FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Developed by the United States Navy as a counter to the Gamma Radiation produced by the hardcore fusion reactors that ran most new ships, the drugs Triamidol and Epinenosine flush radiation out of a patients system, making them highly sought after post war.

At three or four in the morning, Eirren and I both jerked awake, and it took me a minute to figure out exactly what had woken us up. Glancing quickly around the car and the area surrounding us, and my paw closer to my 1300 than it should have been, I saw that Nero was standing on his hind legs with half of his body hanging out the window. He was shaking pretty badly and his fur was matted with sweat. It took me about five seconds to realize that the sound that had woken us up was him throwing his guts up, and I'd bet both my horns that it was because his dinner was irradiated. I threw the poncho liner I was using as a blanket to the side and crawled over my pack to get to his side. I put my paw on his back and could literally feel how numb he was, which was a first, it made me wonder if how the hell he was supporting himself.

"Dad", he squeaked a squeak that forced the feeling of someone driving a nail into my chest to punch clean through me, "I don't feel so..."

He was interrupted by another cough which led to nasty looking chunks of an unidentifiable substance and yellow mucus bursting out of his throat. I started rubbing his back as he coughed and choked while his system tried to expel the contaminants. As nasty as it was, it could either be a good sign, telling me that the radiation drugs were doing their jobs, or it could be telling me that his sickness was getting worse. An experienced vet would be able to tell, but unfortunately I wasn't one.

"Get it out son", I told him as Eirren watched us with a look of helplessness on her face, "don't try to hold it in."

I'd had more than my fair share of stomach bugs and more than a few cans of irradiated food since the bombs fell. Radiation was something I was rather familiar with, but I'd never seen it fuck anyone up this bad. The worst I'd ever seen on anyone was blisters and I wasn't sure how to start dealing with it. Nero coughed and choked for a good 20 minutes or so before he finally managed to gather himself and slumped down into my arms, seeming as though his body had completely failed him.

"What's happening to me?", he whimpered starring at me, the moon light glinted off his unblinking, innocent looking eyes in such a way it was like looking into a mirror.

"It's the radiation buddy", I said holding him tightly to me, "it made you super sick, but as long as you stay hydrated and we keep medicine on your blisters, you'll get through it."

Nero leaned into me, closing his eyes and slowly falling back to sleep. Sighing, I set him back in his seat and covered him up, putting my Shemagh over him as well, I figure he'd probably need it.

"Felt like he was running a fever", I said sitting back down.

"Great", Eirren sighed, "I really hope that spasm was induced by the radiation medicine and not because the rads in his system have gone up."

"I'd put my tail on the idea that the can of soup he ate for dinner was irradiated", I said, "I guarantee that's what caused it."

As I got back into bed, Eirren rolled onto her side, facing me, "we can't do 2000 miles on foot with Nero in this condition. We just can't, if we try, well...we may as well just shoot him."

"Then what are we supposed to do?", I asked, "we can't live in this station wagon till he get's better, the heat alone would destroy what little bit of an immune system he has left, and we don't have the gear to give him a proper infusion, so...where does that leave us?"

"The way I see it we've got three choices in this matter", Eirren began, "1, we can attempt, to turn this station wagon into some kind of cooled shelter for at least a few weeks, all we'd need is a way to keep the battery charged, and there's plenty of scrap around here I'm certain between the know how of both of us we can come up with something, two, we can keep him hydrated and medicated as best we can, and push forward on foot, stopping and getting the first vet we can find to work a miracle for us, or three, we can find a truck that works."

"Now give me a fourth solution that doesn't put a massive bullseye on our backs", I scoffed.

"There isn't a fourth Ari", Eirren said, "there just isn't."

"I don't like those options, if they don't put a target on our backs they make life hell for Nero", I said.

"At least we can shoot back at the things that try to kill us", Eirren shrugged, "if putting on a figurative target on my back makes life easier for my kid, so be it. We have to do something."

I stared up at the ceiling of the station wagon, listening to Nero softly snoring from the front seat, somehow he'd managed to find sleep again, I wasn't sure if I could though. Never had anyone's life but my own to look after, now, I had two.

"I don't know what to do Eirren", I said with a faint laugh, "when I started this trip, I told myself I'd avoid any and all contact with others unless necessary, and then you and Nero just kind of fell into my lap. I am not ready for this kind of responsibility."

"I'm not either", Eirren said, "three years ago, I was a Starbucks worker who got her kicks from harassing cringy liberals teetering on the edge of a criminal record, now I'm a survivor of nuclear war on a 2000 mile road trip to the southern part of a country I've never been to before, all on foot, with a kid whose taken to me as his Mother. If that's not an unexpected change, then I don't know what is. Either way, we gotta work together if we're gonna get through this alive."

I sighed and rolled over, facing away from her, too much in my mind to really think straight at the moment. Last night, my biggest concern about this trip was keeping myself hydrated, now, it was keeping my adopted son alive long enough to see morning.

"What the fuck have I gotten into?", I asked myself, "is someone upstairs trying to get my attention?"

Eirren crawled to me, putting her arm around me and laying her head on me. I wasn't sure what she was trying to do, because if she was trying to make me feel better then it wasn't working, not by a long shot. The fact that she'd taken such a liking to me so quick made me even more confused. I'd saved a couple other chicks from bandits at the very beginning of my trip, and they didn't have the reaction that Eirren did. I wonder if I reminded her of someone she grew up with, or maybe I had something she just wanted to get close enough to steal.

"What are you doing?", I asked, "it's not helping."

"I figured it would help you clear your head a little bit", she told me, "It helped Mark."

"Friend of yours from before the war?", I asked.

She nodded, "yeah, you could say that. He had these moments where he'd just go completely spastic and rattle off every possible worst case scenario that could come from the simplest things. A hug and a kiss was always enough to pull him back, but when the nukes fell, he became a completely different animal. It was like the guy I'd fallen in love with sold his soul to his military side and he became this....I don't know what, more machine than dragon, every male, female and child it seemed he thought was out to kill me and several times I had to stop him from murdering someone completely innocent. Eventually I guess his brain just couldn't handle whatever was going on inside it anymore. Two days before I met you, he had a breakdown, everything he'd become just fell away, and one by one his systems shut down. Eventually he died in my arms."

I turned to face her, as much out of shock as it was my not believing what she was telling me.

"Let me make one thing clear, Arien", Eirren said, "I've lost my Mom, my Dad, Mark, and every single one of my friends to this mother fucking godforsaken wasteland, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let it happen again. I refuse to allow you or Nero to be taken from me."

I sighed, "then I guess I need to stop bitching and cowboy the fuck up. Least my family's still alive and I left on my own will. So here's the plan, tomorrow, when the sun comes up, we pack up, get Nero cleaned up and then we just take down desert, as much as we can. We'll have to take turns carrying him, so whoever isn't carrying needs a their rifle ready to go at a seconds notice, that means live in the chamber, safety off."

"Sounds like a plan to me", Eirren said rolling over and slowly falling back to sleep. Somehow I figured this was a good situation to play copy cat in.

Hours passed, and those hours carried the moon away and brought the sun, as well as another, very welcome guest into the wastelands. When I woke up, it was from a clasp of thunder, a sound I hadn't heard in years. The rain hadn't come yet, at least not hard, there was a light drizzle on the roof of the wagon but that was about it. A glance out the window at a nigh black sky told me that would change soon, however. It would be a welcome change of pace, especially if the storm had come from Canada, then it would be cold. Sitting up, I woke up Eirren.

"Eirren", I said.

"Hmm?", she asked rolling over, "what time is it?"

I checked my phone, some how the battery was only down to 80 percent, "Eight AM, we should get ready to go, it's gonna start raining soon."

"That'll make the trip easy", Eirren yawned, "assuming of course that the entire wasteland doesn't turn into slurry."

"Yeap", I agreed digging into my pack for my jacket, a Duluth trading Alaskan Hardgear jacket. The furthest thing from a summer rain jacket, but it would work for the time being. Upon fishing out my coat and packing up my normal shirt, I saw that Nero had woken up. He was standing on his hind legs with his front paws on the window sill, holding his head out into the rain. He looked much less sick than he did earlier and seemed mesmerized by the rain. That was when I remembered that Nero was born post war, and probably had no clue as to what rain or thunder was, all he knew was that there was water falling from the sky. To him, that didn't happen.

"Mom, Dad check this out!", he said gleefully, "there's water falling from the sky!"

I looked over at Eirren who was about to explain everything and ruin the magic. I reached over and held her mouth closed, playing along.

"Water doesn't fall from the sky buddy, it's only in lakes and in the ground", I told him.

"Come look!", he said bouncing up and down, "I'm telling the truth!"

Playing along, I went over to him and stuck my paw out the window. The rain was cold and refreshing, didn't sting from radiation either, which was a huge plus. I may not even wear my jacket now, it was that welcome.

"Well, shit", I laughed, "there is water falling from the sky."

"Water doesn't fall from the sky boys", Eirren scoffed, "you're imagining shit."

"Not really", I told her, "stick your paw out the window and you tell me water ain't coming down from the heavens."

Eirren, shaking her head mockingly, stuck her paw out the window and reacted in a damn believable way, "holy hell, there's water...falling from the sky."

Nero's face lit up. For the first time since I met him, I had a glimpse of the little boy hiding behind all of the radiation burns and blind, silver eyes. This hyperactive, sweet kid who was born in the wrong time period. A kid who the wastelands would try to destroy at every turn, that had already tried to kill him at least a few times. I guessed that kids, kids like Nero especially, just weren't welcome anymore, maybe that's why his parents left him behind. Or maybe, his parents died defending him, knowing that the wastes would chew him up and spit him out, either as the man he needed to be to survive, or give him a quick death, so at least he wouldn't suffer. Thinking a bit further, I begin to feel like I had a better understanding of what was going on. Before the nukes fell, I had always heard that God worked in mysterious ways, and in a way, I guess that the Nuclear war was tribulation in a sense. It was also in times like this that I remembered the words of my buddy Taro from years ago. "All evil leads to good." I never doubted it was there, but I guess the good from the war just took a little while to find.

"Hey", Eirren said snapping her fingers in front of my face, "still with us?"

"Yeah..I just, zoned out for a minute there", I shrugged.

"Not a bad idea", she commented, "I think we just traded a bad situation for a much better one. We should get going if we're gonna use the storm to our advantage."

"Agreed", I said.

We packed up, and soon we were on the road again. Nero was a totally different wolf from yesterday, he was hyperactive, loud and darting all over the place, even smashing into a few things at full speed, but just getting up and shaking it off before running around some more. I guessed that the Epinenosine had worked his magic and that spasm he had this morning was just his body expunging all of the irradiated crap that had been building up. Whatever the case may have been, weather it was the radiation medicine or a straight miracle, Nero was clearly better, and I couldn't help but think Eirren and I were in for it now.

"I think the radiation meds worked', Eirren laughed slinging her Ak over her shoulder, "come here little kid! Gimme all your stuff!"

"Never!", Nero laughed as he took off running. Eirren chased after him, only catching him after he slammed head first into a block of solid concrete, making him stumble back. Eirren quickly picked him up and checked his head, probably to make sure he hadn't cracked it open, because he'd left a pretty noticeable crack in the stone block.

"He left a four inch crack in this block", I laughed bending down to inspect the rock, "you all right buddy?"

Nero shook his head quickly, and his wide grin quickly returned, "did I hit something?"

"You smashed into a block of concrete buddy", Eirren said, "does your head hurt?"

"Nope", he said rolling out of Eirren's arms and sticking the landing on all fours. I shook my head as a large grin crept up the edges of my lips. I was stuck raising him now, weather I wanted to or not., but I suppose he was stuck with me too, made things a bit more even in my book. And assuming Eirren's felt the same way towards me that I do towards her, he'd have two parents, and maybe would be an older brother someday.

"That'll happen", I laughed at myself. Eirren continued to play with Nero, until he eventually got to tied and asked to ride on my pack. By that point, it was storming hard, making it difficult to see. As welcomed as it was, this was now a problem. If it hadn't been storming, I would have said no, but seeing as though he was blind, and I couldn't see shit given the wind and rain, I figured it was a good idea to have him close by. I hoisted him up to my back and grabbed Eirren's arm, pulling her in so I could be heard over the storm.

"As much as I like the rain we have to find a place to wait out this storm!", I screamed while a giant, super bright bolt of white lightning flashed over head, casting black hole black shadows on the washed out road and sand, "I can't see two feet past my snout!"

"Neither can I!", Eirren shouted, though her higher pitched voice made her somewhat difficult to hear, "You take point, I'll keep a paw on your shoulder so we don't get separated! Is Nero with you!? I lost him in the storm!"

"I'm on Dad's pack!", Nero shouted, his voice even harder to hear.

I pulled Eirren closer to me and Nero shouted again, "I'm on Dad's pack!"

"Okay good!", Eirren acknowledged, "lead the way Arien!"

I'm not quite sure how long we walked for, could have been hours, could have been minutes, but eventually, we began to near a large hill that had an overpass on it. The only reason I'd seen it was due to the lightning, and in that brief flash of light I managed to get a glimpse of the name of a city and a distance, ten kilometers.

"Overpass ahead!", I shouted to Eirren.

"I saw it!", she replied as we broke into a sprint. Underneath the cover of the overpass, we stopped. Nero jumped off my pack and shook the water from his fur while Eirren and I stopped to catch our breath.

"It's dark in here", Nero said. Coming from the blind kid, that was saying something.

"Yeah it is", I said turning on my weapon light. Underneath the overpass was totally normal, as far as overpasses went I suppose. Pipe and wires traversed the space between the concrete support beams for the road above and the two different, two lane roads were divided by a column of 5 fat support pillars that ran the length of the underpass, while there was a single door in the concrete wall of the other side of the underpass, denoting one of many Fallout shelters that had been built in the final days before the nukes. Another feature that I didn't fail to notice were Nuclear shadows, dozens of them. Smashed together, only the heads to tell each one apart. all looking like they were running towards the fallout shelter. The reason behind the formation of these permanent shadows is radiation, believe it or not. Imagine you are on a beach, the UV radiation of sun will cause tan and sunburn on your skin, unless you have applied some sort of a sunscreen, which acts as a sunblocker and prevents .Nuclear radiation acts in almost the same manner, except that the emission is thermal radiation and not UV. This thermal radiation _bleaches_the surface of walls that it comes in contact with, just like sunburn bleaches the exposed surface of skin. But when a sunblocker, an object, comes in between, the portion of wall, or any surface, for that matter, behind that object does not bleach. So it looks like a permanent shadow has been formed on the wall, when it is just the unbleached part of the surface. It's like when you remove a photo frame after it was hanging for a long time on the wall, and there remains a clean spot behind it which is easily recognizable in its comparatively dirtier surrounding. I'd seen a few of them in my time, and it made me glad Nero was blind. He didn't need to see this shit. Hell I didn't need to see this, nor did I want to.

"Are those....", Eirren began.

"Nuclear shadows", I sighed, "poor bastards were running from the blast. But..can't out run a wall of fire traveling at twenty times the speed of sound."

"I guess not. Inches from the shelter too", Eirren sighed, hanging her head, "I don't wanna fuckin stay here now", she said quickly, "can't we find somewhere else to rest?"

"How about the fallout shelter?", I asked trying the door, finding it wasn't locked, "should be empty."

The heavy metal door slid aside without too much fuss as another pure white bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the entire area. I caught a glimpse of Nero, he was sitting on the edge between the underpass and the open, starring into the sky, seeming as though he was watching the lightning.

"Think you can handle recon of the bunker?", I asked, "I'll get Nero and my gear and meet up with you."

"Got ya", Eirren said exchanging her AK for her over under and heading down. I propped the door open with a steel I-Beam that had broken off from something near by and went over to Nero, sitting down next to him.

"Can you see the lightning buddy?", I asked.

Much to my surprise, he nodded, "what causes it Dad? The lightning?"

"Too much power in the clouds", I said, "they can hold a charge like a battery, and sometimes it builds up to the point where the clouds can't hold it, so they let it go and that makes lightning."

"Cool", Nero said.

"Come on, let's go find Mom", I said standing up. I walked over to get my gear and had just picked up my pack when Eirren came back outside with a distant look on her face.

"Why do I get the feeling we're sleeping outside again tonight?", I asked.

"Bunker's a grave yard", she answered through a long sigh, "probably 40 dead, and the place doesn't seem to safe either. Looks like scavengers stripped out a bunch of copper and piping, made the walls weak."

"Damn. Well, least there are plenty of cars around. I guess find one that you like...and we'll go from there."

Eirren nodded as I once again set down my pack. Nero, looking for something to do, begin sniffing his way around the underpass, just looking for interesting things while Eirren and I worked. The cars in the underpass were largely Sedan's, too small for the three of us to have enough room to store gear and sleep in a slightly comfortable position, but nearing the front of the tunnel, we found a Honda Odyssey. Like most cars in the wastes, the tires were shot and the motor was trashed. Interior wasn't in the greatest shape, but it was much better than the wagon from last night. Key was broken off in the ignition, but that didn't matter too much, because the battery was missing, probably taken by a scavenger with a similar van that actually ran. Getting the thing ready for a stay was as simple as cleaning out some of the dust and dirt and putting the seats down.

"How long you think the storm is gonna last?", Eirren asked me shrugging off her pack and vest, setting her rifle against the van's open door.

"I couldn't say", I answered with a shrug as I took off my soaked plate carrier and jacket. The air against my smothered hide was welcoming, I needed a real rain jacket, or at least felt like I did. Seeing as this was the first rain I'd seen since the bombs fell, I doubted a rain coat was a worth while purchase, "could be 20 minutes, could be 10 days, we won't know till the sun's decided he's had enough."

"Fair enough", Eirren said, "but, since we're stuck here for the time being, I say we make use of the storm."

"How so?", I inquired.

"There were a bunch of five gallon buckets down in the bunker, close to the entrance", she explained, "I could go down, get them and we can wash our clothes and things, maybe give Nero a real bath and clean out his blisters so they heal better, and so he doesn't smell like a wet dog because that shit is the worst."

"What makes you say that?", I asked.

"Have you ever had to spend the night with a dog, fox or wolf who doesn't know how to clean himself correctly?", Eirren asked.

"No", I answered.

"Good", She said, "trust me, I have, and you don't fucking want to."

"Message received", I said holding up my paws in mock surrender.

"Oh stop being a sarcastic little shit", Eirren mocked, "never seen a female who doesn't care what she sounds like?"

"My little sister, that's it", I shrugged, "you probably are the first one I've met that really doesn't give a fuck."

Eirren shook her head, "it's gonna be a long trip if I gotta put up with you", she grinned.

"Challenge accepted", I said crossing my arms.

I felt a tug on my pants leg and looked down. Nero was sitting at my feet staring up at me.

"Need something buddy?", I asked picking him up.

"Food", he said, "I'm starved."

"Of course you are", I smiled, turning back to Eirren, "I'll see if I can find something dry enough to catch a spark, you go get those buckets."

I set Nero down in the van and went off searching for something that was dry enough to burn, and in not much time at all I found just that. Near the entrance to the underpass was a pile of tree branches, a bunch of them in fact. Due to the rain, I hadn't seen them when I walked in. If I could just get a few of them dry, I could feed a fire long enough to dry out more, and then some more and keep the cycle going until all of the wood was burned. I gathered as many of the branches as I could and carted them back towards the van one bundle at a time until it had all been moved. I took my SOG machete from my pack and cut off the small branches and twigs as well as shaved bark to made a tinder pile to catch the flame from my lighter, enhancing it with a bit of the brake parts cleaner I carried around to clean my guns. Since there wasn't any hole to build the fire in, I grabbed the steel I beam from the doorway after Eirren had finished gathering the buckets and used it to brake up some chunks of concrete into more manageable pieces, which I then arranged in a circle and built the fire in. While Nero sat by the fire, I broke up some more concrete to gather some rebar and wire. With some grade A effort, I managed to string together some tripods to put wet clothes on, which I placed around the fire. When she was done setting the buckets out in the rain, Eirren busted up some more rocks with the I-Beam and brought me more rebar and wire, even making another trip down into the doomed fallout shelter for lose wire and piping. Once we'd used everything available to us, we had six metal tripods circled around the fire, almost like a post apocalyptic Indian village.

"It's like a little scrap village", Eirren observed.

"They'll look more like Tepee's once we put clothes on them", I said standing up, "ever used the rain as a shower?"

"No", Eirren raised an eye, "are you going to..."

"Yes I am because it has been too long since I've anything that could even be remotely compared to a shower", I said unbuttoning my shirt.

Eirren shook her head, "I think it's a stupid idea, but at the same time I can't say I blame you."

I stripped everything off, grabbed my SigSauer and a small bottle of shampoo from my hygiene kit and stepped just around the front overpass. For the first time since the bombs, I actually felt clean and not just un sweaty. I didn't bother to get dressed at first either. I dug all of my normal wear clothes out of my bag, soaked them in one of the buckets that I filled with soap and scrubbed them as hard as I could without an old school washboard, but found that my scales did a pretty decent job of that. I found that washing my own clothes by hand was a rather satisfying experience, not something that a lot of people knew how to do these days, they still relied on working machines to do the work for them. When they could be found at least. When I had cleaned both pairs of jeans, several pairs of socks, underwear, three shirts and a spare X-temp shirt, I wrung everything out as best I could and carried it back to the van. I set them down on my waterproof bag and changed into the set of black combat fatigues I'd gotten a few years ago, three or four if I remember right. I hung my wet stuff on the metal tepees and sat down, finding Eirren starring blankly into the fire.

"Still with me?", I asked snapping my fingers in front of her face.

"Yeah", she said standing, "dozed off for a second, feel any better?"

"Much better", I smiled, "feel clean for the first time since the nukes."

"Good. Good", She said, "next time, just please get dressed when you finish cleaning up. I caught a few glimpses of what you've got to work with."

"See anything you liked!?", I asked after her, trying to hide the most embarrassment I'd felt in ages.

"Nothing impressive", She answered from inside the van, flipping me off. Ouch. That was just cruel.

"Just remember", I said, "I've seen you naked too!"

"I don't give a shit!", she answered, "I really don't, because I have no shame!"

"It's gonna be a long trip. Of all the girls to get with I get stuck the crazy one whose immune to counter insults", I sighed glancing over at Nero, who was still sound asleep, somehow, our screaming at each other hadn't woken him, "thank god Nero didn't hear any of that."

The storm raged outside while Eirren and I hid from it's wrath in the underpass. As time passed, the storm showed no signs of letting off, so we passed the time by organizing our equipment, cleaning our firearms and trying to help Nero recover from his abandonment just a little more. We gave him a bath, changed his bandages and cleaned and medicated his blisters and raw spots, which had gotten noticeably smaller. He was awake for most of it, and though I could tell it hurt him, he never once complained, though he shed more than a few tears. Probably still wanting his real parents back. At around 2PM, the rainfall stopped and we began to pack up. Almost unbelievably, in the 15 minute window it took us to tear down camp, any evidence of rainfall was gone. The desert was once again dry as a bone with the sun shining viciously bright as the oven baked winds blew gritty dust across the lifeless, broiling wasteland.

"Didn't take but 15 minutes for mister sun to reclaim the wastelands", Eirren sighed, "mother fucker, we should have kept going!"

"Ain't much we can do about that now", I said, "least we're clean."

"But how long before we're sweaty and nasty again?", Eirren asked.

I shrugged. I walked back to the front of the underpass and got a look at the sign I'd seen before we'd taken shelter. It read "Sherbrooke Quebec, 10KM."

"Hey Eirren", I shouted walking back to get my stuff.

"Yeah?", she asked.

"You're Canadian, how many miles is 10 kilometers?"

She thought for a minute, "Umm...maybe six? I think it's six, could be wrong."

"Sign bolted to the overpass says Sherbrooke Quebec is 10KM's out", I told her, "that puts us close to the US, Canadian border."

"Pretty decent sized city", She mused, "could be good supply left, and if we hit a Cavern, could be even better."

"Gotta remember Rabids and Bandits though", I sighed. During The War, lots of survivors eventually contracted a version of Rabies on some hard steroids, driving them batshit insane. Those unlucky enough to be infected with it were driven to the point of cannibalism even. Without the CDC or some organized force to keep a lid on them, they spread out, traveling in packs during the night and resting during the day as the sun hurt their eyes. I'd faced night assaults from them before, which lead to me covering my tracks with ammonia whenever I had to put up in or near a city. It was easy to tell a Rabid from a normal fur too. Lack of hair, sunken eyes and an uncanny ability to travel on all four, sometimes Rabid Anthro's were better on all fours than a normal Feral. Some of them could even scale vertical surfaces if they knew enough to take care of their claws and even less have managed to keep it together enough to operate firearms and retain a basic understanding of speech, though they can't do anything with these abilities other than kill. They were some scary mother fuckers, hard to stop unless you could sheer off a limb or blow them up. Since I was one of a few left who could still throw a frag to save his life, I didn't worry about a small pack, but a larger pack would overwhelm us.

"Damn", Eirren muttered, "at least getting caught by a nuke was quick. Turning Rabid is one of my worst fears."

"One of them?", I asked, "what's your worst?"

"Burning to death", Eirren said, "I don't even much care to handle hot plates and pans."

"Mom?", Nero asked without opening his eyes, "what's a Rabid?"

"People who contracted Rabies", Eirren said, "people you don't wanna meet."

I hoisted my gear to my shoulder and picked up Nero, "let's get moving, with some luck we can clear the city before nightfall."