FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"We could try to become blacksmiths." Mom suggested.

"With those new Fori weapons coming out? We'll be slaughtered" Dad replied

Those are my folks, Matha and Heu Shoemaker. It's not their real last name. at home, people take the name of their trades. Dad is a shoemaker.

"Besides," Dad went on. "I have to keep the family trade alive."

"Maybe you're really good at being a blacksmith." Mom offered

"I'd be luckier to have a kid." Dad replied without thinking.

Mom paused by a tree, her expression deeply pained, as she held her stomach

The two of them were within the woods south of town, or as my parents called it: "Children eater forest." The grounds were very uneven, with sudden falls and rises everywhere. They were covered with roots and fallen leaves, making it all look the same, and every drop was unexpected. It's great for practicing your reflexes, I would know.

"You didn't have to go there, Heu." Mom mummered.

Mom was beautiful. Big, shining blue eyes, silky bright brown hair, she looked thin, but strong... She'll always look like that to me.

Dad frowned as he turned around. He knew he shouldn't have done that. He walked over to her, placed a gentle hand on her back and spoke. "I'm sorry babe, I went too far. I'm just frustrated."

Mom shook it off and walked ahead of her husband. "I'm fine." She jumped down the hill and looked back. "Let's find those moving roots, so you can fill out that order."

Dad grinned and mumbled to himself before jumping down after her, and grabbing her from behind, she twisted into him, grabbed his wrist and tried to throw him over her shoulder. Dad held firm and pulled her into his arms instead. Their kiss slowly got closer an- Aw, fuck that. I'm not going there!

Dad is a tall man, about half a head taller than mom. He had a full on, itchy beard, brown eyes, and his squarish jaw made him look strong, not to mention the big frame. He could've been a blacksmith.

Where was I? The two of them were walking in the forest again(We aren't going to talk about what happened inbetween. No. NO.) holding hands and mushy crap. That's when they heard it.

There was a growl, a roar, and a scream that probably could be heard in town. Mom jumped into dad's arms. Dad pulled out his shears and stepped forward. Their blood ran cold then there was another howl.

"Wh-what was that?"

Dad looked around and dropped his bag. He handed her the rope. "Set a trap, in case they come this way. I think its feral creatures." He walked forward

"But He-"

"Don't come after me." Dad cut her off and jogged toward the howls.

Dad nearly fell but his hand caught a branch before the sudden drop. He slowly slid down, and took cautious steps. He ducked behind a tree as he heard their steps.

The first was a Doberman. Almost six feet tall, the other was a tiger, over six feet. They both were as naked as they were at birth with wounds all over, and they had that wild look in their eyes,.

Feral monsters are really monsters. They aren't defined by a race, a feral monster could be anything, even a human. It's usually exchanged by spit or blood. Basically any fluids ingested from a feral monster to the victim in large amounts. Yes, that include sex. That's usually not the case, though. Feral monsters are intelligent, they just have a never ending desire to fight and kill... Looking on it, they're not much different from orcs. It's like talking to a mass murderer, sure you can talk to them but chances are you'll be dead after. Don't trust what they say either. They'll say anything to kill you or to stay alive.

"Where did they go?!" The tiger growled.

"The Dobie shrunk a bit before he answered. "I know they went this way." He sniffed the air. "They're-" He sniffed again.

Dad chanced a peek around the corner, and to his surprise, there was no one there. That's when he realized that it was too quiet. He jumped back in time to miss the tiger from pouncing from the tree above him. The dobie snapped at him, and Dad swung his shears. The dog leaped on top of Dad and it turned into a struggle. He barely held the snapping jaw from his face with one hand, the beasts claws digging into his shoulders.

Dad grunted as he stabbed the shears upward, into the beast's heart.

The dobie yelped, then whimpered as he tried to jump back from his already fatal attack.

Dad's shirt was already torn and covered in blood. He scrambled to his feet, The tiger tackled him, and the human caught the beast . they went tumbling down the hill. Dad fought the beast as they fell together. Dad's back reached the ground first, and he used the fall's momentum to kick the tiger off. He scrambled up the hill.

Dad cried out as claws dug into his leg. He looked down at the tiger and kicked with all his might. The tiger's claws dragged down his leg before he was free. The human half-limped and half climbed the hill. He ran for his shears and skidded to a stop next to the felled Doberman, as the tiger blocked his escape.

Dad slowly knelt down and grabbed his weapon. The tiger lunged. Dad jerked the shears out of the corpse, and leapt out of the way, earning him a gash on his side. Dad fumbled to his feet and spun around shears open.

The shears by no means made a clean cut. The cut was only deep enough to allow tiger to grunt out, blood bubbling from its mouth, neck, and nose.

Dad growled and snapped the shears shut. the spine severed with a loud, resounding snap. The head didn't roll loose; it stayed attached like a hood, by a few strands of flesh

Dad fell to his knees, lungs grasping for breath, and his body burning from pain. He coughed out blood and wasn't sure if it was his own. His heavy breaths stopped when he heard a scream, mom's scream

"Matha!" Dad yelled and ran back to her.

Dad's desperate run quickly downgraded to a light jog. His wife had her arms folded as she leaned against a tree. A tree that held a feral husky upside down by the very rope he gave her.

"I thought that would get your attention." She said grinning, ignoring the snaps, snarls coming from the husky next to her.

He walked over to his wife, holding her shoulders. "You okay?"

"I should be asking you the same." Mom said, regarding his sudden change in appearance.

"Most of it isn't mine. Did he touch you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, I was actually having a nice chat with this guy here." Her thumb motioned toward the feral monster.

Dad's eyes narrowed as he turned to the beast. "We should be killing it."

"He-hear me out!" The husky spoke in a fluctuating, unsteady voice. "We were chasing someone. It hid our snack."

Dad frowned and opened his shears. "I don't think that's any use to us."

"It's a baby!" The husky blurted out.

"Is it alive?"

"Where?" Mom asked.

"I'll show you if you let me go!" The husky pleaded.

"I told you we should be killing it." Dad opened his shears again.

"I put it behind some grass to hide it from my pack mates!" The husky was a fountain of information. "Its by the river!"

Dad looked to mom, who nodded. Dad approached the whining beast and the last of that feral pack was ended.

Dad and Mom stood near the river, grass and rocks were littered everywhere Mom jumped up a boulder and checked a hole near it, that was covered in grass. Dad was limping after her.

"Is it over there?" Dad yelled up.

"No. Nothing. I think that thing lied, just to get free. We should have kept it going for a while longer."

"And risk it going to town and killing someone?" Dad sat down by the river, and took off the boot to his bloody leg. He rinsed his leg, and grunted as the water bathed his fresh wounds. He half, turned his head as something tickled his hand.

"Hey, moving roots!" Dad said with delight.

"Priorities, Heu." Mom ordered.

Dad rinsed off his shears and climbed to his feet. "This'll only take a second."

Dad cut the wiggling, brown, roots and stored them in his bag.

"Heu!" Mom growled, her eyes on him.

"Just a little more, I almost died for these." Dad was about to cut more when their dancing pattern broke and allowed a view of the base of the rock. "What's this?" He asked himself. He knelt down and cut.

"What is it?" mom asked, jumping down, and walking beside dad.

Dad scooped the baby up and presented the child to mom. "Found it."

There I was: a big, toothy, red-eyed blob of green. My eyes looked from dad then to mom.

"It's... A baby." My mom stated.

"Should I kill it? It looks feral." Dad joked.

"Hush! He's innocent!" Mom scooped me up in her arms. We looked at each other for a long minute. I must have been hungry or something cause at that moment, I bit into my mom's chest.

"Ow!" She cried. "Son of a-"

"Orc." My dad added with a chuckle. He was standing beside her now. "Heeey! Look at that, he IS a boy." He pointed at my junk.

Mom sighed "Guys..." and held me out, distancing her sensitive breasts from my snapping sharp teeth.

I struggled in her grip. "He's strong." She added and looked at me with mother-like eyes.

"Oh-no!" Dad protested. "No-no-no-no!" dad backed up. "We wanted a human kid! Orcs have a... Orc reputation."

"Should we just leave him here?"

Dad fell silent.

"Besides, it's all the more reason to take care of him. If we're going by anything those monster said, his mom was probably killed. If not, I'll take care of him until you find her."

"Me?!" Dad's thumb pointed to his chest. "I almost died and I have to come back out here?!"

"It's time to go home, little boy." She spoke baby talk to me, ignoring dad.

That's how it started. From what dad told me, the first few days consisted of dad looking in the woods for my biological mom, and mom staying at home with me, learning what I ate and how bad it came out the other end. He also told me how good the harvest was that year. A month in dad found her; a rotted corpse, home to feeding vermin. I'm glad he didn't sugarcoat it, dad was honest like that, but that's a story for later

Let's go forward a few years.

I'm three now.

Our house is near the center of town-which is very old fashioned in many ways. Technology of most kinds isn't allowed. Usually weapons made by this big company make its way into town. We make clothes by hand, weapons, food, and everything.

Our house was the wooden one between the bakery and the bistro.

I was asking my dad a million questions an hour about our trade. When dad starts to slack off because of my questions, mom would take me, and make sure he goes back to work.

"C'mon! I'm teaching my son how to make shoes!" He would protest.

"You were using Liam-" That's my name. "-As an excuse to not work." My mom replied.

Dad shrugged and went picked up a fresh pair of boots. "I was done with everything since yesterday."

"Then what are you doing now?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Making a pair for Liam." He admitted.

"I don't see any measurements."

"He ate it." Dad replied with a grin.

On cue, I burped out a soggy piece of paper on mom's face.

"ewww. I'll take care of him." She wiped off the mess. She took my hand and guided me to the back, Where without a focus, I raised hell. I broke a table, knocked over a book shelf, and chewed off a leg to a desk. "Liam! That doesn't go into your mouth!" My mom reached for it and I snapped at her. I took the hammer that fell off of the table and ran off.

She caught me in the kitchen, hammer in three parts: Two in my hands, the third being chewed.

Mom sighed aloud. "What am I going to do with you?" She picked me up, groaning. "What have you been eat- oh..." I laughed out loud, swinging the hammerhead in my hand. There was a soft smack, and my mom's eyes rolled to the back of her head. she crumbled to the ground and I fell on top of her

"Mommy?" I asked, feeling her face. I leaned in and sniffed her. I didn't know why I did. Satisfied that she was okay, I ran back to dad. "Mommy's sleeping!" I wailed.

Another jump. I'm six now. This was an important day for me for a few reasons:

My first day of school is one reason.

I was being home schooled by mom up until now, and she was impressed with my progress. I was decent with basic math, but I took well to history. My parents were walking me to my first day. Dad was holding my hand. He and mom were arguing, and I was humming, pretending not to listen.

"He isn't ready." Mom protested. "He only just learned the first god war."

"2042!" I proudly yelled.

"He needs the people experience, Matha." Dad replied, short on patience

I looked around. It wasn't just weird that two humans were taking care of an orc child but they were arguing about him too. I didn't care. I was excited about school. Dad told me so much about it.

"But kids can be so cruel." My mom pleaded.

"And he needs to learn that it only gets worse later on."

"You just want him to take over the family trade."

"Of course I do! He's my son!"

Mom had stopped walking. "Let the boy choose what he wants!" She yelled.

Dad knelt down to me. "What do you want to be son?"

I knew already. I saw a fight outside four days ago. I mean a real battle. This guy was fighting two others and he defeated them with his sword. He killed them in the street. I knew how different I was then because when people were mortified, I was grinning at the window.

"A fighter! Pow!" I punched with my free fist.

"See! He made a choice. He still needs the interaction. Now let's go before he's late for his first day." Dad walked off again.

Mom looked around, desperate for something to say. "I'm... I'm pregnant!'

Dad stopped mid step. his foot was midair. He slowly whirled around and spoke in a low voice. "What?"

"I'm pregnant." She repeated calmly this time.

"Congratulations, Shoemakers!" Ms. Shy said from her window.

"I... When... How...?" Dad was stunned.

"what's pregnant?" I asked. Tilting my head.

That reminded dad that he was still holding me. He glanced over to me, then to his wife.

"At least today, Matha. We need time to talk." Dad pleaded.

Matha nodded, and held her stomach, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

Mom was right. I wasn't ready.

The entire morning everyone kept staring, including the teacher. Maybe it was my teeth , maybe my eyes, or my skin. Maybe it was that I was twice the size of most other children. Maybe it was the total package.

I do remember the teacher asking how old I was several times.

Then lunch came, and it all went to shit.

"Why is your skin green?" One girl asked.

"Where's your fur?" A fox added

"You look dumb. Are you dumb?" I was surrounded by a circle of students asking millions of questions at the same time, and I couldn't take the chaos

"I..." I mmummered.

"You look like a biiig ugly baaaaby~" the girl taunted

"A big DUMB ugly baby." A boy added.

And the kids chimed together "OooooOoooo!"

"Stop it." I grunted.

Then someone pushed me.

"You gunna cry, dumb baby?" someone asked.

I was holding my head now. Trying to ignore their pushes, and block out the jeers.

"Ew! I touched it!" A girl's voice said after she pushed me.

"Stop it!" I yelled.

"Big dumb baby! Big dumb baby!" They started taunting together.

I couldn't control it, I felt myself give in to my frustration.

"Leave him alone!" Someone yelled in front of me. I was beyond help then. With a roar, I swung my fist to the closest target, hitting the person who was defending me.

At my feet, was a Raccoon, sprawled out on the ground.

"ooooooooOOooo!" The kids echoed again

Perfect timing for our teacher to arrive, or decide to intervene.

"What's going on here?!" She asked, parting us half-pints. Ms. Whale-that was her name- Saw the raccoon sprawled on the ground, and knelt to him. He was just now coming to

"Oh my Gi. Are you okay, Hermes?" She stroked his head, as his vision came to focus.

"Who let the bus hit me...?" He groaned.

"I... I didn't mean to..." I started. Her angry-eyes locked on me..

"Principles office! NOW!" Ms. Whale roared

Coming back to class, I found my table- which normally holds 4 students- in a corner.

I sat alone in the back of the room, while everyone ignored me.

My little corner felt dark. And I didn't know what to do.

"This is a little advanced for you kids but the first god war is important. It explains the history that helped shaped this land and more importantly the tresperian continent and the surrounding ones, which includes us. Anyone can tell me what year it started?" Ms. Whale asked.

"2042!" I yelled out.

Ms. Whale paused, then her eyes flicked to me for a millisecond. Then she continued her pacing of the class. "Anyone?"

I felt a cold feeling in my guts. It was so cold, but it was full of fire. I think that was real anger- not what I was experiencing at lunch. Maybe it was mixed with a bit of loneliness, and rejection.

The bell for the day to end rang and I couldn't get out fast enough.

I was outside the front of the school, and the students were being picked up by their parents. I noticed that their parents were the same as them, and I also noticed that most of them looked my way, probably talking about what happened earlier.

That was when the raccoon with a fresh bandage on his head approached me. "Hi!" He offered an innocent smile. "I'm Hermes. What's your name?"

"I'm..." I didn't really know how to talk to him. "I'm Liam."

"Odd name for an orc." He said. "But I like it!"

"Thanks."

"I know what happened at lunch was just confusion. Can we be friends?" He offered his paw to me.

I smiled, the first time since I've come to school. "Yeah!" I took his paw.

"Liam!" Dad yelled. "Time to go." I spotted him on the corner.

"See ya tomorrow?" Hermes asked.

"Okay." I ran off toward dad.

My first friend. My only friend. I never really interacted with kids my age, and he smiled about it all. I was really hoping to see him tomorrow.

When I handed dad the letter from the principle, it became my last day.

The day we moved, the day we lost it all.

Gabriel and I were in the park. Gabe is my little brother.

He looks like a combination of mom and dad. mom's hair color, and eyes, but he had dad's hair and frame. Though we looked different, he was my little brother after all.

I was thirteen, and Gabe was six. When mom was busy selling these new shoes I helped invent, and dad was busy making them. I was old enough to keep an eye on my little brother. And it worked well.

"Don't hurt me!" Gabe yelled as he ran through the bushes past me.

That was my cue. Puberty had only just begun to take its toll on me, but the results were clear. I had earned a bit of size and muscle, and I was about to put it to work.

The bigger kid ran through the bushes, after my brother. Bam! I punched this human boy in the face. Before he could focus on what hit him and get up, I was on top of him, fist poised above his head.

"Move, and I'll hurt you." I warned.

Gabe by now had returned and was raiding his pockets. The boy was using language his mother would be ashamed to hear.

"I got it all, Li." Gabe stood up, holding toys, money, and candy.

I grunted in approval and picked the boy up. "Come back here again with only this much money, and I'll hurt your entire family." I growled.

The boy didn't know what to say, but I could smell the urine on him. I lightly tossed him through the bushes, grabbed my brother's hand, and made the fastest exit out of the park.

I should have paid more attention then, but I did notice sounds far away, and distant screams. Nobody around me was panicking yet, so I just shrugged it off. Little did I know that most of my senses were slightly elevated.

Gabe and I walked into Paul's candy store. It was only a couple of streets away from home.

"Hey! My two favorite customers!" Paul welcomed us with open arms. Paul was a burly pig, and I liked seeing him smile.

"What can I get, Li?!" Gabe asked.

I shrugged. "Get whatever."

"Yes! Best brother!"

"Only brother." I growled under my breath.

"You two haven't been stealing again, have you?"

"No, paul." Gabe and I echoed.

"We sold more than usual today, so Dad gave us an extra allowance." I lied... well partially. The statement was true.

"Oh! Very good. Hey, I got a new sour ball in, want to be my testers?"

"Yeah!" Gabe punched the air behind me.

I nodded. "Sure." These little colorful balls went into our mouths.

"Ishhh shoo, Showaaa!" Gabe's face was shaking.

I did taste it but not so well, my sense of taste was dull.

That was when there was a scream from outside. Everyone in the shop heads turned. Then we realized, there were several people running, away from where we came. A guy with a bloody shirt stumbled in, and we all gasped.

"They're... here..." He gasped, falling to his knees.

"Who is here?" Paul asked, running from behind the counter, and helping the man up.

"It's the... Feral... Advanced... They're attacking." On cue, there was a scream, and a woman fell in front of the candy store.

Gabe gasped, and buried his face in my chest, I just watched, unfazed. Paul looked from his customers to us.

"You have to get to your families. And get to safety!" He went behind his counter and opened the door behind it. "This will take you all out back. We all ran through the back of the store. We ended up on the other side of the street, going toward the center of town.

I held my brother's hand and ran. An explosion knocked everyone running off of their feet. I looked back as the church's steeple fell to the ground, crushing a woman and her child.

"Gabe!" I threw my brother on my shoulder and ran.

The city was set ablaze and swallowed by chaos. I chanced a look back and I saw our attackers in the distance. They looked like soldiers; dressed the same, and wielding weapons.

"What are they?!" Gabe asked, seeing them too. Bullets whizzed everywhere, A horse running past us was shot in the shoulder, and he tumbled onto a lizard. I rounded the corner to the dead center of the city, and was greeted by the entire town trying to escape. They were clustered. They pushed, shoved, and climbed in all directions, unsure of where the attack came from.

"Finster's yard." Gabe suggested.

I nodded, and ran through the front yard of the woman's house and went around to the back.

Mrs. Finster was an elderly lady who sold candied fruit to Paul. Gabe and I would sneak out back through loose boards in her fence and take some fresh ones. I pushed through the fence and found Mrs. Finster on the opposite side, working on boards over there. She jumped when we entered then relaxed.

"That's how you two got in." She suddenly shook her head. "Now's not the time. I'm trying to get through the mob but these boards are-"

I put Gabe down and ran to the fence and punched. The boards shattered, but there was a hole. She nodded in approval. "Now go to your parents. I'm sure they're worried about you two."

"C'mon gabe." I let my brother on piggy back. I carried Gabe through first. Mrs. Finster gasped as the door to her house swung open. I chanced a look back and saw the solders.

"Go!" She yelled while she blocked the exit with her body. I ran, while the guns were fired. Gabe's grip on my back tightened and he sobbed into my back. Our home was in sight now.

"There's dad!" I offered. Dad was walking out, carrying two bags.

"Liam, Gabe!" Dad knelt down to us as I set my brother down. "You two okay?"

I nodded, Gabe did through tears.

"Let's find your mother. We have to go!"

"Heu!" mom yelled. Mom made it through the mob that we went around.

It happened so slowly, so painfully. The soldiers tore through the crowd, and bullets were flying everywhere. People cried, screamed, and whimpered. The bullets went straight for mom. It disappeared in her back, and came out of her chest, followed by a stream of blood.

"Mom!" I yelled the first to process what happened.

"Mathaaaaaa!" Dad's cry was blood curdling. He tried to run to his wife, and I knew I had to keep him alive. I held him by the arm, and kept him from jumping into the wave of people, blood, and bullets.

"Let go of me Liam!" He roared.

"Dad! She's gone!"

"Mommy?" Gabe sobbed.

I felt the pain, I did. But one of us had to be rational. It was dad's turn.

"Get down!" He yelled, tackling and pinning us under him, gunfire closer than ever. Gabe groaned under dad's weight.

He suddenly jumped to his feet, scooped us up, and ran.

I found out after that dad ran on, carrying my weight, and Gabe with a bullet in his back.

We managed to get outside the town, with nothing but the clothes on our backs. It was us and about a hundred of us, walking together. We marched for days in grim silence. We walked through the forest, through a cave, and eventually... we made it to the boarder.

I felt helpless. I felt lost. I really didn't know what to do. Sure I was a kid but that doesn't stop how you feel.