FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Crowing", in closeup By Socks (on commission) (C) 2016 Socks Furrotica

Ed tapped his fingers on the car roof impatiently. He kept looking left, then right, then left. He then backed from the curb and let out a long, angry sigh. "Relax, Ed." a voice said from inside the vehicle. "You look like bacon bait."

Ed placed his arms on the car roof and leaned his head into the open passenger window. "This whole thing stinks. The whole thing!" Ed looked nervously down the mostly empty street again. "We're getting set up."

"Just calm down." The man behind the drivers seat inhaled from his cigarette slowly, leaning back a little to exhale. "So he's a little late, it's no big deal."

"It's not that." Ed said, rocking his thin body against the car to burn nervous energy off. "The fox never works with humans. Never. He pinches a credstick so hard it has fingerprint ridges. Then he hires us both to drive something from a mouse? I'm telling ya Joe this is bigger than what he's payin' us."

"Everything is bigger than they pay us." Joe the ash out the window, crossing his arms. "Just chill, you're making me nervous."

"You wearing a Hawaiian shirt out here makes me nervous." the thin man pushed off the car, leaving the driver to shrug. "If this isn't a setup... we can do better."

Joe lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Ed. "I think we're doing just fine now." Something caught his eye in the rear view mirror. "And I think we've got company." Ed snapped his head to look behind the car and saw what looked like a homeless man approaching them. The man looked small, wore a tattered hoodie with the hood over his head, a backpack, and what barely passed for denim pants. Even from the distance they could both see the large, rounded ears on his head and the thin tail almost dragging behind him. "Just pick it up and we'll roll." Joe casually turned the key to the engine and let it idle.

Ed growled under his breath, looking up and down the street the foot traffic was light, almost no cars, no obvious drones or helicopters. It was about as good as it would get. He approached the short vagrant aggressively.

"Please! Mouse not want trouble! Mouse just..."

"you have it?" Ed said it as a statement, not a question.

Mouse's whiskers trembled, and he nodded as he took off his backpack. "Mouse has." Mouse looked down to adjust the straps. He didn't see Ed pull the pistol out from his belt line. Ed hit the body of the gun on the side of Mouse's skull, causing the anthro to collapse unconscious.

*Fuck.*

Ed grabbed the backpack, and ran back to the vehicle. Joe watched him in the mirror in disbelief. Ed opened the passenger side door. "DRIVE!"

"wha?"

"JUST FUCKING DRIVE!" Ed screamed as he slammed the car door behind him. Joe floored the accelerator, and the car roared off into the city streets.

"Why did you do that?" Joe yelled as he drove towards the North side of town

"Whatever is in here has to be worth more than the few hundred we're getting paid!" Ed said. "So here's the new plan. We drive this out of Cali, we go to Vegas."

"VEGAS?" Joe threw a hand in the air with incredulity. "That's assuming we don't get killed by every roamer from here to there!"

"Urban legend, never gonna happen." Ed said. "We drive to Vegas. Once there I get in touch with Disco. Disco can fence anything. We split it with him, you get to go to Brazil, I get to go to Hawaii."

"Oh yeah, now you don't wanna go to Brazil with me?" Joe's accent began to show a little more as he got more agitated.

"I'll meet up with you there like a few months from now!" Ed said. "Look we separate, let the heat die down, and then we bask on the beaches!"

"If we have something we can fence!" Joe said. "You don't know what's in there!"

"Ok, ok, ok...." Ed repeated over and over quickly. He let it drift as he tapped his fingers on the dashboard nervously. "Ok, head back to my place. We'll have a look there while I'm getting my stuff. Then we go to your place to get your stuff.

Joe shook his head angrily. "Fine. But if I die in this so help me God I'll kill you." Ed barely acknowledged the comment as he glanced nervously at the roads for any sign of problems. They drove quietly but directly to Ed's apartment. Joe found an empty spot on the street blocks away, and parked. They quickly ran to the run down building an up the stairs.

Ed unlocked the door to his apartment, throwing the backpack he took from Mouse on the floor roughly. "This won't take long, I don't have much."

"Just hurry up, I don't want to sit too long." Joe said nervously. "You're gonna get us both killed."

"Relax!" Ed said, trying to sound confident. "I got this one." He stuffed clothing into a canvas duffel bag, as well as his charging stations and his laptop. "Besides, did you see any cops following us? No." He dropped Mouse's backpack next to his duffle. "Wanna see what we got?"

"This better be worth trashing my rep." Joe said.

"You don't have a rep. Why do you think I like you?" Ed picked up the backpack, unzipping it fully. He pulled out a metallic box and looked it over. "I guess it just pulls open?" Ed pulled on the top, and it came detached from the box. Inside were four tubes. "Well, we got something here!"

"Ok, so what do we got?" Joe asked with his arms crossed. "Chips full of stuff?"

"I don't know." Ed said. He looked at a tube, and saw it had a pull top as well. He pulled it off, and looked inside. "Huh?" He held it up over his head to look down the pipe through the ceiling light. "There's nothing in it."

"Nothing?" Joe took out a tube, and opened it as well. He looked down it, and caught a sharp scent which he sniffed cautiously. "Smells like flowers. You killed someone over fucking incense?"

"The mouse isn't dead. He'll be fine." Ed covered the tube he was holding and put it back into it's package as Joe did the same. "Let's just take it to Vegas. Disco might know a guy who knows a guy."

"You got gas money?" Joe asked. Ed nodded, reaching into a cabinet to pull out a wad of papercash. "How long you had that?"

"Long enough." Ed reassembled everything, put it back into the backpack and closed it up. "Let's get to your place." They walked down the stairs and got to the street. They started in the direction of their vehicle when Joe stopped.

"My car." Joe said. Ed looked over quizzically. "Yours is dirty. We drive mine." Ed shrugged, and they walked the opposite direction to another street. "Actually, I don't think I need anything, I'm good. We'll just get the car and go."

"Traveling light?" Ed asked with a nervous laugh.

"We're going to need to." Joe said. "You've never driven the Vegas highway, have you?"

"No." Ed said.

"I have." Joe said. "I just hope your urban legends don't show up." Ed just nodded. "And I don't see any air coverage tonight, so we're also gonna have to run dark."

"Air coverage?" Ed asked.

"Police choppers." Joe said. "They scare the roamers off the highways." Joe reached in his pocket for his keys. "I mean thats the only helicopter I've seen all night." Ed looked up to the lone dark helicopter roaming the sky. "There's a reason I'm always driving. Toss it in the back seat and get in." Ed shrugged as the door unlocked.

Joe fired up the engine and turned on pop radio. Ed tried to say something, but Joe gave him a dirty look which silenced him. They drove without speaking for half an hour until they reached near the edge of the city. "We need to top up here." Joe said as he unlocked the trunk. He removed a plastic gas can, and set it down. "Go in, give 'em a hundred." Ed felt the blood drain from his face. "Do you wanna make it or not? You'll get change, just stay with him. And grab something food wise, gonna be a long trip." Ed shrugged, going into the store.

The man behind the counter half watched Ed from behind his glass barrier. Ed slipped a bill under the tray, and the man opened up the gas pump. As Joe filled the tank, Ed looked at the small TV the cashier was watching. "What the hell is going on?"

"No clue." the man said through the speaker. "But Chan 8 has been covering this lockdown. It's crazy, man." Ed couldn't make out the screen very well, but he could see what looked like police barricades on a city street. He leaned in to try to make out details on the old, worn out screen, but really couldn't. He shrugged to himself, and walked through the gas station to buy some food bags and water.

"All that?" the cashier asked. Ed nodded. "You're not making the run tonight, are you?"

"Naw, we're leaving in the morning." Ed said, trying to sound smooth as he rung things out.

"Caravan at 9 if you wanna grab it." the cashier said. "Don't be late." He slid a bag under the glass along with Ed's change.

"We're good." Ed said, bagging up his things. He quickly made his way out to the car where Joe was already sitting. Joe had a funny pair of goggles on his head, but not over his eyes. "Water, food, and your gut bomb."

"Gonna need this." Joe said, opening the energy drink can. Without another word, Joe plugged himself into the vehicle with his wrist interface, turned the engine over and put the car into drive. They drove to the highway, and Joe turned off the headlights. With a swift motion, he lowered the goggles over his eyes and switched them on. "Hang on." He swerved the car off the road, drifting it on the gravel before straightening it out on the road. "Spikes. Keeps most people off the highway at night."

"How many times have you done this?" Ed asked, gripping his seat tightly.

"Enough." Joe said. "Now shut up and let me drive, this isn't easy." Ed nodded as Joe turned off the interior lights.

They drove in silence for what felt like hours. The city lights behind them faded more and more until they could actually see a few stars. As they drove, Ed felt his stomach start to cramp. Soon after, it got worse. He groaned, grabbing the dashboard as a stabbing pain ran through him.

"You ok?"

"No." Ed said. "I don't know man, my stomach is just... Feels like I gotta shit out the world."

"Hold it." Joe said.

Ed bit his lip, and groaned louder as the pain seared through him. "Faaaahhhhhhhk!" he screamed. "Can we pull over somewhere or something?"

"There's nowhere to go." Joe said angrily. "Can't you just like hold it or something?"

"I'm trying!" Ed snarled back. The drove for a few minutes, Ed clenching his stomach and making louder groans.

"God damn it." Joe said. He thought a moment as Ed groaned. "Ok, I know a building we can stop if it's still there. It's like fifteen minutes away. Can you hold it till then?"

"I'll try." Ed cringed. Joe cursed to himself, this would be risky, but he filled the cans for a reason. Ed clenched his body, feeling the cramping and stabbing pain run through his gut. In what felt like forever, Joe started driving off the paved road. Every rut and bump was pure agony to Ed. They eventually stopped at a darkened building. "Ok, go."

Ed stumbled out of the vehicle, and crawled ten feet before vomiting. He tried to get stable on his hands and knees, but without warning he felt his stomach churn. Ed groaned out something unintelligible, and his pants ballooned out before becoming unmistakably stained.

"Fuck." Joe said to himself. He scanned the horizon, and saw no signs of vehicles. He looked at the old building, an abandoned gas and service station that had been been picked clean decades ago. He pushed on the rolling door, and surprisingly it gave. He pulled up on the bottom, and the door rolled up with several loud creaks and groans. "Well whddya fucking know." He restarted the car, and backed it into the old building.

Ed was spitting, trying to clear the smell from his nostrils. When he was finally aware enough of his surroundings, he saw Joe leaning against the building. "Holy fuck." Ed panted out. "What the hell was in that food?"

Joe shook his head. "Here." He placed a few things on the ground in front of Ed. "Put the pants in the plastic bag, that'll get rid of the smell for a while. After ya foam up come into the garage. We'll figure out what to do later, we need to lay low for now." Ed just nodded, taking everything out of the pockets before sealing the pants in the plastic bag. He then used the cleaning foam on himself, mostly out of reflex.

Ed stumbled into the building. "Can't.... Oh fuck...." He lost control of himself and collapsed in the building. "Oh fuck.... oh fuck..." he repeated the vulgar mantra, taking in a sharp breath with every repeat. "Can't... fuck...." Ed closed his eyes as he felt his naked body sink into the dirty floor and he fell asleep.

Joe shook his head, unzipping his backpack. He calmly took out the supplies he needed for the night. As he slowly loaded the clips one round at a time, he scanned out the windows and made a heavy sigh. "This wasn't the plan." he said to himself. Joe shook his head, pushing the magazine into the grip of the handgun. He stared out the window for what felt like hours before exhaustion finally settled in and he fell asleep.

Ed woke up with a shock, his stomach felt like it was going to explode again. "uhh... oh... hell..." He stumbled out the door without thinking, the bright sunlight blinding him. He had no idea where he was going, other than outside. He felt his guts churn, then the uncomfortable sensation of his body expelling everything out his backside. He screamed in agony as his body forced everything out of him for what seemed like hours.

"What... the... fuck...." Ed tried to look behind him to the voice but he just didn't have the energy to do so. "You ok?"

"no." Ed grunted out.

"Clearly." Joe said. "Shit isn't black." Ed tried to figure out what Joe meant, but the constant body cramps made it hard to think. By the time he could stand up, he had left what looked like a black pool of oil on the ground behind him. He stood unsteadily on his feet, stumbling back to the abandoned garage without much other thought.

Joe followed him in, closing the door. "Wha.... what's happening?" Ed asked.

"I don't know." Joe said. "It wasn't the food, that never makes ya that sick. What the hell is in those tubes?"

"Nothing." Ed spit out. "It was empty. The fucking mouse probably stole whatever was in therrrrrr..." He let the word roll out of his mouth lazily. "Oh God, not again...." Ed stumbled at the door, fumbling to open it. His hands seemed to be useless for the task, but he managed to force his way out.

Joe was about to follow him when he saw something shift out of the corner of his eye. It was the plastic bag Ed put his soiled clothing in. Joe walked twords it slowly, putting a hand on the pistol grip. The bag seemed to be slowly collapsing, and as he got closer Joe could see that the clothing inside it had liquified. Inside was a black, oil like substance. "What... the....."

"AARRRRHHHHH!" Joe's thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream outside. Joe drew the gun and ran outside to see Ed on all fours. Ed had the black, oily substance on his face, and a pool of it behind him again. "Joe.... help...." Ed's body then stiffened up again as he seemed to vomit more of the black, oily substance into the dusty ground. Joe lowered his gun and watched Ed's skin pull tighter and tighter, giving Ed an almost ghoulish appearance. "ARRRAAAHHHHHHHH" The sound that came from Ed's mouth wasn't human.

Ed collapsed again, rolling onto his back. His breathing was heavy and raspy. Joe approached Ed slowly, holding his gun at the ready. Ed's skin was getting darker, shifting from it's normal pale to midnight black. His ass was still forcing out the black liquid, making Ed seem to deflate. Each exhale was getting harder, raspy. Ed looked up at Joe, trying to say something but seemingly unable to. Joe watched as Ed's eyes swirled with a black substance which covered them completely.

"What.... the...." Joe slowly said as he watched Ed's body changing before his eyes. Ed's body seemed to get smaller, losing mass at a disturbing speed. As it did, the black pool behind Ed kept getting larger as liquid poured out of Ed's ass.

Joe felt a burning sensation on his arms, mild at first, then it got uncomfortable. He looked and saw his skin was starting to develop bumps, hundreds of them. "No." he said, panic starting to set in. "No!" He backed away from Ed, who tried to reach out with his arm but it refused to flex properly. Joe backed away, and ran back to the abandoned garage slamming the door behind him.

Ed tried to scream out for help, but all that came out of his throat was a loud "CAW" sound. His hands and feet started to twist and bend, making cracking sounds that strangely didn't hurt. He saw his hands artificially bend at his wrist, fingers growing longer as they splayed along his arm. His feet began to push at an awkward angle, his heel elongating and his toes shifting and splaying out.

"Aaarr... aaaahh... arrr..." he rasped out each breath. He could feel his head crack and bend. The world distorted in his eyes, becoming wider, more panoramic. Colors seemed to shift slightly but his new perspective made it look like the world was spinning. His perspective of being so close to the gournd didn't help him figure out where the horizon was.

His skin began to burn as he could feel something alien pushing through his flesh. His whole body felt like it was being rubbed raw with sandpaper as something was being pushed out from his blackened flesh. He could also feel his mouth being forced open as what felt like a large cone was being shoved out of it. He opened his mouth and let out a loud cry.

Then nothing. It was over. He was laying on his back, panting hard. Ed tried to push onto his side, but his arms weren't working right. The range of motion was all wrong. He couldn't think, that's the problem, he's thinking too hard. He managed to roll onto his side, and get his feet under him. It strangely felt comfortable to stand. Walking, however, felt more like a waddle. He spread his arms to balance, finding them heavier than he remembered them being a few minutes ago.

He tried to look at himself with his weird perspective of the world. It didn't surprise him that he had feathers hanging off his arms... wings... Somehow, it felt natural. It was right. In fact, he should just relax now. He shook his body, the black oil substance spraying everywhere as he did. He spread his wings, shaking them. His tail feathers counterbalancing his puffed chest, yes this was good. This was right. He shouldn't fight the thoughts. The thoughts would tell him how to fly, they would tell him what to do.

Ed gyrated his body slowly, his wings spread, moving his feet slowly in a strange stretching dance. He craned his head back, yes this was good. The sky belonged to him and him now. The thoughts would tell him how to get there.

*ping*

Ed looked around, someone was here he needed to find. He flapped his wings, but couldn't get any lift. Confused, he tried a few more times before realizing that he just didn't have the strength yet. He would soon. He instead walked towards the building he felt the ping come from. The door was slightly open, so Ed pressed it open with his beak.

Once inside, he saw a human figure, hunched over a vehicle. It had red feathers cascading down it's back, turning to green and blue down it's arms. When he turned around, Ed could see the white feathers on it's face, as well as a curved beak. It made eye contact with Ed, and Ed felt the ping again.

"Ed?" the voice was inside Ed's head, not from his ears.

"Wha? How? Joe?" he thought.

"y... yeah." Joe looked at his hands, and the feathers that draped down his arms. "What... the hell happened?"

"Don't know." Ed thought. "How are we... how does this..."

"Don't know." Joe thought. "It was something in those tubes."

Ed nodded. "But... what... I'm confused...."

"You are confused." Joe said with surprising authority. He waddled slightly over to Ed. "It's hard to think, isn't it? You shouldn't think." Joe was surprising himself with his words. This wasn't him, but somehow it felt natural to say these things. After all, he was the leader. "You should let me think. I should be the thoughts, shouldn't I?"

Ed nodded slowly. The words made sense. He shouldn't think. Joe was right. He shouldn't think. Just listen, just listen, just listen....

Joe nodded to himself. "We need to go back now." Joe picked Ed up off the ground, and walked him over to the car. "Stay here." Ed did, and Joe opened up the garage door. He pushed the car out, closed the garage door, then sat back down in the car gingerly. "I'm gonna have to do something about the seat, this tail needs room." Ed cawed in laughter as Joe plugged himself into the vehicle, and began driving back to the city.

Epilogue

Patricio fitted the arm gauntlet over the feathers on his forearm, and plugged the box on it into his wrist plugs. The box lit up, the test screen flashing twice before displaying a ready screen. "It should interface like normal." the grey fox said. "It should self-format for your particular pattern in a moment."

"test test test... Yes, there it goes." the box spoke as Patricio nodded his head in approval. "Oh, that's good. Nice and intuitive. And it's not just English?"

"It's also programmed for Spanish and Portuguese, as you requested." the fox said smoothly. "I also have your new shoes too." He casually placed what looked like a bundle of credit cards on the table. "New sin, new ID, new everything."

"Perfect." Patricio reached to a pocket inside the vest he was wearing, and pulled out a billfold of papercash. "This should cover everything, and then some for the rush."

The fox fanned his thumb over the bills and smiled as he placed them inside his jacket pocket. "If I may ask? How did you find me? I didn't think I was known well outside of the city."

"A little birdy told me." Patricio's box said. He then chirped out what sounded like muffled laughter out of his beak. The fox smirked, and shook his head. "But I need to be on my way then."

The fox nodded. "If you need anything, you have my number." Patricio nodded, and got up from the table. He walked through the bar with purpose, making his way to the exit.

He stepped outside, and looked up. "Poe? Where are you, ya troublemaker?"

"Recon" the crow flew down to street level, landing a little hard on the ground. "oof! I still need practice."

"You do. You're about as graceful as a drunken bear."

"So what else are we doing tonight?" the crow turned his head to look at the parrot's wrist "OOO Shiny!"

"Not for you." the parrot man chuckled as the crow looked upset. "We go home, and we wait."

"Wait? Why?"

"Because we can't grow the flock until things... settle down..." the parrot rubbed his beak with his hand. "Fly home, I'll meet you there." The crow just nodded, and took off into the night sky. Patricio buttoned up his vest, and unlocked his car. He deftly slid his tail through the hole in the seat, and started the engine. He nodded to himself. "There's a reason I'm the driver." he chirped quietly to himself as he drove into the night.