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Chapter 3

Out of the Frying Pan

The warm evening turned to cool morning. Alex had set his alarm for six, around the time his father left for work. He laid awake in bed, staring at the ceiling fan, almost mesmerized by it. Sleeping wasn't an option at this point. His earlier excitement had turned to nervousness and butterflies in his gut. Am I making the right choice? He thought, even if I make it through the training someone will find out that I'm gay for sure.

He figured out his orientation after a good amount of dates in high school. After a while of shallow dating and a period of self-doubt Alex met his first boyfriend. It wasn't popular to be gay, it was still taboo. The military didn't allow queers and neither did his parents. Being gay was probably his biggest failure so far. At least that's how his parents saw it, and that's about when the abuse started.

Alex felt confident that he could hide his sexuality though. He had no choice if he was going to survive the Army. There was only one thing that might give him away. His Achilles heel, Alex couldn't resist the musky scent of alpha furs. Part of that musk had to do with confidence, Alex swore he could smell it on some. His first boyfriend had been a cheerleader and practically radiated confidence. Jay was almost too hard to resist also, but Alex played it off because he didn't want to make his friend uncomfortable.

Before he knew it the alarm was going off. The fox got up quickly to turn off the buzzing from hell before it woke his brother. Joey turned over and mumbled something but appeared to remain asleep. Alex changed quickly, putting on some pants and a belt in an effort to look presentable even though he knew it was going to be a scorcher today. His torso was tender but he could deal with it, feeling around a bruise which was surprisingly well hidden by his darker orange chest fur.

The sun was slowly coming up, the first blankets of light began to fall outside. Alex slipped on his already tied running shoes, stopping abruptly when his ears perked up. The front door had just closed, his father was leaving a little early. Alex jumped up and left the room, reaching the front door with a few full length strides, bursting outside when he got there.

"Dad!" Alex called out as his father walked towards a beat up and old pickup truck. His father turned around, a cooler and lunch pail slung over his shoulder.

"What?" he asked in an annoyed fashion. Alex swallowed and stood petrified in front of the home, staring blankly at his father. His father waited a moment and then shook his head, turning and continuing toward the truck.

"Take me to the military processing station on Bonville Street." Alex spat out as he got over his brief panic attack. His father turned around again, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm joining the Army," Alex stated as he started building his confidence with each word. "If I take the bus it will take me half a day to get there." Alex couldn't decipher the expression on his father's face, it was a mix of apathy and confusion.

"Get in, and hurry up," his father opened the driver side door and practically rolled into the truck. Alex jogged over and hopped in the passenger seat. The truck was backing down the driveway by the time Alex had closed the door.

The car ride was rough, the old truck bouncing and transferring every bump right to Alex's body. Both foxes sat in silence during the ride. Alex occasionally glanced at his father, hoping to see some emotion or concern.

"So why am I taking you down there?" His father broke the silence.

"I'm joining, like I said." Alex had his paws resting nervously on his legs while he sat up as straight as possible, trying to puff his chest out, hoping his father would believe him. He checked his reflection in the trucks mirror. I guess my eye's not that bad Alex thought, he stared at the blackish outline around his left eye.

"They won't let you, you know that right?" His father asked mockingly. "You might think you're smart but that's a man's job, and you're still a kid."

"I'm 18, I can take care of myself" Alex's reply was met with a scoff.

"No, you can't, or you wouldn't be living with your parents, and you wouldn't have that." His father pointed at Alex's face. The rest of the car ride was quiet. Alex kept his head lowered, he knew it wasn't his fault but he felt ashamed. The truck began slowing, the large processing station came into view.

The station served multiple purposes, it was a hub of people coming and going. A bus depot was attached and a small train station sat behind the complex of buildings. There was already a line of hopefuls waiting outside the reception building. The truck pulled up and Alex quickly got out, he closed the door and kept his head down while the truck pulled away.

A deep breath helped him focus on looking confident, he made his paws into fists and walked toward the line. There were no other foxes in sight. The line of 12 or so furs was mostly wolves, a stallion and a bull. Some of the other furs were conversing, Alex did he best to avoid eye contact and kept his arms folded in front of his chest. As more furs showed up to wait he heard the occasional snicker followed by a point in his direction.

It was eight o' clock before the reception doors opened. There were about 30 furs outside now. A large Great Dane walked out, wearing camouflage military fatigues. He took a look at the line, surveying today's customers as they chatted amongst themselves and waited.

"Listen up!" he shouted, "I've got a lot of furs to go through and I don't have all day. You're here for a purpose so act like it." the Great Dane kept giving instructions. Alex was amazed at how quiet it got once the uniformed dog started talking. The side conversations stopped, you could hear a pin drop when the large dog paused during his speech.

"Now I want two lines, if this is your second time here I want you in a separate line over here." the Dane pointed to the ground next to the already formed line. The first line lost about three quarters of its furs, leaving Alex 3rdin line as the shuffling of shoes settled. He started to get nervous as he got closer to the front.

"Has anyone in this line not seen a recruiter?" the Dane pointed to the first line. Alex looked around and sheepishly raised his paw, about level with his head. The Dane started counting and growled when he got to Alex. He walked towards Alex quickly, stepping loudly with his boots.

"Get that arm up fox! If I can't see it I don't count it." the Dane grabbed his elbow and straightened it out, leaving Alex holding his paw above his head.

"Alright, first timers without a recruiter follow me," the Dane turned and started walking inside, "Take everything metal out of your pockets, move maggots!" Alex waited for a brief moment for another fur to go first, he stepped out of line and ended up following a wolf inside.

Two large metal detectors filled the entry way, Alex stayed behind the wolf as furs split in two lines to go through. The first two furs through the metal detectors set them off, causing the armed security and the Dane to jump all over them. Alex stood in front of the metal detector and could only watch as the many uniformed furs all yelled indistinguishably at the poor wolves who had walked through. Alex looked down, trying desperately to remember if he had anything metal on him. He remembered his belt just as he was about to walk through, he pulled it off and set it aside.

"No metal, no weapons, no phones, if it's on you and you step through this sensor you're done," exclaimed the Dane, returning to his position next to the detector. "Next!"

Alex stepped through, silence, _thank god_he thought. He picked up his belt from the side and fastened it back on.

"Follow the green line, keep moving." the Dane said, pointing towards a network of solid colored lines painted on the floor. Each line led somewhere different. Alex followed the green line a short distance down a wide hallway, it turned into a large room with about 10 desks, each with a uniformed fur behind it. He stepped into the room and awkwardly looked around. His tail tucked between his legs slowly as each fur in the room stared him down. Finally one spoke, a tiger near the rear of the room.

"Really, no one wants the fox? Come on guys it can't be that bad. Get over here and sit down." The Tiger pounded his desk. Alex walked straight to the chair in front of the tiger's desk, his eyes locked on the chair. Alex could hear some chuckling and grumbling as he made his way to the back and sat down, paws in his lap and ears almost flat against his head.

The Tiger and Alex began a simple conversation after they filled out some paperwork, getting all the administrative requirements out of the way.

"Alex is it? So why are you here, what can the Army do for you?" The Tiger said with a slick grin on his face.

"I want to serve my country," Alex replied.

"Oh? Is that right?" the Tiger leaned back in his chair and raised his voice so the room could hear, "hey guys, this kids here because he wants to serve his country!" The others laughed, some louder than others and they all exchanged smiles.

"So I'll ask again, why are you here?" The Tigers smile had faded.

"I need to get away from home, money, college, a career-"

"Whoah, okay I don't need to know everything, and I could have guessed the first thing by looking at your face you know." The Tiger pointed at the fox's eye with his pen. "You know the Army's not a place for foxes, if Colonel Johnson hadn't called they pry wouldn't have let you through the front door." The Tiger laid his forearms on the table and leaned forward.

"Colonel Johnson?" he must have been talking about Jay's father Alex thought.

"Yes, look it's not my place to question orders. This is how it's going to work..." The Tiger began explaining what would happen throughout the day, the entire process from start to finish. Alex listened attentively, his ears up and taking in as much information as possible. "So... got it?"

Alex nodded and smiled, eager to get started. The Tiger didn't return the smile, he handed Alex a booklet.

"This is the Military Aptitude Test, or MAP. When you finish bring it back to me and we'll grade it and go from there. Take it in that room, and don't think about cheating," the Tiger pointed at a room attached to this one, with glass walls to deter cheating. "And try not to smile around here or someone's gonna eat you alive little fox."

"T-thanks." Alex said, trying to focus on not smiling would be odd, he was nervous enough to forget anything someone told him at this point. He entered the glass room and sat at a desk. There was one German Shepherd in the room taking the test but he didn't look up. Alex began working.

Half an hour later Alex filled in the last bubble on the test. That wasn't so bad, I wonder if he has a different test Alex thought as he looked over to the other Shepherd still working. The chair creaked as Alex got up, drawing the attention of the Shepherd.

"Hey, fox, what's number 53?" the Shepherd whispered. Alex shook his head side to side.

"Sorry, I can't help you." Alex said, eliciting a glare from the Shepherd. The test wasn't that hard, and Alex wasn't about to get kicked out for helping someone cheat. Alex headed towards the Tiger's desk, the room was busy now, and almost every desk had furs being interviewed. The Tiger looked up as Alex approached.

"You have a question?" he asked.

"No I'm finished, here." Alex placed the exam on the desk and sat down in the chair.

The Tiger picked up the test and cocked his head, looking up at Alex and then back down. He shrugged and started grading it. The second half of the exam was scanned and populated in the computer in front of the Tiger. About 10 minutes later he looked up at Alex and tapped his paw on the desk.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"I don't know, what do you mean?" Alex replied, folding his paws in his lap.

"You have some of the highest scores I've seen in a while. Most furs take at least an hour to finish this test. You can qualify for any job in the Army," the Tiger appeared to be getting excited. "Here I'd suggest one of these." he pushed a list with some scribbled jobs towards Alex.

Alex leaned forward and squinted, struggling to read the written list.

"I don't know... I haven't thought about what I wanted to do. I guess this one sounds good." Alex pointed at the third option on the list. Intelligence Specialist.

"Alright, well let's get to it," the Tiger seemed eager to be working with Alex now. "I'm Sergeant (SGT) Hetz by the way." the tiger stuck out his paw. Alex slowly took it and gave a quick shake.

"It will take me a while to get everything finalized, you can get your physical done in the meantime. Head out the hallway you came in from and follow the blue line." SGT Hetz handed a folder to Alex and pointed towards the door.

Alex left the busy room, the hallway was packed with furs, some uniformed and some not. The blue line led opposite from the entrance. Alex followed it and peeked inside the folder he was carrying. It was identifying documentation, most of it he had given to SGT Hetz earlier. The blue line led him to a large white room with tile floors. There were red medical crosses on the walls and benches lined the edges of the room. The middle of the room was empty.

A door opened to a doctor's office in the corner of the room and a bull in a lab coat stepped out. The benches were about half filled, Alex sat down next to a stallion about his age who gave him a weird look. The doctor closed the door to his office and cleared his throat.

"Physicals will begin soon, I need every fur to strip down to their skivvies. No I'm not a pervert it just makes things much faster." He said and then exited into the hallway and shut the door. Alex tapped his paw nervously on the bench he was sitting on as the whole room began getting undressed. He tried to remain calm and followed suit, keeping his eyes on the floor. When he looked up his eyes wandered around the room. Most of the others were in decent or good shape, and he was the smallest person there by far.

They all waited and remained silent. The clock ticking on the wall was nauseatingly loud. Furs trickled in as time went on until the room was almost full. Alex had kept his head down for the majority of the time. The scent of 40 or so furs clouded the room, making it difficult to smell anything else. Alex looked up to survey the room. Yep... I'm the only fox here he thought.

Across the room from Alex sat a dark grey wolf, Alex had noticed him earlier when every fur was undressing. Whenever Alex looked down he could feel the grey wolf's eyes on him. It wouldn't have bothered Alex much except that this grey wolf had exceptionally blue eyes, almost piercing in depth. On top of that the wolf had one of the most well defined bodies in the room and was easily over 6 feet tall. Alex forced himself to stop thinking about the wolf, he couldn't afford a bulge in his boxer-briefs.

"Hey fox, yeah, you" Alex looked up, he leaned forward and looked around for the source of the voice.

"Yeah you bitch," it was the German Shepherd from the testing room earlier, about 8 furs down the bench. "Thanks for the help earlier, you're a real team player." the shepherd flipped him the bird.

"What, was the wittle test too hard for you puppy?" Alex mocked him, feeling somewhat safe being a few furs away. If he wants to be an asshole I'll be one right back Alex thought. The shepherd growled and snapped his paw. The Stallion next to Alex happened to be the shepherd's friend. He shoved Alex forward and the fox fell a few feet in front of the bench.

Immediately the grey wolf across from them stood up and barked, pointing at the Stallion.

"Hey-" was all he managed before the door swung open and the doctor returned to the room.

"Why are you both off the benches? Why are you on the floor?" the bull looked at Alex, "Is this a dance competition? Some sort of joke? Both you get down and push, you better not stop until I come back." the bull waited impatiently, huffing loudly until both Alex and the wolf were in the pushup position.

"I'll wait, start pushing." Alex and the grey wolf both started doing pushups as punishment. The bull walked into his office and closed the door. Am I just supposed to keep going? Alex thought as his nose kept bumping the floor, down-up, down-up until he heard a voice.

"Keep your head up," Alex looked up, the grey wolf was staring at him again as they did pushups across from each other. "If your head is up your nose won't touch the floor." The wolf spoke casually, as if he was barely straining himself.

Alex followed the instruction, it was a little easier doing pushups this way, but it meant he was looking right back at the wolf and his piercing blue eyes.

A minute had probably passed and Alex could feel his arms shaking slightly, each repetition having a greater toll as a drop of sweat dripped onto the floor in front of him. He started panting, struggling to keep going. The wolf across from him still made it look effortless.

The bull opened his office door, looking down at the checklist in front of him.

"Alright get up, and keep quiet. Come into my office." the bull pointed at the first fur on the grey wolfs side of the bench.

The next hour was spent in silence, no one dared talk, every few minutes a fur came and went from the bull's office, got dressed and left. The grey wolf eventually went in and then left. Alex watched him as he left, hoping the wolf would turn and look at him again. But he turned the corner and was gone. 20 minutes later Alex was at the front of the line, the office door opened and the Stallion walked out, scowling at Alex before leaving. Alex entered the office and was quickly in and out, passing his physical.