FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*It aint over till it's over loyal readers. I've just been out of it lately. (Beloved cat died ._. ) Sorry about the wait. Please review, I could use the feedback after so long without writing.

"Slow down!" Were the words that racked through her mind as she continued to keep her speeding pace. On all fours she ran forward, using all the strength she could hold together. She hadn't and wouldn't take a break, and she would not look back. Not while Eric was somewhere ahead of her.

"You are only making your injuries worse by not taking a break."

"I don't care. I have to hurry, I won't lose him." She said back to the voice within her with somewhat more resolve than she was actually feeling. The sun beamed down relentlessly onto her black form as she ran. She was sweating more than she could hope to replenish in drink while in this desolate place. Her mate had so much preferred to be alone and now she was slightly annoyed at him for it. Though without such she might have been found out. A thing which surprisingly still hadn't happened.

"We've already lost him and my sister, I can't sense them at all. They are far off by now. You won't be able to find them, or anyone for that matter, if you run yourself right into deaths arms."

Her skin was rubbing raw in more than a few places on her body. Not to mention the bruises and possible broken bones here and there. Of which she refused to properly acknowledge. She had only just made it out of Eric's home before it exploded. And as her numbingly sore hands and feet put forward their own opinion as to rest, she started to slow her pace.

"I'll take a short break, just until that damned thing up there stops being so hot." She told.... Well, she told herself, depending on how you looked at it.

"Thank you." She heard back, within her mind. Strange,he thought.

Xerah, slowly brought her speed down, until she finally stopped, the dry dirt kicking up some as she did. With a slow stretch she brought herself to stand upright, gently patting her pained hands together as she took in her immediate surroundings. As she stood to be completely upright she groaned and hunched over. Her chest was a fire with pain, and as she put her hand over the area on instinct, she could feel the few cracks in her rib bones.

She was surrounded by the dry, desert like terrain that surrounded her on all sides. This place had many hills and a rough terrain, full of trenches large and small, with occasional large outcroppings of rock that reached high up. She looked now for any sign of a shaded crevice, or even a crack in the ground that went down far enough that she might use it to catch her second wind.

She panted and wiped the top of her head with the back of her hand, clearing the sweat. She didn't want to look back but she knew she had come a long ways, at least 3 quarters of the way. The road she had followed tended to turn many times in an effort to avoid large crevices. The colony was near, its many silvery metal buildings were very evident just over a rise.

It was mid-day, the sun shun down straight on her long head and shoulders. The gritty dirt she stood upon was hot enough to nearly be burning. Finding shelter for a little while seemed like a good idea, maybe even finding something to drink. Though the later seemed far less likely to happen.

She was glad of the inherited durability of her species. As even though she could put her mind to her bodies well being, she felt she could also continue onward. But doing so would just leave her in a weaker state, one that might not be able to help her mate.

She saw a promising looking splotch of black on the ground, in the distance to the left of the road. She made note of that as she ran over to it on her fours once again. To small she realized as she came closer, and not shallow enough. She began to look around once more, trying to discern a possible shelter for herself. As she did she thought of Eric, her mate. She remembered him telling her about the way the ground liked to shift every once and a while here. The conversation brought on when she panicked during such an event.

The shifting ground made the large shallow cracks in the ground, shifts opening and closing the ground. A scary thing to imagine, which is why she felt she should find a decently large crack to shelter in, one that would give her time to leave before closing. And as she ran forward to a possible shelter, she saw what she was looking for.

She stood at the edge and looked down into its depths. It wasn't deep, but the way it was shaped, with a large lifting edge to one side, which kept the sun out of a section of it. It looked cool and moist down at the bottom, exactly what she wanted right now on her dry skin.

With care, she worked her way to the bottom, climbing down head first as she tightly gripped the sides of the cavern. Walking over to the shaded part of the cave she saw, to her joy, a puddle of murky water. Taking her hands together, joined at their sides she pressed her hands down in the water, trying to strain as much dirt from the water as possible.

The small mouth full of water she managed to get was grossly warm and gritty, and tasted only of dirt. But it was water, and her pallet was the wetter for it. She continued to drink until no more drinkable water remained. The area where the puddle had been was still damp though, and she promptly laid herself down on it. It felt heavenly on her raw, dry skin. It was warm, but not as so as outside the shade and it sent tingles of pleasure over her skin as she balled up in the bit of cool mud. Her tensed muscles eased in its cool soft embrace.

She felt almost an animal, laying like this. But right now she felt very comfortable and felt her consciousness dimming.

"This will just be a short rest." She said to herself. "I will start moving again as soon as that damned hot thing has gone down some."

"Of course." She heard in reply. "Just rest deeply." The soft voice continued soothingly.

The last thing she heard was the sound of her tail slapping in the mud as she brought it around in front of herself and curled it so that she was able to wrap an arm around it, cuddle like. She held to it protectively as she thought about her mate. She thought back to her first memory him. Waking up in his bed was the first solid one she could recall.

But she remembered hearing his voice as she fell in and out of consciousness while she was being moved from one place to another, before awaking in his home. She tried to remember his voice now, and the sound of his breathing as he slept, the calm beating of his heart. The way he smelt, and the way his arms went around her as she slept next to him. It had only been last night, and yet it felt so far away from now. He had held her almost the entire night. Like he had been alone for so long without someone to hold, just as she had gone so long without someone to hold her.

She fell asleep with her mind taking her back his soft bed. To him sitting awkwardly next to her as he tended her. She had been much worse off than she was now. The pain she felt now, was strangely making the past memories all the more clearer. She finally fell asleep, her mind even then, of her mate and their first times together. Even though, it had all started out rather awkwardly.

The first sense he regained was that of sound, as he heard a loud slap resonate through his ears. The sound, unfortunately was only the first thing to resonate within his mind. He felt a biting sting assault his cheek as he turned his head and opened up his sleepy eyes. He saw a darkness ahead of him.

If it had been completely dark he wouldn't have been able to see anything. But the pale orange light from one of the walls was enough to give away the vague shape of the thing before him. He struggled in his restraints as he took in the bony black shadow in front of him.

He could hear a hiss escape from it and he tried to move away. He found such was not working and as he suddenly jolted to full consciousness, he darted his head around his surroundings. He was pretty sure he was being held up against a wall, but by what, he couldn't tell besides that it was black and slimy. Not slimy enough, however, to wiggle out off. He was also very naked, completely actually.

He looked up to the blackness in front of him. "What the fuck is going on!? Where am I? What do you want!?" He said to the creature a foot of him in rapid questioning. His outburst was surprisingly breathtaking, perhaps it was this place. The air was warm, stale, and as moist as it was nose burningly smelly. The smell was so strong he could almost taste it, making him want to gag as he breathed in the stench of piss, shit, and sour death.

He received only a shrill hiss for an answer. And with it he saw the thing before him. Only for a few seconds he saw clearly, with those seconds he saw the creature as the darkness of the room seemed to blink away. He saw the small room he was in, covered in a shiny black substance that seemed to wrap intricately about the walls and ceiling. He saw the thing before him for only those seconds, but it was more than enough to break his sleepy memories. It was the Not Xerah, or at least one of them. It's cold, black exterior, with its insect like exoskeleton that showed through its skin. It was a monster, inside and out and he remembered why.

The tormenting that had been done to his mate, was reason enough to hate this thing before him. His... his mate...

"Ahhh" He groaned in anguish. "Why haven't you killed me yet!?" He yelled at them as he jostled himself upon the wall. His insides twirling and his chest tightening as he cried freely in front of the creature. He felt emptying torment and despair as he remembered the horrid happenings that had happened today. Or was it yesterday? How long had he been out? But such time mattered so little, he could not distract himself with it, as he thought about her. His only friend, a friend whom he loved and who had trusted him.

And yet he had gotten her killed. He hoped that Kenneth suffered at the hands of these things long before his end.

He missed everything about her. Her curiosity about everything, her friendly manner, her smooth skin, her kind voice, even the way she smelt, like a bland sweet muskiness. She had had such a warm presence. And her caring nature couldn't have been stronger as he remembered her worry and willingness to help after his... after his seizure, slash dying event.

He had fallen in love with her so fast, given her hold of his heart in such a hurry. And yet it was still with her, in death. But as such, he could no longer feel it in his chest, it seemed only that there was a painful gap in its place.

Just, do it it... Kill me again, for god's sake. He thought to himself deep inside his mind, hoping it was heard by his alien virus, or whatever it was. He felt sick, even thinking about dying, but he felt even worse trying to imagine living life again. As he pictured working a shit job, coming home, eating, sleeping, and repeating. He couldn't do it again. He couldn't live alone again, not anymore.

Tears ran down his eyes and he sniffed, inhaling the sour death that the creature held. And the rank smell of stale sweat and excretions. The smells stung his eyes and burnt into his nostrils, making him cough and tear up even more. His red eyes could barely take anymore, and he felt his nose dripping as he cried.

"You have no ide-..." The voice started, but faded off. Its sound was as faint as a whisper, but he could decipher the words from it. He lost faith in that option as he didn't hear anything again, he couldn't even feel it. It was like the voice had just jumped off a cliff, as if in a cartoon, he had heard its voice as it quickly faded away and disappeared.

He felt his arm the presence in front of him begin moving more and he felt the slight gust of air as something grabbed at his rubbery bindings. It tore the things off his limbs one by one, starting with his feet and then his arms. Eric fell to the floor in a heap, heaving and coughing as he tried to catch his breath and collect himself.

His bare flesh touched the slimy ground, it felt like his bindings had. Smooth at a gentle touch, but yet seemed to be gripped when pressure was applied. A thin slimy mucous seemed to cover and it revolted him as he felt it on his bare flesh. He tried to look around and found he still couldn't see much of anything in this dark room. He jolted suddenly as he felt strong, cold, bony fingers suddenly grab onto his sore muscles.

He struggled in their grip, but they remained firm, digging into his flesh as they started dragging him. Where he was going, he couldn't guess. He was pulled to his feet, the creature possibly hoping to not have to drag his heavy form the entire way. As his feet became firmly planted on the ground he suddenly tried struggling to his full extent. Flailing about like a maniac. He felt himself hit a smooth, bony something, of the creature pulling on him.

He wasn't released as he had expected.

Instead the grip on him tightened exponentially, squeezing down to his bones, which threatened to crack at the pressure. He felt himself shoved forward. The shove was with enough force he felt his feet leave the slimy ground and he felt warm stale air blow past his face before it suddenly hit something. What he came into contact with must have been a wall; It was hard enough.

As his forehead and nose bashed against the wall he, for a moment, saw a white flash behind his eyes as his brain was rocked violently in his skull.

He didn't have a chance to even utter a groan as he saw white dots flash in in his vision, making them the one thing he could actually see. He felt warm blood flow down from his forehead and he could not feel his nose; it was very likely broken, as he found himself having trouble breathing from it.

The blood that drizzled down into his face only added to the mix of fluids already smothering his face. Making his tear and snot, and sweat covered face all the more pathetic. He fell back on his knees, his hands leaving the wall he had hit. The back of his head hit hard against the ground, only adding to the inevitable. As he tried to keep his eyes open he saw the creature standing over him; its feet must have been right near where his head was now. He could clearly see it's boney legs and as he looked up he saw it's near featureless face, only it's salivating mouthful of teeth showing.

Another one stepped up beside the other as Eric choked out a gagging cough that splattered blood upwards. He felt a few small drops fall back to his face.

"You overdid it." One of the creatures said.

"Perhaps." The other replied.

"The Queen will be angry."

"I am angry. Angry that we have no eggs left for these walking meat sacks."

"You know that they are all with the others at the human's homes. They will need every one of them. I only wish I was there helping them."

Then they were gone, swallowed up by the darkness perhaps, or perhaps his short lived ability to see in the dark just wouldn't start up right. Of course he could have also just passed out. But whatever had happened, with all the will he could pull together he brought his thoughts to his love.

His eyes closed and as they did she was there next to him. She laid curled up on his bed, her tail pulled up next to her as she held to it in her sleep. She whimpered softly every now and then at different things, such as the slightest touch.

_ *Enter Prequel* _

In a black flash he was struck hard, throwing him from the bed in a fumbling mess as he toppled back. He groaned in pain as he was assaulted internally by the pain in his chest. The sound of falling as well as the sound of shattering glass blew through the no longer silent room.

His chest seemed a fire as he struggled to regain his breath. Coughing and wheezing as he tried to comprehend what had happened. He heard a loud screeching scream that rang through his ears, rattling his head as he then heard a ringing to replace the scream as it ended.

It had woken. And with more than a yawn and a stretch it seemed, as he held to his sore chest.

His wretched face was the first thing she saw. And it was all it took to bring her awake. A disgusting human!

She swung her tail outwards as hard as she could, sending the thing flying as her hard bony tail made contact with his soft flesh. It made a thudding slap as her tail hit it away. She herself, made her way off the soft mound she had been on. Her head was fuzzy, but she could tell she had been recaptured. The stink of human was all about her, burning at her nose and adding to her anger, and fear.

She climbed onto the cool metal wall, making her way to the ceiling. She would kill this human. She crawled upside down, keeping her tail close to her as she made her way above the human. As she climbed she tried to remember. Yet what she kept finding in her mind was the sight of that human.

With its face she remembered its voice, a voice she had heard multiple times in her sleep. It had been crude like a human, yet it had sounded kind.

The thought of it confused her, as she quickly scanned the room. She smelt, blood, no, exposed flesh. But it was not that of a human, it didn't smell fresh like she could remember fresh gore smelling. Her sight was quickly pulled to the piece of flesh laying on the ground. A red slab of lean meat sat on the ground, amongst some other things that smelt strange to her nose.

She looked down to the human who now struggled to its feet.

Getting onto his hands and knees he choked in his lost air, as he looked up to his bed. He was more than a few feet from where he had been kneeling on it. That thing was strong, and fast. Eric quickly struggled to his feet as he looked for it. The grey comforter bed held nothing on it, the place where it had been laying for the past day.

Eric's eyes darted around the room, he turned and still saw nothing. He was then as suspicious as he was scared, had he gone crazy? Was he dead, or worse, going to die? He turned to his dresser. If he was dead, then this thing really was as dangerous as it looked. And he would be damned if he was going to let it loose.

"Lock down," He started, prepping his home security for a full security lock down. "seventy-three, fourty-fi- Agh!" He began to the code, but did not finish. He was suddenly pulled to the ground as something above him fell onto his back. He landed to the ground with a grunt, as the thing on top of him hissed in anger. He felt it roll of him and as it did he turned onto his back.

Her whole body seemed to groan in resentment of its treatment as she struggled to get off the squishy creature beneath her. She had a feeling, that this failure was to be her last. She had been too slow to find the nerve to actually do what her siblings seemed to do naturally. And to top that off, she had fallen. Now, she wasn't even sure if her sore, tired body could even get back up. But she had to, she couldn't bare to go through it again, she had just left that place. And now she was back, and would no doubt be punished by 'Him' again.

She struggled to crawl off the human, moving to the wall as she crawled. Her limbs felt heavier than they had ever before. Not from the pain she felt all over, or the tiredness in her very bones. She kept seeing her face in her mind. The face she had only seen once in her life, yet had waited so long for. Her mothers. A mother she would never see again, or perhaps, now she might.

She didn't look behind her as she dug her claws into the soft floor, continuing to move to the corner. She could hear the human groan as he moved behind her. She stopped moving forward as she heard it behind her. She curled to a ball. Hoping in part to die, and yet being as scared as she had ever been at that expectancy.

Her stomach curled up into knots as she whimpered out what she felt to be her last breaths. "Mother... mother... mother." She said aloud as she tried to picture herself in those few minutes that had been the only time she had spent with her mother. Her mother had been angry at her siblings mistreatment of her smallest daughter. And had even struck the meanest of her siblings. That had been the only moment anyone had defended anything about her.

"Calmed down? I'm not going to hurt you." She heard behind her. The thing spoke the same way as every other human she had met. Yet this question seemed to be warmer and more curious than she remembered.

The human then made a strange noise, making her want to look and at the same time making her cower in preparation for what came next. The noise was a strange, slightly out of breath "Ha ha" like sound. She couldn't make out what it meant, so she mustered herself and and made an attempt to look at the creature in the room with her.

Eric breathed through his mouth as he lay with his back to his bed. He was well enough away from the thing as it lay about on his floor like a dying animal. Yet he had little doubt as to that, he had been tricked before by its apparent lack of breathing. But that was a story he would never tell if he ever had to explain his first contact with the thing. Not unless he wanted to lose the entirety of his illusion of manliness.

Eric wasn't sure how he had expected things to go once it woke up, but this was not quite the scenario he had ran through his mind.

"Calmed down?" He asked it, a little angrily. Though he was not expecting an answer. "I'm not going to hurt you." He continued, a little more nicely.

Eric managed to calm down a bit. He had been crazy to think it could have been anything less then this. And he was lucky, that so far both him and his strange guest remained alive. Though his guest seemed to be regretting all the moving it had been doing as it lay curled on his floor. He looked at it as it remained still, whimpering sadly. Oddly enough to Eric, the sound seem to flick at his heart as he heard it.

He laughed quietly as he rubbed the back of his hand on his forehead to wipe at the few beads of sweat on his forehead. He had gotten all heated up as he had prepared to be the first human to hand wrestle an alien. Though, such a thing couldn't be assured. Maybe other humans had encountered aliens, and just never lived to tell about it.

Eric eyes remained fixed on the creature as it moved on the ground. It's head poking up, appearing to look at him. Though how it did was a mystery to him, as it had no eyes upon its featureless face. It's mouth opened slightly as it hissed at him, its lips curling as it revealed its pointed teeth.

Eric looked back at the thing with only a curious gaze as he tried to understand it. Had it tried to escape, or kill him... Or was it to be both? Maybe falling on top of another was a form of greeting from wherever it was from.

Doubtful, Eric thought to himself.

"If you didn't like red meat, you only had to say so." Eric said as he smiled at the angry looking creature.

*Let me know what you thought. ^_^

I'm not going to make the prequel chapters too long. But I'm not going to rush them either.

Personally I want to try and get Eric out of that nasty, dark place as soon as I can.