I found myself awake after about two hours, slowly rising to consciousness, feeling well-rested and somewhat refreshed. I opened my eyes to find golden curls tickling my nose, and I resisted the urge to scratch my nose when I realised I had my hand draped over soft fur and hard muscle.

Eveline was still asleep, her soft breathing the only clue to her state of somnolence.

I really didn't want to disturb her, so I remained still, subconsciously paying attention to every millimetre of contact where our bodies touched, either through the clothing we slept in, or my bare arm resting on her anterior muscle group near the side of her chest.

Yeah, I'd better move, or I'd start reacting to her presence and possibly wake her up out of a sound sleep. We might well have come through a lot to get to where we were, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn't be displeased to be woken up by a man letting loose hormones like a horny teen watching his first adult film.

I started to move my arm from her side, and to my immense surprise, she spoke.

"No," she said in what sounded suspiciously like a whine. "It's nice and warm!"

I let out a low chuckle. "Sorry, I thought you were still asleep."

"No," she whispered. "But this is nice! A few more minutes? Please?"

Her plaintive request made me smile, so I curled into her body, planting a kiss on her shoulder, catching a hint of fragrance from her shirt. "A few minutes won't hurt," I whispered into her ear, amusement lifting my mood as her ear twitched and she let out a contented sigh. I felt an impression as her tail curled around my leg, gently tightening around my thigh.

It was a lot more than a few minutes by the time we got out of bed, as we lay in contentment until Dani knocked on our door to ask if we were hungry again. I was starving, no doubt because my nanocloud was using most of what I ate to re-stock my blood's supply of red cells and iron, and to restore the nanite density within my body to previous levels. Lunch was definitely called for, and we joined Rosalie in the front sitting room, relaxing and enjoying some peace and quiet.

"Do you guys have any plans for this afternoon?" Rosalie asked us.

"Do we?" I asked, looking to Eveline, who shrugged with her usual indifference. "I'm free for anything you guys have planned. We won't be likely to leave for our mission until some time tomorrow, if my guess about Ev's injuries is right."

"As much as I'd like to stay and get to know you guys," Eveline then added. "Rick's mission takes priority. Until it's seen to, we're on a tight deadline."

"Unfortunately," I sighed. I was beginning to wonder if what I found there would have proven to be worth the effort of getting here at all, and would have been rather depressed about the whole ordeal, were it not for how things between Eveline and I had progressed recently. "I'm beginning to have concerns about the point of the mission I've set myself, though."

Rosalie was immediately attentive. "Lay them on me," she said, her tone businesslike.

"Alright," I decided to trust my sister's wife of over forty years. "Synergy no doubt kept records of its' intellectual property, that of course being the nanocloud that pretty much permeates all of existence. They've also maintained records of all the test subject volunteers such as myself, and that's the information I've been working through."

"That's pretty straightforward so far," Rosalie acknowledged, just as Dani came into the room with some refreshments for us all.

"Thanks," I told Dani, taking the coffee she offered me, then turned to the others. "I don't know what other information exists about the nanocloud, and I'm sure that in the last forty-three years, it's expanded its' abilities well beyond the reach of anything Synergy ever intended. Everyone has one now, and some of us have developed it in different ways."

"Yeah," Dani offered her own perspective. "I don't know about anyone else, but mine communicates to me as though it were another voice in my head. Every additional ability I have is shown to me in the context of that voice in my head, and what she tells me is happening."

I frowned. "You have an actual voice in your head as the representation of your nanocloud's artificial intelligence?" It was curious, and very different from my own experience.

"Yeah," Dani shrugged. "When I first started hearing her, I thought it had to be a side effect of my... Condition. But she's been the only constant throughout that time, even when my memories were unreliable, she was always there. And now? Now she's still there. She does exactly what I ask of her though, so I know it's not a hallucination."

I nodded, understanding the implications. "In the world of the nanocloud, I suspect any brain issues that might result in imaginings and hallucinations will be corrected for by the nanocloud itself. I don't know that for sure, but I can guess."

Rosalie nodded. "No-one I've come across in the last forty years or so has shown any signs of mental illness or instability, so I know the nanocloud is definitely in control of their mental health as well as their physical."

"What about you, Rosalie?" I asked her. "How does the nanocloud manifest itself to you?"

"Mine's like a heads-up display," she told me. "I see critical information about my environment and about my body, any time I need to see it. Upgrades are processed in pretty much the same way."

"That's not too dissimilar to my own experience," I told everyone. "My nanocloud has hooked into my subconscious, and set up all kinds of notification awareness effects. While I don't actually see everything like it's in a heads-up display or anything like that, I do have an awareness of anything I might need to know. I have a dedicated visual overlay for when I need to know more about my environment, and I can talk to my nanocloud through what seems very similar to a messenger conversation back on computers before the outbreak."

"Neat," Rosalie commented. "I kind of wished my nanocloud operated a little like that at times." Her expression went unfocused for a moment. "Oh... It tells me it can. Oh wow... This is going to take some getting used to!"

Her self-deprecating smile was reassurance that I hadn't inadvertently triggered something harmful with this conversation.

"Ev?" I turned to the tiger-woman next to me. "How does yours manifest?"

She frowned for a moment, thinking my question over. "Mainly scents and instinctive pulses in my mind, I would say," she eventually told us. "When I need to see upgrades, my trade interface or any information I can't get as an instinctual feeling or a scent, I see that information like it's in a window on my eyesight, or I suddenly seem to remember what it was. I guess that's the only way I can get that kind of information communicated to me?"

"Mine just dumps complex concepts directly into my mind," Dani told us. "When my talking voice isn't enough, or there's little time to speak, I just seem to immediately know what I need to know."

I shrugged. "I imagine the nanocloud tailors its' interface with us all to our own most comfortable way of perceiving it. I was a systems engineer in my old life, so I'm familiar with computer and display interfaces and can often interpret many data streams at once. My nanocloud manifested as an operating system in my head initially, and everything I need to interact with it can be done as though I'm using a laptop in my head."

Eveline shrugged, her evident confusion clear for everyone to see. Dani and Rosalie understood the metaphorical language I'd used, however. Both of them nodded, and Dani approached Eveline. "May I?" she asked.

Eveline, while being somewhat wary, nodded anyway. Dani then touched her hand briefly, and after a moment, Eveline's expression was bemused. "You guys had such a weird world!"

"Indeed we did," Dani agreed, smiling and stepping back.

"Still, I get it now," Eveline told me. "A lot of the comments you made to me in the past now make a lot more sense," she tried to suppress a giggle, and failed.

"Anyway," Dani turned back to me. "You were saying?"

"Right," I continued. "Our experience with the nanocloud, while different between individuals, is still far in advance of anything I'd experienced when I initially volunteered for the project. When I was injected with my dose of nanites, all of the information on what they did in my body was communicated through an interface band they'd given me while in their labs. They had to pull diagnostic data from me, process it in a computer server somewhere, and then tell me the result and their conclusions afterward. Now?" I took a deep breath, fully appreciating the scale pf the changes since those early days. "Now, my nanocloud is able to tell me exactly what is going on, any time it's happening."

"It's a major evolutionary leap forward from a computing perspective, isn't it?" Rosalie acknowledged.

"It is," I agreed. "Which is why I'm so puzzled why this shadowy organisation is dogging me for the last several weeks. It's not like it can really make use of what's left with Synergy, nor do they need my help with harvesting people they want to kidnap."

"Sounds to me like they're trying to throw you off their true intentions," Rosalie said into the silence that followed.

"But what are they?" I asked. "I admit, I haven't really put much thought into it, and I've been following the information I picked up at Synergy to try and uncover what happened and what role we volunteers might have played in it all," I took a breath, feeling at a loss for ideas, much less words. "But I can't help but feel that the shadowy organisation-"

"Can we give them an actual name?" Dani quipped, suppressing a smile. "Saying 'shadowy organisation' all the time is far too cumbersome."

I laughed, acknowledging she was right. "Suggestions?"

"Not right now," Eveline shrugged.

"Harvesters?" Dani suggested. "They told you when they kidnapped you that they would simply harvest the nanocloud of anyone who got in their way or refused to cough up the information they wanted, didn't they?"

I shuddered. Of course Dani would have seen those memories. I nodded. "Harvesters sounds like a good name for now."

For a few moments, everything went silent as we all lost ourselves in our thoughts.

"Jacob is doing a cook-out later this evening, if you want to join us," Rosalie suggested in the moment that followed.

Given we were going to be here for at least the night, I saw no reason not to agree, but I looked over to Eveline. "What do you think?"

Her look of indifference was back, but a small smile appeared on her lips. "Sounds like a good way to start our evening," she said, her eyes meeting my own. "I'm in."

"So am I," I told Dani and Rosalie. "Anyway, I need to do some work with my nanocloud, so I'll step outside for a bit. You three mind if I do?"

Dani shook her head. "You know I can't stand you anyway," she grinned, and I rolled my eyes. Eveline looked between us with a frown, and I gave her a wink.

"I'm sure we'll manage," Rosalie let out a sigh. "It gives us a chance to get to know Eveline, here."

Eveline looked startled for a moment, but said nothing.

"Do we have some stories to tell you about Rick," Dani stage-whispered to her.

I chuckled on my way out of the room.

For the next twenty or so minutes, I packed my backpack so I would be ready to head out tomorrow, leaving Eveline's alone, not knowing whether she would be fussy about the way her own equipment is packed and not wishing to irritate her.

I also gave a very cursory look over my nanocloud function and module options to see what I could upgrade, or kick-start into an upgrade-in-place over time while Eveline and I travelled south. I would need to make some crucial decisions about cybernetic alterations to my body at some point down the line, but for now, I needed to get all of the baseline functionality and nanocloud machinery in place before I could even make a decision along those lines.

The next step in the process was to upograde the nanocloud itself. The superstructure upgrades I needed to implement had completed recently, so the next upgrade task was to perform the next upgrade level.

Tell me about the next Nanocloud Chassis upgrade.

Nanocloud hardware upgrades Carbon nanotubes are substituted for previous aluminium and bioplastic polymer in nanocloud unit provisioning and construction. Level 1 Carbon nanotube reinforced superstructure is extended to all external tool-sets and casings. Increased electrical efficiency and strength.

How long does this upgrade take?

Current upgrade time with known nanocloud units is 96 hours.

Upon execution of this task, all nanocloud units due to be constructed will be built to the new specifications.

No additional time is needed for this task.

Do it.

Acknowledged. Upgrade-in-place now in progress.

Estimated time remaining: 96 hours.

Rosalie stepped past the door to our room, and I called out to her. "Hey Rosalie."

"What's up, Rick?" She asked in greeting as she stepped into the room to talk with me.

"What time is this shindig this evening?" I asked with a grin.

Rosalie gave me a wry smile. "Probably not for a few hours. Jacob usually likes to wait until sundown before getting started with all that."

"You know what I miss from the old world?" I asked rhetorically, as I glanced at the balcony. "Being able to put on a stereo and play a tune from it."

"Seriously?" Rosalie asked with a bemused frown. "You haven't asked your nanocloud to hook into any local environment transmitters?"

I was astonished. "I didn't know it was even possible," I whispered.

Rosalie briefly glanced at a blank section of wall, then touched my hand.

1 new function available.

Show me.

Audio-Visual entertainment receiver Requires [Nanocloud AI level 1]. Enables chassis and conduits of all nanites to act as a radio-frequency or digital receiver. Any signal received through each nanite can be processed by nanocloud and interpreted before being fed to host visual cortex and hearing centres. Baseline Enables receipt of live-broadcast analogue and digital signals. Can filter all types of signal. Audio-Visual processing handled by nanocloud processing capacity. The results appear to the host to be part of the environment. Enables all forms of entertainment.

Are there any safety considerations?

Negative. Combat mode overrides access to all distractions including this one.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I looked back to Rosalie. "I take it this is a common function to use in North America?"

Rosalie chuckled. "Enable it for this room," she grinned.

I sent the signal to my nanocloud to enable the function, and music blared into my ears from the corners of the room. I looked about and I could see outlines where the sound was intended to come from, and on the previously bare wall, it now looked like there was a shiny new entertainment unit embedded. Walking over to it, I winced as the music seemed to get louder as I approached.

My nanocloud seemed to pick up on my discomfort, and the output reduced drastically.

That was much better, I thought to myself. I could hold a conversation now.

"Recognise the tune?" Rosalie asked.

I did, I realised. This was an old Rolling Stones track from the seventies. "Start Me Up. I'd recognise Jagger, anywhere."

"One of my favourite tracks," Rosalie told me. "Pity they had to go using it to advertise an operating system!"

I snorted.

Eveline walked into the room, her eyes twinkling with what I suspected was amusement. "I see you're packed," her voice sounded tremulous, as if she were suppressing a giggle.

"What are you scheming?" I asked, grinning.

"Nothing," she gasped in mock innocence. "Just because I'm a cat, and cats get up to mischief sometimes, doesn't mean I'm planning to run off with your backpack when you're not looking!"

"Right," I exclaimed in disbelief. "By the way, did you know there was a function that allowed you to listen to music and watch films through the nanocloud?"

Eveline frowned in puzzlement, before giggling. "You mean this whole time, you've just been going to coffee shops, taverns and sitting in your hotel rooms with nothing but silence because you didn't know?!"

I felt my face flush. "Hey! Come on, how was I supposed to know?"

That made Eveline laugh even harder, and she doubled over, almost collapsing to the floor.

Rosalie grinned at me, and shook her head. "You walked right into that one, Rick!"

I supposed I did.

Over the next few hours, we each went about our own tasks. Eveline was feeling well enough now to indulge her need to go stalking in the wilderness. She took off for the nearby woodlands, but not before goosing me on the way out of Dani's house.

Her playfulness was adorable.

Dani and Rosalie disappeared for a few hours, though I had no idea where, or what they were doing until they returned, Dani's face slightly flushed while Rosalie held a small smile on her lips.

Sundown soon arrived, and the four of us made our way to the Tim Hortons place again. Dani and Rosalie walked slowly, holding hands. Eveline did not hold mine, though I also suspected she was gearing herself up to be among strangers, and I thought nothing more on the subject.

I was right. By the time we arrived at the Tim Hortons, Eveline's facial expression held her customary disdain, her manner terse and her mannerisms the same closed and distant personality that I remembered from the day we first met. She nodded quickly to Dani and Rosalie, then looked briefly to me, and I was able to read her micro-expressions. While her overall affect was disdain bordering on contempt, the ever-so-slight quirk of her lips and the almost imperceptible widening of her eyes conveyed nervousness and anxiety.

I tried to be as discreet, hoping my attempt to give her a reassuring smile was as covert as her own expression had been. To my amazement, she gave me the barest hint of a smile in return, as her eyes danced, before she turned back to greet our new hosts.

I recognised the canine-hybrid as Mike, the guy who came to our assistance when Eveline had been badly injured a few days ago. He gave me a curt nod, looking toward Eveline and giving her a far friendlier grin.

Maybe a little too friendly.

Eveline, for her part, glared at him, hard. Her tail began to twitch in anger.

"Well, well! Looking good," Mike drawled, glancing sideways at me, before blatantly ogling Eveline. Rosalie gave him a contemptuous glare, Dani stood next to Eveline, who continued to glare at him, saying nothing. "What's the matter, kitten?" Eveline let out a hiss in his direction, her tail swishing angrily.

I started to weigh up whether to step in and lend her my support, or stand back and let her handle it herself. I knew she had it in her, but did she want me to step in, anyway?

"Fuck off," Eveline hissed at him, her tail swiping angrily, and she reached out and grabbed it.

"Ooo! Someone likes being called a kitten?"

"Seriously, Mike?" Rosalie barked at him. "For a while, I thought you'd stopped being an asshole, but it seems like that's not the case."

"I'm just trying to be friendly!" Mike complained in a petulant voice and walked off.

We soon began being introduced to some of the others in the building. Jacob Marcelle was a human with dark hair, short in stature but compact, with densely-packed muscle. He was personable, had no problem with any of the beast folk, and his manner was inviting.

He was joined by a slightly-taller woman who held his arm while speaking enthusiastically to us all. Ashley Marcelle was his wife, a very animated woman with a sharp eye, and she seemed to have her attention on everyone at the party. It wouldn't surprise me if she kept an eye out for trouble, letting her husband deal with whatever she spotted.

They were joined by three children. One was an adult, appearing twenty-five like most of us did in the post-outbreak world, tall and willowy, equally sharp as his mother, and prone to garrulous speech. The other two were eighteen and nine, respectively.

As soon as I realised this, I knew I had to be alert for inappropriate behaviour from anyone in this building, and for some reason, my thoughts went to the canine hybrid Mike. His attitude toward Eveline earlier tonight was a sign of trouble to come, and I didn't want any issues while there were children about.

"We've a fourth around here somewhere," Jacob commented absently. "Ash, have you seen Mel anywhere?"

Ashley's response was a brief shake of the head. "I'm sure she's off somewhere, scheming with that Mike character."

Jacob sighed. "I really don't know why she doesn't just wake up to the fact that he hasn't changed."

It was none of my business, so I ended up tuning out the rest of their conversation. Everyone started engaging in conversations of their own, even Eveline, who joined Rosalie in talking with Ashley.

I was curious if my nanocloud had the ability to tap into a local communication channel to stream music, as Rosalie had envisaged. It did, and as I connected my nanocloud to the local entertainment feed, I was introduced to a Canadian band I listened to when I had Capital playing at home. It was so weird listening to classic rock from the turn of the century, and then I realised that most of the guys who once played in this band would have either gone into hiding or been killed in the outbreak.

Much like most of the world did.

"Hey," someone called from behind me, and I turned to see who it was. "Not seen you around these parts before. What's your name?"

I found myself facing a slightly-jaunty and rather short woman who appeared slightly younger than other adults in the room, with twin braided platinum hair and a devilish grin, innocent-looking blue eyes and a slight blush to her expression. She wore a sweatshirt that covered her arms and stretched down to mid-thigh, her legs clothed in tight-fitting denim.

Something about her manner suggested trouble to me, and I felt uneasy. Still, I couldn't afford to piss off anybody local, and knowing my luck, this girl was the daughter of the city councillor.

"Hi," I tried summoning some enthusiasm. "Rick," I told her with a nod.

"Melanie," she replied with a grin that flashed a set of pearly-whites that seemed too bright. "My folks own this joint."

"Good for them," I said absently without thinking. At least I didn't have to worry about city councillors or local cops, but now I had to contend with the owner...

Wait, this was Mel? "Your dad owns this place?"

"Oh yeah," she said brightly. "You wanna meet him?"

"We already met," I told her. Melanie looked about her for some reason, grabbing me by the shoulder, as she started walking back toward Jacob and the others.

"HEY!" Someone barked loudly, startling me. "What are you doing with my girl?!"

Fuck, I needed this like I needed a hole in the head. Worse, as I turned to face the source of the voice, I settled on the glaring visage of the canine-hybrid known as Mike.

I shook my head and shook Melanie's arm off of my shoulder. "I don't know what you think is going on here," I started. "But-"

"What gives you the right to paw all over my girl Melanie, here?" He let out a low, threatening growl.

I was already done. "Seriously, I'm already way past too old for this bollocks," I said with a sigh, looking between the two of them.

"No-one touches my girl!" Mike growled, and for some reason, Melanie let out a small smile.

Yeah, she was trouble, all right.

"You're seriously going to berate me for touching what you describe as your personal property?" I asked, my tone scathing. "I'm done."

"You're done, hey!" Mike sneered, and abruptly stalked off, stepping outside.

I looked to Melanie. "I'm not sure what game you think you're playing-"

"Whatever," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I just like it when my man gets jealous."

"So you thought you'd provoke him into aggression with other guys just to make a point?" I asked her with a tired sigh. "Is that it?"

"It's better than being boring," she said coldly. "At least this way, I know he wants me."

"Yeah, you and every other woman in spitting distance," I muttered under my breath.

"You're wrong," she barked, becoming agitated and combative. "You're lying! I'll show you!"

I noticed Eveline in my peripheral vision, and she looked furious, her tail swaying, and her expression set in angry lines, her stance defensive as she spoke in a low tone. My nanocloud enhanced my hearing.

"You don't learn your lesson, do you?" She was saying to someone. "I'm not your kitten."

I turned back to Melanie. "You think he's loyal to you?"

"I know he is! He wouldn't-"

"Come with me," I said, striding to the exit, instructing my nanocloud to close the receiver for the night's entertainment. The music in my mind stopped. "Let me show you just how loyal your boyfriend truly is."

I didn't bother to wait for her, striding out to see what was going on.

Just outside the Tim Hortons place, in the open court-yard, Eveline was stood with Mike looming over her. He was being overbearing and persistent in his pursuit of her, and his tail was swinging about like he'd won a year's supply of Pedigree fucking Chum at Crufts or something. I strode over just as he spoke again. "Seriously? You don't like what you see?"

"No," she hissed, her tail swaying dangerously fast, and I knew she was a hair's breadth away from striking out and teaching him a lesson he wouldn't forget...

And you know what? I wasn't going to do a damned thing to stop her.

"You know, a lot of ladies like this," he drawled, flexing his fucking arms like he was at a Mr. Universe final. "And I bet I know a lot more than your human friend does."

"That's none of your-"

"You're done talking now," Mike cut her off, making a move with his hand in a closing gesture. "I know he wants to put his cock in your pussy," he said crudely. "I can smell his stink from miles away."

"Real loyal," I muttered to Melanie, who had followed me out to see what was going on. Her expression had become horrified at what she was seeing.

"Your point?" Eveline hissed, glaring at Mike. "His 'stink', as you call it, is a lot less repulsive than yours is."

"Bullshit," he growled. "You think I smell worse than a human? I can't stand the smell of humans. Even their bitches stink."

Melanie had clearly had enough. "Fuck you, Mike!" she screamed, startling him and a few bystanders. She then stormed off, sniffling and bawling as she disappeared out of sight. I kind of felt sorry for her, even though this was clearly a lesson she needed to learn.

Mike glared at me, growling louder. "You think that was clever?"

I shrugged. "You're the one who just made a racist comment about human beings," I said quietly. "Can't blame anyone for that but yourself."

"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" Mike growled more, adopting a threatening stance.

"That's not how I work," I told him coolly. "But isn't it interesting how you're going on about other people touching what you erroneously refer to as your personal property when you're busy trying to get into the pants of Eveline, here?"

Mike's expression hardened more than it already did. "She didn't look like she thought much of you," he said, his tone scathing. "I was trying to do her a favour."

"Not much of a favour," Eveline hissed at him. "Slobbering all over me."

Mike glared at her, hard. She didn't so much as flinch as she stood her ground, her tail swiping through the air rapidly. "This isn't over-" he started to say, but we were all interrupted at that point as Jacob Marcelle arrived.

"It is over, Mike," he told the canine hybrid. "I'll ask you to leave now."

"What?" Mike barked in shock. "I didn't do shit! This motherfucker was trying it on with my-"

"I suggest you don't finish that sentence," Jacob told him. "I've got a very distressed daughter upstairs telling us you can't keep your hands to yourself, a very angry feline woman who clearly doesn't want you anywhere near her, and I've got a horn-dog standing over said cat-woman who doesn't give a fuck about boundaries."

Eveline stepped around Mike, stepping by my side, her whole body radiating fury. Her stance was combative, and she looked murderous, but I dropped my hand next to hers, hoping the gesture wouldn't go unnoticed.

It didn't, and I received the lightest of brushes from one of her soft fingers, though she continued to radiate fury.

Mike glared at me. "You and I are gonna throw down," he barked.

Eveline hissed at him, and was about ready to launch herself at him. I took her hand, and she stiffened.

"He's just trying to get under your skin," I told her in a low voice, and she relaxed marginally. "Don't let him. I've got your back."

"You're mine!" Her tone, while low, was intense, laden with all the emotional energy of a frustrated young woman who was determined to make her mark on her man. "Mine!"

"And you're mine!" I rumbled in a low tone. Her hand squeezed mine slightly, and her tail started to slow.

"Really?" Mike growled at her. "Him?! You reject this?" He preened.

Yeah, he actually fucking preened like a peacock in front of us.

"For him?!" He barked, and then he charged at me, leaping into the air with a growl.

Eveline released my hand that instant, and I rolled onto my back, avoiding Mike's claws, narrowly avoiding his kick, before countering with a punch to his kidneys. He yelped, landing awkwardly, but I didn't let up, as I leapt to my feet, into the air, and landed a double-footed kick to his back. He hit the ground hard, and measured his length on the concrete.

Eveline was on him in an instant, screeching loud enough to make my ears ring slightly, as she gouged narrow channels in his back with her claws, causing him to yelp in pain. She kept her temper in check otherwise, refraining from killing or seriously injuring him even though I had no doubt she could easily have done so.

Several others who I didn't know leapt forward to intervene, but as I didn't know who they were or what their intentions were, I quickly leapt to Eveline's side, raising my fists and dropping into a combat stance.

"BACK OFF!" I barked loudly at those closing in on us. "BACK AWAY!"

"Dude, she's got him pinned-"

"He attacked us first!" I barked back at the bystander. "We defended ourselves."

Dani and Rosalie arrived on the scene at that moment, horrified at the scene. "What the hell is going on, Rick?" Dani asked.

"This feral stray attacked me," I spoke in clipped, angered tones. "He didn't like what he saw between Eveline and I, so he thought he could claim her like a piece of fucking cattle."

"Well, with all due respect, young man," Jacob spoke to me at that moment. "We can't really do much about him if he's pinned by the young lady over there."

I let out a tired sigh. Eveline, despite clearly being furious with the situation, withdrew and stood up, letting go of Mike's arms. Mike, once he realised he was free, tried to lunge at her legs, but she was too fast, leapt up into the air to avoid his swipe, and two others had leapt in and grabbed his arms and legs, pinning him down to the ground again, ignoring his feral growling.

Dani stepped to my side, as did Rosalie. Eveline, for her part, seemed too furious to really do much other than step back and keep as much space between her and others around her. I couldn't blame her for feeling threatened. This entire situation had spilled over into violence, and all because a canine hybrid had decided he could claim another person as his own.

"You better watch your back from now on," Mike growled, but as soon as he did, Jacob stepped by his side. It didn't stop him, though. "You never know when this dog's going to come out and play."

"Witnessed," Jacob barked. "Ashley, call the cops, get them here now."

Ashley was gone before Jacob had finished his sentence.

The aftermath of that whole fucking pointless incident took a while to wrap up, and had effectively ruined the afternoon for us all. When the police showed up to arrest Mike, he let loose once again and tried to attack me, only to find himself electrocuted and rendered unconscious. They soon dragged his worthless arse away from the building, and we were left with just a pair of officers taking interviews, as well as Jacob making his own report as the owner and another witness to the events.

To be frank, this was one of the more unusual aspects of my time in the new world. Police taking interviews, a trespasser and a man threatening violence being taken away and placed under arrest, all seemed like it would be normal in my time. It made the whole post-outbreak world seem more normal than I had grown used to.

Mike was carted off in a strange-looking vehicle that, while it resembled a UPS truck and even had the typical rubber tyres and metallic casing, glass windows and so on, it had to be pushed by hand. It seemed that for some reason, neither combustion engines nor electrical motors were able to be used in this era...

Or maybe there weren't enough of them to make them commonplace enough for me to have noticed.

Either way, this was the first vehicle I had seen in a while, and it wasn't even self-propelled.

Despite my initial thought that we would all need to leave Jacob's place and go elsewhere, he insisted we stick around and enjoy his hospitality. While I really just wanted to get some sleep and get this shit of a day over with, I took him up on his offer.

As the evening wore on, Eveline gradually settled down from furious and hostile to disdainful and aloof. While she and I did not have any opportunity to speak for much of the evening, I didn't feel a need to worry. She was dealing with an uncomfortable situation in an unfamiliar environment as best she could.

Eventually, after enjoying a relatively small and light meal with our hosts, I felt the need to retire for the evening. I approached Eveline.

"Hey," I spoke softly to her as she leaned against a wall, watching everyone else. "You ready to call it a night?"

She rolled her eyes with apparent disdain. "With you?"

Her tail wrapped itself around my arm, though, and I grinned. "We could always call Mike back if you'd prefer stray mutt," I quipped, and though there was an angry flash in her eyes, I knew it was meant for that oaf, rather than me.

"If you don't want to sleep out in the grass by yourself," she growled in a low tone. "You'll never mention that disgusting pig's name in my presence again!"

I raised my hands in surrender. "As you say, my tiger," I said with a soft, self assured tone. "It's too cold outside tonight anyway."

"Yeah, and your tiger wants you all to herself," she told me, the intensity of her gaze surprising me. "So stop kidding about and let's go tell our hosts we're leaving."

We quickly found our hosts, Jacob and his wife. Dani and Rosalie were nearby, and as we told them we were heading out, Rosalie took Eveline to one side, while Dani took me to the edge of the courtyard.

"Rosie and I have set up a little something special," she told me. "I know the evening didn't go as expected, but if either of you want to try and end the night on a good note, we had a room made up for both of you."

I glanced at Dani in surprise, and caught her blush. "Thanks, sis."

"You're welcome, bro," she chuckled, then her expression turned serious. "Go show that woman just how much she means to you."

That surprised me. "Dani?"

Dani giggled. "What? She's growing on me!"

I gave her a quick hug. "Thanks."

Eveline stepped by my side, and there was some emotion in her eyes that she kept hidden carefully behind her look of disdain. Rosalie briefly touched her shoulder, and Eveline reacted by inclining her head slightly.

"We're both staying here tonight," Rosalie told us. "You'll have the place to yourselves."

Eveline nodded. Rosalie nodded imperceptibly to her.

"Thanks, guys," I told them both, as Eveline stepped past me and started walking onto the street. "I'll see you before we set off tomorrow."

Rosalie gave me a gentle smile. "See you tomorrow."

The two of them then turned to head back into the Tim Hortons. I turned, then realised Eveline was already half-way down the street toward the junction.