FSE

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Part 7

The waters rushed over Howard's head as he was lifted off the ground and turned over and over several times before his back struck a wall, nearly knocking the wind out of him as Fangmeyer's unconscious body flung against him and pulled him down. Chase was an average wolf with average strength and the tiger had about fifty pounds on him. He opened his mouth and immediately clapped it shut again to avoid the water from getting in. Bubbles poured from his nostrils and mouth as he heard a muffled noise from above before a pair of large hands grabbed him by the back of his uniform shirt and he felt himself suddenly come up half a foot until his head gasped above the water.

"Grab hold!" Bogo roared as Chase realized that the others had clung onto pipes and lines that strung about the ceiling of the room. He grabbed a thick pipe and grunted as Fangmeyer's weight returned to his memory.

"I can't hold Fangmeyer!" He said. "Lift him up!"

With a gruff explosion of air through his nostrils, Bogo leaned down and pulled him up.

"Why isn't the water stopping?" Judy asked. "The door closed!"

"It's designed to fill the room!" Onna said as she clung onto her tablet with one hand and the pipe behind her with another. "If we don't get out of here, we're going to drown."

"How long will the room take to drain?" Bogo asked. "Perhaps we can hold our breaths long enough--"

"I don't know about you but I don't think I can hold my breath for twelve minutes."

"You idiots! How could you let this happen?" Katt exclaimed, erratically jolting from one spot to another. "We need to stop the waterflow now!"

"I don't have the access on my tablet, the command was started up in the police station."

"So send the order to turn it off to the station and have your guy up there turn it off!"

"How?"

"Ohhhhh give me that!" He snatched the device from the fox's hands and began to type furiously across it. "This got the network access?"

"Yes, of course."

"Okay, we got a chance then." He said. "As long as your... 'Clawhauser' is reliable and sharp--"

Bogo and Judy looked at one another apprehensively.

***

The dull light of the vending machine was gold to Clawhauser's eyes as it slowly turned the table around on the inside, the cheetah catching the glimpse of the familiar 'Daylion's Donuts' logo on the box coming toward him. A half-dozen box of glazed treats just for him. His tail swished with excitement as he slid the slot open. "Eeehehehe!" He giggled. "Now this is worth the wait." He pulled the box out. Another loud clicking noise caught his attention, turning his ear in the direction of the sound. "Huh. Sounds like the service elevators have restarted. Oh well!" He said as he pulled the box open and took one of the donuts out. His mouth was fighting to hold back the saliva as he brought the glaze to his lips. "Now the moment of truth--"

"Hey! Fatso! Where are you at?!" The sound of the lone prisoner's voice echoed through the halls from only a few rooms away from the jail block.

"Hey! I'm not fat thank you, I'm..." He squeezed his cheeks. "Just a little puffy." He said, his voice fading out.

"I could use some water at least! Soon as you're done stuffing your face!"

"I'm--" He grumbled and clenched his fist. "I'll be right there." He surrendered.

Walking down the hallway, Clawhauser realized that he wasn't exactly sure where the rations were stored, and he wasn't about to go down a floor and back up again just for a glass of water from the bathroom. Turning to the left, he entered the Armory room, he figured any spare rations would come through there. As he bent down to check in a refrigerated foot locker, a loud thumping caught his attention.

"CLAWHAUSER!"

Bogo's sudden roar was enough to send the cheetah's head up into the counter. "OUCH!" He shrieked in pain as he grabbed his head and then snagged the radio off of his belt. "Yes, Chief? What is it?"

"Listen to me very carefully, we're in trouble and you need to get off your spotted behind and help us."

"Wha-what's happened?"

"Nevermind that. Clawhauser, you need to return to the computer room; the computers there will have a command to execute on them, you need to execute it or we're done for."

"But how--"

"Please, Ben." He gave an impassioned plea like that he'd rarely heard. "You need to do this."

"I'll get right on it, Chief." Clawhauser said as he stood.

A long gasp entered the cheetah's lungs as he found himself suddenly face-to-face with a dinosaur.

It was about fourteen or fifteen feet high, green skin with red markings and vivid amber-green eyes. It locked eyes with Clawhauser and leaned in with a low, long growl. The cheetah's back was rigid, it sniffed him curiously before letting out a hissing growling noise and it leaned in closer. On impulse, Clawhauser slammed the cage door in front of him, shoving the dinosaur out as he shrieked in surprise. The dino's claws slashed into the holes of the cage and scratched the cheetah deftly as he pulled his hand away. "Ouch! That hurt, you lizard breath!" He complained.

The dino barked a roar at him, and Clawhauser shrieked and pulled away. "Oh great, now what?"

***

"What is taking him so long?" Victoria said sharply as she grabbed the tablet, the water now as high as her waist as she tried to climb higher. She tapped through her screens in vain, hoping to find some way of stopping the incoming water. "At this rate, we'll be under water in a few minutes!"

"Nnnhh... ahh--" Fangmeyer moaned, getting Howard's attention.

"Fangmeyer? Tobias? Are you alright?" Chase asked, tapping the tiger's face to try and rouse him.

"S-sure..." Fangmeyer said weakly. "As soon as the room stops spinning... why are we swimming?"

"Later. Chief, can you raise Clawhauser again?"

Bogo looked at the radio in his hand, which was soaking wet. He pressed the button and a spark signed the electricity shorting out. "No. We need to trust that he'll be alright." He said. "He'll get us out of here..."

***

"Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here!" Clawhauser said, watching the creature react, then jump at him again, his head slammed into the cage, folding it inward some and making Clawhauser jump back. "AHH!"

That cage wouldn't hold the creature for long as Clawhauser watched the rivets pop from the walls. "Oh, what am I going to do, what am I going to do?" He asked himself.

"HEY!" Another voice filled the room and there was a high pitched scream from the dinosaur as it was electrocuted from behind. It spun around to see Eddie standing behind it, it stared for a few moments and then snarled at her, glancing at the device in her hand that she had used on it. "Uh-oh..." She said after a moments pause. "MOVE IT CLAWHAUSER!" She exclaimed as she ran toward the doorway and out of the room, the beast giving chase after her.

Clawhauser gasped and got to his feet, pushing the cage open he wanted to go after her and help, but he had another job to do. Quickly he rolled over the counter and ran out into the station. Running up the stairs was a bit of a task for him as he was already huffing and wheezing by the time he reached the top step. He lumbered toward the computer room, panting like he'd just done a ten mile run. "Oh man... oh man... I really should consider eating less... or... going on a diet or something..." He panted. "So exhausted."

He stumbled into the room and saw as the computers all illuminated with a command prompt on it, but also that another one of the creatures had made their way into this room as well. He moaned as it noticed him. "Ohhh no..." He said.

The dino snarled and lowered its head; an onyx-colored skin with white markings that littered his body, it pushed past the desks and started making its way toward him. Quickly, Clawhauser ran forward and grabbed the first computer he could get to. The creature let out a mighty roar as it started to burst through the desks toward him. Hitting the button on the keyboard to launch the command, Clawhauser didn't stay behind long as he went running toward the doorway as he emerged back into the station.

"Eddie! Where are you!?" He shouted as he ran toward the steps, the beast right on his tail. "YIKE!" He shrieked as he pulled it away from the dinosaur's snapping jaws.

"Clawhauser!" He could hear her shouting from the prison block. As he burst through the door, he could see her standing in the jail cell, holding the door open. "Get in!" She shouted.

Clawhauser ran toward the opening, but the sudden ambush from the other creature leaping through a side door caused him to fall. He hit the ground and went barrelling forward on his stomach, sliding, then rolling until he slammed into the cage and Eddie quickly closed the door behind him, trapping the monsters outside while the two felines remained in the reinforced cell, clear of their jaws.

Benjamin was still panting as Eddie helped him to his feet. "Wh-what the heck are those things?"

"They look like dinosaurs to me." She answered glaring back at them.

"Oh... so what have the others gotten me into then?"