FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ch. 2

The Dome

"He was joking right? This is some kind of joke, a prank show, like those ones you see on TV, right?" someone with a nervous, whiney, male sounding voice asked to Aeddan's left.

"well if it is a prank show I'm gonna find out who set this up and smash their heads together for picking on me" another male voice said to Aeddan's right; this one sounding deeper and much more menacing. "Hey, the bag of gear and supplies is around here somewhere. Someone find the knives that one guy was talking about cut these ropes'.

Aeddan began to hear shuffling sounds around him, and they all seemed to be moving away from him and the bag that was thrown next to him.

"Guh, they really didn't pay attention did they" Aeddan thought as he turned himself around, feeling for the clasps or zippers on the bag.

Finding them, Aeddan slowly unzipped each of them enough to put his paws inside each pouch; each pouch held a different item. The first one was rather small Aeddan kind of knew what he would find, inside the pouch Aeddan found a piece of paper and a small, but thick, disk.

"Well there's the map and compass" Aeddan thought moving on to the next pouch after zipping that one closed.

In the second, slightly larger pouch, Aeddan found the canteens of water. He zipped that one closed and moved on to the large pouch. This one held the rations that were mentioned. Aeddan zipped this one closed as well.

"That's all the pouches and supplies that were mentioned, but where are those knives? Did he lie to us? Are we all really just on some prank show?" Aeddan asked himself, doubt and panic beginning to settle in his mind.

Franticly, Aeddan began to search the area around the bag and under the bag. He came up with nothing, that's when he really started to panic. His breath became quicker, his heart started to beat faster as if he had just ran an entire block to escape his daily bullying. It was then that his paws closed over something sharp. Sharp enough that when he grabbed it, it split his paw and blood flowed freely from it. A startled gasp escaped Aeddan's lips, and then the pain hit him like a wave. It was almost as bad as when Taurus had pushed Aeddan down a flight of stairs, breaking both Aeddan's legs. But it was still enough pain that Aeddan couldn't move for a few moments. As the pain subsided, Aeddan reached out his paws again for the knife, this time with more caution. Feeling his way up the blade to the hilt, he grasped it in his good paw and flipped it around and cut his bound paws. With the bindings cut, he removed his blind fold.

The site that met his eyes was stunning. They had been dumped not just anywhere. But in the training dome, a dome that had been researched, designed, and built by his parents. More specifically they had been dumped in the harshest environment in the dome, the desert biome. It wouldn't be until later in his life, that Aeddan would find out really what happened the day his parents died. But that's another story.

Aeddan cut the binds that were around his ankles and stood up, stretching out his arms and legs. The other captives had gotten far enough away that Aeddan was afraid he would lose them. So he did the one thing he could think of that would get their attention. His father used to do this back when he was much smaller and younger. He cupped his paws around his muzzle, and howled.

The other captives stopped and turned to look towards the source of the howl. Some began to move back the way they had come, only to bump in to the others that had decided that Aeddan's howl was a sign it was time to move away from the area.

Aeddan sighed at the sight of the others and wondered if they were going to even last the night before one of them did something stupid and died. Aeddan moved to the dragon and cut its bindings then removed the blind fold.

"Was that you howling just now?" the dragon asked in the deep, menacing voice.

"Well at least now I know whose voice that was" Aeddan thought. "Yeah, that was me" Aeddan said slicing through the rope around the dragon's ankles and wings. "Here, help me cut them loose." Aeddan said, scooping up the other knife and handing it to the dragon, with that Aeddan moved to one of the captives. This one was a female lion, not quite a lioness but old enough that her breasts were coming in quite well. As soon as he touched her paws, she closed it around his. It was at that moment that Aeddan realized it was one of the paws from his ride in the armored vehicle. He gave her paw a comforting squeeze and then cut the bindings. He moved on to her ankles and cut those too.

"Thank you..." he thought he heard.

When he looked up, his eyes were met with the bluest eyes he had ever seen. They seemed to radiate kindness and actual thankfulness, something Aeddan had never known since the death of his parents. Stunned by how he was being treated, all Aeddan could say was:

"Yeah..."

After that he just felt sheepish, as sheepish as a folf could considering half of him was both a wolf and a fox; both hunters and killers of sheep. He moved on from her, his face turning red under his fur. Soon the rest of the captives, with the help from some of the others that had claws, were free. Amongst them were a female wolf, ram, wolf, panther, shark man, skunk, and snow leopard.

"A rather rag-tag looking group" Aeddan thought walking over to bag and picking it up. "Ok, everyone gather around, come on, let's make a circle." Aeddan said slinging the shoulder strap of the bag over his left shoulder so the bag rested on his right hip.

"Ok, here's what we know so far" Aeddan said once they had gathered around him, "we have been dumped in the dome, in the desert, with only a days' worth of food and water. We have a map, a compass, and two combat knives. One slightly bloody from my paw, but still two knives. I suggest we take a look at the map and find a way out of the desert in to a less... depressing biome."

A few of the others murmured their agreement.

"If any one has any concerns please voice them" Aeddan said finishing his short little speech "this is really weird, I never speak up like this. I must be in shock. No, don't say that Aeddan. Keep it going, everyone else is in as much shock and denial as you are. Stay strong, it's what mother would say" Aeddan thought as he pulled out the map and compass.

"Yeah, I have a concern." Someone said with a slight southern drawl to their voice.

Everyone including Aeddan turned to look at the wolf. He was big, muscular, about 5 ft. tall, had a shaggy brown mane and was dressed in a close fitting t-shirt and cargo pants like the rest of the group except for Aeddan, who for some reason was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was picked up.

"My concern here is who died and made you the boss?" the wolf continued, advancing towards Aeddan until he was toe to toe with him. "Maybe I should call the shots, you stinkin' halfa'."

Some of the others in the circle backed up a little, not wanting to get involved in what could be a fight.

"Back off fluffy." Aeddan heard behind him.

Aeddan turned to come face to face with the male dragon's stomach. Aeddan hadn't realized how big the dragon was until now. The dragon stood at 7 ft., was wearing the same fatigues as the others in the group, had blackish blue scales that seemed to shine in the artificial sun light and two big horns starting just above his brow that looked a lot like gazelle horns.

"Oh yeah? And 'sposse you gonna make me?" the wolf asked challengingly.

"Yeah, I could. But in case you hadn't noticed, we seem to stranded here with no way home except as winners or in a body bag." The dragon said, smoke beginning to billow out of his nostrils.

Seeing this, the wolf backed up a little, glancing from Aeddan to the dragon then back to Aeddan. He took a deep breath and backed away, paws up in surrender.

"Fine, you win. If you want us t' follow this twerp of a halfa' to certain death, then by all means do so. But don't expect me to help none when you are about to die" the wolf said returning to his spot amongst the circle.

"Thanks for the help" Aeddan whispered to the dragon.

"Any time, just keep an eye on him. He doesn't seem right" the dragon said continuing to stand next to Aeddan like a guard would.

"Ok, let's see where we are shall we?" Aeddan asked, opening the map....

So hi there everyone. Hope you liked this chapter. It's a bit longer than the first one huh? In case you were wondering why I decided to begin writing, you should know that this is actually the back story to a character I had created for an RP. It's my first time really sitting down and typing up a story for any amount of time longer than a couple hours. If you liked the story thus far, leave me a comment or a question in my shout box, if you didn't, you can do the same thing. Or if you have any questions or concerns, please send me a PM, I am usually on every day in the mornings and evenings PST. Well I should get to work on the next chapter, and don't worry. There will be rather "yiffy" moments sometime soon. Mostly romance, but some yiffing. Ciao every one

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