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Chapter Thirteen

"The Never Found Show"

By

Furry Sith Lord

I was able to get a copy of the episode of Never Found that Dirk told me about. Luckily I was able to stream it on my computer. The show overall seemed utter nonsense as the host just talked about legends as he stood by buildings and areas that are supposed to look scary. It looked very low budget to me but then I was curious to see if I could learn more about the area and maybe unlock a secret or two.

"Have you ever felt like you don't belong?" The announcer said as the intro to the show began. A grey wolf dressed in regular street clothes sat alone and looked depressed on a bench.

"Have you ever felt lost? Feeling like there is no way out?" The scene changed to the wolf standing in the pouring rain as other species walked around him as if he wasn't there.

"Depressing much," I remarked at how awful the intro seemed.

"Every year thousands and thousands of species just vanish," The wolf vanished and the crowd did not seem to notice that anything had happened.

"We show you the areas to be wary of so that 'you' won't be next..." The intro finally finished and the main host was standing next to a forest. The trees looked lush and pretty and it seemed like a perfect place to have a picnic.

"Hi folks and welcome to Never Found, a show where we help you avoid the bad areas so that you never become Never Found," The host said and I laughed at how silly the whole thing is. The host is a lemur named Zaboo and his big eyes stare into the camera as if trying to look into your soul.

"I'm your host Zaboo and today we look at a place called 'The Lost Forest' where almost no one has ever returned." The camera zoomed in on the forest and it looked perfectly peaceful just like any other forest. The image begam to melt and the scene changed to night time where the trees looked distorted and spooky. Like something that might be seen on Halloween. I guess they changed things for dramatic effect.

"Nearby is the City of Salam, which is considered the most haunted city in the known world. Nearby is the Lost Forest and over the years numerous species have entered but none have ever returned from it.

It started with explorers going in to try and see what lies beyond it and maybe even in it. The teams entered but were never heard of again. It has become a graveyard where species that wish to commit suicide enter and what becomes of them is unknown even until this day." The scene changed to images of the City of Salam which showed a busy place where cars were driving all over and pedestrians walking as they were dressed for work. The scene changed again to an empty playground where you would expect to find cubs playing but the place was deserted for some reason. Probably for more dramatic effect.

Zaboo stepped out into the empty playground and he nervously looked around at how empty and lonely it was.

"The City of Salam is just like any other city in the known world. Hundreds live their daily lives and go about their business seemingly unperturbed by the danger that lurks outside their borders. Here you live a normal life and go to work, raise a family, pay your bills, but you never leave the city unless you never want to be found again.

Salam was founded back after the end of The Great War where a former soldier named Pinta founded it. When the war ended he was one of the first to try and rebuild what the war had destroyed." The scene changed to faded septia pictures of an old wooden town that has a few houses still being built in the background. It was in no way impressive as the modern city is but back then it was pretty impressive.

"The ancient city charter strictly warned that the forest was off limits to the town folk. They feared there may still be traps that were used by the army. To keep everyone safe it was declared to be off limits. It may be the case that the reason no one returns is that some ancient booby traps are still set up inside but skeptics are doubtful." Zaboo said as he was back in the field walking next to the entrance of the forest.

"Skeptic my ass," I remarked because a true skeptic wouldn't be promoting ghosts and other such nonsense, especially when the claim of old military traps is more plausible. The true appeal of the show was to entertain the gullible into believing something extraordinary exists. They promote the claims while pretending to be skeptics in order to make the gullible feel good about themselves. It just seemed sad that in this day and age where everyone was able to access knowledge at their fingertips, there are still species that choose to believe in irrational things.

"We'll find out what mysteries the forest holds when we return after this," Zaboo said and the screen went dark to indicate a commercial had he been watching it on actual television.

I paused the playback and rewound it to the picture they showed of Pinta, the founder of the City of Salam. He was a ram that had large horns on the side of his head. They showed a couple of shots of him, one in only his fur holding a weapon. It was back in the days before clothes were invented. It was strange that species walked around publicly in only their fur back then as opposed to today where everyone wore clothes who had status.

Another image they showed was Pinta dressed in a poorly designed suit probably as the concept of clothing was first being invented. He wore a large black hat to make him look dignified when he looked as if a black bucket was put on his head with a brim surrounding it at the bottom of it. I guess that was what mayor's wore back then and chuckled as I tried to imagine my father dressed like that.

I took out a notebook and jotted down the information I heard about Pinta. He was a soldier in the war and later founded the city of Salam. He made it a law or a prohibition at the time that no one could enter the forest they are now calling The Lost Forest. He claimed there were still traps set up by the military in there.

Another thought struck me and it was that BH had led the white hairless ape from out of The Lost Forest! It seemed odd the hairless apes could reemerge in such a supposedly dangerous place. Unless Pinta knew the hairless apes were living there and wanted to keep them and everyone else safe by making up the story about there being traps.

I wondered if maybe the hairless apes had never gone extinct but been hiding all along. Hidden. cut off from civilization and while the rest of the species found a way to progress, they remained stagnant.

"I reset the place of the show up to the point where I watched and let it play again.

"Hey guys, welcome back to Never Found. Just to recap we are here at The Lost Forest where species walk in but they never walk out. Even rescue teams that have gone in are either never heard of again or find absolutely nothing," Zaboo said. This hit a red flag with me because if rescue teams came out then not everyone that goes in becomes lost forever. Sounds like the show is sensationalizing events to make it sound more ominous than it actually is.

The scene changed to an aged mole that had tiny square lensed reading glasses on. He seemed overweight in the suit he wore. I could see the family resemblance to Dirk.

"My company has been looking to expand into the forest area because we feel there are untapped resources out there. I sent in a survey team to assess the area and a couple of days later we lost contact with them. I sent in another team to see if the first team could be found but they disappeared also." Dirk's father explained. The scene changed to the camera zooming into The Lost Forest showing a brief glimpse into the interior. The view remained there for 30 seconds as the host remained silent as if to let the scene build based on what was said. It was to set the atmosphere of fear looking out into the unknown to make you think it's something that is supposed to be scary. I again paused the video as I made a few more notes.

"So... let's assume that the forest is home to a village of hairless apes. Species that enter their domain will eventually attract their attention. BH confirmed that they are omnivores so if a species enters then they may see that species as a food source. So that would explain why we don't seem to have many reports on species leaving the forest." I said to myself as I mused over my thoughts.

If we send in a team then a large group would most definitely attract their attention but if we broke up the team into smaller groups... we may have a better chance of more survivors coming back but either way there are still going to be casualties." I continued. I had considered heavily arming the search team so that they could defend against attack. In that case a large group stood a better chance than smaller ones.

My brother and Ben entered our dorm room and interrupted my train of thought as I listened to them and then decided to take a break and join them.

"Oh my paws, I'm exhausted." Lyon whined as I entered the main living area.

"Poor guy, you've had a rough day, huh?" Ben asked him.

"What's going on?" I asked as I saw Ben holding my brother and guiding him to the couch.

"It's not easy being a freshman, Dash has been running around all day causing pranks and I';ve been chasing after him to get him to stop before he really gets in trouble. He just won't listen." Lyon continued to whine.

"Want some Ramen?" Ben asked as he plopped Lyon on the couch and seemed like he was asking both of us. I quickly went behind him and scruffed him leaving him helpless in my paws then I gave him a love bite on his neck. He gave a soft moan that only I heard as Lyon was still talking about Dash.

"So that was my day, what have you been doing all day?" Lyon asked and I released Ben to answer my brother while Ben shuffled off to the microwave to cook up some Ramen noodles.

"Working on the job father gave me."

"Learn anything?" he asked. Ben came back to join us as I heard the familiar buzz of the microwave cooking.

"Well... The tracking device stops working next to a hill inside the forest. According to an interview BH made he said the hill was where the hairless ape boy went to go on some sort of spiritual quest. He was able to capture the boy when they were alone on it.

I met with Dirk today and he said his family lives in a city next to that forest. Says they believe it's haunted and dangerous and species that go in never come out again." I explained.

"Wow," Lyon remarked.

"Almost right next to the hill the tracker stops working so I'm guessing they found the village the hairless apes live in and were captured. The problem is: why did the tracking device stop working because I've been watching a documentary on those woods and judging by what BH said, I doubt they'd even know what it was if they found it." I said.

"What if someone did know what it was? Someone that might be working with them? The hairless apes I mean." Ben asked.

"Like a double agent?" Lyon asked in response.

"That would explain a few things but the real question is: Why? Why would anyone help them since they are so cut off from civilization?" I asked. The three of us paused for a few minutes to think about my question to see what we could come up with. As we thought about it Hooper entered and threw his backpack into his room then joined us.

He went over to the microwave and took out the cup of ramen and began to eat it himself. Since we were all lost in thought we didn't notice his stealing our food.

"What are we talking about?" Hooper asked and Lyon leaned over to fill him in as Hooper made slurping and smacking sounds as he ate.

"So who's the inside fur then?" Hooper asked as he finished the noodles then let out a large burp.

"The two main species were a Dr. Avram and BH, the rest were unimportant assistants. The doctor wanted to study the hairless apes and BH went along because he had experience working with them." I explained.

"Experience like... he is probably the one trying to help them out?" Ben remarked.

"He's m y guess as well but it still makes no sense why he would try and help them." I replied.

"What if he's using them? Like he knows they have something he wants but he needs them in order to get it?" Hooper asked.

"From what we know they are so primitive they still believe in their great alpha and carry wooden spears. What could they possibly have of value to BH?" I said.

"Maybe a treasure or sacred object they worship?" Lyon said.

"How did the team get the ape they captured to lead them to his village in the first place?" Hooper asked.

"I believe they put a slave collar on him and forced him to do it." I replied.

"So IF BH had the white ape under his control the other apes might obey him to get their special child released." Ben mused.

"Or he's controlling the boy and the boy is controlling them! So basically he has all the whole tribe," Lyon was saying then I corrected him.

"Shrewdness, a tribe of apes, is called a Shrewdness."

"Anyway," he glared at me briefly. "He has them under his control. Why would that white wolf want an army under his control?"

"Revenge!" I replied. "He wants revenge and built himself an army to get it." I concluded.

"But like you said they're useless because they only have wooden spears. A cop with a gun can kill the whole army in seconds." Hooper said.

"Unless he's training them," Hopper remarked as he stripped down to his boxers and sat back on the couch. Ben picked up the clothes Hooper tossed on the floor and threw them back at him then pointed to Hooper's bedroom. Hooper stuck out his tongue at Ben but obeyed and placed his clothes in his room.

While that was going on I ran and gathered my laptop and brought it over and displayed the video footage of the tracker.

"Now watch here, They suddenly stop next to the hill where BH captured the boy." I said as I showed them the footage. Then the trackers moves and stops again here and an hour later it stops working." I explained as I showed it to them.

"BH must have known that that was the hill from before. Maybe he separated when they stopped, then the group got captured. When he enters the village, BH destroys the tracker. He may have had the boy give him the all clear so he knew when he could return." Lyon said.

"Brilliant! Great job Lyon," I replied and I saw my brother blush slightly. Ben went to the microwave and started swearing.

"Where the fuck is my food?!?!" he screamed and we all looked around confused. None of us took it, so why was he so upset? I then saw Hooper hide the ramen noodles cup and figured out what happened. I kept quiet but I stared at Hooper and he quickly got nervous.

"Well g'night boys I got some," he cleared his throat. "Reading to do." He then went into his room and closed the door behind him. Lyon and I looked at each other and nodded as we both knew exactly what he was reading.

"Son of a bitch," Ben said to himself as he started cooking a new cup of Ramen.

"Since it's just us now let me run through the scenario with you and let me know what you think." I set up my laptop to go through the recorded footage and I pointed as I spelled everything out. "So they stop here next to the hill in question. I figure BH separated from the group. After he's gone the group continues on then when they stop here I believe they found the village of the hairless ones. They get captured and then when BH returns, he destroys the tracking device. What do you guys think?"

"Sounds about right." Lyon said.

"Yes, and I think we know where their village is." Ben remarked. Ben walked over and I took the cup out of its hiding place. Ben stared at it and I blushed then got up and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"I'll make it up to you." I whispered in his ear but he gently rocked back and forth. He was chuffling gently as I held him to show his satisfaction.

I called my father to update him on the findings swe came up with. I explained everything and once I reached the conclusion I finished and I waited silently for his response.

"Interesting hypothesis... but I do have a question for you. Have you considered that when the group stops the first time at the hill that maybe that was when they were captured?" Father asked me and I realized I hadn't exactly thought of that. It did make sense that it could have happened that way.

"It's possible... but not probable!" I replied after giving it a quick thought.

"Why is that?"

"Because, If they were captured then the tracking device would still be active. I'm sure it has a longer life than a couple of days and there is no indication in what was sent to me of a low battery. I doubt any of the captured party would destroy it and none of the primitive hairless ones would even know what it was, let alone try and destroy it." I replied and fell silent again as I waited on my father to respond.

"So someone that knew what it was and where it was had to be the one to destroy it then?" My father concluded. "Good job, I thought along the same lines but wasn't sure if it was BH or the doctor."

"I just happen to know him and it's the kind of sleesy thing he would do." I replied.

"Any ideas about the rescue team?"

"I really don't think we should send one. I know it sounds heartless but I think it'll put them in needless danger. We have no way of knowing if anyone is still alive and we run the risk of the hairless ones capturing them.

I do think we can't leave BH with them though, whatever his plans are it can't be good for anyone." I said.

"I've been wrestling with something like that myself. They may be primitive now but the good doctor may have taught them too much and that knowledge could pose a threat to us later."

"How so?" I asked.

"They've been cut off from the rest of the world for ages. Now they know we exist and vice versa. They may venture out to see what we are like and because species get scared by the unknown, they'll get captured and enslaved. This could lead to attacks to free their members!" My father said,

"I see... but if this starts a war," I replied.

"They may face extinction again! What if they get any of our weapons in their hands? A bunch of apes with no idea what they have."

"More than likely they will become enslaved. At least that way they can better themselves and learn about our society as a whole." I said.

"And then lie in wait until they can find a way to retaliate against our society." My father cautioned.

"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?" I asked.

"Possibly not enough. You can't expect primitives to grow up overnight." My father replied and I sighed knowing that he wasn't listening to a thing I was saying.

Bear stood on his mark and waited for the director to call action. They had gone over this scene several times and each time the director wanted a slight change that required the entire scene to be reshot.

"Scene 32 The phone call... take 37 and..." The assistant clacked the clapperboard.

"Action!" The director called out and everything became quiet as the camera centered on Bear. He took a step towards a cell phone that rang on a table in the set. This area was made to look like the hallway of the house of the fictional family.

"Hello," Bear snarled into the cell phone answering it. A voice spoke off stage that was supposed to be the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Mr. Ursidea-P, we have your family and if you wish for them to remain safe I suggest you cooperate with us fully." The voice mocked and the expression on Bear's face was furry. He walked two steps to his right to the second mark and his paws shook with furry. In his mind he kept thinking about how he would feel if it was his own family, if he had one, had been cubnapped like this. How would he react?

"If you hurt a single hair on any member of my family... I will track you and hunt you down and listen to you beg for mercy as I reach into your chest and pull out your heart and eat it in front of you as you die!" Bear screamed into the phone, his eyes ablaze with anger just as the script demanded. The voice laughed before responding.

"We'll see... won't we." The sound of the call ending was heard and Bear threw the phone against the wall.

"Aand cut!" The director yelled. A couple of cast members applauded Bear's performance while the director ignored them and huddled with a couple of editors as they reviewed the footage and commented on it.

Bear walked over to where the costar that played the part of the villain sat. He was holding his script next to the microphone for when he had to read his lines to make it sound like he was the voice on the call.

"Great job, mate." he said to Bear as he grabbed water and drank it greedily. The lights were starting to bother him.

"Thanks, your advice has helped me out alot." Bear replied.

"Bah, just some suggestions to help you on your first real gig. Everything you've done is all you. And may I add I haven't seen a star as good as you in a long time. It's like you really know the part, like you've lived it before."

"I dunno know about that but like you said just picture it in your mind how would you feel if this was really happening to you. It's helped me out alot." Bear replied and smiled at the costar.

"Looks good everyone, I think that's a wrap." The director announced and Bear breathed a sigh of relief because he was tired of reshooting the same scene over and over again.

To Be Continued...