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The next morning I was awoken to the sunlight coming in through the cracked open windows of the train car. Mom and Dad were curled against one another in their bags and at first I thought they were asleep, but they weren't, they were just keeping quiet so I could.

"Morning son", Dad said, "sleep okay?"

"Back hurts a little", I said sitting up and stretching, "I got used to the bed while we were in town, but other than that, yeah, I did."

I pulled my shirt and pants on and then I went over to the edge of the car and sat down,letting my legs dangle over the side as I stared out into the landscape. I could hear the wind blowing high in the sky and see the snow covered mountains out in the distance, they took on a vaguely blue color and I could see what looked like rain falling on the peak. I'd been up a few mountains in the past year or so. We climbed one a few months ago and at the summit, I remember seeing the Earth curve out in the distance. Dad had set his old camera on a rock and taken a picture of the three of us together. He and Mom standing behind me, each had a paw on my shoulder and all of us were smiling. I closed my eyes as I leaned back on the door frame of the old red boxcar,my mind was almost like a blank piece of paper, there was never to much going on inside my head and I liked it that way. It held an escape for me, away from the world, away from life if you will.

"Hey Ren", Dad said stirring me from my thoughts, "wanna get your rifle and come hunting with me?"

"Sure", I said standing up. I pulled my boots on, grabbed my rifle and a couple of magazines that I put in my pants pockets and then grabbed my revolver and backpack. Dad grabbed his AK and his pack and then gave Mom a kiss.

"Half an hour to an hour and a half", he told her.

"Stay safe Inioth", Mom said kissing him back, "and Ren, behave for your father."

"Yes mom", I said.

"Well let's go Renny", Dad said in his pirate voice, 'were burnnin' daylight."

I smiled and Dad and I started out into the desert. I kept my rifle ready and my eyes primed for anything ranging from a camel, to a small jack rabbit, anything that held enough meat to feed all three of us was worth taking a shot at. The morning was already being baked by the heat of the sun. It reflected off the sand and into my eyes. How I hated the sand,how it stuck to my paws and clothes when I walked and how it always seemed to be hotter than the basement of the sun during the day. As Dad and I went along, I began to get the scent of what smelled like water, and yes, anyone with a nose can tell you what the water smells like. Sweet and refreshing.

"Hey Dad", I said, "I smell water."

Dad stopped and took a sniff of the air, "yeah I smell it now, coming from this way."

Dad and I followed the sent until we came to a large gully that was full of rushing water. At the bottom was a load of grass covered dirt and mossy sandstone and the stream was full of fish. I could see Dad lick his lips.

"We are having fish for dinna!", he laughed.

"We gotta get down there first", I said slinging my rifle over my back.

Dad jumped over the cliff and flared his wings to deaden his landing.

"Nice fall", I said joining him, "I give it a six."

Dad smiled and set his pack and gun down, "thirty minutes ago I was starting to get thirsty", He pulled his water bottles from his bag and started filling them, "now we have all that we need. Ren, why don't you look around for spices and herbs while I try and catch a few fish?"

I nodded and started wandering down the canyon, looking for plants that Dad had shown me in the past. The shrubbery in the canyon was rather thick, so I was pushing things aside and looking in every possible place. In the end, I had uncovered several buffalo gourd seeds, several Xander roots, pepper corns and two pinto bean pods. I put it all in a small ditty bag that I had with me and then walked back to where Dad was, finding that he had several small fish in a stack beside him. He was down on all fours with his paw over the water, inching towards another fish. In two seconds he had his hand in the water and the fish was in the pile next to him.

"Cool", I said setting the herbs down by my pack, "can I try?"

"Sure", Dad said, "when your down on all fours, use your dominant paw to support yourself and strike with your off hand, it may seem awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it it's second nature."

I dropped down on all fours, steadying most of my 75 pounds on my right paw while I tracked a huge foot long trout with my left. I watched as it swam from one end of the stream over to me and didn't even seem to notice. Before it could turn and look up at me I shot my paw into the water and sank my claws into it's neck, yanking it out of the water and twisting it's neck, snapping it like a twig.

"Cool", Dad said as he picked up the fish, "that's as big a fish as I've pretty much ever seen."

Dad wrapped up the fish, put them in his back and then we jumped out of the canyon and headed to a large ridge that was about a two minute walk from the canyon. We climbed to the top and I dropped my pack and used it as a rest for my rifle. I put my sunglasses on and peered through the scope out across the vast ocean of Sahara sand. Through the zoom, I was able to make out with some pretty good detail some huge dogs that were huddled around a pile of bloody bones and meat. I couldn't tell what the meat was, but I assumed it was probably camels. The dogs didn't have anything too flashy on them, but they were huge, biggest I'd ever seen.

"Dad", I said, "look at the size of those dogs."

"What dogs?", he asked scanning through his binoculars, "oh wow, those look like bull mastiffs, wish I had my camera..wonder what there doing all the way out here?"

"Probably got lost from a circus or something", I sighed packing up my rifle, "I doubt were gonna find anything out here. I feel like we would have seen something by now."

"Yeah", Dad sighed, "we should get home before your mother has a panic attack."

"Your gonna get an earful when you get back",I said smiling and grabbing my bag.

Dad wrapped me with his wing and puled me close,"your not gonna leave me to face her alone,are you?"

He used a voice that contained fake fear.

"Yes I am",I said smiling,"Mom scares me."

"You do realize that when she gets done with me",Dad said smirking,"she;s coming after you next,right?" I didn't answer.

"What?",Dad asked,"no comments son?" I didn't answer.

Dad laughed and pulled me closer to his side as we walked. After about a half hour of walking,we arrived at the train car. Mom was sitting on the edge of the doorway with her shotgun in hand and her tail hanging off the edge of the car.

"Inioth",Mom asked as we approached her,"you and Ren were gone for three hours."

"Sorry honey", Dad said kissing Mom's cheek,"but we made a stop for fish,we found a big stream about a thirty minute hike from here, it was full of trout, some big ones too."

Dad produced the fish he caught and then the big one that I did.

"Wow Ren",Mom said kissing my forehead,"good catch."

"Thank's Mom",I said smiling.

"You guys get any meat?" Mom asked turning to Dad,he shook his head as his ears flopped against his neck.

"No, we didn't see anything."

"Oh well",Mom said,"you got those two huge fish,so let's be thankful for it."

We went inside. Dad and I dropped our packs and Mom started the fire,Dad then went to work coking the fish. He took a steel grate from a pile of scrap metal close to the car and rubbed it on his scales to get all the sand off before placing it over the fire. He then diced up the peppers,Barrel cactus fruit as well as the pinto beans and placed them in the cavity of the fish before warping it in mesquite leaves and placing them over the fire. Instantly a smell like none I'd ever smelled filled the car.

For once,I wasn't alone in the food torture I could see both Mom and Dad looking at the fish on the fire with lust in their eyes.

"Welcome to the dark side",I said in the deepest voice I could get,which wasn't that deep,"we've been expecting you."

Mom and Dad both laughed. After around a half hour,Dad took the fish off the fire and unwrapped it. The plants he'd put in the fish had shrived up,and their colors had darkened,simply adding flavor to both them and the fish. I think that fish was one of the best things I'd ever eaten. It was a blend of spicy from the peppers,sweet from the cactus and a mix of others that I can't describe from the beans,Mesquite and fish itself. It's needless to say we ate every bit of that fish,well,minus the bones, which none of us really cared for. Dad buried the bones aways away from the car before coming back and laying on his back with his head on Mom's lap. I lay on my stomach on my sleeping bag with my head on my arms and my ears flopped lazily on the back of my head.

"So where are we headed now Dad?", I asked.

"The Port Of Saudi Arabia", Dad said, "there's a ship there that will take us to the US."

"The US?", I asked, "why there?"

"Because maybe we can get away from the KA", Dad said, "we'll still have to hide, but we'll be much better off."

"Okay", Mom said, "I'm game for that."

"Me too", I said, "but how will we get on the ship?"

"We'll have to..",

"Fair game, fair game."

An eerie whisper rolled through our box car, coming from the side that Dad had locked up, and increasingly got louder.

"Fair game, fair game, fair game."

"What in the world?", Dad whispered as he got up and grabbed his AK, "Tess get your shotgun, I don't like the sound of that. Ren, you stay put, if the shooting starts, you get up, get to a safe distance, and then turn around to engage."

I nodded at my Dad and grabbed my rifle and my revolver.

"Fair game, fair game, fair game", now it was a chant.

Mom grabbed her shotgun and she and Dad jumped out of the car. They circled around as the chanting got louder.

"Fair game, fair game fair game."

"What the hell?", I heard Dad say, "what are those things!?"

"FAIR GAME!", a loud, female voice shouted.

"THE FUCK!", Dad shouted.

There was a rip of fully automatic gunfire, what sounded like bullets pinging off of metal and then the sound of a whine before there were two, bone crushingly loud SNAPS that echoed through the box car, followed by the smell of blood setting in over the air.

The quiet, whispering chant started again.

"Fair game, fair game, fair game."

I swallowed hard and slid out of the box car as the chanting continued.

"Fair game, fair game, fair game."

I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I peered out from around the corner, I didn't see anything. Summoning all my courage, I hugged the wall of the box car and when I came to the edge, popped around the corner.

The sight that laid itself in front of me....I had to force myself to take it in and process it.

My Dad was laying about 20 feet from the box car. He'd been ripped completely in half. His spine had come off from his lower half and was still connected to his tail bone, his lower half was laying about four feet from him and his intestines were spilling out from his torso. His wings were shredded rags and he was shaking so heavily it was making the blood spurt out from the holes where his horns had been broken off.

Mom was about a foot away. Her head had been ripped clean off her neck...and I couldn't find it anywhere. Her wings were also shredded rags and what ever had been out here had ripped through her body armor like it was nothing and strung her insides allover the bloody mud that used to be sand.

My Dragonov fell out of my hands I dropped to my knees, feeling every process in my body click off one by one as my brain shut down at what I was looking at. I had to force myself to breathe, not to look away. I wanted to, but I couldn't.

"Son...", Dad coughed and choked, blood spurting out from his mouth as he tried to reach for something in his vest, "Ren...run!"

That was when the two, giant German Shepherds showed up. Their colors were black and silver, brown and tan and their eyes were blood red with silver flecks. The brown one, the female, bent over my Dad and lunged at his throat. Dad chomped at her muzzle and drew black blood, but she slammed her paw down on his spine, causing him to give off a pain filled yelp that tore my brain to shreds. She bit down on his neck, broke it and then ripped his throat out and swallowed it, licking the blood off her chops as the black and silver male started towards me, still chanting.

"Fair game, fair game, fair game."

"Yes you are!", I shouted as I grabbed up my Dragonov.

The Hellhound leaped at me with his jaws opened wide. I emptied the 20 round clip from my Dragonov into his chest, which made massive welts upon impact and knocked him clean out of the air. When he went down, he didn't get up. The female Hound looked up at me and started slowly towards me. I threw the Dragonov down and went for my Colt, but she was on top of me before it cleared my holster.

"FAIR GAME!", the Hound screeched as she tried to bite down on my neck. I grabbed her jaws in both my paws and held them off at first, but soon she started to overpower me. Then our eyes met. My liquid blue with her blood red. I wasn't sure what happened, but for a second, she stopped pushing and let off. It was just the window I needed to grab her neck, draw the Python and fire four rounds. To my horror, the bullets flattened against her chest and barely even phased her.

She pounced on me before I could get up. Her teeth sank into my sides and pulled a chunk of scale and skin clean off, opening my side like a Ziploc bag. There was a horrible sound like tearing paper as she tore another piece off my left side. I screamed through bloody teeth and tried to raise my revolver for a headshot, but she grabbed my arm and snapped it at the elbow and tore another piece of skin off. I reached around with my other arm to try and get my claws into her skin, but she grabbed that and tore the skin off to the bone. She stepped on my tail and raked her claws down it, tearing it into four pieces. I shrieked from the pain and tried to kick her off me. She grabbed my leg by my boot and twisted so hard my leg snapped at the knee. I hollered from the snap of pain that ripped through my body as she spit my leg out and began to pace me as her friend woke up. The male walked over to me and bit into my left thigh, yanking a piece of meat out and chewing it before swallowing and the female did the same before she stood over me and once again made eye contact.

She hissed and smiled at me before sinking her teeth into my neck and pulling my throat out. I felt all the air leave my lungs and my vision blurred from the pain of damage was so horrible I lost my ability to scream.

The dogs, seeming to be satisfied, turned and walked away, leaving me alone.