FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This will be a mostly clean series, but there will be some yiff, not for at least a couple chapters, even then it won't be much, but that's not what the story's about, to find out what is about, read on.

=]

The day drug on for Matt, a seventeen year old junior in high school, it was Friday, the last day of school before a week long spring break. The human was half asleep in his seat, class being utterly boring, until a paper wad from across the room caught him on the side of his head. Looking over he saw Jackie, the red fox vixen, whom his family had taken in after finding her abandoned on a park bench when she was just a little kid, of five years of age. She was just a year younger than him and had taken a shine to him, the two becoming fast friends soon after she joined the family, even though they were technically unrelated, she had always treated him as the brother she never had. Shaking his head at her, he just smiled, she snickered at him, they always picked on each other as a brother and a sister would, never seriously fighting, sure they made each other angry at times, but they could never bring themselves to take it out on each other.

Hearing the last bell of the day ring, everyone scrambled for the door, wanting to make it to their cars quickly so they wouldn't have to wait for the busses to leave. Matt met up with Jackie and they headed out to his old military HUMVEE in much less of a rush, not really caring if they had to wait. He and his dad had done a massive amount of work to the old truck, swapping the tired, underpowered motor out for a 400 horse CAT diesel and had put a 6 speed Allison automatic behind it. The combination had made a vehicle that got decent fuel mileage and could pull anything hooked to it, Matt liked it because it was one that had the truck bed on it. Climbing up, he started the diesel engine and put the truck in gear and rolled out of the parking lot, getting caught in the line of traffic waiting for the busses.

"So, what all do we need to do for tomorrow?" asked Jackie.

"I need to stop at the fuel station and fill up with diesel fuel, then toss the camping gear and the clothes we're all taking in the bed, afterword, I'm getting a good night's rest, we'll be driving most of the day tomorrow, if we want to make it to the cabin before dark."

As the last bus rolled out onto the road, the student vehicles were released, Matt put the truck in gear and rolled on the throttle, the overpowered engine easily pushing the HUMVEE down the street towards the fuel station. After paying over 60 bucks for a full tank of fuel and filling up the two jerry cans, Matt rolled the truck out of the fuel station. That's when all hell broke loose, the first of several massive explosions rocking the ground. Looking around, they saw people running every which way, being chased by armed men. They both knew the horribly violent war between humanists and furs and the humans who supported furs was slowly working itself west, but neither expected their small town to be targeted, with the main targets being much larger towns and cities. Matt pinned the throttle, launching the truck down the street towards his home, he figured the two of them could hide out in the radiation shelter built back in the Cold War era. Rolling up to their driveway on the outskirts of town, they saw the house, in flames, just as a massive explosion from somewhere inside demolished what was left. Tears started streaming down Matt's face, both his parents had taken the day off work to get ready for the weeklong trip to the cabin and both their cars were still parked in the open garage. Jackie was in an equal state of shock, crying herself, as the only real parents she had were stuck in a living hell, with no way out. They both knew there was no way they survived. Without a word, he punched the throttle to the floor, rage at the bastards who killed their parents running through his veins, getting away from the remains of the town as fast as possible.

"What, what are we going to do now?!" asked Jackie, still crying.

"I don't know, there's nothing left here for us, the only place that may be safe for us is the cabin."

"But that's ten hours away at best and with what's going on, it's likely to take longer, if we even make it."

"I know, but if we stay here, we're going to die, no two ways about it, we must go, we at least have a chance there."

"What are we going to do about food though?"

"That cabin was built partially as a shelter in the event this war would erupt as it has, it is stocked with enough nonperishable food to last us a month or two, maybe a little longer with only two of us to feed, can't remember what all we stocked the shelves with though."

"And if that's not enough?"

"Then we have to find some, there's a town not far from it, if it's still intact, we'll stock up on what we need, ok."

"Ok. OH, SHIT!"

"WHAT!?"

"We got company."

They heard a few small arms shots hit the tailgate.

"GET DOWN JACKIE!!"

Jackie unbelted herself and slid down to the floorboard, years of Olympic style gymnastic training making her quite flexible. At the same time, Matt lowered himself in his seat, lessening the chance of getting shot in the back of the skull. He knew all too well there was no way for the heavy truck to outrun the small SUV that was now inches from their rear bumper, but he did know one weakness that SUV possessed, it couldn't stand the heavy frontal impact that his HUMVEE could deliver. Thinking quickly, he jabbed the brakes, with the SUV so close behind the driver had no time to react, slamming into the heavy rear bumper on the truck, the whole front end of the SUV crumpled like a pop can, leaving it completely disabled. Matt jumped back on the throttle, the SUV skittering across the road like a rock.

"You need to stay down for awhile, until we're out in open country."

"But, what's the chance of someone shooting at us now, we're out of town."

"Not great, but still."

"Matt, really..." she said, starting to climb back up.

"GOD DAMNIT JACKIE, I DON'T WANT YOU DEAD, NOW STAY DOWN!" Matt roared to her.

"Sorry" she said quietly, tears starting down her face again as she silently started crying, her ears pinned flat against her head.

"Sorry for lashing out at you like that, but if you're seen, you'll be killed."

"It's ok, you just scared me, I've never seen you get that angry."

"I'm not at all angry, I'm just scared, you could have died, I'm not going to let that happen, we're all we have left.

We're going to try and wait this out at the cabin, I don't know how bad things will get, but one thing's for sure, they will, we must protect ourselves and each other if we are to have a chance."

Matt held the truck at about 60, keeping up with outbound traffic but not going so fast as to raise attention to themselves. Once they had put about 50 or so miles between them and the town, the traffic thinned to almost nothing, there was not much of anything out on the rural two lane highway that led to the road the cabin was near.

"Hey, Jackie, you can come out of hiding now, we're about the only ones out here."

"Ok, you sure?"

"Yea, that and I could use the company, we're going to be driving for awhile."

Jackie climbed back up onto her seat, settling in and strapping down for the long trip ahead. Matt just readjusted himself, sitting up some. Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money started playing through the speakers.

"Well Jackie, I don't exactly think this is paradise, but it will have to do" he said, cracking a small grin.

"It may not be paradise, but the scenery out here sure is pretty" she said, smiling warmly in return.

He pushed the truck up to about 70, making some time. Even at that pace, it took them 10 long, uneventful hours and two tanks of diesel to reach the cabin nestled in the foothills of the Rockies. To make it to the nearest town, they'd have to get back to the main road and drive west another fifteen miles. Matt unlocked the garage and backed the HUMVEE inside and shut it off. They locked the place up as tight as possible.

"What would you like for supper Jackie?"

"What all do we have in storage?"

"Um, lets see, oh dear god, military rations, I forgot, that's what we stocked the place with."

"Are they still good?"

"Yea, everything's freeze dried, just add hot water and it looks like they are all the same."

"Ok, just make me one, I'm starving, the Burger King 3 hours ago is gone."

After eating the REMs Matt ‘prepared', they headed upstairs and found two bedrooms, Matt taking the master bed and Jackie taking the one across the hall from it. Both fell asleep very quickly, the stress of what had happened along with 10 hours of driving doing a very effective job of tiring the two. Waking around noon the next day, Matt walked downstairs after taking care of business, taking a shower and putting some army surplus fatigue pants and a white t-shirt on, the guy loved anything that was olive drab green. Turning the television on, he saw a report on where the war was spreading to, luckily, it had not made it to them, yet. About an hour later, Jackie came down, fresh out of the shower.

"So, what's on the agenda for today, Matt?"

"Head to town, get some real food and refuel the HUMVEE, it's under a quarter tank, I want it as full as possible, just in case we have to leave at a moment's notice.

"Ok, what's on TV?"

"Oh, I was just watching the news, there was a report on the war, we're safe, for now."

"For now?"

"It's inevitable, the town will most likely be targeted, I mean look, it's four times the size of our town and it was put to ruins."

"Yea, what are we going to do when it happens?"

"Not completely sure on that yet, depends if we can get a hold of some firepower, if so, we'll fight back if we must, if not, we'll bunk down in the fallout shelter in the basement and hope to hell they don't find us, unlikely that they will, this cabin is so secluded in the backwoods and these guys are targeting big towns."

"Grim outcome, it sounds like" she said with a frown.

"Not if we're prepared. You ready to go, it will take us nearly a half hour to get to town and we have some work to do."

"Yea, lets go."

Firing the truck up, the two rolled out of the garage and down the long, twisting path that was the driveway, making it to the road, they traveled about ten miles north to the main highway into town. Arriving in town, Matt pulled up at a gas station and filled up with diesel fuel. With a full tank, they set out, buying some basic food and several pounds of coffee, not wanting to be stuck eating REMs if they could help it. Next on the list was a computer, the cabin had an active internet connection and the two wanted as much information as possible. Leaving the electronics store with a new HP laptop, they climbed back up in the truck and headed back to the cabin. Matt spent the rest of the evening working on the computer, setting it up and getting the internet up, meanwhile Jackie started cooking supper, baked chicken with rice.

That night, Matt flipped the evening news on, to find the town they were in, had just been attacked.

"OH MY GOD!" he blurted out in shock.

"What?"

"The town, it just got attacked."

"Holy shit, we were just there hours ago, how in the world?"

"Dunno, all I know is, the place is empty now, everyone's gone, it's a ghost town. Go get some sleep, tomorrow we're going back."

"Why so soon after that seems a little risky, doesn't it?"

"The bastards that attacked the place have already vacated it, others will come through from time to time, chasing furs and other humans I imagine, we're just going to see what we can take, guns, ammo, anything that will be of use to us, oh and a couple alarm clocks, we need to be getting up early, I imagine we will be busy."

"Alright, see you in the morning."

"Night."

The next morning saw the two heading into town, what was left of it.

"Oh my god." Jackie said, amazed by what was left.

"Yea, let's get this done with, I want to be here as sort of time as possible."

"What's first?"

"Surplus store, with any luck, we'll find some firepower, that's our primary goal. If possible, I want to find some jerry cans and stock up on as much fuel as possible."

"Ok."

Over an hour later, the two came out of the store, taking what normally would have been thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Matt didn't know how it was legal for the surplus to hold onto the .50 cal rifle he grabbed, along with the RPGs, of course he knew this wasn't the most legal surplus store. Also on the list of items they looted was 4 M-16 combat rifles, several knives, body armor, some helmets, hand grenades, several thousand rounds for the .50 cal and the M-16s, fatigues, a set of two way radios and several jerry cans for water and fuel. Packing it into the back of the truck and putting the canvas cover over it, they saddled back up, heading for the highlight of the town, Bass Pro Shops, in hopes of finding some good handguns and the ammo to go with them, the surplus store only had a couple side arms and no ammo to go with them. Walking inside, they each grabbed a couple plastic baskets and headed up to the gun counter, to find it had been partially raided. Among the arms left, for some reason was a S&W 500, a couple Glock 9 millimeters and two .357 magnums. After taking the guns they wanted, the headed back out to the truck and loaded them into the bed, except for the S&W 500, which Matt shoved into the belt holster he grabbed for it, after loading the revolver with 6 massive rounds. He loaded one of the 9s and handed it to Jackie.

"Before we head home, I want to get a new rod and reel, I may actually have a chance to use them."

"Matt, why, if I must ask?"

"Simple, we're not going anywhere for awhile and I love to fish, plus it's basically free food."

"Well that's a good point, lets go."

Walking back into the store, they headed to the fishing section, directly under the firearms section. Jackie heard a low groaning noise coming from a few isles over.

"Shih, Matt do you hear that?"

"Kinda, your hearing is much better than mine though."

"Sounds like someone's in severe pain, we better check him out."

"Keep your gun at the ready, we have no clue who he may be."

"Alright."

What they saw when they walked down the aisles, shocked them. A stoutly built arctic wolf was lying out on the floor, a large hunting knife jutting out of his left leg.

"Jackie, run and get the emergency kit out of the truck, we need to help him."

"Ok, be right back."

"Get some water too, he needs it, badly."

"Alright, anything else?"

"No that should do it, thanks."

Kneeling down next to the injured fur, Matt asked, "Can you hear me fella?"

The response was a deep groan, followed by a weak, "Don't kill me".

"I'm not going to kill you, I'm not a humanist, now how deep is the knife?"

"Deep, I need help."

"Do you have any other injuries?"

"No, just the leg."

"Don't worry, help's on the way."

Feebly, the injured wolf thanked him. Matt knew this was bad, he was nearly unconscious, the injury taking a lot of blood, he was lucky he hadn't died or gone into shock. A minute later, Jackie came running back with several bottles of water and a good sized emergency kit.

"Jackie, we need to get the knife out of his leg, get him stitched up, and then get him some water."

"Ok, how do you want to do this?"

"I'll get the knife out, then you start stitching him up, ok?"

"Ok."

Turning to the wolf, Matt told him, "Ok, this is going to hurt, but I need to get that knife out."

"Ok, do what you need to."

Operating on pure adrenaline, Matt carefully grabbed the knife and slowly worked it out, the wolf whimpering in agonizing pain as the wound opened up again, it had partially closed around the knife over night. Pulling his own belt off, Matt wrapped it tightly around the wolf's leg, above the cut, to slow further blood loss before the wound was closed up. With the knife gone, Jackie went to work, carefully stitching up the open wound. The wolf yelped the first time the needle pushed through. Matt watched in amazement at how quickly Jackie worked, in no time flat she was done and had done a great job. After stitching up his leg, she wrapped the wound in gauze to soak up any blood from it and to protect it some.

"Alright Jackie, give me a hand, we need to prop him up, so we can get some fluid into him."

The two carefully propped his upper half up against the shelf, putting him basically in a sitting position.

"Here, drink a little" Matt said as he handed him an opened bottle of water.

"T-t-t-thank you" the wolf said, shaking slightly.

As he slowly drank part of the bottle, both Matt and Jackie could see his condition improving slightly.

They were both surprised when he asked, still very weakly, "Why'd you help me?"

Matt answered, "We couldn't just let you die".

"Thank you, what are you doing here?"

"Very long story, we'll tell you later."

"Ok."

"Do you think you're near strong enough to walk if we were to help you?"

"We can try, where are we going?"

"Back to my truck, we're going back to my cabin, let you heal up."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Matt took his left side, Jackie took the right, each putting a shoulder under his, carefully helping the poor fellow back to the HUMVEE. He was able to strap himself in, after much help getting into the seat. Once everyone was in, Matt started the engine and took off for the cabin, pulling into the garage half an hour later. Helping the wolf out of the truck, they managed to get him inside and onto the couch. Matt headed back out to the garage to start unloading the guns, ammo and other assorted items procured. Meanwhile, Jackie started lunch, a simple ham and bean soup. Several minutes later Matt came in with the last of the goods, the 50 cal rifle.

"Something smells good."

"Yea, I made bean soup, I know you like it and I figure it should be easy for our guest to eat."

"Very much so, how close to ready is it."

"Just finished, you want to see if he would like some?"

Walking into the living room, Matt saw the wolf, noticing his condition had improved some.

Sitting down in the easy chair he asked, "You ok?"

"I've had better days, by the way, I'm Ferlin" he said, holding out his right hand.

"Well, nice to meet you Ferlin, I'm Matt and the vixen cooking lunch is Jackie" Matt responded, shaking the offered hand, noticing the firm hand he used.

"Lunch?"

"Yea, it's just after two in the afternoon, I'm hungry and you really need to eat something."

"What's cooking? It smells good."

"Bean soup and believe me, it will be good, Jackie knows her way around the kitchen."

Jackie walked in carrying a tray loaded with three good sized steaming bowls of soup. All three of them grabbed a bowl, quickly downing the contents.

Setting his bowl down on the coffee table, with a satisfied sigh, Ferlin said, "Well thank you very much for the soup, it was excellent".

"Thanks, I know it's one of Matt's favorites" Jackie said with a small grin.

"Do you guys have a spare bedroom I could use for a couple days while I get back on my feet, by any chance?"

"Sure do, you want to see it or just relax a while longer?" Matt asked.

"Actually if you don't mind, I'd like to use the bed, all of a sudden I'm getting real tired."

"Of course, this little two person couch is too short for you to possibly sleep on. Hey Jackie can you get the crutches out of the closet?"

"Why do you have crutches in the closet?" Ferlin asked.

"Tell you the truth, I don't know" Matt said with a chuckle.

A few minutes later, Jackie came back into the room carrying a set of metal crutches.

"Here ya go."

"Thanks, little nicer than my last set."

"Um your last set?" Matt asked.

"Yep, a few years back I broke my right leg, dirt bike accident."

"Ouch."

"Yea, didn't feel none too good, it healed up nicely though."

"Well, that's good, now lets show you to your room."

"Thank you for everything."

"Like Matt said, don't mention it, we couldn't just leave you there" Jackie said.

With a little help up off the couch, Ferlin was up on the crutches.

"Hey, before I lay down, where's the restroom?"

"Second door to the right, just past the kitchen, the first door will land you in the basement."

After emerging from the restroom, Ferlin followed Jackie upstairs, Matt stayed behind, offering to clean up the kitchen.

"Well here it is, nothing fancy I'm afraid" Jackie said, opening a door just down the hall from the other two rooms.

"Fancy is no concern, I'd be happy with just a mattress to sleep on."

"Anything else you need?"

"No thanks, I just need to sleep for awhile."

"Alright, before we go to bed, either Matt or I will poke a nose in to check on you, if you don't mind."

"Eh, alright, guess it's better to not have you worry about me, I'll be just fine though, my body just needs to replenish the blood I lost, the soup and some sleep will do wonders" Ferlin said, laying down on his back. He drifted off to sleep within a few minutes, the stress his body encountered within the last twenty four hours really taking it out of him.

With Ferlin out of it, Jackie headed back downstairs to find Matt sitting on the couch working on the computer, Balls to the Wall playing rather loudly.

"Whatcha working on there?" she asked, climbing over the back of the couch, landing next to him.

"Internet search, I'm looking for a map, or at least a list of areas that have been targeted, patterns to any of the attacks. Oh and I'm downloading some music from Limewire."

The day slowly drug on into the night. Before retiring to his bed, Matt checked in on Ferlin, to see him still completely out, breathing easily, much to his relief. The next day, Ferlin slept for several more hours, hobbling downstairs to use the restroom around lunch time. Both Matt and Jackie were quite impressed to see him moving around as well as he was.

"You're just in time for lunch Ferlin, Matt's making up some sandwiches."

"Lunch, how long have I been out?" he asked, surprised.

"About twenty four hours."

"Wow, no wonder I'm hungry."

"Well, then eat up man" Matt said, carrying in a plate loaded with roast beef and pepper jack sandwiches.

After eating, the three retreated to the living room, Matt and Jackie flopping down on the sofa, Ferlin easing himself into the lazy boy, reclining the chair to prop his leg up.

"How's the leg doing?" Matt asked.

"Not too bad, it still hurts like hell but I can deal with it. I figure it will be mostly healed in a week or two if I'm careful not to stress it."

"Well that's good to hear" remarked Jackie.

"I'm guessing by now you two would like to hear what put me in that situation."

"Only if you want to tell us, we're not going to push you to tell" Matt replied.

"Well, here goes then, I need to tell someone, sorry if I start crying, part of this is very hard to tell. Anyway, two days ago my sister and I had decided to go out to Bass Pro to pick up some supplies for a fishing trip we were going on over spring break. We had been there a few hours and were looking at new fly reels. That's when it happened, humanists stormed the building, savagely beating and killing any furs they could find, along with the humans who tried to defend them. Two of them rushed us, I tried to defend her, that's when one jabbed me in the leg, effectively knocking me out of the fight. With me out, they drug her away, I could hear her scream as they pulled her behind a display shelf and either raped or beat her senseless. I heard two very distinct gunshots ring out, I couldn't hear her anymore. They killed her and left me to die." Ferlin said, breaking down in tears.

"Oh my god, that's horrible" Jackie said, wide eyed.

"I'm so sorry Ferlin."

"Don't be, you didn't know. The worst part was seeing the look of joy in their faces when they drug her away. Those faces, I'll always remember them. I made a solemn vow to kill them if I ever get the chance" he said, the last sentence through gritted teeth, Clint Eastwood style. "So, if I may ask, what's your story, you two seem just a little young to be living by yourselves."

"Well, I told you I'd tell you, so here goes" Matt said. "Jackie and I were just leaving a fuel station in our home town, ten hours to the east of here, I was filling my HUMVEE up for the spring break trip, we were going to go hiking and were going to start here. Anyway, as we were just pulling onto the street, the ground shook with several massive explosions. My only thought was, get the hell out of there. We drove to our house, to find it in flames, just before it exploded. Our parents were in the house" Matt said quietly, tears starting down his saddened face.

"That's absolutely horrible, no one should ever have to witness that. I'm horribly sorry" Ferlin said, obviously shocked by what Matt had said. "You guys had the same parents?" he asked, puzzled.

In a solemn, sad tone, Jackie said, "My biological parents abandoned me, well my father ran off after using my mother for his sick pleasure, I never met him. She abandoned me, for reasons I will never know. Matt's family took me in and gave me a warm bed to sleep on, good food to eat and love, genuine love that I'd never had. His is the only real family I have ever known, Matt is like a brother to me, we are closer than I was even to his parents, if something happened to him, I don't know what I'd do. Seeing that house and our parents still in it, hurt me just as much as it did Matt" she buried her face in Matt's shoulder, crying hard, her body shaking lightly.

Matt wrapped her in a hug, trying to provide the comfort she very much needed. Jackie slowly started calming down, her tears subsiding, she kept close to Matt, not wanting to let him go.

"Sorry if I brought up any unhappy memories Jackie" Ferlin said, a sorry look strung across his face.

"No, you didn't, the life I have lived with Matt's family has been a very good one. It's just the sudden shock of losing my parents that has me troubled" she said smiling, remembering the great life they gave her.

The noontime news was playing on the TV. A report had just come out that the humanist group was heavily increasing activity in the area, the death toll rising by the day, they showed a clip of the town, surplus trucks owned by humanists running through town, armed men running about. Even the main road in and out of the town was deemed unsafe. The three of them decided to stay put as long as possible until things cooled down some.

Two and a half weeks had passed since that news report, boredom had set in for all three of them. Ferlin was finally off the crutches and walking around on his own, albeit with a slight limp.

"Alright guys, what do you say to going into town, I just got off the computer, reports say things have cooled down" Matt said, happy to finally be going somewhere.

"Let's go, any reason in particular, or to just get out for awhile?" Ferlin asked.

"Target practice, we have the firepower, but we need to get acquainted to it, there's gotta be some fun stuff to blow up in town" Matt said, a huge grin spread across his face, the thought of putting some rounds through the big 50 cal running through his mind.

"Ooh fun, stress relief!" Ferlin said happily, grabbing one of the M-16s out of the gun vault in the den.

"Matt, what if there's still activity?" Jackie asked, a very worried look distorting her face.

"I'll make a run into town myself, they won't shoot at a lone human driving through, especially since I'm driving a military vehicle, that's their preferred method of transportation, surplus vehicles" Matt said.

"Oh god, Matt, please be careful!" Jackie said in return, worried about his safety.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Good luck man" Ferlin said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, I'll call you on the two way as I'm pulling up the drive, see you two in an hour or so" he said, walking through the side door, into the garage.

Climbing up into the HUMVEE, Matt remotely opened the garage door and started the diesel engine. He put it into gear and rolled down the driveway and out to the county road, heading for the main highway into town. There was no traffic in either direction, pulling into town, it looked deserted as it had been before, torched cars alongside the streets, a lot businesses run by furs had broken windows, a couple had even been set fire. The whole scene was eerie. With nothing looking as if there was anyone else here, Matt turned around in the center of town and headed back towards the cabin.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Ferlin noticed that Jackie seemed to have a hard time calming down, pacing and fidgeting.

"Jackie, what's wrong?" he asked walking into the living room with a couple cans of Pepsi.

"Nothing, I'm fine!" she lied to him.

"No, something is wrong, believe me, I can tell, in the three weeks I've been here, I've never seen you like this. So what is it, you can tell me."

"I'm worried about Matt, I don't know why, I just am I guess" she said, cracking open the soda he handed to her.

"How long have you known him?" Ferlin asked, thinking he may know why.

"Since I was five, he was six at the time."

"He means a lot to you, I imagine?"

"He means the world to me, since I've known him, he's always been there for me."

"Sounds to me like you're falling in love with him" Ferlin said, taking a sip of his Pepsi.

"What are you talking about? I mean, I love him as a sister would a brother, nothing more, ok" she said, slightly annoyed that he would even suggest that, yet something in the back of her mind told her he may be right, she didn't want to believe it.

The two way radio sitting on the coffee table crackled to life with Matt's voice, "You guys want to go shoot some shit?"

Grabbing the radio, Ferlin excitedly said, Hell yea!"

"Alright, I'm just pulling up the driveway, I'll be inside in a few minutes."

Hearing that Matt was ok, Jackie let out a quiet sigh of relief. Matt walked in and headed for the den. Spinning the knob back and forth a few times, he opened the door to the gun vault and hefted out the massive 50 cal rifle.

Walking back into the living room where Jackie and Ferlin were still standing, he said with a grin, "Arm up, let's go have some fun".

When Matt walked back into the garage to deposit the rifle in the HUMVEE, Ferlin said to Jackie, "I saw your tail wagging when Matt walked in".

"I am just relieved he's ok."

"Riiiight" Ferlin said sarcastically, not exactly believing her.

The two grabbed two of the M16s and some ammunition for them as Matt walked back in grabbed a couple boxes of the huge 50 cal's rounds. After dropping the ammo in the HUMVEE, Matt came back for an M16. After the rifles and ammo were loaded, Jackie grabbed her Glock, Matt handed one of the S&W .357 Magnums to Ferlin, along with several boxes of rounds and a shoulder holster.

"Keep that on you at all times from now on, never know when you'll need it."

Matt already had his S&W 500 jammed in its holster and several boxes of ammo in the HUMVEE. The three climbed into the cab and rolled out, heading for town. Matt blew through several intersections, pulling up in front of a large, fancy, now partially decrepit hotel.

"I hocked the keys for the presidential suite, it's empty and has a balcony that looks like it would make a kickass spot to shoot from" Matt said, holding up two key cards.

They unloaded the weapons and made their way up to the suite, incredibly posh and overly done, the rate per night was over six thousand. There were three main rooms, the front room where the door and the kitchen was, along with the balcony, the living room, designed for the sole purpose of entertaining, there were no windows, just a massive plasma screen, a pool table, a card table and a crazy loud stereo, the last room was the bedroom. Each room had its own bathroom.

"We need some music" Jackie said, walking over to the entertainment panel. "This should do" she said, as she selected The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden and put the rest of the album on shuffle.

"Sweet!" was the unison response between Matt and Ferlin.

They all stepped out onto the large balcony after donning ear and eye protection.

"Alright, lets have a little fun, you two see those stoplights? They are now targets!" Matt said, chambering a round in the 50 cal.

Resting the front two lets of the gun's tripod stand on the rail, he peered through the sights and took aim on the closest stoplight, aiming for the yellow light. Slowing his breathing as much as possible, he steadied himself and squeezed the trigger. His aim was right on, the round splitting the stoplight in two. The recoil from the shot was incredible, pushing around even Matt's 175 lb solid muscle weight.

"Holy shit that was cool, excessive but totally cool" Matt said, excited as a kid at Christmas, chambering another round.

The second shot was aimed at a street light, the fixture exploded into thousands of shards of glass, the round kept going, burying itself in the brick wall behind it. He walked back into the room and propped the rifle up against a wall.

"Alright, Ferlin, you're up while I show Jackie how to run the M-16" Matt said, grabbing one of the rifles propped along the wall.

"Sweet!"

"Alright, this thing's pretty simple to operate Jackie" Matt said, slamming a clip into the gun. "For now, just leave it on semi-auto" he said, pointing out the switch that toggled between semi-auto, 3 round burst and 6 round burst. "Other than that, you know what to do, you've been shooting with me and dad before" he said, handing her the rifle.

Ferlin came back in, a big, silly grin plastered across his face. Matt and Jackie looked out and saw why, he had disabled 3 stop lights and put several bullet holes through a couple signs on the street.

"Damn, good shootin' Ferlin" Matt said, laughing, bumping fists with the burly wolf.

Matt walked out on to the balcony with Jackie, "Give ‘em hell" he said, putting his ear protection back on.

Jackie proceeded to knock out several street lights, she surprised herself with how accurate she actually was with the rifle.

"Not bad Jackie" Matt said, looking at the exploded street lights.

"Yea, not bad at all I must say" Ferlin said, walking out onto the balcony.

Matt took his turn with his M-16 the only thing running through his mind was how illegal what they were doing. He smiled knowing they wouldn't be caught in this ghost town. When Matt finished, Ferlin and Jackie walked out onto the balcony and all three of them proceeded to burn though hundreds of rounds, shooting anything that would look cool with bullet holes in it, or shatter upon impact.

Leaning his rifle up against the wall, Ferlin said, "Well I think it's safe to say we've burned through enough ammunition for one day, what do you think?"'

"Let's see, we went through five hundred rounds, I'd say that's good for one day" Matt said.

"Anything else you guys want to do here?" Jackie asked.

"Well, I've been thinking about security at the cabin." Ferlin said, now deep in thought.

"Anything in particular in mind?" Matt asked, thinking upping the security factor would be a good idea.

"Well, I'm pretty familiar with computer based security systems and if it hasn't been destroyed, this town's electronic store has some pretty neat stuff I could use."

"Well, when Jackie and I first got here, the store was in good shape, what exactly are you thinking?" Matt asked.

"Security cameras, obviously, also a vehicle specific driveway alarm, broken glass sensors, sensors on the doors, including the garage door, that's just the electronic part of it, the physical part, we should put a couple extra deadbolts in each door, an extra latch set on the garage door. I already looked, the doors are strong enough as it is. We should also bar the windows."

"Wow, yea, that would keep people out, how does the vehicle specific alarm work?" Jackie asked, amazed by Ferlin's knowledge of home security.

"Simple, a sensor is affixed to your HUMVEE, when the driveway alarm senses it, it alerts you that, in this case, a friendly vehicle is entering the premises, without that sensor, the alarm goes off, in which case we would haul ass to the basement."

"That's cool man, what do you say we stow the firepower and raid the electronics store?" Matt asked, hefting the 50 cal over his shoulder, picking the M-16 with the other hand. "As far as the windows, they have steel shutters that can be remotely operated."

After putting their ‘toys' away in the HUMVEE, they walked across the street to the electronics store.

"Alright, Matt, one thing I'm going to need is a computer, I don't want to keep yours tied up, also I want it for personal use, can you grab something that has a good amount of power and a large screen? I'm going to start collecting the pieces I need for the security system."

"Ok, any brand preference Ferlin?"

"Nope, just something with Windows 7 if they have it."

"Gotcha". Turning to Jackie, Matt asked, "Is there anything you want while we're here?"

"An iPod maybe? Also, let's raid the CD selection for any classic rock or metal" Jackie grinned at the thought of finally getting some new music, the Limewire server had crashed, leaving them with about fifteen songs, those had gotten old real fast.

"Well, I'm going to leave that to you, I gotta find a computer for Ferlin's security system, hey grab an iPod for me too and one for Ferlin" Matt said, walking towards the computer section.

Two hours later, the three walked out of the store. Ferlin had a cart full of security cameras, sensors, wiring and other odds and ends. Matt was carrying a HP laptop with a 17 inch screen. Jackie had a cart loaded with rock and metal CDs, three iPods and a video camera.

"Wonder how much all this would have come to if we had to pay for it?" Jackie asked.

"Well into the thousands, easily." Turning to Ferlin, Matt asked, "You want your own vehicle?"

"Sure, the driveway alarm has several sensors anyway, what were you thinking?"

"Ford dealership down the road, there's got to be something that will make a good second vehicle. If possible it should be diesel too."

"Why's that?" Ferlin asked.

"More reliable and I always carry extra diesel fuel on the HUMVEE."

"Ok, sounds good, let's hit it" Ferlin said, loading the last of his goodies into the back seat of the HUMVEE.

"Hold on a minute, let me grab another shopping cart from the parking lot, we'll have a cart race" Matt laughed, jogging across the street.

He came back a few minutes later, riding a shopping cart in the same fashion a little kid would.

"First one to the dealership wins and GO!" Matt said, jumping back on his cart, laughing like an idiot.

The race between them was close, literally, they were slamming into each other, trying to win. Ferlin won in the end, his longer legs allowed him to push ahead. The dealership was only a few hundred yards ahead of where they started at the hotel. When Ferlin stopped in front of the dealership, he pushed his cart in the path of Matt's. Matt kept on going full speed ahead, slamming into the cart, sending it flying into a car destined for the body shop.

"Holy shit that was funny" Ferlin said, breaking down laughing.

"Yea, I think you won" Matt said, standing his cart up on the back wheels.

"I think it was dead even between Matt and I" Jackie said, rolling into the back of Matt's legs, partially knocking him over.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Just because" Jackie said with a cheeky grin.

After looking around the lot for awhile, Ferlin settled on a maroon, full cab, short bed, four wheel drive 2004 F250 with the 6.0 Powerstroke Turbodiesel and automatic transmission.

"Ok, I found the truck I want, now about the keys?" Ferlin asked, stumped as to how he would be able to drive it with no keys.

"Simple, we go find them" Matt said, grabbing one of the carts and chucking it through the glass door.

"Well, that's one way to get in" Jackie said as shards of glass fell to the ground.

They found the used vehicles counter and found the keys labeled for that truck. After checking the oil, Ferlin started the motor, Matt and Jackie jumped in the bed before Ferlin took off for the hotel.

Pulling up next to the HUMVEE, Ferlin shut the truck off and got out as Matt and Jackie jumped over the side of the bed. They helped Ferlin load the security equipment and one of the M-16s into the back seat of the pickup truck.

"How much fuel does it have in it" Matt asked Ferlin, flipping a finger at the Ford.

"Little under a quarter tank, where can I get some diesel?"

"Take a right out of the parking lot, there's a fuel station on the left, it's a few stoplights down, watch out for the bottom half of the one I destroyed with the 50 cal, when you get there, the diesel will be on the right side under its own island, select pay inside, it will dispense fuel, obviously you won't be paying though" Matt said with a chuckle, remembering the shattered stoplight.

"Thanks, so what are you two going to do while I'm working on the security system?" Ferlin asked Jackie.

"Not sure yet, I need to spend a little time with Matt, something's up with me, I'm not sure what it is and he knows me better than anyone" Jackie said, wondering what was up with her, she never felt like this before.

"Don't have too much fun you two!" Ferlin said, laughing at his own joke.

"Weirdo" she stuck her tongue out at him with a cheeky grin.

Ferlin fired up his truck and roared off for the fuel station down the street.

Finding Matt on the other side of the HUMVEE, Jackie nervously said, "Matt, something's wrong".

"Do you know what?" Matt asked, puzzled by her statement.

"Not exactly, let's head back to the hotel room to talk this over some" she said, tugging on his arm.

"What about Ferlin?"

"He's going back to the cabin to start work on the security system. I have a feeling though, this is something I need to talk to you about, you know me better than anyone" she said, a worried expression on her face.

Noticing her worried look, he pulled her into a tight hug, "You've never acted like this, come on, we'll get it figured out".

Matt locked up the HUMVEE after grabbing one of the M-16s and the 50 cal for protection, just in case. As they walked into the hotel room and bolted the door, a light rain started, steadily intensifying into a downpour.

"I don't think Ferlin's going to get far tonight" Matt said, surprised by the sudden rain, it had been clear all day until now.

"Nope, he'll probably just play around on his computer, not much else for him to do" Jackie remarked.

"So what is it you needed to talk to me about Jackie?" Matt asked, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"Well, I don't really know how to explain it, at first I thought it was just an affection to you, but it's stronger now, wow I must sound stupid" she said, looking down, away from him.

Putting a hand under her chin and tilting her head up, looking into her beautiful dark green eyes, he said, "You know you can tell me anything and you don't sound stupid, something's obviously wrong".

"Matt, I think I'm..." she dropped her voice to a whisper, "I think I heard voices in the hall".

In an equally quiet whisper, Matt said, "Hide, quickly and plug your ears, this could get loud".

There was a loud banging noise on the front door of the room as someone smashed into it with a battering ram. Over and over and over, they hit it, until it came crashing down.

To Be Continued...

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