FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The blue expedition truck sailed down the highway, back-dropped by beauty of the setting sun. Nathan tapped happily on the dashboard, enjoying the music and scenery. The road curled around the side of a mountain, the forest hundreds of feet below creating a sea of lush evergreen. Camping was never something he considered, preferring the comfort of his couch at home. However, his girlfriend has always wanted to go camping and has proven to be quite convincing. He looked over to the driver, her smiling face inciting one in his. He would be the first to say that Gastros looked odd; with their stalk eyes and spongy skin, who wouldn't? And don't even get him started on the slime, but she was still the light of his life. They started dating over a few months ago, and ever since she has been pulling him out of his room every chance she got, and he hasn't regretted it once. One of her eyes glanced towards him, causing her to form a small smirk, "And what are you so happy about?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just excited about the trip. And hey, you keep your eyes on the road."

She giggled, "Oh sure, you never have nothing on your mind. And have you forgotten? Omnidirectional eyes," leaning her right stalk towards him while keeping the left facing forward to reinforce her point.

He scoffed and looked away, "Show off."

She laughed and returned her eye, inwardly sighing with relief. Nathan was always pretty good at telling when she was nervous, and it took all her concentration to appear calm right now, the events at his graduation party replaying over and over in her head. His family knew she was a Gastros when they first started dating and they had met her too, but this was the first family event she had gone to with him. There were the usual strange looks from the adults and the grossed-out children, but this time it felt different. This time she felt bothered when his cousins shied away from shaking her hand and avoided talking to her, and when his aunt pulled her child away for playing with her, that actually hurt. Then there was Paul's dad, he was the worst. She didn't know if he was drunk or not, but he hated her having anything to do with Nathan. She fought back a shudder as she recalled when he pulled her aside and...

"Hey, Earth to Dottie."

She blinked a few times, derailed from her train of thought.

"Hey, are you alright? Want me to drive the rest of the way?"

She shook her head and laughed weakly, "Oh sorry, no it's okay. You know how I space."

"Yeah, but I'd prefer you not spacing when we are driving around a giant mountain."

Dorothy laughed, "I am fine. We are almost there anyways; you can see the forest off to the right."

He smiled and gazed out the window, the sea of trees slowly darkening with the descending sun. As he turned away, Nathan came to the forefront of her mind. She felt bad about what happened, but how did he feel? He always felt worse than she did when anyone remarked on their relationship. She knows she heard him argue with people more than once about him dating her, and every time he defended her. He didn't deserve all the trouble she put him through. Again, Paul's dad came to mind. Nathan and Dorothy were silent, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Neither heard nor saw the truck tumbling down the steep cliff and both were caught unawares as it slammed into the side of their truck.

While they were held in place by their seatbelts, the couple were still jostled and thrown about the cabin, their belongings becoming projectiles that pelted their exposed skin. There was no screaming, just the cacophony of destruction happening around them as the truck continued its death roll. In one final thunderous crash, the truck landed at the bottom of the cliffs, one massive crash followed by another. The blue expedition lay in a dirtied, wrecked heap, the demolished driver-side door facing the sky. Nathan slowly opened his eyes, lifting his sore arms to unbuckle his seatbelt. He fell out of his seat with a pained grunt. He opened the glove compartment, pulling out a small orange hammer, and shattered the windshield. He cleared out the glass around the edges, and crawled through the hole and into the grass. He rolled over onto his back shakily taking heavy breathes, but gasped suddenly and pushed himself off the ground. He slowly stood up and looked around, "Oh no. Oh God...Dorothy!"

He clambered over and cleared away the jagged shards around the edges, then reached through. Dorothy hung motionlessly in her seat, her eyes closed and a green stain creeping across her yellow shirt.

"No..."

He quickly reached up and cut the rope with a blade attached to the hammer, and, as gently as possible, pulled Dorothy's limp body from the wreckage, all the while muttering, "Okay. You're going to be okay Dorothy. You're going to be okay."

He carried her away and laid her against the nearest tree. She slumped against it as he looked over the rest of her body. Finding nothing else, he reluctantly lifted her shirt to see the oozing gash in her side. He placed his hand on her stomach, whispering quietly, "Dottie."

He jumped when she groaned and shifted slightly, weakly mumbling, "Nathan?"

"Dottie I'm here! Are you okay", he hovered close to her, showing care not to touch her while being as close as possible.

She squinted and groaned, "Nate, calm down please. I'm fine. How are you?"

He smiled weakly and nodded, "I'm fine too," despite the several cuts on his arms and soreness in his leg.

She looked him up and down, smirking at his obvious lie, "Well that's good to know."

She frowned and looked at her wrecked vehicle, "What happened?"

He pointed several feet away at the other destroyed truck.

"Oh. Oh no, are they okay?"

Nathan stood up and strained his eyes, "I don't think I see anyone."

She reached forward and lightly slapped his leg, "Go check on them!"

He flinched lightly and laughed, "Right right, sorry," and walked towards the overturned truck. There were bits and pieces of both vehicles strewn about in the grass, mostly pieces of metal, plastic, and glass. However, the closer he got the other truck; he noticed that the grass was wet in several places and there were small black piles of dirt scattered around. He slowly approached the cab, some trepidation at what he might find, and leaned down to peek inside. The front half of the roof was crushed in, but thankfully vacant. He took the time to circle the vehicle; just to be sure he had not missed something. He saw a few torn bags of soil on the other side of the truck and a punctured water container in the trunk space. He stopped just before making a full circle, taking interest in the scarred and dented truck side. There was something written on the side before, but it looked like it was scratched off, but, then again, the rest of the truck looked no better. Nathan was taken from his little discovery when he noticed that Dorothy had gotten up and was slowly limping towards their vehicle. He jogged over, wincing at the pain in his left leg, and put his arm around her to help her walk, "Dottie, wait up. Don't hurt yourself moving too much."

"I'm fine. It's not that bad", she hesitated, "How was the other truck?"

"It's totaled, but no one was in there. Honestly, I don't think that anyone was in there to begin with. It must have fallen from higher up on the mountain, but I don't know why it would be empty?"

"I dunno", she groaned as we both lowered to a kneeling position.

"What are you doing?"

She reached through the broken back window and began pulling out our camping equipment, "Getting our stuff out."

"Oh", he helped her pull free their camping bags and stand back up, each carrying their respective bags despite Nathan's protests.

They back away from the wreckage, Dorothy sighing, "Well crap. So, where to now?"

"I don't know. Is this even part of the park?"

"I don't think so. It doesn't come this close to the mountain side. We better get moving; it'll get really dark soon."

"Maybe we can find a cave or something along here?"

"Might as well, standing around won't do much."

Together, they hobbled along the cliff face for a few minutes until they came across a shallow cave. He brought her inside and gingerly sat her against the wall, "Here, are you comfortable?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you have your cell phone?"

"I think", he sat down next to her and pulled out his phone, frowning at the cracked screen, "I think I'm going to need a new phone. How is your side doing?"

She lifted her shirt and squinted at the gash in her side, "I can't see very well. Do you have a flashlight?"

He leaned over and tried to see, his hand on her arm for balance, "No, but there's one in the sleeping bag."

Nathan pulled his bag into his lap and began rummaging through it. Dorothy spared a glance at him, and felt the guilty pain from before returning. This was her fault. She should have paid more attention on the road.

"Found it."

She blinked and shook he head, "Let me see it."

She took it, lifting her shirt with her other hand, and shined it on the wound. With the extra light she could see that the cut wasn't too bad, but it was pretty big. Most of what was leaking out was slime, though there was some blood mixed in with it.

"It's not too bad. There isn't much blood. It's just a lot of slime."

He put a hand on her arm and smiled, "Okay good", but the smile faded as continued rubbing her arm.

"Your arm feels kind of weird."

"What?" she rubbed her own arm, feeling a significant difference between how her skin usually felt.

"It's almost...rubbery", he looked at her questioningly while poking her arm.

"Crap. I think I'm dehydrated."

"Already? We left home like an hour ago and you were drinking water in the truck."

"Yeah, it's just Gastros work weird. We need to stay moist pretty much all the time. That water helped a little but, I need a lot more than that. The slime we make usually keeps up hydrated, but the clothes I wear reduce how much I make with this stuff in the threads. Anyway, I think after what just happened I'm just low on water. And see, the gash made me leak a lot slime to cover the wound. I didn't actually bleed that much. But I really need moisture now."

"There are some water bottles in the backpacks."

"I'll need more than that. I need it all over my skin."

Nathan stood up, "Wait, I have an idea. There was a big water gallon thing in the other truck. There might be some water left. "

Dorothy nodded, and Nathan left towards the trucks. With him gone, she sighed and looked around the cave. It was pretty darn shallow, not more than 10 feet deep. She stood up and walked to the entrance, one arm supporting her against the wall along the way. She looked up to see that the dying sun had settled into the blackness of night, a waning moon hanging in the sky. She shivered a bit when a rather strong gust of cold wind skimmed across the mouth of the cave. She quickly retreated and picked up her bag, taking out her campfire kit. She set it up and began the tedious work of making fire. Now wrapped up in the monotonous action of rubbing sticks, her mind was left to slowly wander back to her previous worries. She was putting him in danger. They were almost killed today. Paul's dad's rasping voice was suddenly present in the cave, "Your kind doesn't deserve to be here. Now you pulled that poor boy into this mess right with you. And if anything happens to him, you just remember it will be your own damn fault."

His words echoed in her mind, so intensely that soon every word was a crash of thunder in the silent hollow. She was lucky that it was her who was hurt. Nathan didn't deserve to be put through any of this; not for her. Her eyes shot open as the heat of the fire stung her hands, jolting her from her downward spiral. She backed away, surprised by how heavy her breathing had become, and laid against the wall, calming her breathing. She briefly sucked on her burned finger and sighed. She loved Nathan, and he put up with the trouble of their relationship because he loved her, right? She groaned, rubbing her head, tired of thinking so much. She reached for her bag and pulled it against the wall, laying on it like a makeshift pillow. Closing her eyes, she tried relaxing, distancing her as best as she could from her recent stretch of brooding. As her breathing slowed, her body relaxed and the dark fog in her head slowly lifted, replaced by more pleasant memories of Nathan. She remembered the smile that he dumbly gives at the most awkward moments, the stupid jokes and word puns he tells her on a regular basis, how wonderful it feels when he wraps his arms around her, the tingle he leaves on her skin when he would kiss her and the quiet shudders when his hands would wander across her body. She could feel her body heat and her face flush, and noticed that her hand had shifted to her chest. She moved it away; feeling slightly embarrassed, but another thought spring up. Nathan always acted like a gentleman, but even when she allowed him free reign to explore her, he hesitated. He never drifted any farther than her waist without urging on her part, though with a body like hers, she can understand his apprehension. Speaking of which, she looked out towards the cave opening, where was Nathan. It has been a while. She waited a few moments, expecting him to suddenly step in as he had done recently, but the one time she was expecting him he doesn't turn up.

"Figures."

She lifted herself up, taking a tentative step on her own before a sharp pain shot through her abdomen. She steadied herself against the wall and lifted her shirt; the slime may have stopped the bleeding, but the cut still hurt like hell. She shambled to the entrance and shouted, "Nathan! Where are you?"

The silence that followed was too long for her liking. The truck was not that far from where they were. He should be able to hear her from...

"Dorothy! I'm here! I'm fine! I'm almost done!"

She sighed in relief as she returned to her spot on the ground. Nathan soon returned with a large barrel of water in tow.

"Okay. So turns out I may have been completely wrong as to what a gallon is, because this", he gave a loud grunt as he pulled it completely into the cave, "This is definitely not a gallon."

Dorothy made no attempt to hide her burst of laughter. Nathan chuckled along with her, "Yeah I know; I'm such a jug head."

She shook her head, a smile breaking out across her face, "Okay. So, we have the water. What now?"

"Here's my idea", he pulled a clear package from his pocket, "If I dig out a little pool thing back there with my shovel, I told you my utility shovel is the greatest tool ever, and line it with this tarp, then I can poor in the water for you to get wet in."

"Well look at you, Mr. Smarty Pants."

"My pants are in fact the smartest, it's like magic. Anyways, you should probably get those clothes off if they dry you out so much."

There was short silence before he turned away to start digging. A she started undressing; the question of whether Nathan wanted to see her like this came up. She quickly forced the idea away and pulled her shirt over her head, hissing at the sudden pain from her side. As the pain ebbed, she focused just on getting the rest of her clothes off.

Nathan drove the shovel into the ground, his mind on what was unfolding behind him. She was getting naked. He could feel his heart increasing its pace in his chest and his entire body washing over with heat. He was about to see her naked. He had seen her in a bikini before, but this was different. No one was around this time and nothing would be in the way, she'd be bare. He retrained the smile he knew was creeping across his face, and sighed heavily, regaining composure. This was to help her.

Dorothy slid her cargo shorts to the ground, stepping out of them and pushing them against the wall along with her shirt. She was just down to underwear now. Despite her best attempts, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to what Nathan was thinking right now. She started with her bra next, pulling it over her head as well. She frowned; her lacking in the bust department only furthered her worries about Nathan's attraction to her. After another composing breath and she hooked her thumbs into her underwear. Before becoming any more anxious, she pulled them down in one swift motion. Stepping out of them, she tossed them aside with her foot. There, it was all off. Covering her chest, she glanced backwards towards Nathan. He was on his knees, noisily laying down the tarp in the shallow hole he dug. She wanted to speak up, but found it difficult to find her voice. She stood there, shivering slightly after a cool breeze blew past the cave, and watched him work. He finished with the tarp, or was at least satisfied what he had done, and grabbed the neck of the large water barrel. He attempted to tip it gently, but only succeeded in steading the massive out pour of water. It glugged heavily, a deep thudding with each gush, and soon had the entire hole filled. He lugged the barrel back onto its base, and sighed, "Okay, all done."

Nathan turned around to see Dorothy's naked form. She was covering her more private parts, but that didn't stop his eyes from roaming across her body for a brief moment. He never noticed how rich the evergreen of her skin was or how wonderfully it contrasted to the deep yellow that trailed from her chin, over her gorgeous chest, down her naval, and to her most private of places. Only second past in his gazing before he turned away, "Oh, wow."

"What?"

"I've just never seen that much of you."

She felt her anxiousness surge waiting for his answer, and took a step forward, "And what do you think?"

Nathan laughed awkwardly, still facing away from her, "Well...I mean...you look amazing Dorothy."

She felt her heart flutter and allowed a small smile, "Oh really? Why not get another eyeful huh?"

He laughed, this time far more relaxed, "Oh shut up and get in here."

Though all of the anxiousness had been lifted from her mind, she still questioned how sincere he was about her appearance. She took a step into the water and gingerly set herself in, careful not to splash around too much. She relaxed back in the pool, which he had dug to fit her comfortably, and looked towards Nathan. He was sitting against the barrel, messing around with his broken phone. She casted a lazy gaze towards her submerged body, her prominent nipples signaling just how cold the water actually was despite how warm she felt, and flipped over. Noticing the splashing, Nathan peeked over to see that she was almost indistinguishable in the shadows casted in the back of the cave. She rested her head on her folded arms, both her eye stalks facing the wall. He felt like he should say something, but, as per usual, nothing particularly good came to mind, "Hey, uh, is the water helping?"

She turned around to look at him and lifted one arm, a trail of semi-viscous clear goo dripping from her arm, "Yep. I'm nice and slimy again."

Nathan laughed, "Well that's good. So are you just going to get back in your old clothes?"

"No, at least not now. This is comfortable enough", she laughed lightly, "This is actually how I usually sleep, except I don't have you creeping around in my bedroom."

"Oh, yeah sure, like you don't want me in your bedroom."

Dorothy smirked and rolled over slightly, revealing a small part of her yellow underbelly while still covering her chest, "And do you want me in yours?"

Nathan smiled and looked away, a clear sign to her that she had flustered him, "Cheeky bugger."

She turned over fully, sat up, and brought her knees to her chest, knowing full well that he wouldn't face her if she wasn't covered up somehow, "Hey, I asked a question?"

His smile quickly changed into more of a nervous grin, "Really?"

"Yeah. Do you want me in your bed?"

"Seriously?"

She tried not to show it, but she was getting frustrated with this, "Yes. Would you want to sleep with me?"

"I already have before. We've fallen asleep on my couch plenty and there was that time where I slept with you in your bed."

"Nathan!"

A harsh silence struck the air between them; she didn't mean for it to be that mean.

"Nathan, you know what I mean."

He sighed and set down his phone, "I know."

Nathan usually had a calm, albeit awkward, demeanor, so it was a bit surprising to see him suddenly turn pensive. He cracked his knuckles and tried smiling, "I would. I would love to...have you", his weak smile faltered to a frown, "but not now. I'd like to wait, even if I'm not entirely expected to", he stopped, briefly at a loss for words, "I mean, Dorothy I would really like to, but I'd like to at least try abstaining."

She scooted forward and put a rather damp hand on his leg, "I know. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No, it's fine. I just feel like", there came that awkward smile, "like I'm being unfair to you."

She could feel a twinge of guilt rise up as he spoke, "You're not being unfair. If anything, I am by pushing this."

"But you are fair to have your wants. Maybe we can find a common ground?"

"Yeah, I guess we can. You know this would be a lot easier if you just acted like a typical guy and instead just pressured me into sex."

He laughed, this time with a genuine smile, "Yeah, and then you would rip my dick off."

She leaned back, smirking, "You got that right."

"How about this, we keep it in our pants for a while longer, but we see where else we go? Not rushing into things."

"That sounds fine with me."

They both smiled, until Dorothy noticed that she was exposing her chest to Nathan, who was actually enjoying the view for a change. However, when his eyes finally met hers, he immediately turned away, clearly blushing, "Sorry about that."

She huffed, amused by the sudden resurgence of his nervousness. They shared another small laugh, lifting the serious nature that so thickly saturated the air a few minutes ago. With the tension lifted, she scooted forward a bit more and rested her head against his leg, "So what are we going to do about the truck?"

"Well my phone is broken and you didn't take yours, so I guess we just walk until we find the park. I still can't believe a car just fell down a mountain and hit us, I mean, just wow."

"Did it have any markings on it?"

"It looked like it did, but it was scratched off or something."

Dorothy lifted her head, "What does Paul's dad do?"

Nathan looked at her, surprised, "Uh, I don't know. I think he does lawn care and stuff. I once heard Paul talk about how his dad's business was hired to do the topiary for city hall."

"Think that could be one of the trucks he uses?"

He looked towards the cave entrance, "I...I don't know. Maybe? There was some gardening stuff on the ground near it. We can write down the license plate tomorrow. Why'd you think of Paul's dad?"

She swallowed and laid her head back on his leg, "At your party, he took me aside and told me some stuff."

"What?"

"If anything bad happens to you it would be because it's my fault."

Nathan rubbed her head, letting his thumb gently caress one of her stalks, "He is pretty awful. He's given me and I think my dad a hard time ever since he found out. But...I don't know if he would do something like that."

"Does it ever bother you?"

"Paul's dad?"

Dorothy leaned away and looked at him, "I mean does it bother you that you get so much trouble just from me? Why put yourself through all this? I'm not worth all this trouble to you"

He was about to readily answer but stopped himself when he saw her face. Dorothy was always a tough one, but every once in a while he could see her become vulnerable. It was these times when the hardiness and bravado that she put forth every day faltered and her more emotional side slipped through. Nathan shifted and kneeled, taking hold of both her shoulders, "You are worth it. Dorothy I don't care what anyone has to say about us; you make me happy. And if that means I get put in danger, then I am willing to face anything if it means I can be with you. I don't care what species you are...Dorothy, I love you."

Dorothy smiled, letting her own hands drift up and hold his face, and tried to voice how touched she was, but all she did was attempt to blink back the tears forming in her eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him, pulling him closer for her to wrap her arms tighter around his neck. Though his entire shirt was becoming drenched in slime, Nathan gladly reciprocated the action. He rubbed her back lovingly as she pulled away, sheepishly looking at his sopping shirt, "Sorry."

He pulled at his sticky shirt, a rather weak smile, "I'm fine. I can always get a new one."

"Well, if you rub it you might be able to get most of it off."

"Rub it?"

"Yeah", she motioned with her hands, "If you rub the slime then it balls up and falls off."

Nathan, though a bit incredulous that he wouldn't know something like this, reached down and quickly rubbed his shin. To his surprise, the slime gradually collected into several little orbs which he simply brushed off his hand. He looked from his hand to Dorothy, his surprise shifting to displeasure, "It's this easy to get slime off of skin and stuff? Are you serious? Why did you never tell me!" his voice inadvertently increasing in pitch, detracting from his upset demeanor.

She gave a mischievous smirk, "I thought you knew that already."

He sighed, laughing weakly, "Cheeky bugger."

Opening her arms and using her innocent face, "I'll make it up to you. Come here."

"Like I need slime on my shorts too."

She huffed, pleased by her taunting, but Nathan just looked at his damp, and rather cold, shirt and shrugged, "You know what, why not?"

He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side, smirking as Dorothy's face suddenly changed into wide-eyed surprise. He stood up, taking a look at his bare chest, an immediate craving for a far better physique. He slowly undid his belt, suddenly finding unlatching the buckle quite difficult, and unbuttoned his shorts. Before he could allow his mind to conjure up any more ways this situation could go wrong, he pushed his shorts down, bearing all for his shocked girlfriend. She leaned back, her mouth slightly agape, too nervous and surprised for anything else. He walked closer, slowly stepping into the gelatinous pool. However, he slipped, falling rather unceremoniously on his butt. Dorothy smiled weakly, still slightly in shock and taking her boyfriend's nudity. She crawled forward until she straddled his hips, one hand rubbing his arm as she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. While one hand supported her, the other moved from his arm to his bare chest, exploring it and slowly moving down his frame. Nathan welcomed her embrace; moving one hand to gently caress the back of her neck while his other rested on her lower back, inching its way closer to her short tail. He wrapped his hand around it, stroking it from tip to base, eliciting a small gasp from Dorothy from the new sensation. Jarred from her lustful haze, she pushed herself a small ways away from Nathan, "I thought you said you wanted to wait."

He rested a hand on her plush rump, "I do want to wait, but I also want to be fair to you. Think of this as my promise that I love you", he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "Until later when I can show it even more."

The feeling of pure bliss that spread throughout her person couldn't be expressed in the smile she gave him, "Okay, Nathan. One more thing though."

"Yeah?"

"After we get back, do you still want to go camping? This shouldn't really count."

"Sure, I still want you to show me that camping can be fun."

"Oh, I'll show you fun", and she pressed her head into the crook of his neck.

A few minutes into gently rubbing her back, her breathing slowed and steadied, sleep slowly stealing away her consciousness. Eventually, both of her eyes closed and her body relaxed in his embrace. Feeling the calmness surrounding him, nothing but the gentle crackling of fire, Nathan's mind wandered. This was a terrible accident, to be sure, and jumping to attempted murder was a bit much, but would someone actually do that? Just because he loved Dorothy, that was worth killing for? Talk about a sticky situation. A wide grin spread across his face, his worries lifted momentarily, Dorothy needed to hear that one.