Fast Food Furries Book 1

Chapter 13a: The Aether

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Combine

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I dropped immediately out of sight. "Great Mike," I groaned.

"Change your mind?" asked Jude, who was itching to come dashing up the ladder behind me.

"Seems like I have to," I said.

"What is it?" you asked.

"I think we're about to be invaded," I motioned my head to invite Jude up. She helped you down off the ladder then climbed up herself.

She carefully peeked over the wall, then also dropped suddenly into cover. "Oh shit," she said.

"It's the US military," I said to Sirrat. "Might be the entire US military."

"This is a... problematic development," Sirrat thought aloud.

"I thought they weren't looking to invade," Jude said. "They've left us be for five years."

"The city is weakened now," you said. "Maybe they were waiting."

"Ehh," Sirrat said, "I cannot imagine they feared our military before. The Lunar Rebellions ended two years ago, so their entire military has been on Earth and dormant since then. If they desired to invade, they could have at any time."

"Big City Mouse claimed to have made an arrangement with Supreme Leader President Captain Palko," I said.

"That's right," said Sirrat, as if he remembered that himself. "And now she is claiming the throne."

"That means she has to be stopped," Jude said.

"As soon as possible," I added. "If she has connections with them, this invasion force must be related to her."

"The original deal she claimed to make was to keep them out, but I agree it is possible she is behind this," Sirrat said.

"She's trying to sell out the city," said Jude. "They'll annex us."

Everyone looked to me expectantly. I groaned. "Okay. Let's find the others from Harambe High and form some sort of plan. It's not like we can leave anyway."

"They're in the tunnels near the school," said Jude. "Sirrat, can you fly us there?"

"Of course," said the dragon.

The three of us climbed aboard and took off. We rose high into the sky above the city, where the air was cold but quiet. The city seemed lifeless from up here. Smoke still smouldered from dozens of places.

"So," I said to Jude and Sirrat, "how did you two meet?"

"Some mechanic's shop—Chet's," Jude said. "I found his secret surveillance station where he was watching over another dragon."

"At Chet's?" I clarified.

"Yeah, we were both hiding from the military."

That seemed surprising to me, as Candy and I had been to Chet's many times, but never noticed any sort of surveillance station. I shook off the thought. "Did you go into the store at all? You would've been in for a surprise."

"Why's that?" asked Jude.

"It's all banana bread."

"Yuck."

"Uh huh," I concurred.

Jude cleared her throat. "Hey," she said, "I'm sorry about Candy. I was... there, actually. I..." she shook her head. "I didn't know I was doing the wrong thing."