The year is 2,118.

Catherine Harris has just been elected for her sixth

term in the presidential office.

The world is in chaos.

Twenty years ago, Mrs. Catherine Harris gained the title of the fifth woman president of the United States of America. In the years before Harris became the President, she established a large number of people loyal to her in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now, with Congress in the palm of her hand, Harris set out to change the Constitution. She eliminated the Bill of Rights by changing them to only protect those who were not considered a danger to the United States. Of course, the entire public had the possibility of being a danger to their fellow man. With this complete, Congress passed an amendment that required all citizens to have an electronic identification tag implanted in their wrist. The identification tag stated only the person’s name, job, previous crimes, and IQ.

Slowly, those with trivial jobs were sent to manual labor camps, and money was eliminated. Instead, everyone was given a meal card to be used at the local grocery stores and a place to live according to their intelligence and vocation. People with important careers such as surgeons and politicians lived in the lap of luxury, while farmers and sales clerks were given very little. Even children were not immune to the President. They were submitted to tests every year, regardless of age. Those that did not reach expectations were not allowed continue their education and instead were sent away from their families to labor camps. Those who continued their education had careers chosen for them.

Needless to say, people are revolting.

However, the USA is flourishing under Harris' rule. The economy is booming, and Harris has no qualms with renovating public places, even those in the labor camps, as well as charity organizations. A large percentage of the population agrees with Harris' ideals because of this.

Ironically, those children who exceeded expectations were also taken away, this time to research labs. Their brains were modified and surgically improved to allow them to be far more intelligent as well as more athletic. They were enhanced and trained to be perfect assassins. At first, this was as far as the scientists funded by Catherine Harris went. However, at Harris’ urging, they branched out. Slowly and painstakingly, they melded the minds of the already superior children to the minds of animals. Many of the first attempts failed. However, the successful experiments were observed to take on the mannerisms of the animals ‘linked’ to them, and vice versa. Humans linked to predators developed a predatory nature, and those linked to prey acquired the flight and camouflage responses that their linked animals had.

Upon further experiments, the newly dubbed Linked were able to fully ‘communicate’ with the animal connected to their brain. However, upon questioning, it became apparent that communication was not the only effect. The mind of the human and animal had effectively ‘melded’ together, leaving only one mind for the two beings to share. The link was rudimentary, and it was more like two minds shoved into one than a seamless link. However, the human interests were dominant. Needless to say, President Harris was both intrigued and ecstatic at the news. Active FBI and CIA agents, as well as the police, were, in this way, crudely linked to the minds of vicious dogs. However, this did not completely satisfy Harris, for she aimed for an elite assassin.

In time, the scientists were able to surgically induce acute intelligence into the mind of chosen animals before linking them with much more skill to the already trained children and teens. The result was amazing. It was a different sort of link: one which allowed both animal and human to keep their own minds. However, there was a small thread of a link between the minds. It allowed aimed communication and nothing else to pass from the human's brain to the animal's brain and vice versa. Human and animal were partners, with the same predator or prey instincts and close personalities.

These experiments were locked away for research purposes only, and the scientists moved on. They were no use to President Harris- after all, they catered to their own purposes and not hers. So, the scientists became psychologists. They slowly brainwashed the next batch of children into almost mindless followers of President Harris. However, the first attempt was not entirely successful. The children were brainwashed properly, but everything went wrong after they were Linked to animals. The animals projected scenes of cruelty from the labs into the minds of the experiments, essentially turning them against the labs funded by Harris and all that they represented. In a spurt of devious planning that went unnoticed by both the scientists and psychologists, the new Linked organized an escape with the Linked that had been locked away for research purposes. The older Linked, already responding to the animals' flight responses, jumped at the chance. With their intelligence and strength, the mob of Linked pairs rather easily overpowered the FBI agents that guarded the labs.

Over the course of months, almost every single Linked pair broke out of the 14 laboratories that were stationed in different states of the US. They quickly disappeared, and the psychologists were forced to admit that their methods had failed. Harris was furious, and, needless to say, a new crop of psychologists were found and more Linked were made. Over the years, over a hundred successful and loyal Linked pairs were made. In the year of 2,118, all of the Linked were released on a training mission: hunt down the rebel Linked and exterminate them.

In this time of mayhem and bloodshed,

who will you

protect?

What will you give: your life,

or your freedom?