.. please, Emily... Please take them away…” he weeped. He could barely see past the tears as his now large torso convulsed in his sobs.“Please f...nish your food allotment before the designated time. This has been a message from Inglestoff, bringing your imagination to life!” a cheery recorded voice crackled over their home speaker. Emily grabbed an empty container that had housed nutrition cubes and threw it towards the lone speaker at the end of the room. The plastic box clattered as it banged. He watched the girl's approach and knew her from the time before. There was youth and vivacious beauty in her movements, his inimitable instincts told him. Earlier, he had stalked the house of the brutish man who had so cruelly hurt him. Then, he had intuitively moved toward this old house where people had once lived. There, he waited, a mysterious and indefinable power advising him of the oncoming girl and her relationship to the man and the town he had sworn his animal vengeance. His glass was set just next to the couch and his drink of choice was poured neatly inside it. When the bottle was stashed away Hailey beamed and knelt down to the floor. Her tail draped over her calf and she curled up against the couch, eyes on the door, bottom swishing gently as she anticipated his arrival.She heard her phone buzz from across the room and perked up immediately. Her body was brimming with excitement, barely contained inside her. It was when the click of the card opening the. There had been only the one crook in the room with us, but there were two doors leading out of the room. Now what? Well, Liz and I had already worked out an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for this sort of situation. We attacked the door on our right. She led the way to that door while I kept an eye on the other door. Dividing my attention like that was difficult and might become fatal at some point, but we had no other option.This door opened into the room. That made it a little more.