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Chapter Thirteen

"A Brush With Death"

By

Furry Sith Lord

When we arrived, I was surprised to see Lou not wearing a suit as he was busy planting in his garden. He was so focused that he seemed unaware that we returned. I neared the edge of the boundaries he set up and he rose and wiped sweat from his face.

He was wearing mud stained sneakers and blue jeans while he wore a comical t-shirt that had a picture of a deer on the front and the writing on it said 'Be a deer and get me a drink.' He turned and saw me reading the shirt and he scowled at me.

He marched towards me and I chuckled looking at the shirt. Justin slithered over to my side and he busted out laughing as he saw the shirt. This made me laugh louder and Lou's face turned bright red.

"That's a great shirt." Justin said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Shut up! I had no choice in the matter." Lou remarked. I was probably the only one to really understand because of how well I knew the maid.

"You don't think he looks adorable?" She said as I heard her voice from behind me. Justin and I jumped as we turned to face her. She reached into her purse and removed two small fishes and handed one to each of us. I was stunned to see Justin eat the fish because I had no idea snakes eat fish.

"You gonna eat that?" Justin said as he used his tail to point to my fish. I was so busy watching him that I had not eaten mine.

"Sorry, I didn't know snakes eat fish." I said as I took a bite of mine.

"Dude, I'm a predator like you and eat almost the same stuff. Except frogs! I don't like frogs but my brother loves them. I always give him mine when we get some." Justin said.

"Oh, you have a brother? You never mentioned him." I said

"A brother and a sister but my dad likes her the best and my brother is in juvie because he was arrested for stealing."

"Stealing?!" Both Lou and myself replied at the same time.

"Yeah, I think it was to get attention but the owner pressed charges and he was sent to juvie." Justin said softly as he looked at his tail.

"You finished already?" The maid asked Lou and we had again forgotten she was there. She was more observing everything than her usual talkative self. I did catch her giving Justin a second fish but not me. I was a bit jealous but tried to push the feeling aside as I observed the garden.

Lou had outdone himself even though it was just seeds in dirt the seeds themselves were different colors and in the light they held a beautiful almost rainbow effect. Each section was a small square deliberately placed to help the next batch around it grow.

"I did what you asked," Lou said dryly as he addressed me. "I put a patch of clover in the center as a thank you for helping me get this in the first place."

"It looks amazing!" I replied and I saw Lou blush but he did smile. What he did not know yet was that this garden would be an important part of his life... and mine.

"Can we help you?" Justin asked and Lou held up his hoof to stop him from entering.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't. I just set up the seed beds and would prefer if they weren't trampled." He said sternly and I saw Justin slither back a bit.

"Maybe we can share some clover once it's grown." I said. I knew he really would not understand my meaning but it was fine. I got my first spank because of this thing and it also brought me and my father closer together because of it. I realized that even though I should hate it I just couldn't. It was a big part of my life.

I tried thinking of a way to warn my father about what he would do in the future. He was still so against me that I wasn't sure how to bring up the topic in a way that he would listen. Oziah and I had spoken about it and he did not want me telling his son that I am a time traveler. I may have messed things up with my birth adults but he did not want me messing the future up concerning him and me. Can't say I blamed him, I agreed with it.

"Oh can we listen to A Toast to the Coast tonight?" Justin asked me.

"What's that?" Lou asked. I was surprised he even cared. I had a feeling he might try to shove me out and it would be Justin and him listening to it. I was thinking he might be getting jealous that Justin and I are friends and he might try and take that away from me. Unfortunately for Lou he had taught me too well and I knew how to counter it.

"That would be great! Can we both listen to it in your room?" I asked putting him in a tight spot. Lou looked as if he swallowed something nasty then quickly smiled as he felt his father looming over him.

"I look forward to it," He said as he forced himself to chuckle.

"You seem very quick witted." Oziah remarked.

"My father taught me everything he knew, which was what his father taught him. If I'm half as good as you say it's only because my family are the best teachers." I remarked and Oziah nodded knowingly.

Justin and I sat on the floor in Lou's room. We both wore pajama bottoms and Justin was starting to like them since I showed him. Lou was on his bed in only his underwear because he refused to copy us. He laid there reading a book on gardening while Justin and I played cards. I had to go easy on him because he was limited by only being able to use his tail.

Finally the show started and we leaned in close to the radio.

"You can turn it up a bit," Lou grumbled. "This place is big enough that you won't be disturbing anyone." Justin happily turned it up.

"Tonight's guest Steffen Homininae-B is a personal friend of mine and the author of the book 'The Shadow Species'..." Arty said then he brought on his guest to talk about tonight's topic.

Lou didn't last long because he kept interrupting with logical questions but since no one, but us, could hear him he fell asleep fast. This worked out because it was hard to listen to the show with him interrupting.

The next day we entered the building that would one day house the machine. Justin and I were busy cleaning the place up while other loaders brought in electronic equipment. Justin took lead as he was directing where he wanted the parts placed.

I was at a desk trying to draw up the plans for what the machine would look like. Every now and then Justin would look over my shoulder to see how things were coming. Once the last of the movers were finished Justin and I were left alone.

"Alright! Now the magic starts!" Justin exclaimed as he looked around in wonder." I tried not to chuckle because he looked adorable as he stared at the ceiling with a big smile on his face.

"So we start with a little bit of energy at the initial point then what happens?" Justin asked. I shrugged as I felt as if I had explained this over a million times by now.

"Actually, can you take the lead on this project? I have a list I need to make." I replied and if his ears could lower, if a snake had ears, Justgin's ears would have lowered.

"What kind of list?"

"A bucket list," I replied and he looked at me queerly.

"What's that?" He asked and I again had to fight not to chuckle.

"Guess you never heard of one before. It's a list of things you want to do before you die." I explained.

"I've heard of those," Justin replied indignantly and he flicked his tongue as if tasting the air.

"Relax, bro. I didn't mean nothing by it." I said as I put my arm around his shoulder and he seemed stiff at first then he quickly loosened up. "I still have a lot of stuff to do and I'm not sure how much time I have left

"I've been thinking about that and I may have come up with a plan to help fix that." Justin replied.

"What did you think of?" I asked as I went and sat as he stood there explaining as if he was a teacher.

"We figured that your body is made of energy but you are using up that energy. You're like a battery in constant use! As the energy decreases you'll soon fade out of existence. The thing is that batteries can be recharged! What if there was a way to recharge you before you use up all your energy?" Justin asked.

"That's a great idea... except HOW can we recharge me? Not to mention how much energy will it take?"

"Hmmmm... mass would cover your size and weight. Then we could say veracity would be the amount of energy you lose... so M - V," Justun used his tail to scratch his head as he tried to puzzle the math equation out. "Maybe M - V(E=MC2) = S1."

"Oh my paws," I remarked as I rolled my eyes. It was proof why I hated math so much.

"What?" Justin replied incredulously. I shook my head And walked away. He just stood there dumbfounded that I was not as interested in math as he was.

I did not get very far before I felt an incredible pain in one of my legs and I fell to the floor crying out in pain. Justin slithered over asking me what was wrong. We both looked at my leg as it vanished as if it had never existed. All I felt was pain but there was no blood or anything but a tiny stump below my knee joint.

"By my tail it hurts soooo much." I cried out and Justin looked around frantically.

"It's not coming back! The energy matrix must be too low to recreate it. Your only option is to try my theory." Justin slithered as fast as he could to get an extension wire. He quickly stripped off the ends on the side opposite the plug and then plugged it in.

"Here!" He shouted as he stuck the stripped ends into my mouth and they touched my tongue. At first my tongue felt tingly then numb but the longer it was pressed to me the better I felt and the pain lessened.

I found I was eating up the voltage as if I were a species that had not eaten in a couple of days. Justin was watching where my leg had been and it took some time but slowly it began to fade back into existence. I found I had been sucking on the wires for about an hour when my leg returned.

I pulled out the cable and felt as if I had overeaten at a buffet. Justin watched me with a look of fear and relief at the same time.

"Wow, it worked!" I said finally as Justin let out a sigh of relief.

"Not sure for how long. Are you still hungry? You looked as if you were eating the energy." Justin asked.

"Felt like it. It felt like I hadn't eaten in days."

"Your grandfather will be pissed when he sees the electrical bill." Justin replied.

"How soon can we get one of these generators up and running? I got a feeling like I'm gonna need to keep eating to stay alive."

"Maybe," he replied and this made me panic.

"Maybe? What do you mean maybe?" I asked.

"It seems as if your entire body is made of energy. There is no telling what will happen if you run out of it. Your consciousness may return or may not return to your regular body. You may have to fuse yourself with your body in order to return to normal. However, the trouble is how do we send you back? Do we have to keep you alive until the day you first get sent back?

That would mean you become an adult fur being fuzed back into your cub body. Also hoping we don't kill you in the process." Justin said as he rambled on.

"Assuming we don't figure out a way to get me home." I added.

"No telling how long that recharge will last. We have to get started on this machine immediately!!!" Justin cried and he slithered as fast as he could over to a box of parts to begin trying to put together one of the numerous accelerators the machine will have.

I was feeling the same fear he was just I tried my best to suppress it. Feeling fear and running around like my tail was cut off would not help things but instead make them worse. I had to keep a level head in order to help direct Justin. The longer we examined the parts the more I realized we needed help from a fur smarter than both of us. The trouble was... would he help us?!

Lou was outside in his garden watering the seeds. He was being extremely cautious and a couple of times he stopped and took out a ruler to measure the amount of water one patch received. He was trying to be careful not to over water.

Justin and I approached the boundaries he set up and I called out to him. We watched him ignore me but after my nonstop calling he finally sighed and stopped what he was doing to approach us.

"You had best be dying," he remarked with displeasure at being disaturbed. Justin and I looked at each other quickly.

"Actually..." I started to say then hesitated. I wondered if we were doing the right thing in telling him.

"He is dying!" Justin blurted out. Lou's face remained placid though his eyes widened briefly.

"We need your help," I said, trying not to reveal too much at once though Justin had no tact for negotiations like this. After the second time interrupting me to reveal too much I had to use my paw to gag him before he gave away all our leverage.

"So to summarize, you have a heart condition and you both think it's wise to build a machine to help jumpstart your heart in case you have another episode like you did this morning. You have yet to tell my father about it because you fear he might get upset." Lou said.

"Correct." I replied

Kmmmormmmtf" Justin said as my paw continued to gag him. Lou looked with amusement that Justin just stood there and did not resist as I gagged him. He could have easily forced my hand away yet he seemed obedient.

"Surely by now you've come to realize that I've teamed up with Roni to destroy you. You can't possibly think I'd help you in any way?" Lou responded.

"Roni? That pile of cat poop! I expected better. Something along the grounds of you started your own resistance cell and you lead a team to destroy me. But working hoof and paw with that brainless meat sack? I'm disappointed to hear that." I remarked and shook my head and then released Justin.

"Surely you see the need? His life is in danger!" Justin exclaimed.

"Haven't you been listening to what we just said? And, don't call me Shirley!" Lou replied with a slight grin. I could tell his resolve to destroy me was no more but he was trying to keep face. Justin was clueless and thought he was completely serious.

"So then you won't help us?" Justin asked incredulously.

"I need a reason to! You offer me something that I can't say no to and I'll help in whatever way you need me to." Lou said and I immediately knew what he was doing. I ran over to Justin and tried pulling him away.

"Conference! Conference!" I shouted as I tried to pull the naive snake away from the cunning deer. If there was a breed of a half deer half spider then that would be Lou. The world's first deer spider!!!

"Look he's playing you," I whispered to Justin as he frowned at me. "He's letting you get carried away by your emotions so he can take advantage. Let me handle this because... I've had more experience." I said just Justin shrugged me off and went back to a waiting Lou as he stood there smirking.

"I'm just a regular old garter snake. Nothing special but all my life I've been treated as if I were a rare white fur species. Then I met Eastwood and even though he is a rare white fur species he became my first friend ever! If his life is in danger I'll do anything to save him. What would it take to get you to save his life." Justin said and my mouth fell open. He had just given total control to Lou and the look on Lou's face showed he knew. He was enjoying every moment of taking advantage of the poor little guy.

"My needs are simple," Lou started to say and I had to hold my tongue to stop me from yelling out 'liar!!!'

"To save one life I would need to give up my own, in a manner of speaking. So I propose this, you become my slave, unofficially, and I will do everything in my power to save... your friend." Lou explained and he narrowed his eyes as he watched Justin.

"No! No! No! No! No!" I said and I tried to pull Justin away but for some reason he was glued to the spot. No matter how much I tried I could not budge him.

"Deal!" Justin said, his voice carrying a note of finality. I covered my eyes and lowered my head that he fell into my father's trap. I was sure he was gloating that he snagged another victim.

Lou and I stopped to stare as Justin began to remove his clothes. When he removed his white briefs and stood in his scales before us we both gawked in surprise. He wrapped his tail around his body and he blushed at being unclothed before us.

"May I have my collar and... um... loincloth, please master." He said. Lou and I were just speechless. It seemed odd that the little guy was embarrassed at being seen in only his scales for some reason.

"What?!" Lou asked dumbly.

"Justin, Lou isn't making you fully his slave. By unofficially he means you'll still be free except that you have to obey him and follow all his orderst. You can put your clothes back on." I explained and Justin's face got redder. He quickly scrambled to get dressed as Lou and I turned our backs to him.

"That was Low." I whispered to Lou.

"Nothing of the sort, you must know that he is brilliant! And... a little naive but his genius is remarkable. I plan to have him help me with new inventions and designs. Together we'll make more money. I only need to seal him to my company so I don't have to fear him running..."

"Slithering." I interrupted.

"Slithering to other companies. I can promise you he'll be well paid and will want for nothing." Lou said.

"You guys can turn around now." Justin said and we turned to see him flick his tongue angrily. Lou smiled and casually walked over to him and put his hoof on his shoulder.

"Let me explain how things will work from now on. You will call me ' boss' not master. You will work for my company and my company alone. And lastly if there is anything you need you come to me directly and I'll see what I can do. You can live wherever you want and start a family if you want. Wear whatever you want. I can promise you that you'll actually enjoy being my slave." Lou said.

"Yes boss." Justin said as he sadly looked down to his tail. "But remember you gotta help me save Eastwood!" Justin said as he defiantly turned and looked at Lou. They both softened their expressions and Lou followed us to the lab.

While Justin was searching boxes for the parts we needed I pulled Lou aside to scold him. I could not believe I was actually scolding my own father and wondered if I could ever live this down.

"I promise you that if you ever hurt him, I will hurt you!" I whispered to Lou.

"Trust me, he's much too valuable. No harm will come to him on my watch." Lou replied.

"And why should I trust you? Since you're my sworn enemy." I asked.

"I feel... I do owe you. The garden has become special to me. So much so that I doubt I can ever repay you. At least let my taking Justin under my hoof be a start."

"How is turning him into a slave supposed to be paying me back?" I asked.

"Because as mentioned I will take care of him and see no harm comes to him and provide everything he needs." Lou said.

"Just remember that your family honor is at stake. If you break your word then you will forever disgrace your family." I explained and Lou nodded silently.

"Well? What do you think?" Justin asked and we looked at him suddenly realizing that he had been talking the whole time and we ignored him as we butted heads with each other. Justin used his tail to place a bag he filled with parts down in front of us.

Lou carefully opened the bag and began to examine the parts. He looked at each piece carefill then he asked me to give him the plans I had drawn.

"Do you really think you can build this?" Lou asked as he tried to stall.

"Absolutely!" Justin replied. I handed the plans to Lou and he examined them skeptically. He frowned at first then something caught his eye and his expression lightened.

"I can just about see it. Even this is beyond me as you attempt to increase the energy flow by use of gravity and black holes. I'll have to do research but honestly this sounds very dangerous. You said you have a heart condition but how does this help you Eastwood?" Lou asked .

"Originally it was to generate energy to jump start my heart in case it stopped. The focus then moved into being a way to generate more energy in general." I said trying to be truthful yet still hide the time travel.

"But saving Eastwood's life is going to always be our highest priority." Justin said definitively. I grabbed Justin and gave him a kiss on the side of his head. He blushed again but I gave him a hug. He was cute trying to help me but after nearly dying as my body was fading away,

I was beginning to realize there may be no way to save me. It was feeling like the future is fixed and I could not be saved no matter what I do. The same seemed true for my father too and I may have to realize that no matter what we do there is no way to change things.

I was feeling more afraid I'd never see Lyon again. I always believed that the two of us would be together forever. Now I'd never see what Lyon turned into. Would he become a sports star? Would he ever get married or start a family?

This then made me wonder about Benyamin, my boyfriend. We always dreamed of spending our lives together like we believed my dad and father would do. I wondered what would happen to him. He managed to become part of the family so when I die here I hoped that he would take my place and help keep my family together. Dad and Lyon liked him and they would need him now that father and I am dead... or I would be

Maybe he was brought into our lives to be my replacement because it knew what would happen. I don't believe in religion but I hoped that in some way if religion is true that it would set everything in order because of all this.

To Be Continued...