FSE

Furry search engine

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For a moment, I just stared at the soldiers in front of my door, glowering. I wish I could say that they responded in any way, but they just stood there, motionless, their expressions unreadable behind the heavy-duty gas masks that covered their faces. I had half a mind to just walk up and confront them, but I didn't know just how far the government was willing to go at the moment, and I didn't much feel like starting the day with a nutritious breakfast of bullets. So, ignoring them as best I could, I walked over to the kitchen, pouring myself a bowl of cereal to eat in front of the television. I went to flip the channel to the local news, but all that was there was static - in fact, when I tried, none of the channels were showing up properly. I finally flipped to a station that had some sort of signal, albeit a fairly uninteresting one - nothing more than a static shot from a camera going down a hallway. After a moment, though, I recognized the hallway: the one from my very own apartment building.

A moment later, there was a crackling noise like radio static off to the side, and then a voice rang out, oddly attenuated, like it was sounding from a tiny radio speaker.

"Maybe you should watch some DVDs instead." I turned around, and realized the sound was coming from a radio unit clipped to one of the soldier's belts. As I watched, the other soldier's radio chimed in as well.

"The Wire is an excellent show. Perhaps you should watch it again, today." Of course, I had a notion of what the soldiers were after now, but I was also pissed off that they'd cut my TV connection. Maybe a bit of aggression was in order - nothing to make them take action, but I wanted to let them know how I felt about the whole situation. So, in response, I flipped them the bird, then reached down to turn the TV off all together.

"You wanna be entertained, get you own damn TV! Or better yet, go find yourself something more interesting to do than locking me in my own freakin' apartment!"

One of the soldiers just shifted slightly in response, but the other one seemed to take umbrage at my comments.

"Hey, buddy, we're just doing our jobs! It's not our fault you're contaminated?"

"Contaminated?" I stood up from the couch and wheeled around to face him. "What the hell do you mean, I'm contaminated? Do I look like I'm dropping dead from some horrible, horrible biological weapon? You really think I deserve to be a prisoner in my own house, just because I happened to stumble into this situation?"

"You really think this is about you?" the soldier responded. "What about all your fellow citizens? You think we should just let you out and spread whatever bioweapon there is around town? You'll stay damn well put, or I'll make sure you stay put permanently!" The soldier leveled his rifle at me, and I flinched back as the other soldier reached across the door and pulled the barrel of the gun back down.

"Jesus, Parkins, we're not supposed to kill them!"

"Oh, yeah? Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much danger we're in? One tear in these suits, and..."

"...And you'll be fine," boomed another voice from outside the door. A moment later, a figure in one of the CDC spacesuits walked in, and I could see through the transparent faceplate that it was Dr. Artemis.

Of course, to the utter consternation of the soldiers, he then unhooked the airhose and removed the entire helmet, breathing deeply. "God, do those suits get stuffy," he exclaimed, and I could almost imagine the soldiers' eyes bulging behind their gas masks.

"S-sir!" Parkins finally exclaimed.

"Relax, Sergeant," Dr. Artemis responded, sitting down on the couch with a sigh. "This whole mess is little more than an overreaction about a single incident, which turned out to be far less serious and far more isolated than we'd thought. The notion that the situation could lead to any sort of outbreak is, more or less, completely without merit."

I sat back down beside him, feeling a bit more hopeful. "Really? There's not any danger?"

Dr. Artemis nodded. "Like I said before, there didn't seem to be any problems in any of our initial tests, and a more thorough round confirmed it. The biochemistry of this new species is, admittedly, unique and remarkable in many respects, and while some of the chemicals in any emitted fluids are still defying in-depth chemical analysis, none of them seem to be even remotely toxic or harmful to people. That being said, though, their internal biochemistry is different - and certain internal areas do contain significant levels of organophosphate biotoxins. Last night, there was an... Incident with one of the lab technicians, who suffered an unusually swift death after close contact with one of the subjects. Because of that, the government decided to act out of an abundance of caution, and implemented the current protocol before we could figure out what had gone wrong. It was only a couple of hours ago that we determined the true cause - in the heat of passion, against our recommendations, the technician had attempted to anally copulate with the subject, exposing himself to the internal toxins. Barring that, though, nothing else from this species seems to be particularly life-threatening at all, and aside from some biochemical peculiarities, the most striking thing our tests conclusively revealed is that the species apparently has a complete lack of gametes - that is to say, semen, but no sperm."

That part almost surprised me. "You mean they're sterile?"

"Apparently, although it seems a bit of a moot point," Dr. Artemis replied. "Dubrovnikov didn't exactly create any females for them to reproduce with even if they had been fertile. However, the other thing he most definitely didn't create was a biological weapon. This new species is many things, and has many unique qualities, but their potential for becoming dangerous to the community at large is virtually nil - heck, given their biochemistry, they probably can't even pass on any diseases they could potentially have. If you ask me, the guys who called for the lockdown aren't after Dubrovnikov because he succeeded in creating a biological weapon; I think they decided to go after him because he failed miserably at it - after all, a bioweapon doesn't work very well if the only way to expose someone is to convince them to have anal sex with it. I suppose the real problem is that if it gets out that they were even trying to create a bioweapon, there would be some serious egg on the faces of a lot of important people in Washington... hence the decision to lock it all down before the media really latches on to it." He sighed again, rubbing his forehead in aggravation. "This whole thing's turned into a bloody mess, that's for sure - literally overnight. The only upside is that the whole area's under a news blackout - too little, too late, as this whole thing is all over the internet - but at least you don't have to deal with the press hounding you, and us, as well. That being said... Well, it's certainly not fair that you're caught up in the middle of this hysteria. Washington can have their little war with Dubrovnikov if they want, but you don't deserve to be caught in the middle. I'm a doctor, for chrissakes..." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes taking on a look of determination. "If there really was a threat, I'd have to go along with this quarantine, that much is true. That being said, given that there's nothing to back it up, I'm not going to sit here and have you locked down indefinitely."

He got up and walked over to the soldier, who was still eyeing him, his body language suggesting continued consternation. "Why don't you and your buddy clear out of here. As the acting case manager for the CDC in this matter, I'll be taking over administration of this quarantined building from here."

"Sorry, sir, but you're not in my chain of command," Parkins responded. "I'm ordered to be here, and I'm not going anywhere. You wanna lose it and expose yourself to whatever's in here, be my guest, but I've got my orders."

"Your orders." Dr. Artemis thought about this for a second. "Hold on a sec..." He wandered out into the hall, typing a number into his cellphone as he went.

A moment later, after some muted mumbling and the occasional bouts of yelling coming from the hallway, Dr. Artemis returned and collapsed back onto the couch. Behind him, it almost seemed like Parkins was making faces at him through his mask, but it was hard to tell. A moment later, though, the soldier began to talk animatedly on his radio, and a couple of minutes after that, the soldiers slung their rifles over their shoulders and walked out of the apartment. Parkins, for his part, took a few extra moments to glare at Dr. Artemis before leaving. At least, though, they were gone for now. Dr. Artemis, for his part, looked like he was about to collapse from lack of sleep, but managed to stay stoically upright.

"So... does this mean that I can go out now?"

"Probably not," Dr. Artemis admitted. "I imagine that I'll get a call on my cellphone soon instructing me to have my own personnel keep you contained in this building, albeit without guns drawn. At least you won't be trapped in here, though - we evacuated the rest of the building already, except for those already affected by this situation, so you should be able to wander around the building a bit and use the various facilities here. Unfortunately, you'll still be more or less trapped in this complex, but I intend to do whatever I can to help until the government decides to ramp down from this overreaction. I'll make sure you'll get groceries and whatever else you need. Oh, and speaking of those affected... I'm going to go see A.J next, and make sure that the soldiers take off from there as well. Say hi to Woofy for me."

He turned to go, but as he did, something... unusual happened. The bedroom door was closed, and there wasn't any noise coming from within, but... somehow, in a corner of my mind, I suddenly just knew that Woofy was awake. There wasn't any other way to describe it, at least not logically - all I knew was that I could immediately feel his conscious presence.

"Actually, you don't have to wait - I think he just woke up," I said. Dr. Artemis turned back around, looking slightly surprised.

"Really? I didn't hear anything..."

"Me neither. I just... I just know it, I guess."

"You just feel it?"

"Yeah, I think so..."

Dr. Artemis reached up to stroke his chin. "So, it's happened here, too..." he said to himself. I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but the door to the bedroom was already opening, and a moment later, Woofy burst out, catching me in an enthusiastic hug.

"There you are! We're both awake and ready to start a new day! Yay!" Woofy seemed completely unaffected by the recent turn of events, and I realized that he had managed to sleep through most of it. Then I looked over to see a strange look come over Dr. Artemis' face, and then realized belatedly that Woofy was still quite naked. I felt slightly embarrassed by this as well, and nervously disengaged from the hug after a moment as Dr. Artemis turned away. I quickly pulled Woofy back into the bedroom and had him get some clothes on, at least on his lower body. While he looked a bit confused by my embarrassment, he quickly complied, and by the time we returned, Dr. Artemis was looking considerably less flustered.

"Sorry about that," I said, but Dr. Artemis waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. It was just a bit... unexpected, that's all. I should probably be used to it by now, honestly, as the individuals at our facility also don't exactly have a penchant for clothes - we can usually get them to wear underwear at least, but anything beyond that is a struggle. Anyway... it's, ah, Woofy, correct? I'm Dr. Artemis - I don't think we've been introduced before."

"Wow, Dr. Artemis! That's a cool name!" Woofy said in response. "And you're a doctor, too! Does that mean you know AD?"

"Dubrovnikov, you mean? Sorry, but I'm afraid very few people do, especially since he took off." He paused for a moment as something occurred to him. "In one of the documents we found, Dubrovnikov - I mean, AD - mentioned that he was fairly close to a number of his subjects. He didn't happen to... tell you anything, by chance? Like where he might have gone off to?"

Woofy shook his head. "He's just gone," he said, looking a little sad. "But Dave's here, now, so it's okay!"

"Ah, well, I had to ask," Dr. Artemis replied. "If we could find him... well, let's just say I'd love to be able to talk to him first before the rest of the government catches up to him - once they do, I doubt they're going to let him do much talking to anyone else, and I'm sure we could understand so much more of this with his help. In any case..." he looked Woofy over for a moment. "Well, from an initial look, you seem quite healthy, and from what I've heard so far, you're getting along just fine here."

"Yup!" Woofy replied. "Dave and I are doing great!"

"Good to hear it - I'll leave you two alone, then." He got up to leave, but after a moment, turned back to me. "Just one more thing... when we found you last night, you and Woofy had been... intimate, yes?"?

"Um, yeah..."

"And during that time... did you see, or experience, anything out of the ordinary?"

I hesitated for a second, quite vividly recalling what had happened - and the vision that, I was certain, was actually one of Woofy's own memories, somehow transposed upon my own. "Uh, well, to be honest..."

"I'll take that as a yes - I don't need specifics. It just... helps to confirm a hypothesis of mine."

"And that hypothesis would be?" I asked, but Dr. Artemis was already walking towards the door.

"When I'm certain about it, I'll let you know..." he said, his voice trailing off through the doorway, and then he was gone.

Not entirely satisfied, but happy that at least the soldiers were out of my hair, I put away my own breakfast dishes and fixed Woofy a bowl of cereal. Remembering that the TV signal was cut off, I turned on one of the video game consoles and played (badly) a hallway-interesting racing game, Woofy watching the game's progress raptly while he ate. I almost thought to ask Woofy about what had happened last night, but for some reason, I held back - it was doubtful that Woofy knew all that much more about it than I did, and I got the feeling that he'd talk about it when he was ready. As it turned out, Woofy had been thinking mostly along the same lines, as he spoke up as I missed a checkpoint in one of the earlier races.

"So, you saw stuff last night, too?"

"Um, yeah, I guess..." I had to admit, I had thought that whatever was going on was primarily due to him - I hadn't thought that he might have had a similar experience. "What did you see?"

"I dunno, but it was really, really weird! I was really little, and I didn't have fur, and I was at this thing called a fair, with barns and animals running around. And there was a corral, with these furry animals you could pet, like sheep and goats and things, and then this one goat grabbed my shoe, and pulled it off, and started munching on it! It kinda stopped there, though, and then I saw a bunch of men wearing what Dr. Artemis was, and standing over you, but maybe that part wasn't a dream..."

All in all, he'd described a fairly innocuous childhood experience, but one that he could never have had growing up confined to a lab - and which was, just about, a direct description of one of first childhood memories. I told Woofy what I'd seen, and he confirmed what I'd thought.

"Yeah, that was when I first met AD! And you saw it just like that? Weird... but kinda cool, right?"

"Hmm, well, maybe, but... How did it happen?" By this point, I had tossed the game controller aside, and my car ground futilely against the side of the track, ignored, as the race time ran down.

"Dunno... AD never said anything like that could happen. When we were all with him, we were all linked to him and the link was kinda faint, but he said, if we were with just one person, we might feel different. Maybe that's it?"

"It's still pretty strange, though. I mean... What really happened last night? Is it like you can read my thoughts now?"

"Nuh-uh." Woofy shook his head vigorously. "The link's not like that. The other thing... It just happened once, and then the men in suits came. The link's more like... It's more like a feeling, kinda."

"Feeling... Like sensations? Like you can feel parts of my body?" I told Woofy about how I had felt the sensation of having a tail last night. Woofy looked a bit confused.

"It's not like that usually. It's more like, if you're happy or sad or horny, that kinda thing, I can feel that. And when I touch you, sometimes I can feel the sensation, but only when we're really close. Maybe it's like, you don't have a tail, and somehow I wanted you to feel what it's like... I dunno, AD was kinda good at explaining it, but I'm not so good at it..."

"I think I understand, at least a little. This link thing... Is it like a thing you can sorta feel in your mind, like you can feel the other person is there, and a little bit how they feel?"

Woofy looked surprised at that. "Yeah... How'd you know?"

"After last night, when I got up this morning... It was just there, in my head."

"Wow, so you can feel the link too? AD never said that he could, that there were too many of us at once... Maybe that's what he meant by the one-on-one stuff. It's really different with you, it's so much closer, and last night, I just... felt like we needed to be together, just like that. I dunno why, it was like an instinct or something, like my body knew what it wanted to do, like that was the only way it could have gone... and then, for a moment, I could feel all of you, and then there was the vision..." He paused, trying to figure it out. "It was like my body knew you were ready, but I had to ask, and when you said yes... It was the best thing ever."

"Ah, you're welcome, I guess..." I wasn't sure what to say to that. "When I saw that look on your face, that need in your eyes... You're right, it was kinda automatic from there. And the link, well, it's kinda weird, but... I don't really mind anything that makes us closer, right now. Everything's going crazy, but we're still here together, and I guess that's what matters. And as long as that memory-swapping thing was a fluke, I think it'll be fine - no offense, but I think everyone's got at least some things they'd want to keep only to themselves."?

"Yeah... I don't feel that thing anymore now that it's over, so maybe it was just fixing the connection, or finishing it, or something. Anyway, I'm just glad to be here with you!" He snuggled up against my side, and I was more than happy to cuddle with him for a bit - but as I reached over, I heard my computer ping, and remembered that despite whatever else was going on, today was still technically a workday.

I got up reluctantly, realizing that I'd have to do something to keep Woofy occupied while I worked. "I'm glad to be with you too, but unfortunately, my regular life wants some of my time right now. How about you play a game, and we'll do some more stuff later, okay?" He nodded, and I picked up the game controller and showed him how it worked, leaving him to it while I went in to check my email. Sure enough, there was plenty of work, as well as a pointed reminder that I should get a webcam and at least join in remotely for the various staff meetings. Since I was trapped in the building, I sent off a reply letting them know as much - then, on a whim, dug out Dr. Artemis' card and thought about forwarding the request to his email. I decided to send it on, even though I realized it probably wouldn't do much good - the government wasn't exactly going to let me broadcast any video that might contain Woofy onto the internet. Although...

I went over to my closet and dug around, looking for my digital camera. It was missing, of course, along with my cellphone - probably confiscated the night before. In its place was an itemized receipt on stationary for a government agency whose acronym I'd never heard of. Apparently, the government was now quite aware of the situation and had a keen desire to keep it quiet, although there must have been plenty of information that escaped in the four days before the clampdown. In fact, it seemed silly to clamp down so late - which definitely made it seem much less like a quarantine response and much more like a cover-up.

Discouraged, I went back to my computer, grumbling at the indignity of the situation as I pounded away on my computer keypad, reconciling columns of numbers that, thankfully for once, seemed to more or less add up as they should. I wrapped them up into a neat, concise financial report in a few hours and walked back out towards the living room. Woofy was playing a race that looked considerably harder than the ones I'd attempted, and realized, as he crossed the finish line in first place, that this was the final championship race of the entire game. As the screen shifted to display the game character lifting up a gigantic golden trophy, Woofy put down the controller and turned to look at me.

"Wow, that was cool!" he exclaimed. "I did good, didn't I?"

It took me a moment to pick my jaw back up off the floor. "Yeah... better than good. You just beat a game that I can't even get past the third race in."

"Really? I just kinda... played it, until I could see how all the cars were moving around, and then I moved my car where they should have gone, but the patterns they were using wouldn't allow them to."

"Even so, that's still amazing! You've gotta show me how to do that."

I sat down next to him, and Woofy tried, for a while, but there was something I just wasn't getting. After a while, I realized that somehow, just through observation, he'd figured out the program that directed the cars to move the way they did, and used that knowledge to exactly predict their behavior, and precisely how to counter them - in the span of an afternoon. I halfway wondered if he would be as good with any of the other games I had. For me, though, what Woofy was trying to demonstrate didn't seem to be anything I could imagine replicating. I wondered, again, just what exactly Woofy had been designed for.

"So, you're done with work?" he asked, once he wrapped up his demonstration.

"Yeah, it looks that way - today, everything was pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, we're kinda stuck in the apartment building, so we could, you know, do some stuff here, or..."

"Is A.J. still here?" he asked, somewhat tentatively. "There were a bunch of people in those weird suits wandering around his apartment, and then they took us back here, and I don't know what happened to him..."

"Yeah, well, I think that part of it's over, at least for now. We're still here, though, and from what Dr. Artemis said, I'm pretty sure A.J. is too. You wanna go see how they're doing?" After all, being sealed in, there weren't many other places to go... and I did wonder how they were feeling after everything that had happened last night.

"Sure," Woofy replied, so I finished cleaning up, and we walked out through the strange plastic airlock-style door and out into the hallway.

Thankfully, the hallway was deserted, no military or CDC personnel in sight. We walked down the long hall, Woofy's bare feet falling almost without sound along the carpeted floor. I watched him as he walked, somewhat more subdued than he'd been before - and I realized, once you got beyond his usual bouncing, enthusiastic gait, that he was actually quite graceful. His entire body moved fluidly as he walked forward, posture perfect, his tail moving in time to keep him perfectly balanced. He noticed me watching and looked back with a grin, and I was so engrossed in watching him that I almost stumbled over one of the potted plants lining the hallway.

In short order, though, we reached the door to A.J.'s apartment. Woofy got there first and knocked on the door, not just once, but a number of times, pounding on the door in a sort of abstract rhythm. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal A.J. and Berkshire.

This time, A.J. was a bit more dressed, wearing track pants and a well-worn pair of athletic cross-trainers. His chest was bare, though, and I was reminded once again that his collection of well-defined muscles rather outclassed mine, which were simply adequate. His face, though, looked a bit worried, maybe even slightly panicked. After a moment, I realized that his concern probably had to do with Berkshire - who was standing mostly behind him, seemingly wearing only a pair of athletic compression shorts, and rubbing his head insistently against A.J.'s neck and shoulder. Berkshire had a familiar look on his face - aroused, loving, pleading - that eerily mirrored how Woofy had looked the night before.

"Dave?" he said, looking relieved to see me at the door. "Thank god you're here, man! Ever since last night, things just keep getting weirder, and maybe, well..." A.J.'s face suddenly flushed, and I knew he was coming to a certain realization about the night before. "Um, dude, about last night... I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about it, really... I guess you must have fallen asleep or something, because if you hadn't, well... we were pretty much going at it on the floor, right beside you."

"Okay. It's just... It's just so crazy, man, I barely even know what to say. Berkshire's just so enthusiastic, and I just, suddenly, I needed to feel him, and it just kinda happened..." He looked over at Woofy, and then at me, still looking a bit uncomfortable. "Anyway, ah, come on in, I guess." He waved us inside, and we all sat on the couch, Berkshire never breaking physical contact with A.J. As we sat down, Berkshire hooked his arms under A.J.'s and started rubbing his fuzzy hands across A.J.'s chest, murmuring something softly in his ear. A.J. tried to edge away in response, but Berkshire kept ahold of him, snuggling back up each time A.J. tried to pull away.

"Like you can see... it's been kinda crazy here," A.J. continued. "Yesterday, when we were, ah, going at it... I think I did see you guys, somehow, for a second. But it was weird... I felt like I was already half-asleep, but I saw something that seemed almost dreamlike, except I could swear it was real. You guys were on the floor, close to each other, but then it was like you both started shimmering, somehow, and for a moment it was like I couldn't tell where one of you ended and the other began... it was so strange, surreal, maybe... maybe it was just a dream or something, I don't know for sure. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but that's when this all started, and I just... maybe it's important, I just don't know. I can barely figure out what's going on at all any more." He looked exhausted just trying to wrap his mind around what happened. I looked over at Woofy to see if he'd reacted at all to what A.J. had said, but his expression was oddly blank, his gaze fixed intently on Berkshire.

"Anyway," he continued, "I woke up after that, but you were gone, and there were a bunch of military people in Hazmat suits around, but they left after Dr. Artemis showed up and yelled at them. I mean, I get that he's trying, but man... I don't want to be locked in here - it's like the longer I'm cooped up in here, the crazier things get. I was all set to go jogging, get the blood pumping and everything, see if I could just lose myself in exercise and try to figure it all out, but what am I gonna do, run up and down the hallway? I mean, it was strange meeting Berkshire in the first place, but after seeing that stuff last night..." He squirmed as Berkshire slid his tongue along A.J.'s ear in a sensuous, lingering motion.

"Guh... anyway, I'm not sure what happened, but it's seriously tweaked out Berkshire as well. Ever since he woke up this morning, he's been all totally unlike himself, really subdued and stuff. Then, a couple of hours ago, he's all over me. Just sitting there, touching me, pleading with me to be with him. And I'm staying with him - I'm not going anywhere - but he just keeps on hanging on to me like this, and I wish I knew why..."

I thought back to what had happened last night, and realized that I was watching a repeat of it play out in front of me - and while I didn't really know all that much about it, I had a feeling that Berkshire wasn't going to let up until he was allowed to complete the process. "Um, well, I'm pretty sure he just wants to be close to you." A.J. looked at me like I was a bit dense, but I continued. "I mean, really, really close to you. Let me tell you about last night..." I proceeded to explain, as best I could, what had happened with the link, although I left out the part about the strange, mind-reading visions - A.J. looked nervous enough about the situation already. "So, yeah, it's pretty simple - it's like the final stage for them to completely bond with us, I guess. I think Berkshire's just waiting for you to let him know it's okay to, ah, go all the way..."

"That's it?" A.J. asked, looking over at Berkshire. "I'm kinda tired, but... it's weird seeing Berkshire like this, it just... it doesn't seem right somehow. If I let him do... y'know, whatever, is he gonna go back to normal?"

"Seems that way so far," I replied. Woofy did seem more or less back to his normal self, although it was true that he'd gotten at least slightly less... excitable, I guess, as time went on.

"All right, then, I guess I'll try it." He looked towards Berkshire, but it seemed like he'd already taken that as an affirmative response, as he moved forward and licked awkwardly at A.J's face in a frenzied attempt at a kiss, his hand sliding beneath the waistband of the track pants. A.J's face flushed with embarrassment, which quickly faded to arousal as Berkshire straddled him, his erection straining against his shorts.

"Ah... I guess we'll let ourselves out, then," I said, not wanting to subject A.J. to another embarrassing session of voyeurism. Woofy, though, was watching with interest, and Berkshire had managed to strip off A.J.'s pants and was caressing him through his sports briefs by the time I was able to pull him away. "C'mon, Woofy, let's give them some private time."

"Aw, but I wanted to visit with them some more..." Woofy said as I pulled him back into the hallway.

"Yeah, maybe later... now's not the time, though. If they're going through the kinda stuff we did last night... don't you think it would be better to give them some time where they can just be with each other?"

"I guess..." Woofy still didn't quite seem convinced, and I wondered why.

"Um... is there something else going on? Do you have to be in there for this, for some reason?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I just... I'm not sure why." Woofy thought about it for a second. "A.J. just looked kinda scared, I just wanted him to know that it's gonna be okay."

"Well, if it's anything like what happened with us, I'm sure he'll get that message once they're finished."

"Yeah..." Woofy leaned against me, resting his head on my shoulder. "It's so good to be together with you."

I wondered whether is was as simple as all that. A.J. was right about one thing - ever since Woofy, Berkshire, and all the rest of them had shown up, things had become crazier by the day. Government decrees, biological weapons, quarantines, and an uncertain fate... no matter how you looked at it, my life, my old life, had gone completely off the rails. And, good feelings or not, I was concerned about what was still to come. If only it could be that simple - just be with Woofy, have fun, and be happy - but it was hard to do with so many unknowns in the equation, the largest of which was what the government would ultimately decide to do. We were fine, if confined, for now... but what happened if the government decided to change things up again? I didn't really want to acknowledge it, but no matter how much I tried to take my mind off of it with work or Woofy, I couldn't quite shake the feeling of being trapped... and unable to avoid whatever was coming next.

I had to take my mind off it, though - dwelling on it wouldn't solve anything. And maybe Dr. Artemis was wrong...

I walked back down the hallway, past A.J.'s apartment, and over to the elevator, Woofy staying by my side. I pressed the call button, and a moment later, the doors opened to reveal an empty elevator car - no soldiers in sight.

"Hey, Woofy, wanna get some outside time?"

"Sure!" he replied, and we climbed into the elevator car, waiting as it made its slow descent towards the lobby area of the apartment complex.

The doors opened to a plastic landscape. Translucent sheeting was covering nearly everything, including another airlock in front of the elevator that we had to negotiate. The whole lobby had been repurposed, with banks of emergency medical equipment, large racks filled with environmental suits, and decontamination areas scattered haphazardly over most of the floorspace. The front desk had been turned into an impromptu command center, with rows of laptops connected up to a cluster of network equipment. Throughout the entire space, people in hazmat suits milled about, performing various mundane tasks - including a pair standing in front of the doors leading out of the building, both wearing pistols. So much for that idea - apparently Dr. Artemis hadn't been kidding about the new edict.

The door leading out into the courtyard, though, was open and unguarded, and aside from a few glances, no one tried to stop us. Walking through the impromptu lab setup made me a bit nervous, though, and I could see - and feel - that Woofy was growing increasingly uneasy. I picked up the pace, and a moment later we were through yet another plastic almost-airlock, and outside. It was a nice change of pace - fresh air, warm sun, and a square of blue sky. The only other real nature, though, were a few shade trees and a handful of low shrubs, and a remarkably short path of dirt and paving stones leading in a circle around the fenced-in pool. Still, it was outside, at least, and a welcome break from hanging out in a small apartment, or walking around through identical, boring hallways.

We walked around in circles for a bit, even Woofy uncharacteristically unable to find something to be interested in, hanging close to me as the look of concern on his face intensified, the indicator in my mind shivering. I wanted to ask what was going on, but somehow I felt that he wasn't ready to talk quite yet. Maybe, I thought, he just needed to relax - so I wandered over and unfastened the gate to the pool. Despite the fact that the building was mostly evacuated, someone, at least, seemed to have stuck around to keep the pool up and running. We walked over to the side of the pool, and I kicked off my shoes and rolled up my pant legs, letting my feet dangle in the warm water.

Woofy sat down beside me, kicking his feet back and forth in the water, watching the ripples that radiated across the surface. We sat there, listening to the sound of the water, and for the first time in a while, I almost felt normal. From here, there was no sign of CDC personnel, or government agents, or plastic sheets stapled to doorways, or anything else out of the ordinary - just two guys, sitting by the pool, kicking back and relaxing, the most natural thing in the world. Sure, one of those guys was covered in blue fur, but that hardly seemed to matter. It was just nice, and calm, and normal, and I wanted to enjoy it for as long as I could. I didn't know if Woofy felt the same, but the indicator in my head seemed a little calmer, at least, but I still had feeling he was trying to think something through.

As I was considering that, though, he turned to look at me.

"Dave?" he asked, his eyebrows arched in a way that made him look concerned.

"Yes?"

"What do you think is going to happen to us?"

"I honestly don't know. I mean, someone in the government decided to say that you're citizens, so I'm pretty sure they're not just gonna to kill us or anything like that, but I really don't know what'll happen. I hate being trapped here, though. Something's just... wrong... With all this"

"I know," Woofy said. "I know you're frustrated, and scared, and I'm kinda scared too... I just want it to be okay. I just want to be with you, without all these other weird people around. I mean, I... when I was with AD, when we all were, we were connected, but not like this. AD used to talk about how relationships and things worked, but it never really made sense in the lab. I know he said it takes months and years, and it's only been days, but..." he paused, trying to figure out what to say next.

"I mean, it's the, the link thing, but it's also, I mean... I really, really, really like you! You're so nice, and kind, and, and, I just love being with you... and if the people in those suits try to pull us apart, if they make me go away... I- I just can't, I can't do it again! I'm so scared, and I'm sorry, but I need you, I just..." He looked like he was on the verge of tears again, and I remembered what happened before. I knew that I needed to reassure him, but I hardly knew how - I wasn't that certain what would happen myself, and I couldn't promise anything without knowing what the government was going to do. Suddenly, I could feel the indicator in my head practically overflowing with fear, and I knew that words weren't going to be enough. In fact... maybe words weren't even necessary. Woofy was scared and in pain, and I was going to make it better.

My body was in motion almost before my brain could even catch up. I reached up with my hand and turned Woofy's head towards mine, gently brushing away the beginning of a tear. I ran my hand along the line of his jaw, bringing my other hand up to help keep my balance. And then, as Woofy's expression turned from sadness to something almost like surprise, I leaned forward and kissed him.

Or, rather, I tried to kiss him. As before, the mostly incompatible geometry of our faces meant that they didn't really mesh all that well, and it pretty much started out with me slobbering all over his nose. He definitely got the idea though, twisting his head around to try and get into a better position, his problems momentarily forgotten. We fumbled about for a moment more, and then he serendipitously twisted his head to just the right angle, and we actually managed to find a halfway reasonable position for a kiss.

Now, instead of being awkward, the kiss was actually started to work, turning into a slow, lingering, passionate moment that was immensely better than the somewhat more awkward attempt a couple of nights before. Soon our tongues were intertwined, and it felt amazing to be focused on this single, intense connection between us. I don't think either of us wanted to stop, and it seemed to go on and on, one happy moment stretching off into the distance. Finally, though, I had to pull away in order to catch my breath, feeling his tongue sliding across mine as we disengaged. Woofy just let his tongue loll for a second, panting, his face almost managing to flush even underneath his fur.

"Wow," he finally said.

"Yeah," I replied, feeling almost lightheaded, still trying to catch my breath. "Not sure I meant it to happen quite like that but..."

"It's okay." Woofy looked slightly breathless as well, but much happier.

"I guess that was my body's way of saying it, but in words... Woofy, it doesn't matter about months, or years. Even though it's only been a few days, and a few crazy days at that, I can honestly say this: I don't understand love or relationships much, and maybe what's going on between us doesn't fit any definition of how love's supposed to be, but you're the only person in the world I've ever felt this way about. Is that love? I don't know, but it's the only word I can think of to describe how I feel. I love you, Woofy, I care about you so much... and there's no way in the world I'm going to let anyone take you away from me if you don't want to go."

"Dave..." Woofy looked like he could barely contain himself. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! If that's what love is, then I love you too!" And to punctuate his sentence, he finished off by jumping on me to give me an overly enthusiastic hug.

Woofy's momentum, unfortunately, caused me to lose my balance. I tried to pull back, but it was too late, and a moment later, we both toppled into the pool with a splash.

I clawed back to the surface a moment later, treading water desperately to make up for the added weight of my now-soaked clothes. Woofy had let go of me as we fell, and I couldn't immediately see him through the turbulent water. I realized that I had no idea whether he even knew how to swim, and saving him would be difficult if I could barely keep my own head above water... but a moment later, he surfaced, sputtering.

"Bleh! This water tastes like chemicals!" He looked a bit perturbed, but safe enough.

"Yeah, well, it's better than the alternative..." I waved towards the shallow end, and we both made our way over. After a bit of struggling with the sidestroke, I was soon able to stand up, and we headed over to the steps at the top of the shallow end, rivulets of water pouring out from my sopping-wet clothes. We were both soaked, Woofy's fur matted down from the water.

"Sorry," Woofy said, droplets of water dripping from his face. "I didn't mean to..."

"Eh, don't worry about it," I replied. "I'm usually pretty inept with, ah, romantic stuff like that, and even with the splashdown, I think that one turned out better than most..." Whatever mood there had been, though, the shock of the cold water had pretty much killed it. Despite that, I figured we could still make the best of the situation.

I stepped all the way out, watching the water billow out from my pant legs as I unrolled them. I quickly pulled out my keys and wallet, setting them down on the concrete to dry. The clothes were clammy against my skin, though, becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I looked around, and the area was still more or less deserted, so what the hell... I stripped off my pants and shirt, wringing them out over the pool, then setting them down to dry as well. It was late afternoon, but still some time before the sun would go down. I looked over at Woofy and noticed he was doing the same thing, dressed, as I was, only in boxer briefs. Not exactly the ideal for swimwear, but...

"Well, Woofy, since we're already wet... feel like going for a swim?"

He nodded, wading back into the water. I walked around to the deep end and jumped back in, crashing into the water with a tumultuous cannonball. Woofy gasped as my entrance splashed him. "Oh, I wanna try that!" he exclaimed, wading towards the side. He pulled himself out, water dripping crazily down his fur, then went over and took a flying leap. He hadn't been paying attention to how I had done it, though, and his "cannonball" ended up turning into something more akin to a belly flop. It did manage to send up an impressive plume of water, though, and a moment later, Woofy's head popped up next to mine, grinning enthusiastically. "Again!"

And so he did - again, and again, and again. We played around in the pool for what seemed like hours, swimming, diving, splashing, and just generally having a silly but enjoyable time. By the time we got out, my fingers were thoroughly pruned, the ambient light was headed towards sunset, and our clothes were at least marginally dry enough for us to wear back up to the apartment (mercifully, nothing in my wallet seemed all that damaged, and none of my keys sported much in the way of electronics). The workers in the lobby showed about as much interest as they had before, and we made it back to the apartment in short order. I was exhausted from the exertion, as I hadn't gone swimming in ages, but despite that, I felt much calmer than I had before.

Once we got back up, I stripped off my still-damp clothes. "Whew! I think I'm gonna go take a shower, rinse all the chlorine off... then we'll figure out dinner, I guess."

"Can I join you?" Woofy asked, and I shrugged affirmatively. I mean, why not? It wasn't like I hadn't seen him naked before, or anything.

We headed into the bathroom, stripping off any remaining clothes as the water heated up. The shower stall wasn't all that big, so we were fairly close together, but there was still room to maneuver. The warm water felt good, relaxing muscles that were overtired from spending far more time swimming than I was used to. Of course, being naked together in the shower brought up some... other ideas, but despite a couple of halfhearted attempts, neither of us could muster much in the way of arousal - we were both tired out from the swim, and while the kiss had been an invitation of things to come, we both needed some time to recuperate. As a result, we ended up settling for washing and massaging each other's backs, soothing our tired muscles. Woofy's wet fur felt a little bit unusual between my fingers, but it made it easier to feel the warmth of his body underneath. I was hardly an expert at massage, but Woofy seemed satisfied, sighing happily as I worked knots of tension out from between his shoulder blades. When I was done, we reversed positions, and while Woofy was no more expert at it than I was, the combination of his touch and the shower's hot water did wonders for my exhausted state.

Woofy got out of the shower as I made one more attempt to get the chlorine smell out of my hair. Grabbing one of the large bath towels, he started rubbing frenetically at his fur in an effort to dry it off. As I finished up and got out of the shower myself, I realized that we hadn't bothered to bring any clean clothes into the bathroom with us. For some reason, I decided to be modest and wrap my towel around my waist before heading off to the bedroom in search of clothes, Woofy mimicking my temporary dress. As it turned out, that wasn't all that bad of an idea, as I noticed that the plastic on the doorway was still rustling back and forth, as though someone had just left - or entered. I felt momentarily nervous, but my nose quickly solved the mystery, directing my gaze to the kitchen counter where a couple of fresh pizza boxes were now stacked, giving off an enticing aroma. Apparently, Dr. Artemis was living up to his word in terms of keeping us well-supplied.

Once I got to the bedroom, I found that Dr. Artemis' staff had been busy here as well, as the laundry basket was empty, and there were piles of clean clothes neatly folded and stacked side by side on the bed. Apparently, though, all of our clothes were pretty much mixed in together. The pants - and especially the shirts - were easy enough to separate out, but the underwear was all mixed in together. Since I had basically bought the same kind of stuff for Woofy as I had for myself, in about the same size, there was no good way to tell the difference. They were clean, though, so I doubted it mattered all that much. I grabbed a random pair of boxer briefs for myself, navy blue with metallic trim, and I tossed another pair, with soft black fabric and a wide silvery waistband, over to Woofy. He pulled them on, but seemed reluctant to put on anything else - and since we were probably staying in for the night, I didn't feel like pressing the issue. It was warm enough in the apartment, and I realized that I didn't really care enough to put on pants either, so we just left it at that.

We went back into the living room, grabbing the pizza boxes from the kitchen and propping them precariously on the table to either side of the television. The TV signal was back, to an extent - all the major news networks still resolved to static, but most of the other channels seemed to be working, and we watched a middling cops-and-robbers show as we ate. It turned out that between us, even with all of the exertion from before, one of the pizzas was more than sufficient. I still couldn't quite figure out how Woofy was able to eat so little and yet still have so much energy... But then again, Woofy's body apparently worked a lot differently than mine. I put away the leftovers, idly wondering just how similar or different we really were, but Dr. Artemis - and Dr. Dubrovnikov - were probably among the few people out there who were even close to being able to figure that out. To me, at that point, those differences had pretty much ceased to matter - while it was still a bit weird, and while I still needed some answers to a few important questions, Woofy was just... Woofy, and that was good enough.

I sat back down on the couch next to Woofy, still a bit lost in thought, and half-watched whatever was playing on the television. I was still tired, but it felt good to relax on the couch with Woofy snuggled up against my side, and I could feel a bit of energy starting to return. Then, after a while, I felt the indicator in my mind again. I realized that when Woofy was feeling normal, or neutral, that I just kind of knew something was there, in the back of my mind, something to be peripherally aware of but not much else. When he started to feel something, though, I could begin to feel it too, the indicator playing out is emotions in my mind. I certainly knew the feeling that was cropping up now, and so I was hardly surprised when, a moment later, his hand reached over to lightly play across my crotch.

I had a pretty good idea of what would come next, but for some reason my mind flashed back to the kiss, earlier in the day. What we had done before was exciting, and intense, but something about that kiss - about just being together - stood out in my mind.

As a result, I reached over to take Woofy's hand, and move it back. Woofy looked - and felt - a bit disappointed, but the disappointment turned to something else as he realized I wasn't letting go. I moved my fingers to interlace with his, using my other hand to gently stroke the fur on his wrist and forearm. Woofy looked pleased with the contact, but also a little confused, looking at me quizzically.

"Dave...?"

I tried my best to explain. "Woofy, I... I know what you're feeling, and I'm feeling it too. It's just... Every time so far, we've jumped into it so quickly. When we were, ah, kissing earlier, I realized... Well, I really want to try to do it right. Everything's been so crazy, and I know you want to be close to me... I guess what I'm trying to say is, we've got all night, so let's just... be together for a while, okay?"

"Okay," Woofy said softly, and snuggled closer against my side. I ran my hand along his arm and over to his neck, gently turning his head to face mine. He seemed to know what I was going for, and as I pulled him closer, he tilted his head, one hand caressing my cheek as we attempted another kiss. I'm not sure if it was the angle or something else, but somehow we missed, and I ended up sucking on his nose while he flicked his tongue across his chin. Maybe we were just too nervous, trying to be all serious about it, but something about the mix-up was almost hilarious, and a moment later we were both laughing hysterically about it.

"Wahahahahaha! Oh, man, that was really something else..."

"Yeah," Woofy replied. "Actually, that was kinda fun..."

"Heh, definitely true." I paused for a moment, smiling at the look on his face. "Somehow, I think that whoever came up with the notions of what love and romance are supposed to be like, they never really had us in mind..."

"You know," Woofy said, looking at me with a manic grin, "I think I like it better like this. I know you want to make me feel good, and I wanna make you feel good too! But maybe..."

"Maybe we just forget about trying to do it right, or whatever 'right' is supposed to be... And just say screw it, let's have some fun?"

"Yeah! Let's just relax and have some fun..." Woofy looked at me, a strange gleam in his eye, and the indicator came alive with indescribable emotion. "Let's have some fun... like this!" Before I could react, he rolled forward and virtually pounced on me, rolling us both onto the floor. I was surprised, but grabbed onto his as well, quickly ducking to avoid the corner of the TV table as we went down. Once we cleared that obstacle, though, we started rolling around on the living room floor, half play-wrestling, half snuggling, Woofy giggling manically the entire time. The whole thing was a bit weird, but I didn't mind. Woofy was right - it was a lot more fun to just let go and be together like this, happy and full of energy, doing whatever came naturally. Why make it more complicated, why keep stammering through incoherent emotional explanations, when we could just let our bodies do the talking? After all, my mind was lost trying to figure out emotions and indicators, but at the same time, my body seemed to know what it wanted - and that was to be rolling around on the floor, feeling Woofy's soft fur and warm body snuggled tight against mine, feeling the enthusiasm of just being together.

I finally rolled to a stop on top of Woofy, watching him smile up at me as we hugged each other close.

"Mmmm, yeah, like that. Definitely like that." Woofy grinned even more widely at my comment. We were both pretty worked up, and pressed together like that, I could feel Woofy's member swelling to meet mine.

"So, what now?" Woofy asked. "More of this, or..."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out..." It did feel nice to snuggle, though, and I shifted my body down a bit, burying my face in the prolific amount of fur on Woofy's upper chest. Woofy sighed in response as my body rubbed against him, reaching up to run his fingers through my hair, his other hand a soothing presence on my back. It was relaxing, but the feeling of a bulge pressing insistently against my stomach reminded me that at least a certain part of him was raring to go, even more than I was.

In that case, I thought, perhaps it was time to snuggle a bit lower. I began inching my way down his body, rubbing my head against his chest and stomach, realizing as I did that the fur got even softer the further down I went. The fur on his stomach was so comfortable that I stopped to spend some extra time on it, rubbing my head against him in an almost catlike way. Woofy began to make a noise somewhere between a purr and a growl, deep in his chest, and I was pressed close enough that I could feel the vibrations from it reverberating down through his abdomen. In my head, I could feel the indicator warming up again, pulsing out pleasure and happiness. Snuggling closer, I looked down and realized I was just about to the bottom of his stomach - coming up next was the wide waistband of his boxer briefs, woven with silver threads that looked almost metallic, and just beyond that, the dark fabric stretched and bulged upward as his member strained against it.

For moment, I hesitated, wondering what I was going to to next. The next step seemed fairly obvious, but I'd never done anything that involved my head and someone else's junk before, with either guys or girls. Then again, we had started off with Woofy licking me the first night we met, so why not return the favor?

So, I slid the rest of the way down, my face hovering a few inches above his bulge, while my own hips rested on the floor with Woofy's feet to either side. I paused for a few seconds, looking back up towards Woofy along the plane of his body. Then, I leaned down and rubbed up against his crotch like I'd been doing with the rest of him. I could feel the outline of him against my cheek, the throbbing evident even through the fabric, and my nostrils took in a heady, musk-like smell. I pushed closer, my nose tracing the fabric along his shaft, taking in the smell as his growl turned into a gasp, and then to a long, low moan that trembled as I moved. I could have just stayed there all night, nestled against him, but I could feel his muscles straining anew, and knew that he wanted more.

I pulled back, reaching down to hook my fingers under the waistband of his shorts, flipping the elastic over to reveal the pink tip of his cock. I watched for a moment as it strained against the fabric, yearning to get free. Most of him was still covered up, though, and I slid my fingers along his outline on top of the underwear until they ended up tucked under the elastic, gently pressing against his tip, feeling the warmth of his shaft radiating through the fabric, as I tucked my other hand under the elastic to caress his thigh. He squirmed a bit at the intense contact, but quickly relented, his cock snuggling comfortably into the embrace of my palm.

"Ready?" I asked Woofy, an unnecessary question, perhaps, as the indicator in my head was already purring happily at my touch.

"Mmm, yeah," Woofy replied. "Whatever you're gonna do, it's already really good..."

"Just returning a favor, to someone I love very much..."

I slowly pulled down with my fingers, shrugging the underwear down bit by bit, using the soft fabric to caress his shaft as I freed in from its confines. I made sure to take my time, so that Woofy could feel my touch across every inch, my other hand slowly moving down his leg as it pulled the boxer briefs from around his hips. Soon, they were hanging formlessly around his knees, his member standing at keen attention.

I realized, oddly enough, that this was the first time I'd taken a look at it up close. All the other times, we'd pretty much been face-to-face, and so everything had been mostly by feel. And since it had felt normal enough, I had simply assumed that it would be just like mine. In terms of the basics, I suppose, that was mostly correct - like just about everything else about me, I was about average in both size and girth, and overall, Woofy was about the same. The shape, though, was a bit different - the tip narrowed down to more of a point, with less of a ridge around it, and the base of the shaft seemed to bulge outward. It wasn't quite animal, but then again, it wasn't quite human, either. Ultimately, though, while it looked a bit strange, I didn't care that much - it was a part of Woofy that I could give a lot of pleasure to, and that was all that mattered.

Of course, I didn't know the first thing about oral sex, beyond what Woofy had done for me a few days ago. The problem was, Woofy's tongue was long and flexible, while my own was relatively short and stubby, able to extend maybe an inch or two, and physically incapable of the gymnastics that he'd been able to perform. Still, I wanted to at least make an attempt. Leaning forward, I pushed my tongue out as far as it would go, playing it across the bulge at the base of his shaft, twitching it back and forth as I moved upward. The skin of his member was soft against my tongue, and tasted... good, somehow, not with any taste I could properly describe, just... good. As I licked upward, I could feel his cock pulsing with the rhythm of a heartbeat, and the musk smell increased, tingling against my nostrils and making my own member throb with arousal. Then my tongue flicked over the tip of his cock, and I gasped as the indicator in my head shuddered pleasurably, shivers running down my spine that must have mirrored the ones Woofy was feeling. Now that we were fully engaged in this, the feelings from the indicator were even more present and acute in my mind, and as I licked up and down Woofy's shaft, I could almost feel each stroke myself, the indicator somehow allowing me to feel everything Woofy was.

It was intense, and I had to pause every so often to recover from the unexpected sensations, but at least the feedback let me know that I was doing something right. The sensation increased when I moved closer to the tip, so I spent more and more time licking at it, one of my hands rubbing his balls and the soft fur on his inner thighs. I quickly settled into a gentle rhythm, and each stroke of my tongue began to elicit a short, shuddering moan, as Woofy's member seemed to get even hotter, and with each lick the pitch of the moan increased. Soon, Woofy's cock was bright red and shudderingly erect, throbbing with each touch, and I could begin to feel his balls begin to twitch in my hand as his thighs spasmed. I leaned forward, pressing my lips around the head of his cock as my tongue tickled across the very tip.

"I'm cuh-uh-uuuuuuhhhh!" Woofy screamed, his voice breaking, and the indicator almost seemed to explode with pleasure as the waves of Woofy's reflected orgasm began to reverberate through my brain. It was intense, and I could feel my hips shuddering, almost wondering if I was going to somehow come spontaneously along with him. While my mind could feel everything, though, apparently the rest of my body wasn't entirely in the loop, as I held up, my cock as hard as it had ever been, pushing out so determinedly that it was actually pulling the elastic of the boxer briefs off my waist. Woofy didn't hold back, though, and his thighs shivered as he fired the first pulse of cum across the tip of my tongue.

I hadn't really prepared for that, and I almost pulled back, until the taste registered with my brain. Certainly, it was like nothing I'd tasted before, including myself - back when I was in high school, I'd tasted my own jizz out of curiosity, and it had been so bitter, with such a weird taste and texture, that I'd ended up rinsing with mouthwash and writing off the whole experience. Woofy's was different, though, sliding warm and wet across my tongue and down my throat, leaving a taste that seemed like something I'd had before, but I just couldn't place it. Not quite sweet, not quite savory, but surprisingly good, and all of a sudden, I wanted to keep that taste going, as long as I could. I was happy to stay there, my mind basking in the glow of his waning orgasm as my tongue lapped up his cum. Soon, it was done, the indicator retreating muzzily back into the background of my mind, Woofy's member receding, shivering a few last times as I licked away the last stray bits of cum that were trickling down the head.

I moved up slightly and rested my head on his belly, relaxing from it all.

"Wow," Woofy's voice sounded breathily above me. "That was... Wow."

"Tell me about it," I said, feeling the rhythm of his breathing subside a bit. "No wonder you like doing it so much, if you can feel the sensation that the person you're with is feeling as well as your own... Holy shit, that was intense, and I haven't even done anything yet myself..."

"Yeah," Woofy said, running his hand through my hair. It felt good, just lying there next to him, although my mouth was beginning to tingle a little, as was my throat. For a moment, I flashed back to what Dr. Artemis had said earlier about the chemicals in Woofy's body - but then again, I'd had his cum all over me before, and nothing had happened. I shrugged it off, nuzzling his belly, looking up along it at his smiling face - and wondering why it seemed to be wavering before my eyes. Beyond it, the couch seemed to be undulating, and the walls no longer seemed to meet with the floor and ceiling in straight lines...

I was about to start panicking, but as I moved to get up, Woofy shifted his body a bit, and his foot just barely grazed my underwear, nudging up against my cock. Only, to me, that slight touch suddenly felt like a full-on stroke from the softest tongue in existence, and I let out what seemed like an impossibly long moan as the pleasure of the touch radiated up my spine to cuddle happily with my brain. All of my arousal seemed to spring immediately back to the forefront of my mind, stronger than I'd ever felt before, and wavering vision or not, it was time to do it.

I pushed myself up along Woofy's body, my body suddenly so sensitive that I literally thought I could feel every strand of Woofy's fur individually rubbing up against my skin. We were quickly face to face, and I brought my pelvis down to slowly grind against his, even through the underwear the sensation of it threatening to overwhelm me. Then his hands played down my back, my muscles quivering as each touch sent waves of pleasure radiating outward, eventually sliding under the waistband of my underwear and pulling the fabric slowly away. It felt like the fabric was suddenly sliding across every inch of my skin, and I could have sworn that I came right then, but after the orgasmic feelings subsided, I was still rock hard.

Woofy pushed the underwear down a bit more, then rested his hands on my butt and pushed my hips downward, my own cock pressing tight against his, and I felt the full contour of his now-erect member, from his shaft bulging against the base of mine, to the very tip nestled comfortably into the most sensitive place on mine, the ultra-soft fur on his balls nestled comfortably against mine. It felt perfect, the warmth of the contact mirrored across my entire body, and after a few seconds together like that, that contact was the only thing I could feel, the world exploding in bursts of bright light as my body shivered through what I was sure was another orgasm, with no ejaculation in sight.

My hips started bucking against his, grinding together in a slow, sensual rhythm, another orgasm-like sensation hitting me every few strokes, Woofy using his hands to keep my pelvis grinding as my whole body shuddered through each one. I could feel the indicator building back up as well, and soon it was more than I could take. My vision seemed to narrow, until all I could see were Woofy's eyes, staring back up at me, and it felt like my entire body was tied to the tip of my cock, as one final rock of my hips fired the most pleasurable sensation ever across my entire body and through my mind, every part of me tensing as all of my muscles contracted simultaneously in orgasmic bliss. My conscious though seemed to flee, and the only sensation, the only feeling at all, was a pulsing deep within me as my body finally relaxed in the pleasure of release.

From then on, the night became a semiconscious blur. Unlike the last night, there were no vividly intense visions, just a handful of barely recollected feelings that could have been either dreams or reality. I half-remembered walking back to my bed, and half-remembered Woofy carrying me - then there was nothing but the feeling of Woofy snuggled tight against me, occasionally punctuated by a shower of sparks across my mind and an intense pleasurable shiver radiating through my body as one or the other of us occasionally climaxed. Eventually, though, the feelings subsided, and I could feel the lines of the room move slowly back into focus before I closed my eyes, with Woofy still snuggled comfortably against me. It was the perfect end to a highly unusual day, and until morning, I was blissfully unaware of the complexities of my situation - and I certainly had no idea, at that point, that the night would be the last one I would ever spend in that apartment.

When I awoke the next morning, still snuggling closely with Woofy, my mind felt more muzzy then it usually did - perhaps from all the exertion of the day before, or the lingering aftereffects of the unusual reaction to Woofy's cum. As I awoke, though, smelling the aroma of something cooking, I heard a noise from outside the room, and realized that there was someone else in the apartment with us. I looked over at the door and noticed it was cracked open a bit. As I was still quite naked, and quite erotically intertwined with Woofy, I hoped that whoever it was hadn't glanced inside yet. Wondering what was going on, I slowly disengaged from Woofy's embrace. He murmured something unintelligible as I pulled away, then rolled over and curled up into a ball, still comfortably asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, I quickly pulled on some clothes, easing the door open to see who else was here.

Dr. Artemis was sitting on the couch, dressed in slacks and a sport coat, reading a newspaper that was spread open across his lap, a paper cup with the logo of a local coffee shop balanced precariously next to it atop one of his knees. Noticing my approach, he looked up, smiling far more cheerfully than anyone should that early in the morning.

"Ah, you're awake! I trust everything's been going well?"

"Um, sure..." I said, still trying to wake up enough to cary on a conversation. "Thanks for the pizza, by the way, and for taking care of the laundry and stuff..."

"Don't worry about it - like I said, this situation is trying for everyone, so I'm happy to help in any way I can." He took a sip of coffee before continuing. "Anyway... I know you're probably feeling a bit cooped up in here, so I thought that a field trip, of sorts, might be in order."

"A field trip?"

"Well - something of the sort. I know it's been a bit awkward, with everyone being relatively isolated like this, and I do realize that Woofy would probably like to see some of his, ah, friends again..."

"Wait... friends? Aren't they all, you know, kinda related?"

Dr. Artemis shrugged. "Well, we thought so at first, but the genetic samples we took turned out to be much less similar between individuals than we'd currently thought. I guess at the beginning, I'd simply assumed that Dr. Dubrovnikov had based them primarily off of his own DNA, but we honestly haven't found much evidence of any definitively human alleles in their DNA. Based on what we've seen so far, they might be second cousins at best, but even that's far from certain given the unique makeup of the genetic code we've been able to analyze so far..." He paused, noticing my somewhat glazed expression. "Ah, I do tend to ramble on a bit when talking about such things. You're probably hungry - might as well grab something to eat while we talk." He gestured to the table, where two plates were already stacked full of waffles dripping with syrup. Suddenly realizing just how hungry I was, I sat down next to him and started wolfing down the food as he continued.

"In any case, related or not, I'm beginning to realize that keeping everyone so isolated might not be the best idea, despite what certain people in the government might think. The close bonds that they're forming are helping, to be sure, but we've been noticing that the subjects that were completely isolated were having more emotional problems than those who were in close enough proximity to interact with other pairs. Luckily, Woofy's been able to hang out with Berkshire a bit, so you haven't had to deal with any of that, but in order to stave off any future problems, I thought a bit of a get-together might be in order. As I mentioned, most of the subjects who were collected before they could form an individual bond are over in a regional research facility not far from here, and I thought it would be a good idea to let Woofy have some time to catch up with them."

"Well, I guess that's okay," I said in between bites. "I jut need to check in with work and see what's-"

"Don't worry about that - I've already cleared it with them. After all, this is an important thing for Woofy, and that means you need to come along as well." Hearing the tone Dr. Artemis used, I realized that this "field trip" was not exactly optional... and I wondered whether there was something more to the trip than Dr. Artemis' not-quite-satisfactory explanation was letting on. Still, it had to be better than being confined to the apartment for yet another day, right?

As I considered it, though, I felt the indicator come to life, and realized that Woofy had finally woken up.

"Hmm, well... anyway, Woofy's awake now."

"Oh, is he?" Dr. Artemis set down his coffee to look at me intently. "Oh, yes, that's right, you told me about that before. Interesting..."

He trailed off, sipping his coffee, and I took the opportunity to finish up the surprisingly good waffles. A moment later, Woofy emerged from the bedroom, beaming happily. He was wearing a pair of bright yellow boxer briefs that looked, admittedly, a bit silly against his blue fur, but at least he wasn't naked this time.

"Hi, Dr. Artemis! Hi, Dave! I just know it's gonna be a great day today!" he exclaimed, coming over to us. Dr. Artemis' brow furrowed slightly at Woofy's comment, but he quickly regained his composure and gestured to the breakfast laid out on the table. "Ooh, that looks really good!" Woofy said, looking at the other plate of waffles.

"Go ahead, those are for you," Dr. Artemis replied, and Woofy dug into the plate happily. After wolfing down one of the waffles in less than a minute, though, Woofy set the rest of the plate down, seemingly satisfied. He then plunked down onto the couch on the other side of Dr. Artemis, who quickly filled him in on the plans to visit the research facility.

"We can see them? Really? That's great!" Woofy turned over to me. "Isn't this cool? We can finally see everyone again!"

"Yeah, should be interesting..." and indeed, it might be, but I couldn't help but wonder exactly what the result would be of having twenty or thirty people like Woofy in a room at the same time.

"Well, if you finish getting dressed, we can head out whenever you're ready."

"Yay!" Woofy shouted, and ran back into the bedroom to dig through the pile of pants. Already being mostly dressed, I pulled on my shoes which were mercifully mostly dry from the day before. As I was grabbing a windbreaker from the coat closet near the door, Woofy emerged, wearing a mesh shirt that was a slightly darker blue than his own fur, and a pair of jeans that were just a bit lighter. I almost chuckled at the juxtaposition, but I could see Dr. Artemis waiting impatiently by the door, gesturing for us to follow.

We followed him into the elevator, where A.J. and Berkshire were already waiting, Berkshire looking happy as always, and A.J. looking slightly befuddled, barely seeming to notice our presence. We waited as the elevator slowly descended, listening as Woofy and Berkshire began excitedly conversing in their high-pitched, barely audible language. Finally, the elevator arrived, disgorging us into the plastic-covered moonscape that we had seen the previous day. It was still a mess, although it looked slightly more organized, with less decontamination equipment strewn about. Instead of environment suits, the technicians manning the area were wearing slacks and lab coats, but weren't any more sociable than before - aside from the occasional nod of acknowledgement at Dr. Artemis's presence, most of them seemed to ignore us as we made our way to the plastic-enclosed double doors that marked the front entrance of the apartment building. The lone guard hanging out in the folding chair at the front, however, did not.

"Ah, Dr. Artemis, I'm sorry, but I'm still under orders not to let any of the subjects leave this building."

"Are you sure?" Dr. Artemis asked, fumbling about in one of his coat pockets. "This was authorized by the director of the CDC himself, I've got the clearance papers in here somewhere..."

"If you say so, sir, but I'll still need to check in with my captain and see if any new instructions have come through." He reached for the radio microphone clipped to his lapel, but as he did, Dr. Artemis' hand reappeared, holding an odd, bulky-looking instrument that almost looked like some sort of pistol. Keeping the device close to his chest so that it wasn't visible to anyone else, he pulled on the trigger, and the device made an almost inaudible hiss. At the same time, a small metallic dart with red fletching suddenly appeared in the side of the guard's neck. The guard went wide-eyed at the sight of the gun, clawing desperately for the radio with muscles that were suddenly refusing to obey his command. A moment later, his eyelids fluttered, and his jaw dropped slackly open as he sagged back into his chair. None of the technicians seemed to notice, but we all stared in shock at what had just happened. Dr. Artemis, for his part, seemed completely nonplussed, calmly plucking the dart from the guard's neck in a single deft motion and returning it to a metal clip on the side of the gun, before casually slipping the device back into his pocket.

"Animal tranquilizer," he murmured, turning to us. "Not strictly recommended for use on people, but safe enough." He looked at our shocked glances, looking puzzled. "Oh, um, I suppose I forgot to tell you, but it turns out the government really isn't that keen on having us take this trip, so I've kind of arranged in on my own authority... If you'd move to the van in a timely fashion, please."

Not quite sure what was happening, I stayed frozen in place. "Um... What, exactly, are you planning on doing with us?"

"Well, this bit of cloak-and-dagger aside, pretty much entirely what I described before - we're going to go visit the facility and see your friends. I just found out this morning that doing so had become a bit more... complicated, so I simply chose the most expedient workaround. However, if we're going to go, we should do so now before any other guards show up." Dr. Artemis still seemed outwardly calm, but I could hear a note of tension creep into his voice. Clearly, he would be in trouble if he stayed here, and we probably would be as well... The whole situation was getting stranger by the moment, but I couldn't see any choice but to go along with it.

A.J. just shrugged, following Dr. Artemis as he made his way over to an unassuming-looking minivan, complete with a sticker reading "My child is an honor student at Rosemont Middle School." I looked over at Dr. Artemis after noticing this, wanting to inquire just where the van had come from, buh he was already helping A.J.inside. Two people in suits, who looked like bodyguards more than anything, sat up front. Dr. Artemis and A.J. sat in the two bucket seats in the middle row, while I ended up in the middle of the bench seat in the rear, slightly squished between Woofy on one side and Berkshire on the other. Being snuggled up against the two of them was hardly something to complain about, though. Aside from a few vehicles parked along the sidewalk, the street seemed mostly deserted, and there was no commotion visible from the windows as we pulled away - a few blocks further along, though, and a couple of rather conspicuous black SUVs sped past, hurrying in the opposite direction.

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, and happened mostly in silence - Dr. Artemis staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought, A.J. staring at his feet, and Woofy and Berkshire were mostly silent as well, Berkshire snuggling oddly close to me, Woofy less surprisingly so, but at the same time, I could still feel a twine of worry play across the indicator. Frankly, I was worried as well - despite Dr. Artemis' seemingly nonchalant attitude about our unauthorized departure, I was now almost certain that this was something more than an innocent trip - especially when I glanced forward and noticed the man in the passenger seat fiddling with what looked like a part of a submachinegun. Still, I didn't want anyone to panic, and I especially didn't want to know what would happen if Woofy and Berkshire started to freak out with me in the middle, so I kept my concerns to myself. Dr. Artemis had proved to be trustworthy so far, and while I no longer believed his original explanations, I also didn't think we were in any immediate danger... at least, not from Dr. Artemis and his associates. I thought back to the SUVs that had passed us earlier, and wondered exactly what they were up to, and who was behind the tinted windows...

The van drove through the mostly quiet city, staying away from the freeway and mainly taking back roads out into the suburbs, and then into what looked like the countryside, driving along a small, but thankfully paved, two-lane road that curved between gently rolling hills. For a while, the scenery continued on mostly unchanged, and distinctly rural... but then the van took a sharp right onto a more developed-looking road, pulling past a low hill to reveal a group of buildings, still distant, but quickly approaching. As we approached, the buildings resolved into a clean-looking compound of modern architecture, white walls sloping in artistic curves around sparkling lozenges of glass, artfully arranged clusters of windows and skylights. There were five buildings in all, sited on what looked to be a well-maintained campus, complete with pedestrian footpaths and professionally manicured horticulture set between sprawling asphalt parking lots. The whole campus looked like it might have been some sort of opulent private research park, except for the chain-link fence topped with razor wire that enclosed it, and the guard booth at the front, shaded by a large sign with the CDC logo emblazoned on it.

The van quickly pulled up to the guard post, and the driver pulled out a badge similar to the one Dr. Artemis had shown me a few days before. He rolled down his window and showed the ID to the guard, who glanced at it briefly before opening the gate and waving the van through. It pulled up to the frontmost building's sparsely occupied parking lot, standing out conspicuously among the identical white sedans with government plates. Of course, our vehicle wasn't the only one that stood out - parked a few doors down was a stretch limousine, with american flags sprouting up from the front of the hood, and a massive array of radio aerials emanating from the roof.

The men in the front got out first, pulling the doors to the van open while glancing anxiously from side to side. As we got out of the van, I glanced back towards the gate, and noticed that a black SUV was pulled up alongside the guard post. For a moment, a man wearing what looked like some sort of S.W.A.T. gear, complete with combat helmet and goggles, leaned out the passenger-side window to glare at us. His head turned slightly more, though, and suddenly froze, and I realized that he must have noticed the rather conspicuous limousine as well. As I wondered what was going on, his head quickly retreated back inside the vehicle, and a moment later the SUV's tires squealed as the driver made a hurried 180 on the pavement and sped back off down the road.

I didn't have much time to consider what had just happened, though, as a moment later Dr. Artemis and the two men in suits were quickly herding us towards the doors of the gleaming research building in front of us. A.J., for his part, seemed to come out of his funk, and looked quizzically at the men who were ushering him toward the building. "Hey, wait a minute..." he said, looking back at Berkshire, who said something in rapid, high-pitched tones - and which, oddly enough, A.J. seemed to understand. "Oh, okay," he said, still looking slightly befuddled, but started walking forward, with Berkshire rushing to catch up and grab his arm, snuggling up against him. For my part, I could feel Woofy clinging tightly to my left arm, and realized that he probably hadn't let go since we had entered the van. We were both still concerned, but the facility seemed safe, and in a matter of moments we were inside, the automatic doors sighing shut quietly behind us.

The front part of the building was a bright, spacious lobby, but instead of a friendly receptionist behind the desk, there was instead a squad of soldiers in dress-blue uniforms standing stiffly at attention, the swords buckled to their hips probably for show, the automatic rifles slung across their backs definitely not. Woofy openly goggled at the display, the crisp clothing and polished boots a far cry from the men in rumpled chemical-protection gear who had guarded us yesterday.

As we walked further in, another pair of automatic doors opened on the other side of the lobby, and two people walked in - one, a slight, bespectacled man in a worn-looking lab coat, stood in stark contrast to the other, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a blonde buzz cut, dressed in an impeccable khaki uniform with rows of medals arrayed across his chest, and two silver stars shining on each shoulder. Both of them, however, had rather serious looks on their faces, and the man in the uniform walked over to Dr. Artemis, leaning over to whisper hurriedly in his ear. As he continued to speak, Dr. Artemis began to look shocked, the color seeming to drain away from his face.

"Just... Just us?" he stammered after the man finished, and he nodded. Dr. Artemis glanced back at us, his face aghast, and it almost looked like he was about to collapse. The uniformed man put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's discuss the rest in private," he said, and used his hand to steer Dr. Artemis back towards the doors. "James, if you'd see to them?" The man in the lab coat nodded, walking over to us as the other man led Dr. Artemis away.

"I'm, ah, James, but you can call me Jim if you like," the man said by way of introduction. "I must apologize for Dr. Artemis being called away - this morning has been rather hectic, and I'm afraid a number of things haven't been exactly going according to plan. That being said, you're here now, and I'm sure that these fine gentlemen -" he gestured to Woofy and Berkshire "- would like to get reacquainted with their colleagues. Dr. Artemis will join us later, once a few things have been, um, ironed out, but if you'll please follow me..."

James walked towards another pair of doors off to the side, and we all followed along, Woofy holding tightly to my arm. At that point, I didn't know what to think, or what had just happened with Dr. Artemis, but I suddenly felt lucky to be alive, even if I was inside a strange government facility, with no idea what was going to happen next.

We walked along, through a series of carpeted white hallways, past rows of doors with keypad locks next to the handles, interspersed with an occasional, barren bulletin board, usually containing nothing more than an emergency evacuation plan haphazardly pinned to one of the corners. I glanced about, trying to get my bearings, but all of the hallways looked the same, the only differences being the unrecognizable nameplates beside each door.

Finally, at the end of one hallway, there was a set of swinging double doors, each with a sign bolted to them that read "Research Lab 1". The signs looked like an afterthought, bolted to the door in a hurry, without even an attempt to match the paint, the bright white signs standing out against the beige enamel.

"Well, here we are," James said, swinging open one of the doors with a flourish and quickly walking inside, the four of us close on his heels.

Inside, the room looked like it had been hurriedly converted into a dormitory, with lab benches stacked on top of each other along the periphery of the room, apparently to make space for multiple rows of cots arrayed in the center. The room seemed fairly spartan, but I only took in the space for a few moments before my eyes naturally focused on what the room really contained.

In front of the cots, barely a few feet in front of me, twenty blue, fuzzy faces stared back at us...

... and then, almost in unison, they all began to smile.

--

_Author's Note

First, some statistics: This portion of the story contains 15,781 words, or roughly 63 printed pages - if you've read the entire story in sequence, if this were a paperback novel, you'd currently be on about page 142. Additionally, I wrote sections totaling about 8300 words that didn't make the final cut, and managed to cause minor sexual injury to myself about three times while writing the sex scene._

This section of the story was a struggle to write, as it continues the move away from random, sexy fun, towards incorporating a (somewhat) more serious relationship, as well as including a whole bunch of additional plot points and information that is needed for parts of the story that were planned later on. As a result, trying to get all of the different pieces to come together, while keeping the voice of the preceding pieces, was a considerable challenge, and I can't count the number of times I got a ways into a part of it, only to scrap the whole session because it just didn't feel right as a part of the story. Ultimately, though, after many, many revisions, I think it's come together quite well. As with anything I write, I am constantly tempted to endlessly revise and improve it, but I think I'll go mad if I nitpick this story any further. I had promised not to take another year to post something new, but I honestly didn't think it would take about half that :)