end of the day, Cali knew where our hearts were, and hers was always in the right place as well. She gave the two of us her never-ending support and encouragement, always with a genuine smile and no tinge of jealousy or resentment at all. And through it all, Kyla and I became as close as two people could possibly be, much more so than it appeared possible. Every day I seemed to discover something new and exciting about her, or see her in some new kind of light that just accentuated her beauty even more. Kyla truly was a woman that would never stop surprising me.

And after the first wonderful year we spent together, it didn't take me very long afterwards to propose to the leopardess. And it took her only about half a second to say 'yes' after I fashioned a Jared-quality ring right before her eyes with my abilities. Though neither of us cared whether it was an 'official' marriage or not, one of our scientists revealed himself to be an ordained minister from years ago and was more than willing to perform the ceremony. With Harry as my best man and Cali as Kyla's maid of honor, it was a short yet beautiful event that marked the true beginning of our new lives together. And their own wedding came shortly afterwards, with Kyla and I fulfilling the same roles they had done for us. There were no bachelor or bachelorette parties and no fancy wedding receptions, just the four of us becoming closer than ever before.

Nothing else was needed. Everybody got their happy ending.

~~~

Several hours had passed, filled with nothing but good food, drinks, and cheer. The kids had gone off somewhere to run around and play which, knowing them, would more than likely turn into super-powered roughhousing. As for us adults, the four of us still had a lot of catching up to do.

"So Cali, what's your brother Mike been up to? Kyla asked. "He's what, nineteen or twenty right now?"

"JUST turned twenty, actually" Cali smiled. "He was with us for the latter part of the vacation, since he had some volunteer work to finish up first. That guy's got a heart of gold, I swear... It's hard to believe he's the same brother of mine who used to ANNOY me to no end!"

"Adrian really likes hanging out with him," Harry added. "You'd think they were the brothers, instead of Mikey being his uncle. He's got me and Greg as strong male role models, sure, but Mikey's got that sparking personality that Adrian really relates to."

"Greg and I" I corrected him, with a shit-eating grin on my face.

"Oh shaddap, you... Nobody likes a grammar Nazi!" Harry retorted.

~~~

So, the four of us had become two happy families. Two loving husbands and two loving wives, all ready to begin the next step of marriage - having kids. I had accomplished quite a lot since Z-Day, but fighting advanced zombies, other hybrids, and an evil metahuman wasn't nearly as scary as the prospect of raising a child. Or in my and Kyla's case, children.

But that was actually only half of it...

I would never admit it to Kyla, but I was not only terrified at the idea of not being a good father, but also at the thought of something going wrong before the fathering could actually begin. So much about every hybrid's body chemistry had been changed by HAC and OGD's science, much more on the inside than on the outside, and there was no concrete way of knowing how that would affect reproduction. The research notes green-lit everything in plain black and white, and regular tests on a pregnant Kyla assured the two of us that everything would go smoothly. Yet, a part of me always worried that something would just go wrong...

"Will our child be healthy, or will it inexplicably develop problems? Will it have some kind of birth defect because leopard and hyena just DNA doesn't mix? And hell, I know I've been bitten by zombies a few times, as has Kyla. What if the virus is still dormant inside us and somehow got transferred to our child, just like in that shitty SyFy movie!?"

Those kinds of questions would often race through my head at night while I lay in bed next to my wife, keeping me awake contrary to her peaceful, uninterrupted slumber. Several times I would gently feel the bulge in her belly, seeing if the baby would do anything in response. Just something to make sure that he or she was doing okay... Most of the time I'd get no reaction at all, but occasionally there would be a small kick or something that you'd expect a baby inside its mother's womb to do. But those small signs of life were always enough to comfort me and make going to sleep a lot easier.

Once again, however, I had been worried for nothing in the end. Our son Kyle, named for his mother, was born on a cool autumn afternoon at exactly 1:15pm. He didn't have a single bit of fur on his body yet and was crying uncontrollably for the first ten minutes of his life, but the doctors and scientists overseeing everything assured us that he was the healthiest newborn they had ever seen. Which, compared to a newborn human baby, was really saying something. Only when they placed the hybrid cub in Kyla's arms and I could see the cute, curious expression on his lively face did I finally let my fears go and wept tears of joy.

The next year, Harry and Cali introduced their son Adrian to the world. Soon after that, our daughter Samantha followed. And all the while, there were plenty of other hybrid couples popping up and having kids of their own, now that our world was safe enough to allow it.

But these kids... they were truly something else. After numerous small tests and DNA analyses, the scientists and doctors unanimously confirmed that they would grow up to become more powerful than their parents. Eventually, however, they realized that our hybrid children would become so much more than that - because they were genetically superior in every way. I didn't understand most of the technical-scientific mumbo-jumbo (Kyla kind of did), but it seemed that these were HAC and OGD's intentions from minute one. From what I could understand, because our offspring were born with their hybrid physiology and superpowers, and didn't artificially receive them way after their formative years like we did, they would grow to have a much more natural affinity for their abilities. Stronger, faster, smarter even. They weren't even in their teens yet, but their mental capacities were already at a level one would expect to see in a fifteen or sixteen year-old.

And their superpowers... more ice, faster super-speeds, and they even suggested at one point that Kyle may develop MAGNETIC powers! That was something I would've gladly subjected myself for further experimentation for, if given a chance. For Samantha, it would only be a matter of time before she'd be able to outspeed me in a super-speed race. And her cryokinetic abilities were already on par with her mother's, which have historically always been stronger than those of Francis or Smith.

Then there were several unique cases like Adrian's... Apparently, the combined lineage between a HAC hybrid and an OGD hybrid had the potential to produce a baby with completely different abilities than expected. Different, but not necessarily in a bad way. What had happened was that Harry's fire-based powers got mixed with Cali's oil-based powers, and somehow endowed their son with smoke-based powers. Smoke, with an undertone of fire thrown in. And according to what Harry had been telling me recently, there were a few other surprises thrown into the mix, too...

That was what I loved about all of our kids - they would never cease to surprise me, either.

~~~

Sitting at the edge of the bed, I gently pulled the warm, fluffy covers up to Samantha's midsection and began to tuck the sides underneath her to form a soft, comfortable seal of warmth. "Not too tight, not too loose, but juuust right. Right?"

"Mhmm! Thanks, daddy," she said with a sleepy smile. I leaned in to give her a goodnight kiss on the forehead, making her giggle and her cute smile grow even wider.

She's so adorable... Hopefully those awkward, rebellious teenager years won't make her hate me TOO much when they inevitably come...

"You're welcome" I replied with a smile of my own. "You and the boys sure had a full day, huh?"

"Yeah! I really missed Aunt Cali, too... She's always so much fun to talk to! She always has some funny story or something to tell me, especially about YOU, hehehe."

Oh great... my ex telling my daughter things about my life before the apocalypse... Great role modeling, Cali...

But that's so sweet, Sammy calling her 'Aunt' Cali... Heh, she might as well be, right!?

"Uh... not quite sure how to respond to that, Sammy... But for God's sake, don't repeat any of those stories to your mother..." I shuddered.

"No promiseeeees..." she replied with a smartass grin that I couldn't help but fawn over. I hugged my little girl tight, prompting her to cuddle into my side for extra comfort. Her hair tickled my nose quite a bit, but not nearly enough to make me want to sneeze. But as much as I would've loved to continue cuddling with Sammy and just watching her fall asleep, there were still two other people to extend my fatherly/husbandly good night wishes to. After a few more quiet minutes I patted her on the back and got up, being careful to not accidentally step on any of her toys as I walked towards the door.

"Good night, princess. Love you!" I bid.

"I love you too, daddy!" she replied as I winked and shut the door.

D'awww! It just never gets old!

It always filled my heart with so much joy to hear those three simple words from my little girl, but this was one of those times where it just seemed to be so much more sincere and unconditional. Especially considering I wouldn't get nearly the same experience with Kyle, whose room I prepared to enter next. He was a boy, a 'tough guy,' yadda yadda yadda, but I always knew that the love was there anyway. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

Even before I opened his bedroom door, I could see the flashing lights underneath leaking into the hallway and could hear the conversation between the characters in the game he was playing:

"Oh do you REALLY think that I'm a demon? The 'Demon of Empire City!?'"

"No, Cole... I think we're both demons. Our pride has turned us into monsters..."

It only took me those two lines of dialogue to deduce exactly what game it was, too. A good one, at that.

It was funny; despite the hundreds of things I had lost on Z-Day and never seen again, my videogame collection actually wasn't one of them. During the initial chaos and confusion that had befallen me and Cali that morning, I had managed to make a few seconds of time to disconnect my PlayStation 3 and my other consoles from my TV, grab all my games and portable devices, and shove them into a secret compartment I had created in my closet. It was made for the original purpose of hiding alcohol from my college's persistent Resident Advisors, who always leapt at any opportunity to punish us for just trying to have a good time.

But during Z-Day, as frightened as I was, my quick thinking had definitely paid off in the long run. Because years after that, I paid a visit to my old neighborhood with Kyla while Cali and Harry babysat the kids, and almost had a happiness-induced heart attack upon finding my collection untouched and unharmed. Everything else in the apartment was gone, but I didn't care one bit. Every so often we would find a working game or system during HAC missions and bring them back to the base, but finding the games I had worked on and invested so many hours of my life into was a much more elating experience. And now, I was able to share those experiences with my family. Even Kyla was excited and happy to play, despite not coming close to my level of videogame geekiness.

Our son, however, had become shockingly close...

Snapping out of my train of memories, I quietly opened his door and stepped inside. The entirety of Kyle's room was illuminated before my eyes thanks to his TV; a big one that he and I had scavenged. But all I could see was an ocean of clean clothes, dirty clothes, videogames and accessories, and random metal objects he had undoubtedly been practicing his abilities with. You literally wouldn't be able to tell he had a rug in his room, hidden beneath all of his stuff.

Somewhere, I assume, his bed is buried under there, too...

"So... good game, huh sport?" I asked, making my presence in the room known.

"Um, YEAH, this game's AWESOME!" Kyle gleefully cheered, pausing the game and giving me his proper attention. "It's so much better than the first one! I like the powers better in this one. And the PlayStation Trophies are easier to get, too. Watch out, old man, 'cause I'm only a few Platinum Trophies away from beating yooou!"

Oooh, sounds like a challenge, young man!

My comeback, however, was brilliant. "Yeah, you may have spent hours and hours playing games like this or like Dead Island, but don't forget I've spent years and years playing Dead Island: Real-Life Edition: Super Mega HD Remix That-Doesn't-Actually-Take-Place-On-An-Island. So where, kiddo, are your bragging rights NOW?"

No answer. I had won.

"C'mon, Kyle. Finish that boss fight, and then go to bed."

"DAAAD! Spoiler alert!?" he shouted angrily, surprising me. "I didn't know this was gonna turn into a boss fight!"

Really...? Oh, Kyle... you are DEFINITELY my son. But when it's not ME being paranoid about spoilers, it's just so HILARIOUS.

I chuckled at his misguided outrage. "Dude, it's not a spoiler if it's obvious. I could tell you who The Beast is; now THAT would be a nice little spoiler for you..."

Kyle pouted, but I knew I had won him over. "Fiiine... Lemme kill the big, bad maggot-guy, and then I'll go to beeed..."

Smiling with content, I reached down and ruffled Kyle's brown hair, making him try to brush me off so he could see the screen on his TV. "See, this is what I like about having a son that plays all the same games as his old man; I can just spoil something for you if you misbehave. Or during power-training exercises to throw you off and test your reaction skills..."

Now Kyle looked truly horrified. "You wouldn't..."

Again, all I could do was laugh at my son's expression. "Pssh, of course I wouldn't! That'd just be bad parenting! I'd like to think I'm a pretty fair dad, right? But anyway, I'm going to bed. So don't stay up too late, because we've got a lot to do tomorrow."

"Okaaay. Nighty night, dad. And tell mom I said goodnight, too" he said with a sincere smile.

"Will do, son. Will do... And remember; shoot the glowy, purple spots. They're the Behemoth's weakness."

"Yeah, yeah" he replied as I walked out and shut the door.

After enjoying some final quality moments with my children for the day, I walked down the remaining length of the short hallway and entered our apartment's last bedroom; my own. Rather, the small yet cozy room I, myself built to share with Kyla.

She was already in the bed as I entered the room, in her familiar spot on the left side with a large book in her hands. I recognized the title as A Dance with Dragons, the fifth part in a series of novels I had scavenged from libraries and bookstores over the years. My lady still loved to read, so books were always high on my list of things to bring home. Though I had never read any of the Song of Ice and Fire books myself, I knew that the writer had a penchant for unexpectedly killing off main characters.

A writer who wants everyone he created to just die? I can't imagine anyone like that being taken seriously...

"So, anyone die yet? Completely randomly and without warning?" I joked.

"Har HAR" Kyla sarcastically chortled. "No, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like that happens in a page or two... But this is INTENSE, though!" Her baby blue eyes lit up with her words. "I'm halfway through this, but it's too bad that the sixth book will probably never get made... one of these days we need to find this guy's house and find the sixth book's manuscript! I MUST know how it all ends, if that's even where it DOES end... But seriously babe, you should read these. Just don't get attached to any of the characters, and you'll be fine."

"Eh... I dunno..." I replied. "Not really a book-guy, remember? I like watching way more than reading."

Kyla smirked, as if she was waiting for me to say something like that. "They did start a TV adaptation of these books back in 2011. But only the first season got done, because zombies happened."

I climbed into the bed and closed my eyes, snuggling lightly into Kyla's side. "Really? Then why didn't I ever know about it, I wonder?"

"Did you have HBO?"

"Nope."

"That's why, stud."

All I could think to do in response was blowing a loud raspberry, which made Kyla giggle. We may have both been in our mid-thirties, but we were definitely still kids at heart.

"Any-who," Kyla resumed, "Are Sammy and Kyle all set? And by that, I mean is Kyle going to stay up all night playing his PS3 again? He knows you're doing more ferrokinesis exercises with him tomorrow morning, I think."

"I told him to wrap it up sooner than later" I answered. "He will, I'm sure of it. But he cordially extended us his goodnight-wishes, too."

Kyla pulled out a bookmark tucked into the front of the book and placed it on her page, taking extra care to make sure it wouldn't fall out. "Well that's great. Doors are locked, dishes are clean, and the kids are more or less tucked in for bed... So, are you ready?"

Exactl--- Wait, what?

I opened one eye and turned to her, curious. "Wait, ready for what?"

Her gaze slowly turned to meet mine, and that trademark mischievous grin of hers slowly started to spread on her lips. In the blink of an eye, she carelessly tossed the book over her shoulder and sprang up in the bed, and ripped the loose t-shirt she was wearing clean off. Her firm, perky breasts were exposed to the cool nighttime air of the bedroom, and panning down I could notice she wasn't wearing anything to hide her lower parts, either. She was completely naked in our bed, horny and ready to go, and holy SHIT was it a hot sight to behold.

It happened so fast I forgot to breathe, but I was able to stop ogling her beautiful form long enough to grow a mischievous smile of my own. "Ohhh, ready for that. Baby, you know I'm always ready for that. But I LOVE it when you just spring it up on me like this. Like a leopardess about to attack her prey..."

Kyla laughed at my lame, ironic joke and grabbed both of my shoulders, positioning herself on top of me and keeping me firmly pressed into the bed. "I know you love it like that, stud. And I love giving it to you, too... Because right now, my handsome hyena, is all about us. Do you know what today is?"

It was a difficult question to answer, since the blood was leaving my brain and rapidly flowing to a much different part of my body. "Uh... t-today is... uh..."

My sexy wife giggled and leaned down to rest on me, cupping my cheeks with her hands and decorating my entire head with a rapid volley of kisses. But if that wasn't enough, her hips also began grinding into mine, slowly and rhythmically. The sheer fact that the only thing separating our bodies was my thin pair of shorts, combined with her relentless assault of kisses and love-bites made it even harder to answer her question, however...

"Come ooon, 'hun... You can figure it out, don't let me distract you!"

Kyla kept her voice low and practically dripping with love and honey as she continued to laugh and ravish me, loving how she was able to tease me with her little mind-game. Because even in a post-apocalyptic world with people struggling to rebuild a civilized society, a spouse uttering the words 'Do you remember what today is?' still demanded a quick and correct response. A response that, if I knew what was good for me, I'd have to quickly give.

Must... counter... sexy strategy...

After allowing myself a few more seconds to relax and enjoy Kyla's treatment, I made my move. I grabbed her sides and quickly flipped the both of us over in a near-180, shifting myself to be the one on top. Kyla squealed with surprise, but smiled and accepted my changing of the game as I went in to give her a passionate, proper kiss. One of my hands was wrapped around her back, clutching the leopardess to myself as if desperate to never let her go and have the moment end, while my other hand petted along her thigh, ready to progress a little further inwards and spice things up.

But first, I still had a question to answer.

I broke the kiss to catch my breath, and allowed Kyla to do the same. "Well, I know what tomorrow is, it's our ten year anniversary. But what was today? Family-and-friends Day?"

Kyla sighed in a manner that suggested I had said something stupid, but quickly perked up again and flashed me a dreamy, toothy smile. "Check the clock, silly. It's been tomorrow for six minutes already."

My head snapped to the right to check our bedside digital clock, which indeed displayed the time as 12:06am in big, cell-shaded numbers. I turned back to face Kyla, and couldn't help but burst into laughter. She immediately joined me, as if she had been holding in her laughter all along.

"You're just too much, you know that?" I asked her before going in for another kiss.

"Mmmph... You love it..." she replied between breaths.

"I do... So much..."

The kiss continued for several minutes, with much more passion and fervency than moments before. But before the fun could truly begin, I had only one thing left to say to solidify the romance of the moment. Something I had previously rehearsed in my head, but now was able to recite to my love sooner than later:

"Happy anniversary, my beautiful Kyla. The past ten years with you have been the single best time of my life. Not as small, separate moments of joy, but as one big, giant happy moment. Every day with you and the kids is like living in a dream, so let's keep that dream going for the next ten, twenty, thirty, however many years. Let's never wake up..."

Kyla cooed softly at my words, moved by my sincere confession of love. "And happy anniversary to you, my strong Greg; my knight in shining armor. But you're wrong again, you studly stud, you... This isn't a dream, it's so much better than that! This is life; it's one awesome life made from two awesome people who worked so hard to make it happen. There'll be more challenges for us in that life, I'm sure of it, but as long as I have you, I know we'll always come out on top. Because you're my soulmate. My awesome soulmate... my Awesome Greg..."

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time; Kyla always knew how to make my heart melt.

"'Awesome Greg,' huh? I could get used to tha---"

Before I could complete my half-serious joke, I was silenced with another hot kiss. "Shhh... No more words, just shut up and take me..." Kyla rasped. "Take me, and don't let me go until the sun comes up..."

Her hand suddenly slipped underneath my shorts and found its target easily enough. My hand on her thigh dipped ever-so-slightly to the center and found its mark just as easily.

I smiled at her, she smiled at me, and we properly dove into each other.

~~~

It turned out we didn't wind up having anniversary sex all night, Kyla passed out while we were basking in the afterglow of our fourth round. I had no idea what time it was, since we had accidentally knocked the digital clock over and I was too lazy and too comfortable with Kyla resting on top of me to pick it up. But it didn't take too long afterwards for the sun to slowly peek out over the horizon, so Kyla's goal had essentially been reached after all.

"Heh, looks like we made it to dawn after all, 'Ky. Well, we kinda made it" I whispered to her sleeping form. She mewled softly, like she could subconsciously hear my words, and cuddled into my chest deeper than she already had been.

Perfect. Everything is so... perfect...

It was at times like this, when I was lying in bed awake after a tender and wonderful moment with my wife, that I liked to reflect on every event in my recent life that had led up to that point. It was exactly the same thing I had unwittingly done so often during those first fourteen-ish months after the apocalypse began, though now my memories were vibrant and happy, filled with celebrations of life for my loved ones instead of mourning the death of others.

Of course, I still missed my parents and extended family a great deal. I still missed Francis, my brother in arms, too. The unhappy thoughts always snuck back in for a second or two, but that was just a part of life, apocalypse or not. I often tried imagining what things would've been like if they were still here with us; if things had played out differently and been just a little more perfect.

How would my deeply-Christian mother and father have reacted upon seeing their son transformed into a hyena hybrid soldier with superpowers? That was always one of my funnier scenarios of choice; imagining my father frantically splashing me with holy water or something. Though if an encounter with them would've played out anything like it did when Cali reunited with her parents and little brother nine years ago, then I was sure everything would've been fine in the end. And they would've just loved Kyla and our children... their grandchildren!

But then one of my sadder thoughts was thinking about what Francis would've been doing if he was still with us... Something militaristic, I was sure of it, but I always wondered if he would've ever settled down after all the fighting was finally over. Settled down and found someone special of his own, maybe... But then everything would turn to hilarity again when trying to visualize the arctic wolf awkwardly trying to court someone, with Harry as a bad wingman or something.

They were just thoughts, though. Just small tidbits of information about the good people who helped shape my life, and how they were never truly gone as long as I remembered them.

For right now, in this moment, everything was still an adventure. An ongoing story of life, love, and survival that was undeniably better than anything I could've had in a different life.

To summarize, life in the apocalypse sucked. It was a grueling, twisted nightmare from which I couldn't wake up, with only a few bright spots among all the darkness. But after a series of equally extraordinary yet unusual events, those bright spots ensured that life after the apocalypse had become exactly what I wanted it to be.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

~~~THE END~~~