D. Because it applies that it would be lame to be the only one left. So you should follow your friends.
The answer is 'colluded', because it means that they schemed to do it secretly. The other options aren't possible here, and most of them are adjectives, and you need a verb.
The answer is B: Less than a decade ago, the HSUS...an affiliate [Human Society International].
Brackets are used to give the writers (when they need to add information) an opportunity to add an explanation, or emphasis to a word, or change a <em>quote to fit to a sentence, but without changing the meaning of the text</em>. In A) <em>global work</em> doesn't need explanation; C) <em>decade</em> doesn't need explanation; D) <em>HSUS</em> was already explained in the first sentence of the text.
To survive and not getting in trouble and trying to find his way home
