I sat back in my seat as we drove down the road, watching Ali as she looked out the window. After giving her arm another check, I gave her a pack with clean clothes and snacks that Mother had packed before we left. Ali stayed quiet most of the ride while I searched for a spot we could camp at for the night.

"Who were those people? Back at the lab?" she suddenly asked, her voice soothing and soft.

"The ones that came with me?" I asked.

Ali gave a short nod. "They called you 'dreamer'."

I smiled. "Those were my friends from the city. Dreamer is a nickname they have for me."

"'Friends?'" Ali repeated. "What is that?"

The question surprised me, but I understood why she wouldn't know what a friend was.

"Friends are..." I struggled to find the words. "Someone who you can always count on. Someone who would do anything for and support you if you were struggling."

"Like an ally?" she asked.

"Kind of, except you usually don't talk about the deep stuff to your ally. Friends have a much deeper connection and bond than an ally would."

"Are you my friend?" Ali asked.

I offered her a smile. "We can be friends, yeah."

Ali smiled back. That smile was rare. Maybe this trip would be so bad after all if she's willing to trust me enough to be her friend.

"Let's make a stop real quick," I said, pulling into the dense forest.

I stopped the van and hopped out, running over to Ali's side to assist her, and she took a deep breath.

"The smells," she whispered in awe.

"Your senses, they must be really sharp," I noted.

"Compared to yours, they are," she said, not taking her eyes off the woods.

"How much did they teach you about forests?" I asked.

"Not too much, by the looks of it. They had simulations in the lab, but it was nothing like this."

They walked around a little more until Ali slowed to a stop. "What's that sound?" she asked.

I listened the best I could, but I couldn't hear a sound. "I don't hear anything. What does it sound like?"

"Crashing?"

"Could be a river," I assumed. "Your hearing is wicked."

"Wicked?" Ali asked, very confused at my use of vocabulary.

Right, no expressions.

"It means really cool or good."

"Oh. I was told I could hear things about an 8-mile radius."

That's crazy!

I looked up at the sky. It will be sunset soon. But that wasn't the only thing I saw, dark clouds. That was when the rain started. Ali shrieked as she felt the droplets slowly speed up their descents. This was going to be a hell of a downpour.

In a panic, Ali jogged up to me, clung to my side, and tried to hide from the rain. I tensed but relaxed and covered her head with my hand as best as possible.

"What is that?" she asked?

I softly chuckled. "That's called rain. It's just water. It won't hurt you."

"It is cold," she trembled.

I smirked and rubbed her good arm in support. "Let's just get back into the van. We might have to sleep in there because of the rain. Is this your first sunset?"

"Can we finish this conversation in the van, please?" Ali asked impatiently.

"Yes, we can," I chuckled.

"Stop laughing at me!" she growled. However, that just made me laugh

even more.

"I thought you were my friend?" she grumbled again.

"I am, Al. Friends laugh at each other all the time."

"Oh,"

I nudged her shoulder with mine and headed back towards the van.

"Come on, let's get inside."

Once they were in, I took some of the sandwiches from the food bag in the back and gave one to Ali, who took it happily. They ate, facing each other as the rain pounded on the windshield.

"This is the best thing I ever tasted!" she exclaimed.

"It's a PB&J, my personal favorite," I explained.

"I used to eat this brown kebble stuff, super dry and gross. Sometimes animals, if I caught them. I did not know this stuff existed."

Did they seriously feed her dog food?

"You've hunted?" I asked.

"Yeah. If I wanted to eat some meat, I had to earn it. So they would release a few animals like squirrels and rabbits in a simulation, and I had to use traps and weapons to hunt it."

"Can you eat raw food?" I queried.

"Yes. I did not know you could not eat raw food until I tried to offer some to my caretaker. He said his stomach was not as strong as mine or something."

Ali suddenly flinched to thunder booming in the distance, her ears flattened, and her tail wrapped around her legs.

"That's called thunder," I explained. "Pretty much harmless."

Ali gave a short nod but didn't relax.

How can I make her more comfortable? Then, I got an idea.

I reached back into the back and scurried through the bad I packed until I found what I was looking for. My dad's old MP3 player.

I returned to my seat with the player and an aux cord and plugged it in.

Ali jumped in surprise at the sound of Let's Groove by Earth. Wind & Fire came on.

"I always listen to music when I'm uneasy," I said, showing her the music player.

Ali gingerly took the player and looked over it with a curious face.

"This can play music?" she asked.

"Hell yeah, it can. And the best part about it is that it can't be tracked by the DOA."

"Wicked," she said with a grin.

I chuckled and took back the MP3 from her outreached hand, putting it on the dashboard.

"You should get some sleep," I told her after finishing my sandwich.

"Should not someone keep watch?" Ali asked.

I shrugged. "We're pretty far away. I'd get my sleep if I were you. We still got a pretty large trip ahead of us."

Ali nodded, but as I went to sleep, I knew she stayed up on watch anyway.

I woke up the following day to Elton John's I'm Still Standing with a stretch. I glanced at Ali to see her curled in a ball, and I couldn't help but smile. Her face was littered with scars I couldn't see before, and her ears twitched occasionally. Her messy dark hair and eyebrows looked almost more like fur than hair with some gray streaks in it, and her face had tiny traces of her wolf side on it. She was pretty. I'd give her that.

Curse those scientists.

Her mouth was parted open, and I noticed some little fangs that poked out. How did I not see that before? And her hands had black nails that weren't quite nails, maybe claws?

"I feel you staring at me," Ali muttered, her blue-golden eyes still closed.

I felt my eyes widen, and I quickly looked away. "I wasn't staring."

Ali scoffed, her voice still groggy from sleep. "Nice try."

"Sorry," I whispered.

She shrugged and revealed the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. "It is ok."

"I have a hairbrush for you if you'd like?" I asked, changing the conversation. I returned, grabbed the bag with the toiletries in it, and handed it to Ali. She took it with thanks but couldn't hide her confusion as she poked the bristles of the hair brush.

I gave her a sympathetic smile and grabbed the hand that held the hairbrush. "You use this to comb through your hair so it doesn't get all knotted up," I explained.

"Gosh, you must think I am so dumb," she said with a slight grin.

"Nah, you're not dumb, just uneducated."

She narrowed her eyes. "That is the definition of dumb. I should know something as easy as using a hairbrush."

"Ali, it's ok. It's not your fault they didn't teach you things like hygiene or grammer."

"My grammar is beautiful," she shot back.

"Could use a little work," I shrugged.

After explaining to her what a contraction was, I reached back to grab my bag and sat in the back of the van to brush my teeth. When I was done, I turned around to see Ali struggling with her hair as she tugged at her head. My gaze softened as I made my way over to her.

"Here," I said, gesturing for the brush. "Let me do it."

Ali looked up at me in surprise. "You would do that for me?"

I smiled. "I patched up your arm. Why not help you with a bad hair day?"

Ali chuckled, handing me the brush and sitting in front of me where I had gestured to her and pulled her tail around in front of her. I gently took a lock of her thick hair and almost audibly sighed at how soft it was. Despite not having a wash in the last few days, I started to brush through the ends.

"Work from the bottom to the top," Mother instructed me. I carefully brushed her hair as I was told while her arm healed from the previous mission.

"Good work, Benjamin."

I smiled at the memory and continued to brush out Ali's hair. She tensed when I reached the top of her head near her ears. I pulled back and searched her face. "I won't touch your ears, I'll be careful."

"I know you will, sorry. I do not care much for my ears."

"Don't," I corrected. "I think they're pretty badass," I said, resuming my brushing.

Ali didn't say anything, but I knew she was smiling. When I reached up between her ears, she started... purring?

Did wolves purr?

Whatever it was, it was a sound of enjoyment, almost like a happy growl.

She immediately stopped and tensed.

"What was that?" I asked in amazement.

"I honestly could not tell you," she said with a chuckle.

I softly chuckled and continued. "What would you like to do today?" I asked. The rain had stopped, and it looked like a beautiful day today, perfect for showing Ali around before we got to the city.

"Anything," she said.

"Well, as soon as I finish, I'll let you brush your teeth, and then we'll go out in the woods for a bit."

"Sounds like a plan to me," she said, tail slightly wagging.

After I was finished, I started heading back to my seat and paused the MP3 player before hopping out of the van, Ali following me.

"So, what is the contraction of 'should not'?" I quizzed her.

"Shouldn't," she answered.

"Very good. What is the contraction of 'do not'?"

"Don't?"

"See? You're a natural!"

"I was taught some of these things a long time ago, but they insisted on me to be more formal so I stopped using them," she explained.

"Well, you're going to want to use them now. No need to be formal with me."

We walked until we saw an open meadow.

Perfect.

I turned around and saw Ali's reaction to all the flowers littering the ground. I smiled at her as she took in the grass and the trees with her senses, but my smile fell a tad.

I can't believe that people thought of her as a monster or a war machine. She's just a girl. She never asked for this. It's not fair.

I grinned when she looked back up at me and clapped my hands together.

"Alright, Paws, why don't you teach me some of those badass fighting moves?"

"'Paws,'" she asked with a tilted head.

"My new nickname for you," I smirked.

"Don't I have like five nicknames right now?" she asked.

"Eh," I shrugged. "Teach me, Paws."

Ali rolled her eyes as she stepped closer to me. "Ok, I'm a little more physically advanced than you are, but I'm sure you can still do some of the techniques."

That's when she did the unthinkable. Her fingernails, which were actually claws, extended out about an inch, nice and sharp. I tried not to stare, but Ali would have noticed it from a mile away.

"Retractable claws," she explained.

"Wow," I breathed.

"Ready to learn, city boy?" she asked.

I smiled at the nickname and crouched into a fighting position, but all I earned was a shake of Ali's head.

"Talk first, then train," she said, sitting in the grass. I copied her and scooted a bit closer.

"First things first, I have to teach you to be fully aware of your surroundings," she started. "Close your eyes and breathe. I want you to listen. Really listen. What do you hear?"

I listened hard. It surprised me how much I could actually hear.

"Birds cupping, wind in the trees, and the grass moving," I answered.

I could feel Ali's grin. "Good," she said. "Now, what can you smell?"

I took a deep breath in and out, but I couldn't smell much.

"Just grass."

"Try again."

I did and took another deep breath. "Springtime," I whispered.

"Springtime?" she asked.

"I think I smell it off of you," I thought out loud.

Ali nodded. "My scent. I guess that makes sense why I don't really smell it."

"Don't worry, I think it smells very good," I said, opening my eyes to give her a wink.

Ali chuckled. "Thanks."

"Your lesson reminds me of my mom a little bit," I thought.

"Your... mom?"

I looked up at her, and my heart sank. She didn't know what a mom was, did she?

"My mom is the person who gave birth to me. It's how humans and animals are born when a male and female come together," I tried to explain.

"Huh." Ali looked at me in confusion. "So... are you a mom?"

I softly laughed. "No, only a female can be a mom. If I had a kid, I would be a dad, but I don't have one right now. Your mom and dad are called 'parents'."

"Interesting. I guess my only parents are my researchers and my caretaker," she pondered solemnly. "What's your mom like?"

"She's our leader," I explained. "She keeps the rebels in our city safe and she's brilliant. She's also very loving and kind and helps everyone she can. She taught me how fear isn't something you need to be afraid of. How it keeps you alive, and how arrogance gets you killed."

"That makes sense. Your mom sounds wonderful."

"She is. You'll love her when we get to the city."

Ali smiled. "I can't wait to meet her."

I returned her smile, and as I did, my stomach did little flips.

The hell?

I'd never had that happen before. Maybe I ate something weird.

No, that couldn't be right. I just had a sandwich. Wait a minute. Is this what Arrow felt towards a girl? If it is, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?

My racing thoughts stopped as Ali's grin slowly fell.

"Will they only see me as a military monster?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Not once they meet you and see how amazing you are," I told her.

Ali's ears fell a tad. "I'm not a human, though. How could they ever accept a mutt? How did you?"

I reached over and took one of her hands and softly rubbed my thumb over the back of her soft hands. "Because, like I said. You're amazing, both sides of you. You should embrace both of them and be confident in yourself. There's probably a lot you could teach us so we can have an upper hand against the DOA. Don't try to fit in with us humans. We should really be fitting in with you."

Ali looked down at our hands. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

Ali wiped a tear that escaped and stood up, pulling me with her.

"Come on, I got some moves to show you."

The rest of the time in the meadow, Ali helped train me with more efficient punches and different defense strategies. She also taught me what I recognized as jujitsu. My Mother knew jujitsu, but she never got around to training me. I also learned not to get Ali mad with a knife in her hand. She was crazy talented at throwing them.

After I started getting tired of getting my ass whooped, we walked more into the forest, where Ali took some throwing knives from the van to catch some rabbits for dinner. They found some logs to sit on, and I made a fire and cooked my portion while Ali ate hers.

"I wish I was like you," I confessed.

Ali's eyes widened slightly as she looked towards me and away from the raging fire. "Why?"

"You're just so powerful, and I wish I had those crazy senses that you have."

Ali shrugged. "Eh, they aren't that great, but I'll accept your

compliment."

Ali's ear suddenly straightened up, as well as her body, and she looked out into the forest. Something was wrong.

"Paws?-"

"Shh," she hushed. "Someone's here."

She was right. A branch crack exposed the intruders as they shot out of the bushes, running straight at us.

We were ambushed.