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He knew that the outside air should've choked him dead. Normally, without an oxygen mask he would've taken one breathe of toxic atmosphere and that would be it. But he had no breath to take. The government had taken that from him.

"How have you survived this long?" Tom said after a moment, to the creature sat beside him. The fox only gave him an incredulous look in return; How would I know?

He stretched out a hand and ran his fingers through the silken hair, letting it tickle his palm. Then he pushed his hand down down as far it would go, till he hit the solid wall of the fox's skin. Real. All real.

"Another of the governments twisted experiments then, I presume. You know they have the nerve to call that place the forest?" Tom's eyes glassed over as he spoke. It was as though he'd stirred up unwanted memories.

"Anyway. I need to get home. To make sure that everything's is as it should be. You coming or not?"

Though logic told him that this was a hungry, proven-to-be-violent fox, he had no choice but to trust her. He couldn't possibly remember the way home so maybe, just maybe, the fox could trace his family scent.

"Here smell this; trace it to my brother." He bowed to let the animal sniff at his shirt.

In a swift movement the fox tore a chunk off. "That was my favourite jumper," Tom said sourly, ignoring the fact it was the only one he had worn for the past and 4 years 3 months and 1 day. He'd been counting.

The fox started walking ahead, instinct leading the way. Tom followed. Walking on the desert sand meant that he occasionally would trip over a dried root or rock; dispersing the dirt below.

It wasn't until the tablets Tom worn off completely, that he realised the true magnitude of his situation. It was strange for Tom- talking to a real life animal. But he felt more able to talk to the fox than he did with the facility workers and he was glad of the company.

In reflection Tom barely knew who he was anymore, having had 4 years of his life snatched away from him. He felt lifeless and empty like the carcass of a badger. One that you used to find on the edge of the road.

All those books he'd read in the Forest Facility had made him feel less alone for a while. It didn't matter whether they were in a different language or not. It didn't matter how many words were scribbled or burned away because they were 'inappropriate.' Something is always better than nothing. His favourites were the dictionaries.

Learning the words to label things made him feel more real. Because he could identify the world outside of his containment pod, he should must be able to fit in there somewhere. But now there was just silent anticipation and the blood red sun.

Abruptly the fox stopped, ears twitching violently as if she could hear something. But there was nothing in sight.

The fox shook violently and collapsed. Tom ran over to her. Dehydration he thought as the fox was contracted into a ball of fur. The tiny body jolted with sporadic convulsions.

Tom tried to pin the fox down, to stop her from moving but she leapt up then bolted towards the nearest rock, before collapsing once again, behind it. It'll need some sort of liquid he thought Or my way to get home will be ruined.

Reluctantly, he offered his wrist to the fox - blood being the only clean liquid he had. Though the fox ignored him. "Take it for god's sake. Before I change my mind!" He cursed the fox for being so stupid and went to guide her mouth to his wrist. But her jaws were locked in place.

Throwing his hands up in frustration, Tom noticed a clump of orange hair that fell from them. When he looked back at the fox, he noticed the bald patches on her leg and shoulder.

He moved in closer and saw that the fox was losing her hair before his very eyes, like a snake shedding its skin. Tom backed away, relenting and thinking he was going to throw up.

*

This is too much. I'll have to travel on my own.

He turned to leave. But something stopped him. A groaning, morphing into a language more comprehensible.

"Tom?" Someone spoke to him. He shook his head, trying to wear off further drowsiness caused by the drug consumption. "Tom!" It said again. The sound emanated from behind the rock.

"What do you want from me? What are you?" he asked, scratching his head and wiping the sweat from his eyes. Tom moved closer to the rock. The burdened groans grew more intense and then went silent. He prepared himself to see the fox's lifeless body. "Oh god..."

"Oh god? Excuse me. You don't exactly look like a vision of beauty yourself!" Tom squinted. What was that? From behind the rock a figure emerged- biologically female and gesturing to Tom.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Tom said through his daze.

"That makes two of us then," she said whilst Tom hooded a hand over his eyes, in order to get a better look at the person in front of him.

When the reality of the figure became clearer Tom felt his cheeks burn. She sat on the dry ground, all that covered her was the long hair that hung over her breasts.

Tom coughed and averted his eyes.

The girl frowned in response and groaned as she realised her clothes must've been left in the cell pod. "Give me your jumper?"

"No. I don't even know who you are!"

"If you weren't a massive creep you'd give me your jumper."

Frowning, Tom shrugged off his jumper then gave it to her.

"Come on Tom. Don't be a sourpuss!" said the girl as she put on his long jumper. That was when he truly saw her.

"Kate! Is that you?" He blinked in shock.

"Correct. That took you long enough!" She said, after struggling to get up and hug him. Tom was careful not to show how glad to see another person he was. So he quickly hugged her back.

 "How did you get out here?"

"No idea. It hurts though. Thank hell I did. I'm so glad to see you."

Tom searched behind Kate for the dead fox but all that remained of its presence was a few strands of hair.

"What are you staring at?"

Tom began, deciding that Kate felt too real against him to be a hallucination. "You were a fox, Kate. There's no other explanation. What did they do to you?"

"A what?" Kate avoided the latter question, she didn't want to recall the nurse or the itchiness of her skin or the single image in her head; a face drowned in glimmering blood.

"You were a fox. You know those dog like creatures with orange fur and white beards?"

Kate scratched her head. Her knowledge of extinct animals was sketchy. The government discouraged that sort of research. "Nope. Never heard of 'em." The vastness of the desert became apparent when her gaze shifted away from Tom. She whistled. "If only I knew where I am."

"You did. You were leading us home, as a fox. "

"Right because as well as being a fox I can magically find my way home! Of course. Why did I not realise this before?" Kate said sarcastically.

"Deny it all you want but they did something messed up to you in there, even worse than the plant DNA modification."

"No." Kate squeezed her eyes shut, trying to forcefully push away her doubt. "It must've been the drugs they were getting us to take- they were making your head go to mush!"

"You weren't human, Kate."

"Shut up." Tom was beginning to tire of Kate's attitude already.

"I preferred you as a fox. At least then we could've got home."

"I said shut up." Kate growled, and put her hands over her mouth when she heard herself do so. Tom backed off, not wanting to get himself hurt. Taking in a reflexive but pointless deep breath she resigned and said "What is it we need to do to get home?"

"Smell my jumper, like you did before. It might be able to lead us to my brother."

Kate sniffed the item he had given her and picked up a distant scent, to her dismay. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her attention on it, holding the odour in her mind. It was warm and smelled papery.

She began to test the smell in different directions. Tom's scent was stronger to the North and so pointed them in that very direction like a compass.

With confidence Kate went to walk but her legs gave way under the heavy weight of her seventeen-year-old body. She stumbled to the ground. But she picked herself back up again before Tom could see the pain she was in.

The sand ahead was grooved with the pulsations of weather. Occasionally the wind would whisper in Kate's ear so that she was forced to remember her breathlessness. She no longer felt the tickle of air on her upper lip from her once expanding and contracting lungs. They did nothing now. They just sat inside her now as slabs of meat, covered by a rack of ribs as if her body was hiding a secret, embarrassed of itself.

For two hours they must have travelled. Images of what had happened and how they had escaped filtered through the hole in her mind. One thing that continued to disturb her was the image of blood, and the slight iron taste of it that lingered in her mouth.

By now Kate's shoe-less feet were scorching. Only adding to the pain of every step she took.

"Hanyauku," Tom commented. Kate shunted her elbow into his side. "Ouch. It means you're walking on your tiptoes on hot sand. Stupid. Your feet will only be hotter that way."

"Well some of us didn't have time to think about what we'd be wearing before we escaped." Kate snapped, making sure Tom felt guilty for not being more grateful.

He stopped and knelt down. "Get on."

"No," Kate walked past Tom, trying to conceal her pain.

Ignoring her reply, Tom grabbed her, shoving her onto his shoulders. Kate let her muscles relax as she leant on Tom's head. But she wouldn't dare tell him that she was relieved to be able to rest.

*

After another passing hour the sand flattened out beneath Tom's feet and turned to dry grey ground. Kate removed herself from Tom's back. For the scent was strong now. She took another sniff to confirm it.

"We're almost there."

Ahead, something shimmered green and they stopped to read the sign beside them. Many years ago it had read The Lake District, but now words were crossed out and others replaced them. Instead it read The District of Lakes.

Tom went to adjust his oxygen mask as he stared at the sign, a reflex. He looked at his empty hand in dismay, half hoping to find something there. He put his hand down as soon as he noticed Kate was watching him.

"Tom. I know how you-"

"Don't," he cut her off and walked past the sign. Tom was colder than he had been four years ago.

Authors note- Things are getting interesting. Kate and Tom have been reuinited. I wonder what's happened to Kate and Tom's hometown? You'll have to wait till next week to find out! Please do comment and vote I really would love to know what you guys think. -hippywitch