{"sf1_id":580215,"sf2_id":"znJ9Evdm","title":"The Run","author":"Rivercoon","words":876,"posted_at":"2013-08-23T03:38:00.000Z","tags":["Clean","Female","SciFiSummer 2013","Underage"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/580215-the-run","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/znJ9Evdm","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/fc/d2/fcd28549-1529-4506-9538-43a6e1905f38","description":"","content":"I shiver.\u0026nbsp; Not from the temperature.\u0026nbsp; It is cool in the room, but not cold.\u0026nbsp; I usually like it that way.\u0026nbsp; My fur keeps me warm.\n\nIf all the water hadn't been taken out of the pure oxygen I'd probably be sweating.\u0026nbsp; They do that so there won't be any frost.\u0026nbsp; It's making my nose sore.\u0026nbsp; That's quite something with this muzzle.\u0026nbsp; I twitch it as I look out the small window.\n\nA dust devil is slowly moving up the bare ground between buildings.\u0026nbsp; Down where they are farther apart. I glance at the clock again.\u0026nbsp; Two minutes.\u0026nbsp; If it turns this way the opening will be delayed so it won't blow too much sand inside.\u0026nbsp; My attention moves to the footprints in that sand.\u0026nbsp; There are plenty of booted prints of course.\u0026nbsp; But I'm only interested in the bare ones leading from my door to the one across the gap.\u0026nbsp; There are a bunch of those too.\u0026nbsp; Most are much larger than mine.\n\nI flex my toes.\u0026nbsp; My claws poke down into the Sand-Grid.\u0026nbsp; Mom let me paint them green for the run.\u0026nbsp; Nice contrast.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Kids tease me more about having digitigrade legs than fur.\u0026nbsp; I guess because more kids have fur.\u0026nbsp; Some adults don't understand why Dr. Milner gave us either.\u0026nbsp; I think my claws will dig into the dirt and make running easier.\u0026nbsp; I hope I'm right.\u0026nbsp; I'm still nervous.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Locked in here alone for the last hour hasn't helped.\n\nI don't want to look now, but I can't keep my eyes from wandering a couple meters to the right.\u0026nbsp; At the blackened lump half buried in sand.\u0026nbsp; At the body.\u0026nbsp; It hardly looks human any more.\u0026nbsp; But some ribs are showing where the sand has scoured away the skin.\u0026nbsp; I know who it is of course.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Everybody knows John Carter.\u0026nbsp; And how he just lost it out there.\u0026nbsp; I wonder if he read that same book I just finished.\u0026nbsp; Did he really think he could run around forever outside naked or something just because of his name?\u0026nbsp; Earther!\n\nI make myself look up.\u0026nbsp; There are faces filling the windows across from me.\u0026nbsp; I know all of them.\u0026nbsp; Gretchen.\u0026nbsp; Millie.\u0026nbsp; The Tamera's.\u0026nbsp; Dr. Milner is just to the left of the door.\u0026nbsp; My design father.\u0026nbsp; I grin and hope he can see me.\u0026nbsp; I can't imagine him without that beard.\u0026nbsp; My folks say it is about as old as me.\u0026nbsp; Maybe he wanted to feel what fur was like?\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Thirty seconds.\"\n\nI nod at the announcement and step back.\u0026nbsp; I was sitting on a bench earlier and it is still folded out from the wall.\u0026nbsp; I slip off my robe and lay it on the bench.\u0026nbsp; I start breathing as hard as I can.\u0026nbsp; Trying to time breaths with the countdown clock, and getting as much oxygen in my blood as possible.\u0026nbsp; As I've been told.\u0026nbsp; I brace one foot against the back wall and take what I think is a runner's stance.\n\nMy nipples feel hard.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; What a thing to notice at a time like this.\u0026nbsp; I wonder if anyone will be able to see them sticking out of my chest fur.\u0026nbsp; At thirteen my breasts are starting to grow after all.\n\n\"Fifteen.\u0026nbsp; Fourteen.\u0026nbsp; Thirteen....\"\u0026nbsp; I recognize the voice of Mrs. Ohna.\u0026nbsp; My favorite teacher.\n\nI can hear the safeties on the door click open.\u0026nbsp; \"Three.\u0026nbsp; Two.\u0026nbsp; One.\"\n\nThe rushing air blows my fur before I can even see daylight around the opening crack.\u0026nbsp; I shout, sending my last breath out with it.\u0026nbsp; And then the door is swinging up fast.\u0026nbsp; The cold hits me and the sunlight almost blinds me but the oxygen is drawing me outside with it.\u0026nbsp; I let it, and run for my life.\u0026nbsp;\n\nThe sand is loose and cold but my toes are well insulated.\u0026nbsp; My claws dig in just like I'd hoped.\u0026nbsp; And at full speed I can really use my tail for balance.\u0026nbsp; So quiet.\u0026nbsp; It is strange to barely feel the thin air against my ear whiskers.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; I wonder if my black sox will come out the same color as the rest of my fur from all the red sand.\u0026nbsp; Actually I'm not really thinking about that too hard.\u0026nbsp; My skin and eyes hurt.\u0026nbsp; No time to waste. The far door is standing open a couple meters away now.\u0026nbsp; Inside I can see the back window and the only thing I want to concentrate on at the moment besides running.\u0026nbsp; My parents.\n\nMy lungs are burning hard when I slam into the airlock wall right below the window.\u0026nbsp; I'm getting dizzy and almost trip.\u0026nbsp; But I don't.\u0026nbsp; The emergency handle is right in front of me.\u0026nbsp; I grab it with both hands and pull down with all my weight.\u0026nbsp; I feel the door slam shut behind me through the floor just before I fall back.\u0026nbsp;\n\nI'm trying to suck air back into my lungs even faster than it is filling the room.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; My hair is blowing in my eyes so I lose sight of my folks for a couple seconds.\u0026nbsp; Then it clears.\u0026nbsp; I lay there hurting, naked, on one elbow.\u0026nbsp; But I grin up at them and give a thumb-up sign.\n\nIt's official.\u0026nbsp; They know who I am now.\u0026nbsp; Karen Gibson.\u0026nbsp; Martian.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n  \n  \n\n"}