AFM

"The Animal Freedom Militia (AFM) Cordially invites Mr. Frederick Gibbons To stop working for Malarek Research Because next time we'll kill you! P.S. We know where your children live too!"

- The note left by the women who attacked Fred Gibbons The Animal Freedom Militia, also known as the AFM, are major villains in the CHERUB book Man Vs Beast. They are a group of radical animal rights activists who use violence to try and shut down animal testing company Malarek UK.

History
When Ryan Quinn, the first animal liberationist, was arrested for an arson attack against Malarek UK's lab, Malarek was granted an increase in profits by the government. Two days later, chairman Fred Gibbons and his wife were attacked in their home by four women with baseball bats, who fractured his skull and left a warning with the above quote. Eleven more attacks on employees followed, including a banker who gave Malarek a loan having acid thrown into his face and a delivery man having his house burned down. Ryan Quinn distanced himself from these attacks, saying that the Zebra Alliance, his group, was non-violent.

In Man Vs Beast
At the start of the book, two AFM members attack Malarek worker Christine Pierce and her oldest son Andy, blinding Christine with enamel paint and busting Andy's nose, before spraying graffiti on the house and leaving. The attack was reported as being the latest in a spree of attacks by the AFM.

A mission was later launched against them by CHERUB, an intelligence group founded by Charles Henderson that uses children as agents because criminals never suspect that children are spying on them. Once in the Avon area, where the attacks are taking place, and where Malarek's lab is, agents James Adams and Kyle Blueman ingratiate themselves with activists Tom and Viv Carter, who support the AFM and think the Zebra Alliance are "La-Di-Dah Guardian reader mango heads scared of their own goddamn snot". They later meet up with Viv's girlfriend Sophie, who has links to a group of animal rights extremists. James, Sophie and Viv then perform an attack on a supermarket (possibly ordered by the AFM) where they throw paving slabs through the window and spray-paint "MEAT IS MURDER" on the wall. Tom and Viv later agreed to work with the Animal Freedom Army after meeting with the AFM leader Rhiannon Jules, who dissolved the AFM to create the AFA. James and Kyle also agreed to join in order to infiltrate it. Many former members of the AFM were later charged as a result of the infiltration, including the men who attacked Christine Pierce.