Korgen if left alone.”
“Yeah,” Kevin agreed, “I didn’t really think things through. I
can only hope we wake everyone up soon and get those firefighters
to deal with it.”
Andrew said briskly, “So what was your plan? Why make a
huge fire?”
Kevin said breathlessly, “I knew we didn’t stand a chance
against their whole army. I decided to get caught so that they would
bring me safely into the center of their forces. From here, I wanted to
split their forces up—throw them in a bit of chaos. I thought a fire
would do the trick.”
“Even if you hold back half of their forces,” said Andrew,
“what do you plan to do about the rest?” Kevin looked at the dogs as
a hint. Andrew raised a brow and wondered, “What is that supposed
to mean?”
“You’ll figure it out,” said Kevin, smiling. Kevin fell silent as
he gawked ahead. Another large group of forest animals were
charging at them. “Here we go!”
“Here we go, where?” asked Andrew. “Are we going to rush
through them?”
“To the side!” Kevin veered right rather quickly. Andrew
followed him into the music store. Right at the entrance there were
guitars, drums, amplifiers, sheet music and music books. Classical
instruments were more toward the rear, though there were violins on
display at the cashier. Kevin slammed the door shut.
“Help me hold the door,” said Kevin, grabbing some of the
unfortunate instruments.
“Wait,” said Andrew, “those are expensive! Who’s going to pay
for this?”
“The same people who’ll pay for all the damages to the city,”
Kevin replied, stacking the instruments tightly together. “The
taxpayers. Hey, we’re saving their lives. They better not complain
when they wake up.” He said to Andrew, “Hurry and pass me
something heavier.”
The pile of instruments scattered clumsily as the door rattled.
Andrew hid behind a piano. Through the main window they could
see the fearsome mug of a bear as it huffed and puffed hot breath
upon the glass.
“I don’t think we should be here…” Andrew searched for
another door, but the door that led to the back was locked. The
animals pounded fiercely against the thick glass, cracking it. “This
looks bad! They’re going to break in! Why did you choose this
place?”
Kevin spat back, “It’s not like I had time to weigh the options
and decide!”
The window shattered, showering bits of glass all over. Kevin pushed several display stands to the floor. “Quick, throw
stuff at them!”
Andrew flung violins and violas by their heads. Kevin tried to
keep the animals back by kicking drums all over the place. The
entire place was soon littered with broken wood and glass. The floor
looked so dangerous with the sharp shards that the animals were
afraid to set foot into the store.
“Good. They can’t come in,” said Kevin.
“And we can’t go out,” snapped Andrew, folding his arms. “Well, the important thing is that we’re safe,” Kevin replied. “Safe…” said Andrew, frowning. “But was that the point?” Ignoring him, Kevin looked at his watch. “Five more
seconds…”
Andrew asked, “Until what?”
There was a loud rumbling. The animals at the front of the store
suddenly whirled around. They looked distressed and started running
away.
“The cavalry has arrived,” said Kevin with a big grin. Andrew looked out. The coast was clear for a moment. Then he
saw shadows coming up the street. An army of dogs and cats now flooded the street. Many of the cats even rode upon the dogs, using
them as steeds.
Andrew said, “So that’s what you mean by cavalry. Where did
they come from? I thought there was no one left.”
“They were rounded up and imprisoned inside a hotel, but
Genesis and Luna helped them escape. Now come on, let’s head
out.” Kevin took some books, mostly beginner books for people
learning to play instruments, and threw them all over the floor to
cover up the glass. “Watch your step.” He cautiously made his way
to the door and opened it with a click. The glass tinkled as he forced
the gap to be large enough for them to edge through.
The street was full of cats and dogs as far as their eyes could
see. Kevin decided to introduce some of the HPC to Andrew. He led
him to a small group of distinguished-looking pets. “This here,” said
Kevin, pointing at a German shepard, “is Rusty, my head general.”
Rusty nodded proudly. Kevin petted a skinny white cat and said,
“This is Sophie, one of my commanders.” Kevin quickly touched the
animals on the head as he went. “And here are some
Lieutenants…Buddy, Patches, Lucky, Lilly and…” Kevin stopped
and stared uncertainly at a yellow collie. “I’m sorry. I forget your
name every time.”
The collie said, sounding slightly annoyed, “I’m Shadow.” “Oh,” said Kevin, clasping his hands, “yeah. Shadow.” Kevin
paused. “Now that we got the pleasantries out of the way…” Kevin paced back and forth before his army. “Before we go, I
have a few words…so just hear me out.” He raised his voice so that
it could be heard. “This is the final stretch. There is only one
opposition. The forest. We won’t let them have their way. I will say
that I agree that mankind has always caused trouble. But we can’t
judge everyone as a whole. We too were born on this planet…we too
are a part of this planet, for better or worse. In this next battle…I
want you all to think of your family and friends. I want you to think
of the humans who cared for you and loved you. All of your strength
and cunning must be used to win. You’ll be fighting against those
that are stronger, faster and more dangerous. However, the most
important thing is willpower—desire. Your desire to protect must be
greater than their desire to destroy. Your desire to love must be
greater than their desire to hate. Every last speck of life in your body
is for the victory. And remember, your goal is not to defeat them— but to hang on. Fight, but run away if you have to. I will wake everyone up. And when I do, the war will end.” Kevin’s eyes were red. “I will do my best to end this war. All I need for you guys is to
give me time. That is all.”
Kevin shot a solemn glance at Rusty.
Rusty nodded and barked, “Move out!”
Rusty led their formation. They marched steadily forward. The
two boys stayed close behind the army because they were not
expecting any more forces to come from behind.
Then came the sound of a heavy roar that echoed into the
intersection as they crossed it. It was frightening and loud. But it was
not a dragon’s roar, much to Kevin’s relief.
“Look over there!” a cat meowed.
Everyone looked at the cars parked ahead. A lion was standing
upon the roof of a car. It hopped off the car and approached the
HPC’s front line. Rusty went to meet the lion face to face. He
approached the stout feline with utmost caution.
The lion said, “I come in peace. Let me speak with the leader.” Rusty said, “You will speak with me.”
“No,” said Kevin, pushing his way through the crowd. “I will
speak with him.”
Andrew tried to hold him back. “Wait! Don’t you realize how
dangerous a lion is? He could kill you in a second!”
“If I don’t have the guts to face him, I can’t call myself the
leader,” Kevin said. “This doesn’t look like a trap and I have faith in
the others that they will protect me.”
Kevin met with lion and asked, “What do you want?” “We want to join you,” said the lion. He motioned with his head
toward an alleyway. Many zoo animals came out from the shadows:
zebras, apes, gorillas, rhinos and even an elephant. “All of us want to
join you.”
“Why the change of heart?” said Kevin with a hint of
skepticism.
“We’re doing this for ourselves,” the lion answered. “We are
far from our homes and could never hope to reach there in our
lifetime without the aid of humans. Though we are angry to have
been taken away from our homeland, there does not seem to be
much choice for us but to stay and be cared for. We will not survive in this land. And I’m sure Kain will not care for us. And so we ask of
you, will you let us be a part of your alliance?”
Rusty whispered to Kevin, “It’s too great a risk. They could
turn against us.”
Kevin nodded and replied, “But this is a great opportunity…if
we play our cards right.” He turned to the lion and said, “I will let
you guys join on one condition. You guys must listen to me.
Whatever I say, you must follow my instructions.”
The lion hesitated but agreed. “If that is the only way…” Kevin forced a half-hearted smile. “I’m very sorry to have to do
this. And I apologize in advance.”
Kevin ordered the newly formed Zoo Faction to go in front. The Zoo Faction went ahead of them into the next street, slowly marching. The HPC stayed behind. There was a large distance between the Zoo Faction and the HPC.
“They’ll die out there!” said Andrew, sounding concerned. “We won’t be able to support them from all the way back here!”
Kevin replied, “This is the only way to ensure that they can’t backstab us.”
When the Zoo faction finally reached the intersection, a horde hopped out of the shadows. Cougars piled up on the elephant, tearing at its hide; the elephant trumpeted wildly with its trunk as it was overtaken. Wolves launched an attack against the zebra, chomping down on its striped skin; the zebra tried to escape but was held down. The rhinoceros snorted and glared while locked in a stalemate with several bears. The lion tried to aid the others but was kept at bay by venomous snakes that threatened to pierce his ankles with their deadly fangs.
“We’ve got to help them!” Andrew wanted to run forward, but Kevin held him back.
Kevin said, “No, not yet. This could be a trap.”
“A trap?” snapped Andrew, pushing Kevin aside. “I don’t believe this! Look! They’re getting killed out there! You expect me to just watch this? It’s terrible! Katie would never let this happen!” Andrew ran to help the Zoo faction.
“Andrew, wait!” Kevin yelled. “Come back!” In his frustration and worry, Kevin clenched his teeth hard. “He chose the worst time to be brave.” Then he growled, “Forget the plan! Everyone— CHARGE!”
The HPC forced their way through. It was pandemonium. Waves of animals crashed into one another with a loud impact as they butted heads. Rusty took a group of his toughest dogs to assist the elephant in beating the ruthless cougars away. The cougars easily defeated the dogs, slapping them away with their powerful paws. Even though the HPC outnumbered the enemy, it was a difficult battle. The bears were tough beasts and were able to swat away the dogs and cats with a single blow. However, slowly but surely, they were able to save the Zoo faction from complete annihilation. The dogs worked hard to pull the injured zoo animals toward a safer zone.
Kevin watched the fight continue. “We’ve got the upper hand here. Now if we run, we might be able to—”
“More of them coming!” barked Rusty. “Two large armies in the North and South!”
“What?” Kevin’s eyes widened. “Why does this always happen?” He threw his hand forward. “Send word to the rooftops! Launch the second phase!”
The Forest Army’s reinforcements were coming down the other streets. First came the faster creatures. They used their speed to navigate quickly through the length of the road.
On the rooftops, several monkeys opened up crates, reached in and grabbed tomatoes with their hands. Seeing that the enemy was fast approaching the main force of the HPC, the monkeys began their barrage. Hundreds of tomatoes fell from above. The monkeys threw the tomatoes with all their strength. They were rather precise with their aim, splattering the red fruits all over the faces of the Forest Army. Blotches of tomato juice stained the walls and squished tomato peels littered the floor. The animals staggered and shook their heads feverishly. They were slightly blinded by the juices in their eyes. The floor was slippery and slushy.
“I’ll take over from here,” Rusty said to Kevin. “You need to get to the lab.”
“If I split up from the main force, they’ll be suspicious,” said Kevin. “We can’t let that happen. Sneaking around will be impossible. I’ll let you take over, but first we have to get closer to the lab entrance.”
Troubled, Rusty replied, “I don’t think we can push them back far enough.”
Kevin said, “We only have a few blocks left to go. Initiate a full-scale rush now that they’re blinded. It’ll be rough—and I’m sure it’ll be very painful—but we have to do it.”
Rusty nodded uncertainly, “If that is your order.”
Rusty let out a haunting howl.
The HPC attacked the blinded forest creatures. The dogs and cats jumped up on the coyotes and foxes. They assaulted the weaker creatures first and rendered them unconscious quickly. Then they proceeded to strike the tougher beasts. The bears retaliated and knocked out a few dogs with a single wave of their arms. Even though the hulking beasts were practically blinded, they flailed wildly, attacking friend and foe.
Kevin shouted over the chaos, “Aim for their weak points! Attack their eyes if you have to! Don’t let them recover! Be relentless! ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!”
Andrew watched the chaos in horror. “This is horrible…”
“I don’t like it either.” His eyes narrowing, Kevin said, “But that’s war.”
Geese and ducks flew overhead.
Reminded of their previous, and rather disgusting, encounter with birds, Kevin flung his head back and gaped. Then he ducked behind a car and watched the dots in the sky warily. The birds dropped something, though he couldn’t quite tell what it was.
“What is that?” said Andrew.
“It could be more rocks,” replied Kevin.
One of the objects fell onto the ground before them. It was a bag of water that gushed and splashed when it slammed into the ground.
“Water,” said Andrew. “They’re going to wash away all the tomatoes!”
Kevin said, “That’s not all. A plastic bag full of water can hurt from that height.”
The bags of water splattered left and right, drenching some of the animals. The streets were being washed clean of the tomato juice.
Kevin said, “This is bad. Send out the signal for the air division! Don’t let them wash it all away!”
“Yes, sir!” exclaimed Sophie, the white cat. “Caterwaul!”
The cats began making a shrill sound that made Kevin cover his ears. Andrew pointed to something flying across the rooftops. Budgies, parrots, cockatiels and canaries glided above them.
“This is Blue and I’m taking charge,” said one of the budgies proudly. “Follow my lead boys and girls. Let’s wreak some havoc!” Blue stretched out his wings and veered slightly. The other pet birds followed after him, one after the other.
“Full speed ahead,” chirped Blue. Blue beat his wings and zoomed into the flock of geese. All the pet birds copied him and engaged the geese. They flew right into the enemy birds as fast as they could.
“Two fold assault,” said Blue. “Parrots and cockatiels will attack directly. Budgies and canaries will focus on taking out the bags.”
The pet birds all replied, “Acknowledged.”
The parrots and cockatiels struck the geese at their backs, attempting to pluck the feathers off their wings. The budgies and canaries ripped the bags of water from their beaks. The ducks tried to shoo the pet birds away. The HPC’s air division fought back, going around in short circles and pecking at the enemy with their beaks whenever they saw an opportune time.
Screeches sounded through the sky. Blue glanced back. Squadrons of eagles, ravens and falcons dotted the clouds.
“Enemy reinforcements coming from the rear!” shouted Blue. “We’ve done enough damage! Everyone dive, dive!”
Blue led his band of birds down to the level of the highest city buildings. He was at the front of their formation and they branched out behind him; the mass of birds took the shape of an arrowhead.
“We can’t shake them!” shouted a canary.
A parrot screeched, “Awk! They’re closing in!”
Falcons rocketed into their formation, scattering it. The pet birds were disoriented in their panic and some accidentally flew straight into the windows as they desperately attempted to flee.
“Oh gosh,” said Andrew, gaping at the sky, “they’re not going to last!”
“I know,” said Kevin grimly. “That’s why we’re going to make the final push right now!” Kevin grabbed Andrew by the shirt and shouted over the loud noises around them, “Follow me and keep close!”
Rusty led the way for the boys. With his band of mighty dogs, Rusty plowed through the weaker points in the Forest Army’s formation. It was like trying to break through a solid cement wall by chipping rapidly at it. There were so many animals that it was nearly impossible to simply move or push through. Rusty relentlessly tried to find cracks in the front line and bravely fought to dig deeper and deeper into the heart of the army. When they were about to make it out, Rusty encountered a wall he could not cross. Grizzly bears.
Andrew staggered back at the sight of them. “W-why are there grizzly bears?”
Rusty snarled and barked at the large bears. A grizzly bear slammed Rusty to the ground with its paw. The pack of dogs jumped all over it, snapping at its hide, but the bear easily brushed them away.
Kevin pulled Andrew back. With the frenzy behind them, the two boys had no place to escape. The bear approached them, overshadowing them as it stood on its hind legs.
“Not good,” said Kevin. “It could probably break us in two if it wanted to.”
“We’re doomed,” squealed Andrew.
While they cowered in fear, sinking down to the ground, they saw something fall upon the bear’s face. The bear swerved its head vehemently. The courageous Helios had arrived and began his assault on the bear’s scary mug. He tugged on the bear’s eyelids and tickled the inside of its nose.
“Helios!” Kevin shouted. “Watch out!”
The bear’s giant paw came out of Helios’s blind side. Helios back flipped out of the way, leaving the grizzly bear to smash its own head. Dazed, the bear twirled around once before falling and losing consciousness. Helios then hopped along the faces of the three other grizzly bears. In their confusion they swatted each other silly. When all the bears had knocked each other out, Helios climbed up Andrew’s clothes and hopped into the pocket of his pants.
“It sure took you a while,” said Kevin, crouching over to speak with the rat. “What were you doing all this time?”
“What was I doing? I was trying to find you! I’m tiny and the city is so huge!” Helios exclaimed, lifting up a foot, “I can only run so fast with these small feet of mine!”
Kevin laughed. “Good job. I think we can make it to the lab from here.”
The two boys sneaked out of the battlefield and found their way to the city park. As they suspected, the hidden entrance of the underground research facility was left unguarded. The Forest Army had no idea about this alternate door. Kevin crouched down in the grass and pushed aside a large rock, unveiling the hole beneath. As he did so, he heard a sudden rustle in the bushes. A pair of beady eyes was staring back at him. A deer had been watching them the whole time. When the deer realized it had been seen, it dashed away.
Running after it, Andrew said, “I’ll chase him down! We can’t let him report to Kain!”
Understanding the urgency of the situation, Kevin quickly descended down the tunnel into the main corridor of the facility. He treaded lightly across the floor to avoid the possibility of alerting the strange bacteria monster that lurked the halls. Then Kevin walked up to a door with a sign that had the words New Development and opened it. He looked inside and saw a massive warehouse full of giant machines, perhaps power generators. After Kevin entered, he tried calling the Internet on his phone.
The Internet picked up. “Kevin, is that you?”
“Yeah,” Kevin replied, “I’m here. What should I do now?”
“Hold on just a minute. I’ll be right there to greet you.” The Internet hung up.
“Huh?” Kevin wondered what that meant. Feeling rather confused, he turned off his cell and looked around the building. While he waited, a small silver ball came rolling over to him. It was Shiro, the ball-shaped robot.
“Shiro…” Kevin swallowed nervously. “Uh…it’s nice to see you again. I’m sorry about what happened the last time—”
“I’m not Shiro,” said the robot. “It’s me, FriendlyFire.”
“What?” Kevin looked shocked.
FriendlyFire replied, “I’ve taken control of the entire facility. My consciousness currently resides in…well, everything here, including this robot. Anyway, we must hurry. I’m not sure how much longer you’ll be able to stay awake. Follow me.” The robot rolled quickly to a room on the far left and Kevin chased after it.
When they went inside the room, Kevin saw a strange thing upon the metal table. It looked like a large white centipede, except it didn’t look organic. It was long, flat and segmented with thin needlelike claws running down both sides; at one end, seeming almost like a head, was a thick round device.
“This is it,” said the white robot. “I used all the data I could find to construct this device.”
“What is this?”
“The device you asked for,” the white robot replied. “This is a Nervous System Interface—or NSI for short. It will attach directly into your spinal cord and brain. With this, it should be theoretically possible to force yourself awake whenever you want to.”
“Cool.” Kevin thought for a moment. “Wait…so I have to find someone who is asleep and plug this into them?”
“You can do that. Sure. But that will make things complicated.”
“How so?”
“Well, they have to activate it themselves. If you plug it into someone and they don’t want to wake up or don’t know that they can wake up, then nothing will happen. Also, if they do wake up and you accidentally fall asleep, they won’t be able to remove the device from their back.”
Kevin groaned. “I don’t get this. How is this a solution then? How am I supposed to wake up the whole world with just one device? Am I supposed to go around waking everyone up one by one?”
“I’m sorry if this does not comply with your specifications,” said the robot. “This is all I could do. This is all I could come up with.”
Kevin sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to make the best of it.”
Kevin tried calling up Andrew on his cell. The phone rang several times before Kevin finally got a response.
Kevin said into the phone, “Hey, Andrew. Get back over here. Forget the deer. The solution I got might work to wake up a few people but I need you here to help me.”
There was a voice on the other end, but it did not sound like Andrew. The low, scratchy voice replied, “Andrew will not be coming back. But I will be there very soon—”
Kevin immediately hung up, looked apprehensively at the phone and turned it off.
“Who was that? Was that Kain? This is really bad. He’s coming! I have no time!” Kevin turned to the robot and said quickly, “Bring me to the nearest person! There should still be some people in here! I remember seeing the test subjects. I could use them. I could try to wake them up before Kain arrives. I could…” Kevin slumped to the floor and held his head in grief. “Who am I kidding? It’s over. Tom. Katie. Andrew. All gone. I’m the only one left. And that place with the test subjects, it probably has that bacteria monster inside. There’s nothing more I can do. This stupid device will take forever to use. Even if I can save some people, what’s the point? What’s the point if I can’t save everyone? Will they want to be saved if the others around them die anyway?” Kevin closed his eyes.
“Forget this. I’m done.”
K
evin opened his eyes. Next thing he knew, he was sitting on an empty wooden barge in the middle of the crystal-clear ocean. The climate appeared tropical in nature, rather bright
and warm. Looking across the waves, he marveled at how beautiful, crisp and blue the water was. There were large islands, hundreds of them, dotting the ocean as far as he could see.
The barge didn’t seem to have a motor or any method of propulsion. Nothing was towing it either. It merely drifted steadily toward the shore of the nearest island.
Initially, he thought he was alone on the barge. A second glance around made him realize otherwise. A man in dark robes sat opposite him.
The man said, “Ah, someone has arrived. It’s been a while since a person has come.”
Kevin studied the man carefully and said, “What is this place? Was I warped to the Caribbean sea or something?”
The man replied, “This is no longer the world as you know it.”
“Then…am I dead?”
“No, no,” the man said, laughing, “you are not dead…yet.”
Kevin tried to collect his thoughts. “Then this is a dream?”
“You can say that,” said the man, chuckling. “Yes. A dream.”
“That’s right…I fell asleep!” Kevin suddenly remembered what had happened. “And I couldn’t even do anything. I-I failed! Everyone’s going to die…” He clenched his fist and slowly brought it to his face, tears dripping lightly over his knuckles. “All that was for nothing!” He punched the deck of the barge. “So…that’s it? I just sit here and wait to die?”
The man shook his head. “No. This is not where you’ll die. Not on this boat. But on the island.” He pointed to the beach. “That shall be your final resting place.”
“No! I won’t believe it!” Kevin stood up, walked to the man and lifted him up forcefully by the robes. “Tell me how to get out of here!”
“Why should I?” replied the man darkly.
Kevin thought for a second and said whatever came to mind. “Because…of the goodness of your heart…”
“There is no goodness in the world.” The man smiled widely.
“You’re lying! What have I fought for? I fought for good!”
“Look deep into your heart and realize, foolish child.” The man disappeared in a trail of smoke and said in an echoing voice, “You fought for yourself…”
“Hey,” Kevin said, scanning the area frantically, “where’d you go? Come back here!”
There was no reply. The man wouldn’t come back, he suspected. Kevin slouch