FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

James knocked on the cold steel door that had Manager's Office spray-painted in black. "Come in, " croaked an old voice from inside.

He opened the door to find the old man sitting across his desk with a very stretched-out frown on his face. "You wanted to see me?" asked James. He tried not to sound irritated.

"Let me give you a big hint" - James felt his face twitch a little with contempt, but luckily the manager didn't seem to notice - "You know the clock on the wall? Well, when it reads seven a.m.- that's seven-zero-zero - you need to be clocked in and on the job."

"Sorry, I just had a bit of trouble finding my keys-"

"I don't want excuses. Just be here on time or I'll give someone else your job. There's plenty of people willing to take it."

James felt his face go red-hot. "Yes, sir." he said through clenched teeth.

"And how many times have I told you to make the labels on the cans face the customer? I want to see all of the cans on their proper shelves, and facing me when I go check."

His fist started shaking. "Of course," James replied. "Anything else?"

"No, now get back to work." The manager looked back down at his newspaper.

James exited the door, gently closing it on his way out. His heart was beating hard inside his brain.

He walked over to aisle five and found the cans with their labels facing every which way. He put his arm in the shelf, and started walking as hundreds of cans fell to the floor. He remained nonchalant as metallic clangs echoed around the empty aisle. The girl at the register across from him stared at him with her mouth hanging open. When he was done, he dusted his hands and walked out.

* * * * *

James pulled up to his parent's old place. It was a rather old house on a large piece of land, practically in the middle of nowhere. He technically owned it since they had left it to him, and he would probably have to move back in since he no longer had a job.

He hated being here. Every detail - the border made of bricks, the fire pit that his dad made, the nearby forest; reminders of his pathetic and lonely childhood.

He walked towards the trees, remembering that sometimes he would spend whole days just wandering around with a stick. He would always beg his mom to leave:

"'Why can't we go somewhere else?"

"I'm so bored all the time!"

"Mom I hate this place!"

He always thought that moving out to the city would mean he would have money, make friends, and be happy. Things didn't turn out as well as he had hoped.

His parents bought him things to try to make him happy; he had so many things but not a soul to show them to. James suspected they felt guilty all along for making them live here, even though this is probably the best they could afford. He wished he could go back and say he was sorry, he understood that they were trying as hard as they could. He frowned in remorse.

He looked up as he approached the wall of trees. He had never ventured too far into the woods since his mom had always warned against it. She said he would get lost and they would never be able to find him again. But the trees invited him with their open arms. Maybe after all these years, what he needed more than anything was to get lost.

* * * * *

There was nothing much to see, but after a few minutes of walking he could see nothing past the trees. Sometimes he would hear an owl, but he could never see one when he looked.

As he walked, the woods thickened.

He pictured what the reaction of the manager might have been, and chuckled to himself. After five years of listening to the manager complain endlessly, he had had it. It was nothing less than he deserved for being such an jerk to him all the time. He didn't know that he would quit in such a dramatic way, but he always knew that he had to quit. Life wasn't meant to be spent in the same place for so many years. There had to be something more.

After a while longer, the sun started to set, which he thought odd since it didn't feel like he had been out for more than a few hours. He considered turning back, and in his mind he imagined the terrifying sight of a pitch black forest at night. But he didn't feel like going back. His legs kept propelling him forward and his arms kept shoving branches out of the way. Maybe he would see something new. What he was looking for, he didn't know. But he was running away too.

Suddenly he heard a stick break somewhere behind him. He turned around, but he could see no one. Fear rose in him like boiling water. He couldn't have imagined that - it was so loud and clear. The sound replayed in his head - a loud snap. What else could it be?

He started backing away slowly, and then took off as quickly as he could, but the density of the trees made it hard to run. There were no more obvious noises like the stick, but now every twitch of a leaf was a silent killer breathing down his neck. He kept going, until he entered a small clearing.

Then he saw him. His heart jumped in his throat at the sight - a dark figure standing teen feet away. His posture wasn't natural, and there was something wrong with the shape of his body. James turned around to run, but he slammed into something else - something sharp stabbed his neck.

Almost immediately, the world went black; dreamless sleep.

* * * * *

Sounds. His entire upper body was throbbing with pain. He threw up and started heaving violently. His vision was blurry and the room seemed to be moving around. With every breath he took, the pain in his chest erupted. It felt like all of his insides had been lit on fire. He tried to scream, but his throat felt like it had gone to hell and back.

"Hey, he's waking up."

"Already? He should have been out a few more hours."

"Let's put him in his room. Be careful though - he might be dangerous."

James tried to move his arms and legs, but he couldn't. He saw a black shape go behind him and start pushing him. He was on a mobile bed of some sort. They went through a brightly lit hallway into a large room. The room was three stories high, and there was probably about a hundred doors, each with a small window. He started breathing faster, and felt the horrible burning pain flare up in his chest again.

They stopped in front of one of the doors, and James felt at least six arms restraining him. They opened the door, unlatched his bindings, and threw him in. He tripped and landed on his side as the door closed shut behind him. Then silence.

He lied down on the cold floor. The tremendous flaring pain in his chest and neck kept him from getting up. He stared at the ceiling, trying to piece together what just happened. He felt nauseous, his head spinning.

The last thing I remember, I was walking through the forest, and then those people...

They probably took out one of his lungs, and a kidney. He felt stupid and helpless and scared. His breathing quickened, and he felt the pain worsen in his chest.

Except, why would they keep me here? Wouldn't they just dump my body somewhere? Maybe they want other body parts... He felt dread and fear. This didn't seem real at all - maybe he was having a horrible dream, except everything hurt too much.

He rolled over and tried sitting up. He noticed with alarm that he couldn't move his right arm at all. He looked down and it took a few seconds for him to register what he was looking at. His arm was completely black, with thick veins almost completely covering it. He stared at it in horror. He touched it with his left arm, but it was completely numb. He pulled his shirt over his shoulder, and saw the same pattern. It didn't seem to stop at the arm. He traced the thick wriggly veins up all the way to his right cheek, where they stopped. What the hell was happening to him?

His right leg also seemed somewhat affected, but he could move it enough to crawl. He made his way to the bed on the wall, and barely managed to hoist his body up with his left arm. As he laid down, his consciousness faded away into black.

* * * * *

When he awoke, the pain had died down considerably but his entire body stilled ached. He stared at the ceiling, hoping that he would wake up in his normal bed any second - but he knew he was still in the nightmare. There was nothing in this room besides a toilet, a sink, and his bed. The only view to the outside was a small window on the door, but only hasty shadows paid him visit.

He couldn't even imagine what was happening to his body. He had a constant headache, and didn't feel like getting up. All he could do was wait.

* * * * *

After a few hours of staring into space, he heard a hollow knock on the metal door. He walked over and saw someone standing outside the small window. When he got close enough, he couldn't believe what he saw.

The man standing outside was like some sort of wolf, but humanoid - a real life werewolf. Way too realistic to be a costume. He had glistening dark gray fur and glowing green eyes.

"Hello, my name is Samuel. Are you feeling alright? You were out for a week." The wolf's voice was dry and scratchy, yet strangely professional. Watching him talk felt like he was watching an odd puppet show.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Speaking felt like rubbing his throat with sandpaper.

"It am the owner of this establishment. You are here because we found you in the woods, wounded."

"If you're just helping me get better, then why am I locked up?"

"We were just protecting ourselves. There was no telling whether or not you would attack us when you woke up."

"Can I leave then? I'm not going to hurt anyone. I need to get to a hospital so they can check out my arm."

"Hold on, let me open the door." The wolf cranked the heavy door open and the light from the hall flooded the dark room. James walked outside, and saw he was standing in a hallway about three stories high, with a hundred cells in every direction. It was just like a jail, but all the doors were open and there were a few creatures roaming around. He paused as he looked at one that looked like a walking saber-toothed tiger.

"You are free to leave whenever you want," spoke the wolf. "However, let me give you a warning. Whatever happened to you, there is a very strong chance that your doctors won't be able to cure it."

"How do you know?"

"As you will see later, there are plenty of creatures inside this facility. Most of them are fairly unique, and thus you may have been bitten by something that no doctor has even heard of."

"Are you saying one of the creatures here bit me?"

"That is doubtful, as they rarely leave this place. It is more likely that a wild one hurt you."

He felt his heart sink. He should have never come to the woods.

His face must have shown it, because the wolf said "Don't worry too much. It's very possible that we may be able to help you. We've treated similar infections before, although never at this scale."

"How long will it take?"

"No more than a few weeks, if everything goes well. In general this facility is locked for our protection, so if you decide to leave then come talk to me." The wolf's pointy ears twitched a little. "If you want, go walk around for awhile. We have lunch at around noon." and with that, he strolled away.

* * * * *

He took the wolf's advice and eventually found the exercising area, which was a large open field surrounded by a monolithic gray wall about a hundred feet high. Extremely tall trees surrounded the area around the wall. There was a set of monkey bars, a bunch of climbable nets, and other obstacles. There was also a running dirt track that went around the entire field. The air was quite chilly but it felt good on his skin.

There were a lot of inmates, or whatever they were, doing various exercises. Some of them had horns sticking out of their face or their head. Almost always their face would be somewhat warped to that of some animal. Some of them had lizard heads and scales for skin. Others had fur and their faces were reminiscent of cats. Others yet weren't really animals at all, but had a weird color skin or strange bone structure. He even saw a man with bug-like exoskeleton and a beetle's horn sticking out. As the creature passed him by, he saw that he had a large set of bug wings as well.

What are these things? he thought. He couldn't believe that creatures like these would exist without ever being noticed. Now that he thought about it, he didn't actually know where he was. This could be a hundred miles away from civilization.

He started walking along the edge of the track. As he neared one of the corners, he spotted one of the lizard-like creatures. He was laying on the ground, and looked completely relaxed. Black and white scales covered his entire body, and James wondered how nature thought to invent hexagonal scales. He was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, which James thought was a little funny. It took him a second to realize that the lizard was looking right back at him, since the outer layer of the eye was a deep black. His pupil was a bright yellow, and it looked James dead in the eye.

He flicked a gigantic tongue, and stood up slowly. James stepped back in fear, but the creature merely walked away in the other direction.

He looked down at his feet as he resumed his walk.

* * * * *

James found the cafeteria, where everyone was lining up to get a plate. The dome-like ceiling went up for what must have been four stories, and sunlight shined bright through very high windows. He got in line, and waited as he reached a tiger person who was giving out food. He lazily flopped the spatula with chili on it into a bowl and gave it to James. "Enjoy," he said with a toothy grin.

James had pushed the ache in his body to the back of his mind. Maybe it was the insane menagerie of strange monsters that made him forget, or the fact that this felt like middle school again since he didn't have anyone to sit with. He saw an empty table in the back and headed for it. As he walked, he got a few stares from several creatures.

He sat and started eating immediately. The brown slop tasted a lot better than he expected, probably because he was so hungry. After a few more bites he took another look around.

For being half animals they all seemed to be pretty good at using forks to eat, although one that looked like a hyena forwent any such etiquette. He even heard a few conversations going on, and he imagined that in some crazy universe this would all be pretty normal and routine. There were dogs, cats of all kinds, insects. He couldn't think of any animals that he hadn't seen at least once. Well, he hadn't seen a giraffe yet, at least.

As he was gawking at the creatures, some sort of bird woman came over to his table. "Mind if I sit down? She asked." She was covered in gloriously white feathers, and had a black beak. Her blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight.

"Um, no go ahead."

"Thanks," she said as she took a seat across from him. "So you're new around here right? Oh, and my name is Mindy by the way -" she outstretched a feathery hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm James. Sorry, my right arm isn't working right now." He offered his left hand; she giggled and shook it.

"Sorry, I didn't notice. What happened to you?"

"Apparently I was bitten by something. I'm not entirely sure, the wolf said he found me wounded and brought me in."

"You mean Sam, right? He's a great guy and a really awesome doctor." She shoved a spoonful of chili into her beak. "One time I had this really horrible fever and he fixed me right up."

James didn't know how to ask the obvious question, so he decided to just throw it out. "Sorry, I don't mean to offend you but... what are you guys? Where did you come from?"

"Well, we're all from different parts of the world. Sam told me that I'm from a tropical island somewhere in South America. I was way too young to remember, but Sam said that my mom abandoned me when she saw what I was. He took me in and gave me a home."

"How did he find you all the way down there?"

"There's more facilities like this. I happened to be near one down there when they found me, but they sent me here because they keep more aggressive specimens down there."

"There's more of these places? Why haven't you guys been discovered?"

"I guess we're rare enough that whenever a person does see us, nobody will believe it. This place is pretty well hidden. We're right under a mountain surrounded by very tall and thick trees."

"Mountain? I don't remember a mountain being near my house. That's the last place I remember being."

"Hmm. Well who knows? Maybe your story's similar to mine."

* * * * *

One of the wolf nurses treated James with an injection every morning for about a week. Every day he felt stronger. His arm still didn't work, but he had no more pain.

He started feeling uneasy about the whole business. It was a little too convenient that they had found him before his wounds got to him, and now he found out he wasn't even in the same woods as before. The treatment seemed to be effective without any roadblocks, as if they had planned it all along. He had to find out what was going on.

One night he waited outside Samuel's office, out of sight behind a corner, in his socks so he wouldn't make noise. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the empty hallway. Silence.

He waited a bit more, and started hearing footsteps. They were soft yet there, echoing further and further away. This was his chance.

James deftly darted toward the open door. There was no one inside.

The room contained a large bookshelf and a cluttered wooden desk. There was a cheap-looking fireplace to the side as well, crackling away and making the shadows dance.

There was no time to be wasted. He started shuffling the papers on the desk, looking for his name, or something, or anything. They seemed to be nothing more than medical supply forms. He shuffled away until he saw it - a picture of him. It was a shot of him on a medical bed.

He turned the picture around, and there were a few things written - some medical jargon, and at the bottom, it said "transform?" His spine froze.

He put the picture back in, and looked outside the door before he ran out. He hastily walked all the way back to his cell in a cold sweat.

* * * * *

He had spent all morning thinking about it, but he wasn't sure what to do. If they were intentionally changing him, they probably wouldn't let him just wave goodbye. He had to figure out a way to get out.

To take his mind off this problem, he went to the exercise area to run a few laps on the track with his dead arm tied to his chest to avoid having it swinging around. His endurance had certainly improved, which he thought was a good sign at least. The cold air felt great rushing through his hair as he ran the course.

After running ten laps he stopped. He was drenched in sweat, and was pretty tired. Looking for a place to rest, he walked into the middle of the track where he collapsed in the tall grass.

He felt every muscle ache in his body, and it felt good. He looked to his side, and past the blades of grass he saw something black - it was the same lizard from the other day laying about ten feet away.

He was apparently sleeping, breathing in very deeply before exhaling. His jaws seemed incredibly powerful - too powerful. Like they could crush him without any effort at all. He also had a set of large jowls on the sides of his neck, which made him appear quite daunting. His body was incredibly massive and he must have weighed 800 pounds. It could snap at him and his life would be over in a second.

Suddenly, the creature opened his eyes. His eyes caught James's through the grass as he flicked his tongue. James felt a tinge of fear, but laid motionless.

The creature started crawling towards him, and the way his muscles flexed made him seem exceedingly powerful. As he got closer, James started feeling queasy. A primordial voice inside of him screamed at him to run. This thing was equipped in so many ways to kill him.

He ignored the impulse. He stared right into the lizard's eyes, trying to read his emotions, but they gave none. He felt his heart beating hard in his chest. His body was begging him to just get up and just run. You're going to die, it told him; but he ignored it. There was something that drew him in - he couldn't explain it. Just something beautiful about him - maybe the way the hexagonal scales flowed perfectly along his muscles as they flexed.

Soon enough, the lizard's head was five inches away from his own. Every second was multiplied like a light bouncing off mirrors. His big yellow eyes were locked on to James's. He flicked his massive tongue around, tasting James's damp clothes. His chest expanded and compressed as he took big breaths.

Then he put his enormous claw on James's chest. He pressed and felt it, and then rubbed his dead arm. Although his arm was still numb, he felt a shiver go up his spine.

And then the lizard moved over right next to James, laid himself down, and closed his eyes. James heaved a sigh of relief. He felt the smooth, warm contours of the monster's body against his skin. He liked the feeling. He felt deep comfort, like he could stay by his side forever and be perfectly content.

He wished he could stay awake, but he was just too tired now. His eyes gave as he fell asleep.

* * * * *

A blood-curling scream woke him up. James opened his eyes and saw that it was nighttime. He looked around and saw that all of the inmates were pouring out from the doors to the jailhouse. There was lots of yelling as people rushed past him.

He looked to his side and noticed that the lizard wasn't there. In a panic he got up got up and looked around. The lamps around the field cast a pale orange glow but it was still too dark to see. He tried and tried to look for his silhouette, but he couldn't see him amongst all the chaos.

He rushed into the crowd and managed to squeeze by into the large door. Mostly all of the cell doors were wide open, with the inmates still coming out of some. As he passed by, he looked into the cells but they were empty. If he wasn't here, he might be in the dining area.

As he walked through the now-empty hallways, the lights went out completely. He stopped dead in his tracks, as he couldn't see anything in front of him. He stood still, listening. After about a minute, his eyes became more used to the darkness and he started to see the outline of the hallway. He walked forward slowly, expecting something to jump out at him any moment.

He finally made it to the dining area, where a sliver of moonlight was enough for him to make out a shape in the middle. Something was standing there.

It had sharp edges around its arms, and they were dripping something. The wide sharp grin extended the length of its head, the white of the teeth a stark contrast to the black face. Its tiny pupils darted around quickly. The thick veins on the skin were obvious in spite of the darkness.

Before he could think, the thing ran at him with incredible speed. It didn't even make a noise. James put his arms up but he wasn't fast enough. The monster stuck him perfectly in the stomach, and he screamed in blood.

He looked down and saw the sharp blade dug into him completely. He felt gushes of warm blood running down his stomach. This was it. He was going to die.

Someone snuck up behind it, grabbed its arm, pulled the blade out, and skillfully tossed the creature to the ground.

James looked up to see Samuel, the wolf, standing in front of him. He hunched, growling at the thing with primal ferocity.

The monster screeched an unnatural cry and lunged with its blade. Samuel dodged the attack, and landed a bite on the neck. He bit down harder and harder while the thing made choking sounds and tried to jerk free. As it flailed its arms, one of the blades caught the wolf in the stomach, forcing him to let go. Then it stabbed the wolf right in the chest - again and again, until the wolf fell.

James yelled at him to stop, and it thing turned to look at him, its maniacal grin wider. It started walking.

He staggered but he managed to find his footing. He saw the thing coming directly at him, and time slowed down.

It lunged at him with a blade - he managed to sidestep it just in time. Then it swung its blade around with all its strength - he ducked, and punched the thing as hard as he could just below the rib cage. Then, with his veiny right arm, he uppercutted the monster in the face so hard that it flew back a few feet.

His heart pumped faster, making more blood flow out of his cut. He started feeling dizzy, and the room started becoming darker. The thing got up with barely any effort. It walked over with its blades drawn.

Quickly, it thrusted at him with a fast swipe. James tried to dodge but he was too slow this time - the blade cut him deep on his right arm. As he recoiled, the thing flawlessly stuck the other blade in his stomach again, this time twisting it.

It pulled the blade out, and James fell to his knees, finished. He looked up at the maddening twisted smile. It raised its blade again, when suddenly something big tackled it.

It was the lizard, and he was on top of the thing. It struggled, trying to break free, but he was too heavy. The lizard caught the monster's head in its jaws, and squeezed hard. James heard the high-pitched screech again, until he heard a loud crack. The thing stopped moving, its limbs falling completely limp.

James crawled over to the wolf. He was barely breathing, and his torso was cleanly open in several places.

The wolf opened it's bloody mouth, "You were in my office, weren't you?" He coughed up blood.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I should have told you but I didn't want to make you afraid."

"Let me get you some help."

"No. I'm finished. Please just run." The wolf coughed a bloody, painful cough. "Go now."

"You saved me once before, I'm not leaving you."

"Just..." the wolf stopped, as his head fell backwards.

The lizard came over, with bloody strips of something hanging out of his jaw. He helped James get up, and supported him on his shoulder as they limped back to the dark hallway.

They approached the dark cell area. The orange light from the field barely illuminated all of the corpses on the floor. As they tried to avoid stepping on the bodies, he saw Mindy's on the ground - a pile of shiny, damp feathers and twisted limbs. He felt sick to his stomach.

The tiniest dripping sound echoed in one of the cells. They stopped walking, the lizard holding his head up high.

Immediately, another one of the monsters jumped out of the cell directly to their left. Swiftly, the lizard parried the blades with his claws and bit the thing in the neck. It wailed loudly as blood flowed freely from its neck, until it died.

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw two more things come out of the darkness. But this time, the lizard picked James up and ran for it.

James hung on as hard as he could to the lizard's neck as the lizard ran out of the jail. As they stepped onto the field, James saw even more dead bodies laid out across the plain.

The lizard ran, and James caught a glimpse of even more of the monsters coming out of the jailhouse, chasing them. He turned around and saw that there were some on the field as well, some taking bites out of corpses. His heart stopped in terror. The lizard ran fast, but the monsters were catching up quickly. He turned around and saw one of them dashing right at them. As it got close, the lizard spun and ran past him.

He looked around - the walls were way too high. They couldn't even climb the smooth rock. It was a deathtrap.

He clung to desperate hope, as they approached the corner of the field. The lizard bent down to brace himself, and jumped up incredibly high. They went up higher and higher - maybe they could make it - but he realized that they wouldn't. They were quickly approaching the wall, when the lizard hit it with his legs, and kicked off in the other direction. They went up a little higher, and just barely made it past.

As they fell back down, James got a glimpse of the twenty or so monsters still chasing them. He didn't know if they would also be able to jump that high, but he didn't want to find out.

Apparently neither did the lizard, because he didn't hesitate as they landed on the ground. He ran as fast as he could, holding James in his arms, until the light of dawn pierced the morning.

* * * * *

They reached the end of the forest, emerging in a large golden wheat field. The lizard went on further past the edge of the forest, the greedy branches grabbing at them as they left. The sky was a clear blue, and the wind blew gently on their bloodied skin. James clutched the large flowing cuts in his stomach as the lizard let him down gently on the soft grass. He felt cold and was trying so hard to stay awake.

He raised his arm and scratched the lizard on his eye ridge. There was something in his eyes. He didn't know what it was, but it made him feel safe.

The creature slowly stuck out his long tongue, and James gladly took it in his mouth. The warmth of the lizard's tongue inside of him drove him mad. He felt the lizard's hot breath on his face, catching a lightly sweet scent.

The lizard grabbed James's shirt and took it off. He didn't seem to mind the blood as he licked every part of James's body with his long tongue. James rubbed the lizard's smooth scaly neck as he sucked on the the giant tongue again. He felt the claws lightly dig into his back, the creature's heart bursting in his ears.

He felt tears go down his face, and he hugged the giant lizard as hard as his arms let him.