Flower in the Rubble.

  "Be sure to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight, for daylight savings!" The news anchor spoke in a chipper voice. Daisy looked down at her wrist as she adjust her watch. She stood up, stretched and head off to bed. 

 Daisy lived alone in a two bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood. Daisy was an introvert. She worked from home and rarely left. Tomorrow, was grocery day. Daisy would go as soon as the local stores opened, to avoid as many people as she could. Daisy slipped underneath her comforter and reached over to her alarm clock. She made sure to set the time ahead to insure she wouldn't over sleep. Once the clock was set, Daisy laid her head down and soon she drifted off to sleep.

  Beep, beep, beep!

 Daisy reaches over and turned off her noisy alarm clock. She slowly got up and began getting ready for her grocery trip. Daisy showered, got dressed and enjoyed her breakfast. She slipped on her shoes and gave herself a once over in her mirror. Grabbing her purse and keys she headed for the front door.

 Daisy locked her front door and headed towards her car. She hit to unlock on her key but didn't hear her car give the small usual beep it gives when unlocking. Snapping her head up Daisy seen her driveway was empty, her car was missing. Daisy began to frantically look around and it was then she took in her surroundings.

 Her neighborhood was in ruins. some houses were burnt down to ash and others were reclaimed by nature. The cement of the road and sidewalk were cracked with plants and weeds pushing up through it. The only sound Daisy could hear were nearby birds chirping. 

 "Hello?!" Daisy timidly called out, only to be returned by silence. Daisy turned back towards her house. It was now a pile of rubble.

 "How?" Daisy whispered to herself. Her safe haven, that she was just inside of was now a pile of crumbling bricks. 

 Daisy was about to have a panic attack until she heard shuffling and voices. Daisy looked around for a place to hide. Her once well trimmed bushes were now wild and over grown on the side of her house, they would have to due. Daisy was able to hide between two of the over grown bushes. She watched as a group of men walked down the crumbling road. They would stop and wait while two or three guys from the group would enter a house, probably to loot it. The group of men slowly made their way down the road. Daisy counted seven men as she continued to hide. 

 Once the men were now in the road directly in front of Daisy's house, she noticed it. They were not men, well not human men. They were tall, bulky and covered in fur! They looked to be part animal, each one different. Daisy held her breath as one of them sniffed the air. He looked like a wolf just with human characteristics and walking on two legs. The wolf-man looked towards Daisy's house.

"Do you smell that?" The wolf-man asked.

"Smell what? It's probably nothing." A tiger-man replied.

"No, it smells like a..." the wolf trailed off.

"Come on, let's just finish this run." A lizard-man suggested. 

 The group began to continue down the road. Daisy released her breath. She was great full they didn't notice her. The group started moving on a little quicker. Daisy decided she would just have to wait it out unless she wanted to take her chances with these animal men. 

 Sure they looked hot and something you would read in a fantasy-romance but Daisy hated crowds. They sucked the life out of her. Daisy was lost in thought until she felt something tickle her bare arm. Looking down Daisy panicked. A giant spider was crawling down her arm. Daisy shrieked, smacking the arachnid off as she jumped out of the bushes. She quickly began whipping her whole body down trying to rid herself of the creepy crawly feeling. 

 Once she calmed down, Daisy noticed she completely blew her cover. All seven animal-men were standing around looking at her. Daisy couldn't read their expressions. Not sure what else to do, Daisy tried to back away. She looked at each one, they were dressed very similar to each other. Worn out jeans with a brown cloak, some had on plain t-shirts and some didn't. 

 The tiger-man stood straight ahead from Daisy. He had large green eye that stood out against his orange fur. Daisy's eyes trailed down to his shirtless chest. His body was built like a man, minus the fur. He had orange and black fur with a white patch that trail down past his waist line. To his left was a white rabbit. He reminded Daisy of the rabbit from 'Alice in Wonderland.' Daisy noticed he was well covered, unlike the tiger. She then looked down at his tapping foot. He had bare feet that looked just like a rabbit's. Next to the rabbit was a fox. It made Daisy wonder how two natural born enemies could stand so close to each other. The fox was dressed similar to the rabbit; as Daisy studied him, he pulled his hood off. The fox tried to give Daisy a smile but all it did was cause her to gasp and slowly back away.

 Daisy held out her trembling hands, "I don't want any trouble." She spoke in a shaky voice. Daisy took another step back until her back hit a brick wall. A fury brick wall. Daisy jumped and spun around. Staring down at her was the wolf-man. He had light grey fur and bright blue eyes.

 "Hello doll, where have you been hiding?" The wolf asked.

 "In the bush?" Daisy said with a quivering lip.

 The wolf shook his head and chuckled. "No doll, where were you hiding when the war happened?"

"War?" Daisy asked. Sure troops were over seas but the war was over there, not here in her neighborhood.

"Where were you when they bombed us?" The lizard-man asked. 

"Bomb?" Daisy turned to look at him. He was dressed warmer the the others. Probably due to being the only cold blooded animal out of the group. His green skin and yellow eyes were mesmerizing. 

 "Yes, the bombs filled with nuclear waste. The ones that either killed you or mutated you.... well obviously you weren't affected." A bear-man spoke with envy.

 "I see what's going on... I'm dreaming." Daisy laughed. "I must of set my clock wrong and I'm still sleeping. I will wake up any minute and..."

 "Pinch yourself," a raccoon-man suggested. "This isn't a dream."

 Daisy looked down at her arm and back towards the raccoon. She shrugged pinched herself. Daisy's eyes widened. There was no way she should of felt that. How could a war happen over night and her house and neighborhood be in rubble? How could talking animal men be real?

 "Look," rat-man said pointing up.

Daisy looked up but couldn't see anything. The sun was starting to set and the warmth of spring began to fade with it. 

 "How? Isn't it early morning still?" Daisy asked to no one in particular.

 "Ha! No, we have been out scavenging for hours." The wolf-man scoffed.

 "We better go before it gets dark." The raccoon-man reminded his comrades.

 "Come on doll," the tiger said reaching his hand out towards Daisy. 

 "I'm not coming with you!" Daisy objected.

 "Trust me, you don't want to be left alone when once the sun sets." Rabbit-man tried explaining.

 Daisy felt an uneasiness set in. She didn't know these guys and they were animal-men. Part of her wanted to trust them but the other part was shouting "stranger danger!" in her head. Daisy needed a way out of this situation and fast. 

 "Oh I will be fine.... I uh, just need to find my car." Daisy tried to excuse herself.

 "Hahaha! A car? Doll, a car won't get you anywhere!" The tiger-man boasted. "You see this road? A car can't drive down it." 

 "Hell, I don't think a working car even exists anymore." The wolf-man added.

 "What's your name?" The fox asked. 

 Daisy was hesitant but figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him. "Daisy."

 "Daisy," the fox repeated, enjoying the way her name rolled off his tongue. "Daisy what year is it?"

 "2020," Daisy spoke unsure of where the fox was going with his question.

 "2020!" The bear growled, "it ain't 2020! It's 3001!"

 "What?" Daisy asked, she was feeling a little light headed.

 "Look, we will explain everything but first we need to get back to camp before night fall." The fox replied.

 "Best idea I heard yet." The raccoon-man sarcastically remarked.

 "But..." Daisy began to protest, she lost her balance and the world went dark around her.

 Daisy awoken to a scrapping sound. Her body stiffened with fright. She slowly opened her eyes, without moving see looked around at her surroundings. She was in a dimly lite room, it was large and reminded Daisy of her high school's gym. She slowly sat up and noticed the group of animal-men were standing on guard around the room. The scrapping noise continued. Daisy slowly climbed out of the makeshift bed and to her feet. The tiger was closest to her. She watched as he slowly brought a finger up to his lips, signaling for her to stay quiet. Daisy made her way towards the tiger, she wanted to know what was making the scrapping sound. 

 As Daisy opened her mouth to speak a loud deathly shriek came from outside. It was so loud and blood curdling, Daisy tried to cover her ears to block it out. The scrapping sound stopped and once it started again it slowly faded away. Daisy noticed the tiger was now at ease.

 "What was that," Daisy whispered as quietly as possible. 

 "The scream belonged to a mockery, they usually mimic loved ones to lure people outside so they can kill and eat them." The tiger whispered, "they shriek when they are hungry." 

 Daisy nodded, "and the thing making the scrapping sound?" 

 "Let's just say you don't want to know about that." The wolf-man answered, startling Daisy a bit. "It must of smelt her, we never had one right outside before."

 "What is it? I think I deserve to know." Daisy demanded still whispering.

 "We don't know exactly, we just call them nightmares." The tiger answered. "They come out only at night. You see there was a war in 2025. Asia vs. Europe vs. North America. Everyone was bombing everyone. One bomb they dropped had chemical waste or something in it that transformed people. Some into monsters that can only come out at night and others into animals. The monsters killed a lot of us off."

 "That's why raccoon man was in a hurry to come back?" Daisy asked.

 "Raccoon man?" The raccoon asked as he approached the small group.

 Daisy blushed, "I don't know your names so I just have been calling you by what animal you are."

 "Hmmm? Well my name is Rocco." The raccoon said stretching out his hand to Daisy.

 Daisy giggled, "nice to meet you Rocco the raccoon." 

 Rocco just shrugged, "I can't be offended if I don't know what a raccoon is."

 "I'm Theo," the tiger introduced himself. "And that's Jacob." Theo gestured to the wolf.

 Daisy tried to hold in her laugh while looking at Jacob.

 "What's so funny?" Jacob asked, wondering what was so amusing.

 "Well your a wolf named Jacob." Daisy stated, noticing he didn't understand she explained. "About 90 years ago you were every teenage girls dream. There was a big movie and either you were team Jacob the wolf or team Edward the vampire. Wait. Are vampires real?"

 "No," Jacob quickly responded, he wore a look of pride.

 "Come and meet the rest of us," Theo suggested.

Daisy smiled and agreed. She wasn't sure why but she felt comfortable around them. Probably because they looked like they came out of a furry convention. "That's Simon," Theo said pointing over towards the lizard. He gave Daisy a smile showing his teeth. Daisy was second guessing if he was an alligator and not a lizard.

 "Next we have Benjamin or Ben for short." Theo gestured towards the rabbit. Daisy gave a painful smile, she was dying inside trying to keep herself from gushing over his fluffy ears. "That's Bruce." Theo continued. The bear gave a nod, "nice to meet you." He mumbled.

 "Nice to meet you too," Daisy smiled timidly. 

 "I'm Red,” the fox introduced himself. “So are you planning on staying with us?”

 Daisy hadn’t thought about that. She hadn’t had time to think of much since leaving her house. Looking around at the animal men. Daisy could tell they were wondering what her plan was just as much as herself. 

 “Well.... I haven’t thought of that. For now I think I will stay with you.” Daisy said.