FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Source for cover art: https://unsplash.com/images/nature/desert

[Chapter 1}

After I set the metal pot full of water to boil I sat down and waited.

It has been two weeks since I found myself here, and so far, I haven't found any "greener pastures" so to speak.

I hope I do soon, because if not, then I'm going to be in even deeper shit.

Turning my gaze to my right to look at the tan rucksack that contained all I had.

I don't know what continent I am currently on, but two things I do know is that it isn't where I grew up, and that something isn't right, ever since I found myself here I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was- well not wrong but- off.

Either that- or I was just going crazy from the isolation and my brain is just trying to distract me when I wasn't trying to scavange for food.

I think it was due to the face that I was in the wild away from other people. I wasn't used to be isolated from anyone for this long.

Here's the thing though, I never really found much in terms of human habitation. I found some things here and there like abandoned campsites and whatnot. In fact it was in a supposedly abandoned campsite where I found the rucksack with the camping tools to begin with.

I used that area for a few days just in case someone would return, then perhaps I could find help...

But, no one showed up.

I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but when you leave a rucksack filled with camping equipment, well I don't think that was just pure luck and there was a good chance that the stuff I now use in my survival is stolen.

I waited for at least three days before packing up all the stuff and heading on my merry way, so either they just left it for some reason- or they got lost.

Or I didn't wait long enough and now there either wandering the wilds with no survival equipment, or there dead.

...

Its thoughts like this that keep me up a few nights when I don't collapse from exhaustion or was too hungry to sleep.

My mind continued with these thoughts until I slowly realized that I heard the sound of boiling water.

Getting up I slowly lifted the stick off the two rock piles with one hand and slid the metal pot off with the other.

Setting the pot down on the ground I waited for it to cool off so that I could drink without burning my mouth. When it was ready, I drank.

...

...

...

Fucking hell...I'm starving...

Not a day goes by when I don't think of eating meat at least once, or some kind of food. Sure I was always glad to drink water, but its getting to the point where I had another week, maybe a bit more before I needed to eat something. I didn't want to have to resort to eating the cactus that I came across, I didn't know enough about which ones I could or couldn't eat. Much less on how to properly prepare one.

I think it does more harm than good, because it reminds me of how hungry I am. Making a fuss about it won't do anything either, just a waste of energy.

Crawling over to the sleeping bag I sat down. I stared at the fire as it burned through its kindling, slowly dying, desperately trying to keep itself alive for as long as possible.

Sounds familiar.

After climbing inside the bag I stared at the fire some more. By the time I fell asleep the fire was almost dead.

[A few hours later]

You ever have that falling feeling when your sleeping or just about to fall asleep? Well I had the luck to experience it.

Well, the sleep was nice while it lasted.

Not even bothering to open my eyes I listened to whatever sounds were present, hoping that I would be able to fall back asleep.

My growling stomach made sure to keep me awake.

Voicing my displeasure in the form of sighing, I climbed out of the sleeping bag and felt around for the pot, once I got it I drank the rest of the water within.

When I got back in, I started to think on how much longer I should stay in this area. Sure there was a water source nearby, but I couldn't stay in this area forever.

How-

I was pushed away from my thoughts by the sounds of a rock falling onto the ground.

I opened my eyes as I sat up slightly trying to listen for more signs of movement.

I built a small rock barricade to prevent animals from entering, seems like one was curious enough to try to get past it.

Either that or there is someone there.

I slowly crawled out of my sleeping bag and grabbed the chert and steel and re-started the fire.

Once I got it going again I grabbed the knife and looked toward the caved entrance.

The fire provided just enough light to see that one of the top rocks was now on the ground, but no signs of an animal or a person on the other side.

What made me nervous was the fact that if it was a person, they could very well be watching me under the cover of the night while I was exposed by the fires light.

If it was an animal, well then if they saw I was in here there most likely gone by now.

Ok, so if they were large enough to push a decent sized rock, if it was an animal, then it might have been the size of a king cobra, or a Komodo dragon, perhaps something a little smaller.

I had my knife out in front of me, waiting for anything else to happen, another rock to fall, maybe seeing something peering into the cave from outside.

For the longest time, nothing happened, I just heard the sounds of the fire crackling as I stared into the abyss that was the outside world.

Nothing ever happened, which I was slightly relieved. When sunrise came I surveyed the outside of the cave and the surrounding area but found nothing, no tracks, no signs that anyone was ever there, save for the rock that got pushed over.

I was relieved, seeing is how it was most likely an animal of some kind, the fire scaring it away.

Of course, there was also the possibility I was being stalked by someone. If this was the case, why didn't they just make their presence known if they knew I was here?

That train of thought made me uneasy, so for now I focused on getting some more of the same plant from last time, and filling my pot with some more water before collecting more rocks to make it more sturdy to prevent any unwanted guests.

When night came I made the fire and acted like everything was normal, I boiled the water, peeled the cacti and did the same thing as last night.

The sound didn't come right away, but sure enough, the sound of a rock hitting the ground rung out through the cave. I sat up as quickly as I could, and this time, thanks to the closer fire I managed to see movement on the other side.

I wanted to call out, to see if they were human, or if it was just some curious animal, but despite wanting to, I never did call out, and went through the whole night without sleeping.

When the sun rose, I slept for a few hours, I still had some water left over so I think I could afford getting rest.

Before I did however, I set the rock back in its place before resting up.

When I awoke, the rock was in the place it was left along with the rest of them.

I was going to leave it, but, decided to test something. I got the same rock from before, the one that kept getting knocked over, and set it on the ground. I wanted to see whoever or whatever was doing this would keep knocking down rocks.

So when night came, I did the same things as before, I went out for some more cacti, and repeated the process.

Only this time, I slept with the knife and chert.

I lay inside the bedroll, waiting to see if they would return.

[The Next Morning]

Well, this isn't really what I was expecting, right when I was actually preparing, this is the ONE night that it didn't happen.

I stared outside from my bedroll as the ever growing levels of light. Well, two things I can get out of this, either they are really smart, or it was by pure chance.

The closer the fire was to the entrance might have something to do with it as well. It seems I will have to be even more subtle in my attempts to catch whoever this was.

At this point, I think it was a person and not an animal, I could be wrong, but something tells me I'm not, not this time at least.

So when the next night came, I made the fire near the usual spot and slept with the same materials as last night.

It was a dangerous move, but I figured, if I couldn't see, neither could they.

Before I went to sleep, I made sure to hide my equipment as best I could so that if that was what they were after, they would have a hard time finding it.

The equipment is the only reason I could think why they didn't make their presence known and decided to stalk me, taking the equipment while I slept.

Would be hell of a thing if it was the person I stole the equipment from.

You know what they say, what goes around comes around.

[A few hours later]

Hearing the sound of the rock dropping, I continued to pretend to be asleep.

It took a while, but I eventually heard the sound of another rock dropping.

Then another, and another.

After that, no more. The next sound I heard was the sounds of someone climbing over the rock wall.

My heart was pounding as I heard, well not foot steps, but something that sounded like, something was being dragged across the rocky ground.

I was nervous before, but now I was borderline panicking.

What the hell is this persons deal??? Were they dragging themselves along the ground? Did they not have legs or something? Maybe that's why they never came in?

But if they needed help then why didn't they call out?

No- something wasn't right, they didn't need help, they were here for another reason, most likely the reason I stated earlier.

I slowly felt for the knife and once I found it, I gripped the handle, being ready to use it against whoever this was.

As they dragged themselves closer, they stopped at the bottom of the sleeping bag, and just stayed there for the longest time.

My mind started to conjure up images of some legless person using their hands and arms to support themselves as they stared at me as I slept, like a demented spider.

I wanted to flee, but what could I do? By the time I got a fire going they could already get ahold of me.

Sure I had a knife, but would I really use it?

I was trapped, I couldn't do anything, just lay there and hopefully I would have the courage to stab them if they tried to harm me.

The sound of something dragging themselves across the rock resumed, going from the foot of my bed to where the fire was.

They moved awfully quick for someone with no legs, which honestly made me even more scared.

Faint breathing could be heard as they searched the area. After not finding what they were looking for they moved back to the foot of my bedroll and stayed there.

What happened next, well I regret every thing.

Something, I don't know if it was one of their hands, or arms, but SOMETHING tapped the part of the bedroll where my thigh rested.

They wanted me to wake up.

Well, just pretending to stay asleep wasn't an option if they did it enough.

When they tapped the same area again, I didn't move.

A third time they tapped me, I heard a voice from the dark.

"Hey, are you awake?" The voice was female.

This was it, I had to wake up, slowly reaching for the chert I readied myself to try my best to get a fire going before they got me.

"Please, I won't hurt you, could you get the fire going again? Maybe we could converse better if we- or at least you could see better." She said.

So she could SEE me? Does she have some kind of night vision equipment or something? If so then maybe she's military? Maybe she could lead me somewhere I could get back to civilization.

Slowly getting up with the tools in hand I made my way over and started to use the knife to get a fire going.

She was most likely watching me, so with each glimpse of light I looked to see if I could get a glimpse of her.

It wasn't until the fourth spark that I was something that made me pause.

It a part of a body of a snake.

The light didn't last long enough to make out any fine details, so I tried as quickly as possible to get a light in here.

When I did I looked around franticly, and my eyes landed on something, unnatural.

The closest thing I can use to describe this, is, well not a lamia, well kind of, her head was that of a cobras, and from her neck she had shoulders, and two arms, and a human shaped torso. She didn't have breasts, which made sense I guess seeing is how she was a reptile, but I could see a sort of, well curve. Her human-like features ended at her waist and the rest was that of a serpent. Her scales were brown having darker brown diamond patterns.

My reaction to her? Well for someone who's seen something that should be impossible, I reacted as well as most people would...

Honestly the dumbest thing I could have done was drop the knife, but again, you do stupid shit when your scared.

She tried her best to calm me down, assuring me that she wasn't going to eat me, or hurt me, or anything bad.

Did I listen? No.

I went out of the cave, but my luck ran dry, as a dust storm decided to introduce itself. I didn't care though, I just crawled on my stomach.

This, was ended by the feeling of the snake coiling itself around me and dragging me back into the cave.

She, didn't let me go, and instead opted to keep me in her coils until I got back into a calmer state of mind.

That was difficult, seeing is how I was being held inside a humanoid snakes coils but after a long, long, LONG time, I managed to become calmer.

When I was calm enough, she started to speak.

"Are you crazy? Going out into a sandstorm like that, do you know how dangerous that is?" She asked.

It was stupid, but can you really blame me for running?

I didn't speak because my throat was too dry. That combined with the energy I lost while trying to get away from her made me too tired.

"Get some sleep, we will talk more when the sandstorm passes and we get some water."

Having no choice, I simply lay there in her coils as she drifted off to sleep.

Awhile passed before I too drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke I could hear the sound of the fire going.

I was still in her coils, and not in her stomach, so that is a good sign I guess.

I saw her move her face in front of mine.

She slowly uncoiled from me before pointing at the pot.

Water.

Crawling over to it I noticed it was full of water, so I picked it up and drank from it.

When I was done I set the pot down, some water still remaining.

The serpent came around and picked up the pot, drinking the rest of the water.

She set the pot down and looked at me.

"I'm gonna keep this short, I know of a place where there are others, a town by a large river, we can speak further there, for now I ask you to place your trust in me until we get there, then we can speak, where you go from there is up to you. We move come nightfall, understood?" She asked.

As much as I didn't want to trust her, I slowly nodded.

After getting my answer she looked at the pot, then slithered outside, to get more water I guess.

Who was she? What was she? Why is she helping me after stalking me for the past days?

I guess, I'll have to follow her instructions if I wanted to get answers.

Or I'll end up in her stomach.

Then again if she wanted to eat me she would have done it when I was trapped in her coils, so either she is saving me for later or she really does mean me no harm.

As I sat there, waiting for her to return, I realized more details that I failed to recognize earlier. More specifically, her eyes. Instead of being black round pupil and yellow they looked more akin to eyes that a crocodile or an alligators would have, not a cobras.

Maybe she's some kind of...crossbreed between a-

No, that's not likely, maybe her eyes just look like that because she's a species of serpent I've never heard of before.

Or she was simply a lamia and I was making this more complicated than I needed it to be.

If I live long enough I guess I could always ask her.

I heard her slither into the cave, setting the pot back over the fire.

After it was set laid back and just stared at the fire.

I don't know how far this place she mentioned was, but it had to be far enough to where I couldn't see it.

I would have to be careful with the equipment if I moved into a populated area filled with I assumed to be her kind, though, from what I knew, snakes weren't social creatures and preferred to be solitary. Maybe that wasn't the case because she is a lamia- or I assumed she was- anyway its either that, or she co-exists with humans.

Won't know for sure until we get there.

Other than her taking the pot of water from over the fire we pretty much just laid about, resting up for the journey ahead.

I kept wondering if there was the possibility of getting lost, the more I thought about it, the less I trusted her. Maybe she would use scent? I don't know. She didn't have any map, or compass, or anything really. She did ask if I had a tent, to which I nodded in response.

I neglected to use the tent, only using it as a last resort. Guess I will have to use it again.

But the more I thought about all the days traveling alone with no one able to guide me to a populated area. So I guess my willingness to trust her came out of desperation.

I slept for a few hours, and when I woke up I packed up everything save for the pot filled with water.

After a few hours of waiting for sunset to arrive, I moved a few layers of rocks so that she could get out easier with the water. Once I was done she slithered out and I handed the water to her. I then pushed out my equipment and crawled out myself.

Strapping the rucksack to my back I looked to her. She nodded before turning and slithering towards our destination.

I looked back at the cave entrance once more before turning my gaze back to her, and started to follow.

When it begun to get too dark for me to see, she wrapped the end of her tail around my leg so I wouldn't lose track of her.

So, for the rest of the night, she dragged me through the dark until the sun started to rise.

She let go of my leg and said a single word.

"Tent."

Knowing what she meant I got the tent out and set it up. Once it was all set up I went inside, and she followed, setting down our water source she laid down.

I didn't bother getting out the sleeping bag, I just laid down and tried to get some sleep.

She didn't coil around me this time, since I showed a willingness to follow her without running off I guess she didn't see the need.

Not like I was complaining.

For the remainder of the day, we slept under the cover of the tent. It was a bit annoying due to being used to sleeping in the dark confines of the cave, but I managed to sleep for most of the day. I don't know about her, she didn't move much, the only movement was her getting into a position to cover her eyes better.

Not much else, just sleeping with a lamia, in a tent, in the middle of an semi-arid climate.

Around sunset is when she started to show signs of waking.

When she did I sat up and waited for her to get her bearings. She grabbed the pot and drank from it. After she was done she looked to me.

"Don't drink it all, we have at least another night of walking."

I slowly nodded and drank enough to sate my thirst, but not the remaining water.

Ok, so tonight, and another night, I think we can make it.

Hopefully.

I packed up the tent, and we resumed our journey.

We managed to walk, or well I walked while she slithered to our destination.

It wasn't until the end of our second night traversing that I noticed we were moving along, it wasn't a road per se, but it definitely looked like a well traveled route.

Now that I think about it, we traversed on one direction for some time before turning to the left. This must have been when we reached it.

So that explains how she knew where she was going.

We decided to save the remaining water when morning came. So sleeping one more night we drank what was left of the water.

We could have rationed it better, but I guess in the end it didn't matter because we managed to make it.

Seeing dim lights in the distance, she picked up the pace a bit.

I can't believe it, after so long I was back to civilization.

Now that I think about it, it wasn't too far away, sure it took several nights to reach this place, but if I had a car and knew where to go, I could have arrived much sooner.

I guess it doesn't really matter now, I was here with other people, and that was a hell of a lot better than being alone out there.

She stopped in front of one of the outermost houses and guided me inside. She didn't let go of my leg as she moved me into a small room.

She instructed me to take off my rucksack, to which I did. It was then she told me to get some sleep and she shall explain more in the morning, and to not go outside for the time being.

Being too tired to object, I simply laid down on my side next to the rucksack with so many things running through my mind, these flood of thoughts slowly fading the further I drifted to sleep.