FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Uhhhhh..." Dylan Engstrom opened his eyes and found himself on a hard metal surface. "What...?"

The last thing he remembered was sitting at his desk, sipping a cup of coffee, and preparing to join his buddies for a few hours of mayhem in Grand Theft Auto V. At some point after that, everything had simply...faded out.

I'm dreaming. That's gotta be it.

He rolled over, stood, and fought off a wave of dizziness. He rubbed his hands over his face, took a few breaths, and waited for his vision to clear. When it did, he found himself in a chamber the size of a gymnasium, with metal walls, ceiling, and floor. No windows. Several doors at the far end. And filled with...aliens? Or something.

Sure, why the hell not? Since this is a dream, I might as well just roll with it.

He shook his head, turned slowly, and stared at the nearest creatures.

One a few feet to his left looked like a bipedal dragon, easily ten feet tall, with muscular arms and powerful thighs and small but noticeable breasts under a tunic that looked like it was made from the skin of an animal. She glanced around, confusion and fear in her reptilian eyes, and he guessed that she had also awakened moments ago.

Just past her was what appeared to be an orc, of all things. Also female, dressed in leather and furs like a barbarian, sporting huge muscles but somehow managing to still look feminine. Her burgundy hair was tied into a long ponytail with a few locks hanging past either side of her face. A pair of fangs as long as his thumbs jutted up from behind her bottom lip. Her dark green skin looked kind of leathery, and her face...well, she certainly wouldn't have won any beauty contests even without the two big, parallel scars running from her forehead down and across her right cheek. And that broad, ridged nose. And those fangs or tusks or whatever the hell they were. _And_that Neanderthal-looking forehead.

Still, there was something about her--the angles of her cheeks and her wide jaw and chin--that exuded an air of great strength.

But then, he looked into her yellow eyes as she glanced around, frowning. She appeared to be somewhere in her forties, but there was far more mileage in those eyes than on her face. They were the eyes of someone who had all but given up on life.

He looked away reluctantly; while her face wasn't all that attractive, god_damn_, what a body. He ran a hand through his shoulder-length, light brown hair, and decided to check out some of the other life forms. His eyes passed over a large number of creatures that he couldn't quite get his brain around--translucent things walking on tentacles, something that looked like a millipede the size of a horse, an eight-foot-tall cross between a pig and an ogre--and locked on to another female.

He almost chuckled at that. Mind always in the gutter, even now. Oh well, what can ya do?

This one was around six feet tall and might be described as somewhere between chubby and burly. Her eyes glowed white in contrast to her obsidian skin, but aside from that and her pointed ears, her face was mostly human. And quite lovely, in fact. A pair of horns curved up from under her wild mane of silver hair, like a ram's horns. She wore a dark blue cloak with a hood hanging over her back, and from what he was able to glimpse, she didn't appear to be wearing anything under it. Each hand had two big fingers and a thumb, just like the orc and the dragon-woman, and her digitigrade legs ended in large hooves.

Okay, a few of her features were weird, but other than that, she was hotter than hell. He guessed her age to be close to his, or maybe a few years older, and the extra weight was perfectly proportioned.

She caught him staring at her and smiled, but it was shaky and faded fast.

He smiled back before she looked away, and continued examining the people around him. Over to the right was a trio of bipedal creatures that looked like a cross between horses and cows, wearing some sort of tribal attire. Past them was a quartet of twenty-foot-long snake people with four arms, wearing only skirts made of glowing multicolored beads roughly where the naughty bits on a human would be.

Dylan's eyes, once again, automatically locked onto the lone female in the group. Her skin was dark brown with a red and black diamond pattern running down her back. Her hands, like the space-BBW and the rest, had three digits, only hers ended in claws. The top of her head swept back into a curving, three-pointed crest. Her bare chest sported two pairs of breasts. Her face was close enough to human, though covered with scales, and she was actually kind of cute.

Hah. I can't dream about a human with four tits, of course. It's got to be some weird creature. Oh well, those are nice enough to look at, anyway.

He looked around again, trying to find other humans. If any were in this chamber, they weren't close enough for him to pick out of the crowd. But his gaze did pass across something that was pretty close, at least in size and shape.

The robot stood with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the wall behind him, about ten feet away. She had apparently been designed to look like an athletic woman, with a face of flexible metal carrying a friendly--albeit confused--expression and softly glowing red optics. Her gunmetal body was covered by a pair of cargo pants, boots, T-shirt, and a long black coat.

_Interesting._He wondered if she were anatomically correct.

Before he could check out anyone else, something nudged his shoulder. He turned around and found a nine-foot humanoid wearing armor and a helmet with a blank faceplate. It grasped his shoulder, pointed at one of the doors at the far end of the chamber, and pushed him toward it. He stumbled, regained his balance, and hurried ahead of the whatever-it-was.

In the corner of his eye, another hulking armored figure shoved the orc woman in the same direction. She snarled half-heartedly, but headed for the door. She ended up walking alongside Dylan.

He glanced around and found other nine-footers herding other nearby captives in the same direction.

"I don't suppose you have any idea how we ended up here or what's going on?" he said to the orc, doubting she would even understand him.

"Nope. I was hoping someone around here could tell me that." Her accent was an odd mixture of Russian and Scottish.

"You speak English. You've met humans before?"

"A few." She smiled at him, but it was tinged with sadness. "You remind me of one of them, actually. Someone I knew long ago."

"Ah. Decent guy, I hope."

Her smile grew ever so slightly. "The best. I miss him a great deal."

Dylan wondered what happened, but assumed it was a sensitive matter and kept it to himself.

When they reached the door, she sighed and motioned at her clothes. "The one time I put on the old outfit instead of what I usually wear, which includes several guns. Though I suppose any weapons would've been taken away before I woke up."

Dylan checked his pockets and his shoulders slumped. His phone, wallet, keys, and all the other crap he kept on him, were gone. Too much to hope for, obviously, but still disappointing. Not that he would've had any use for it in a situation like this.

The nine-foot goons shoved both of them through the door and onto a large platform. He stumbled and the orc reached out to catch him before he fell. He regained his balance and found himself inches away from her face for a moment, gazing into her eyes, until she looked away and steadied herself. Her face turned slightly darker green.

Dylan caught himself blushing, as well, and tugged on his shirt collar. He glanced around and noted the others who'd been separated from the main group--the snake-girl, the three horse-cow people, the space-BBW, the giant bipedal dragon, the robot chick, and about a dozen others.

Two of them were human. He grinned, but before he could greet them, something else caught his attention.

The goons who'd herded them onto the platform remained behind as the door closed.

Oh, that can't be good.

A bright light washed over everything and his whole body tingled.

The light faded and he blinked a few times. His vision cleared and he looked around.

His mouth fell open.

He was no longer standing in a room. He and the others were still on a platform, but now it was surrounded by an enormous metal structure made up of sets of stairs, ramps, platforms, and partial walls seemingly placed at random.

"What the fuck is this?" one of the other humans muttered. "What's going on?"

"Sorcery," a woman's voice came from behind Dylan, barely above a whisper. He turned to find the space-BBW looking around with wide, terrified eyes and trembling.

"No." The orc shook her head. "I've seen enough to know there's no such thing. This is technology, but nothing I'm familiar with."

In the corner of his eye, the snake girl slithered past, put her upper hands on a nearby wall, pulled herself up and leaned over the edge.

"Look at this." Her voice was slightly raspy.

_Uh-oh._Dylan walked slowly to the wall, jumped to grasp the top, and pulled himself up.

The other human found a lower wall, leaned over, and drew in a slow breath. "Oh, hell." Her face turned pale.

Dylan glanced at her, frowned, and looked over the edge.

_We're in the sky._He couldn't see the ground from here. Below the structure there was nothing but a sea of red and orange tinted clouds. And off to the right, he could make out two distinct suns, one larger--closer--than the other.

Then he realized the metal under his palms felt quite real for something in a dream. In fact, everything around him was as vivid and detailed as everyday life. His dreams were never even remotely like this, at least not the bits he could remember.

What if this is real?

"Oh, fuck me," he muttered.

"Perhaps later," the snake girl said.

"What?" He turned and caught a glimpse of her smirking at him before lowering herself back to the ground. He shook his head and dropped back to the floor.

"This is not a good tactical position," the orc said, flicking her eyes over the structure. "We're out in the open. We should move to an area that's less exposed to--"

Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention. Hers, too; she whipped around to scowl in the same direction before he finished turning.

More of the armored, helmeted, blank-faceplated guys appeared from behind several walls on the far side of the structure.

The orc swept her steely gaze over them and backed up a step. "Find cover."

The nine-footers moved. Dylan squinted, trying to get a clear look at the things they were carrying.

"They're armed," the orc said. "Get behind something."

A thin, yellow bolt of energy lanced out from the business end of one of the weapons and crossed the distance between the two groups in an instant.

Behind Dylan, a woman screamed. His pulse jumped and he cried out as he spun around. The human woman staggered backward, bumped into the wall, and collapsed. Her eyes stared straight ahead without seeing anything. Smoke rose from a hole that had been burned through her chest.

"Barbara!" The man rushed to her and fell to his knees. He stared disbelievingly at her, grasped her shoulders, and shook her. "Get up! Come on, baby, please get up!"

A hand grabbed Dylan's arm and he spun around to find the orc woman dragging him away.

"Get to cover!" She shoved him ahead of her just as another beam appeared for a split-second and drilled through the back of the other human's head.

A silvery thing about the size and shape of a hockey puck landed behind Dylan and bounced past him before coming to a stop.

"Grenade!" The orc pushed him again, drew in a deep breath, and yelled, "Run!"

The explosion flung bodies into the air and sent others tumbling across the ground--more than Grishnag had time to count. She shoved the young human ahead of her and ran until both of them reached a wall. She ducked behind it, grasped his shoulder, and held him down. She turned to see if anyone else had survived the blast, and found four bodies bleeding all over the metal surface and another--one of the horse-like people--teetering over the edge of the platform.

"Jesus Christ," the human moaned, hunching over and tucking his head under his arms. "This can't be happening!"

The snake woman zipped over to the horse-man just as he rolled over the edge. She dived at him and missed his left ankle by a centimeter. She stared in shock as he plummeted out of sight.

One of the helmeted attackers appeared, crept up behind her, and aimed its rifle at the back of her head.

Grishnag glanced at the human and said, "Stay here." Remaining in a crouch, she moved one step forward--and suddenly the robot blurred out from behind one of the other walls and tackled the larger humanoid from behind. Her momentum carried both of them into the wall and slammed the enemy into it with bone-crushing force. She drove her foot into its left knee, folding its leg the wrong way, and clamped her arms around its head as it fell. One quick twist snapped its neck, and she snatched the huge rifle out of the air before the body hit the ground.

The robot stood between the snake and the enemies and opened fire on them. Grishnag risked a quick peek around the corner just in time to see one of them catch a shot clean through the faceplate and out the back of the head. The others ran for whatever cover they could find.

_Nice!_She waited until all of them had ducked behind something, then she glanced at the robot and said, "Cover me!" She sprinted over to the fallen humanoid while the robot continued firing.

In the corner of her eye, one of them swung its rifle around toward her. She leaped and rolled, and the first shot drilled through the space she'd already vacated. She came up in a crouch and put five shots through her opponent's chest. It slumped over backward and she lunged forward to grab its rifle, then ran back to the human.

He was where she'd left him, curled into a fetal position and rocking back and forth.

_Okay, giving him the gun wouldn't be a good idea._She looked around, found the snake girl, and tossed the gun to her. "Do you know how to use that?"

"I can figure it out." She pointed the rifle away from everyone and pulled the trigger, firing a blast into the floor. She squeaked and twitched, pulled herself together and rose above the wall to fire at the attackers.

Grishnag took a quick look around for more survivors, and found only a horse-woman, the hooved elf-like woman, and the giant humanoid dragon.

"What is happening to us?" the obsidian-skinned female whimpered, huddled against the wall behind the human. "Why is this happening?"

Grishnag noticed that the girl's mouth movements didn't match the words she spoke. Something is translating her. What the hell is going on?

"We can worry about that later, if we survive the next few minutes." Grishnag popped out from behind cover long enough to shoot another of their attackers.

An enemy shot punched through the wall and searing heat against her right cheek made her lunge to her left.

"I want to wake up," the human moaned. "Why can't I wake up?"

"This isn't a dream." Grishnag gunned down another one. Before she could duck back under cover, a movement caught her eye. She turned and found another grenade spinning through the air toward her. She sucked in a breath to shout a warning to everyone else, but suddenly a beam struck the disc-shaped device in midair. It vanished in a flash and an expanding cloud of shrapnel. Grishnag glanced to the left and found the robot shifting her aim from the blown grenade to another pair of attackers.

Grishnag sighed and looked up at the platforms above them. "We'll be better off if we can get to higher ground. We need to--"

Behind the dragon, another of their attackers stepped into the open and lobbed a grenade. It arched over everyone's head and came down straight toward her. The human looked up and saw it, and his face turned white. He sucked in a deep breath and backpedaled until he bumped into the hooved elf and knocked her over.

Grishnag rose to her feet as the grenade reached her, caught it in her right hand, and hurled it straight back to the enemy humanoid.

Everyone else had become aware of the grenade by now, and dived out of its path as it spun past them.

The large humanoid threw itself to the right, but the grenade detonated beside him. Grishnag turned away from the sudden flash and winced at the sharp bang, but laughed when she saw the body flopping off the edge of the platform.

She only had a moment to celebrate, though. Another humanoid hopped over the top of the wall they'd been using as cover, and dropped down in front of the dragon. It raised its rifle, but the dragon swatted it aside, braced her hand on the side of his head, and shoved it into the wall with enough force to leave a dent.

The gun fell from its suddenly limp hand.

"Hold on." Grishnag hurried over and searched the pouches and compartments on the body's belt. She found three stubby cylinders that she guessed were spare power cells for the guns, and a rectangular box that might be a communication device or some sort of control system. After finding nothing else on him, she nodded at the edge of the platform.

The dragon flashed a predatory grin and gave the body a casual toss, sending it plunging through the fiery clouds under the structure. She looked the gun over, glanced at Grishnag, and mimicked her pose, holding the rifle in one hand and propping it against her shoulder.

Grishnag looked over her shoulder and found the rest of the survivors gathering behind her. The robot pointed ahead before popping off a few more shots.

"Clear the road. I'll cover our rear."

Grishnag nodded, took the lead, and made her way to the nearest ramp. She rounded a corner--and caught a split-second look at the stock of a rifle before it rammed into the side of her head. When she regained her senses, she found the business end of the rifle inches from her face. She shifted her eyes from that to the humanoid pointing it at her.

A brown blur came in from the right and plowed into it, knocking it off its feet and sending the rifle clattering across the floor. Grishnag shook her head and blinked, and when her vision cleared, she found the snake-girl coiling her body around the enemy. The serpentoid rolled, twisted, and wrenched her body to the right, flinging the humanoid across the floor to the edge of the platform.

As it tumbled over the edge, it lashed out and clamped onto the end of her tail, dragging her along with it as it fell. All four arms flailed, her claws scraping across the metal, trying to find a handhold.

The human dived after her and managed to grab her upper-left hand--but the combined weight of her and the humanoid dragged both of them closer to the edge.

The dragon clamped her talons around the human's right ankle, and that was enough to hold them in place.

The snake grunted and contorted her face, and from her movements, Grishnag guessed she was swinging her tail around, trying to dislodge the enemy.

"Pull her back up," Grishnag said, picking up her rifle and glancing around for more of their attackers. "One of us will be able to pick it off as soon as it reappears."

"Wait," the snake grunted. She took the human's other hand to hold herself steady, gave her tail another swing, then another, and Grishnag saw the enemy appear momentarily before gravity pulled it back down.

One more swing hurled it into full view--and a rapid series of bolts from the robot's gun drilled through its head. It released its grip on the snake-girl's tail. Grishnag and the dragon blasted it several more times before it dropped out of sight for the last time.

The human pulled her away from the edge. When she was no longer dangling above the clouds, she threw all four arms around him and just held him for a moment. He looked startled, but recovered after a few seconds and put his arms around her.

"Thank you," she finally whispered.

"Uh...sure, any time."

"Let's keep moving." Grishnag rubbed the side of her head, winced at the pain, and made sure to keep checking in every direction as she resumed the lead. Everyone followed her up the ramp to the next platform, then on past two more. The next ramp led to a long, narrow level with waist-high walls. She lowered herself to her left hand and her knees, holding the gun in her right hand, and crawled forward, keeping her body below the top of the wall.

The others followed, crawling along close behind her.

Once she reached the end, she looked around and found herself in a larger chamber. Fortunately, this one had a solid wall between them and the attackers' last known position. Everyone stood and rushed across to the door and the huge window at the far end. They paused to look out the window before moving on to the door.

The hooved woman's glowing eyes opened wider. "It's a city," she whispered.

Grishnag nodded. She'd found herself gazing out over kilometers of metal buildings, domes, and spires colored in varying shades of gray.

"A city above the clouds," the horse-cow woman muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Well, maybe there's someone here who will help us out." The human glanced around at the others.

"I doubt it," the dragon said. "Would they have brought us within reach of someone willing to help us?"

"I...I guess not." He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. "So what do we do, now?"

"A city probably means vehicles." Grishnag patted his shoulder and smiled. "So, we keep going until we find a way out." She opened the door. "Let's go."

"So," the male said after they'd been traveling through the city streets for a while, "we've faced death together, but we don't even know each other's names."

The green woman chuckled. "I'm Grishnag."

"Dylan Engstrom."

"Pleased to meet you."

"And I'm Nishara." She slithered closer to him, smiled, put her upper hands on his shoulders, and touched her forehead briefly to his.

"Uh, hi." He smiled, but clearly wasn't sure what else to say or do.

The tall reptile woman bowed, first to him, then to the rest. "Ayastal."

"I am Zilaka," the furry one with hooves and a muzzle said.

"My name's Cora," the machine-woman said, turning to keep watch for more of the helmeted people.

"Syala," the one with glowing eyes murmured.

"Okay." Grishnag stopped at the next street corner and glanced around. "We haven't seen anyone else here. This part of the city appears empty." She sighed. "I hope the whole city isn't empty as well."

"The buildings are rusting away." Cora stopped at a wall and looked it over, but was careful not to touch anything. "Looks like it hasn't been occupied in a long time."

"Probably just used for training exercises or something like that," Grishnag said. "Or whatever it is they're doing with us."

"I don't suppose any of you have seen a place like this before?" Dylan muttered.

Everyone shook their heads.

"I've seen metal buildings before," Ayastal said, "but none like these. When I was a child, there was a settlement of 'sky-people' not far from where my tribe lived. Buildings made of metal, but the..." She took a moment to find the right word. "The architecture was different."

"You're familiar with other worlds, then?"

"No. My people are aware of those who came from the sky, but none of us have been there. Well, until now. When I was a child, I would often sneak away from home and spend most of the day simply watching their flying machines." Ayastal smiled. "I would be chastised harshly for neglecting my daily chores, but it was worth the trouble. I've always wanted to ride one of those machines into the sky."

"Well, you may get your chance yet," Grishnag said as they continued on their way. "If we can find our way out of here."

"Maybe if we investigate some of the buildings," Dylan said. "If there's a computer in one of 'em that's hooked up to the inter--uh, a global network, if this planet has one, we might be able to find a map."

"I haven't detected any wireless networks." Cora shook her head. "I'm not picking up any power sources, either."

"Damn. We should keep moving, then." Grishnag sighed and walked on.

The rest followed her, glancing around every few seconds to be sure no one was following them. Nishara wasn't sure how much time passed as they made their way across the empty city, everyone remaining silent as they took random turns every now and then, until she'd lost any sense of the direction from which they had come.

Not that there was anything back that way except death, if those tall humanoids were still pursuing them..

Finally, they emerged onto an enormous metal platform, easily bigger than her clan's largest encampment back home. And on it sat large metal structures of varying sizes and shapes. They looked different from the buildings they'd passed by earlier, resting on sets of large things that looked like metal feet, or in some cases, wheels.

"Flying machines?" Ayastal cocked her head and looked around at them, smiling slightly.

"Looks like it." Dylan turned to Grishnag and Cora. "Any of these look familiar?"

"Some are similar to technology I'm used to." Grishnag walked slowly past one, brushing her hand over the lettering on its side. "But not exact. I don't recognize any of the insignia or the names."

"Huh," Dylan muttered, stopping to stare at the letters painted on one flying machine's side. "These are all in English."

"I don't think so." Grishnag moved on to the next ship. "I noticed during the battle that when some of you spoke, your mouth movements didn't match what you were saying. Something has been translating us, and I assume the same thing is happening with the writing on these ships."

"Ah. I was wondering how we could understand each other." Nishara slid past Dylan and stopped to examine the ships beyond the one he'd stopped beside. "I don't understand how it's done, though."

"Were you all unconscious when you were brought here?" Dylan glanced around at each of them. "Did you fall asleep back home and then wake up in that huge room where we met?"

Everyone else nodded or murmured an affirmative response. Dylan suddenly looked uneasy.

"I bet they implanted something in us. Some kind of hardware that interfaces with our wetware and translates what we see and hear."

"Wet...ware?" Zilaka stared blankly at him.

"Brains." He shivered. "And if that's what they did, then what _else_did they do to us while we were asleep?"

Syala shuddered and her lower lip quivered. Nishara slithered over to her and put her left arms around her.

Cora looked unsettled for a moment, then pulled herself together and marched across the platform. "We'll have to worry about that after we get out of here. We need to take one of these ships, assuming any of them are still functional. A shuttle wouldn't do us much good; we'll need a ship that's capable of longer ranges."

"But isn't the ability to understand other languages a benefit?" Syala patted Nishara's hand and walked alongside her. "Why would they give us an advantage if they simply want to kill us?"

"For the challenge," Grishnag said, her eyes opening wider at the realization. "They're hunting us for sport."

Dylan shuddered. "Why'd you have to put that idea in my head?"

"Sorry, but it just seems right. They give us a way to communicate and work together, when they could've simply shot us dead. So, they're either hunting us, or this is some kind of test. Evaluating specimens to decide which planet to invade, possibly."

"That's not much better."

"Yeah." Grishnag sighed and moved on to the next ship.

"Whatever the reason they brought us here," Ayastal said, "they paid a terrible price for it. I didn't take the time to make an exact count, but I believe we reduced them by at least half."

"Assuming they haven't brought in reinforcements." Cora walked over to a sleek, black ship that looked like a saucer that had been stretched out to twice its original length.

Zilaka crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "This is a nightmare. It has to be."

"That's what I thought at first." Dylan walked around the front of another ship, shook his head at the buckled strut that had once held it up, and moved on. "It's too detailed and too linear to be a dream. And it just feels too real."

"Even if it were a dream or hallucination," Cora said, "we can't afford to assume it's not real with those assholes trying to kill us."

"Yeah, guess we don't have much choice." Dylan turned to look at another ship--and one of those yellow beams came out of nowhere and pierced his chest. A startled look crossed his face, then was replaced by a grimace of pain as he collapsed.

Everyone stared in shock.

"Dylan?" Nishara whispered. Her hearts pounded.

Grishnag and Cora were the first to recover. They threw themselves behind the nearest ship and tried to find where the bolt had come from without exposing themselves to more.

Ayastal pulled Syala and Zilaka behind another ship. Syala stared at Dylan's body and burst into tears.

"Goddamn it," Grishnag snarled. "He was just a kid."

"What the hell?" Cora aimed her weapon in the distance, but couldn't find a target. "I should've been able to detect them. Why couldn't I detect them?"

Nishara sucked in a deep breath and screamed, "Dylan!" She slid over to him, hoping he was only wounded as she rolled him over.

His eyes stared blankly into the sky and smoke curled up from the hole in his chest.

Still, she put her upper hands on his shoulders and shook him gently. "Dylan! You can't--"

"I'm sorry, Nishara," Grishnag said. "He's gone. Get under cover."

Nishara wiped the tears from her eyes and lifted her head to glare at the place from which the shot had come. She could make out movement among the metal structures in the distance.

She snarled.

Ayastal turned suddenly to face something behind everyone.

More of those damned beams drilled into her chest. Her legs buckled and she slumped over on top of Syala.

Nishara turned to find a dozen more of the attackers charging them. She drew in another breath and let it out in a shriek that caused everyone around her to stop in their tracks for a moment, even the murdering bastards who had taken poor Dylan from them. She raised her weapon, surged forward, and pulled the trigger. The nearest of their enemies stumbled backward and fell, smoke from all the holes she'd blasted through his torso.

A series of flashes came from the others' weapons and sudden, searing pains lanced through her chest, as if white-hot knives were being plunged into her. Before she even understood what had happened, she found herself sprawled face down on the metal ground, unable to move, barely able to breathe.

"M...monsters," she whimpered before blackness engulfed her.

"_What_the--" Dylan bolted upright, gasping, and clutched his chest. Before he realized he was on a raised platform, he lost his balance and fell off, dropped several feet, and landed face down. Groaning, he pushed himself up slowly and looked around. "What the fuck?"

The room was filled with more of those platforms, almost like metal beds, and were occupied by the alien women who'd surrounded him just before--

_Just before I died. What the hell?_He looked down at the front of his shirt, but couldn't find the hole that had been burned through him. The shirt hadn't been repaired--it was exactly as it had been before that fatal shot.

_How am I alive?_He leaned on the platform and tried to take deep breaths and slow his pounding heart. He looked around again and a chill rushed through him.

_They're not breathing._He held his breath for a moment, trying not to let a sudden burst of tears out. The only familiar faces in this goddamned place, and they were all dead.

But he wasn't. Why?

Suddenly, Ayastal started breathing. She twitched and lurched upright, glanced around, and her eyes locked on to him.

"What...? How...?"

"I don't know." He ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Did you, uh...?"

"Die? Yes." Ayastal shuddered. Even though her face wasn't human at all, Dylan could still read her confusion and fear. "I felt my heart stop. And yet--"

"Here we are. I know. I think--"

Nishara sucked in a breath and screamed. She convulsed and rolled off the platform.

Dylan let out a quick scream of his own and backed away from her, but pulled himself together and approached her slowly. "N...Nishara?"

She glanced around frantically, found him, and stared. "Dylan?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Yeah, it's me."

"But..."

"I know."

"You_died_!"

"Yeah, I noticed that. So did Ayastal." He motioned at the dragon woman, and Nishara glanced over her shoulder. Ayastal nodded at her. Nishara stared, took a few breaths, looked as if she were about to say something, then turned back to Dylan.

"As did I." Nishara looked down at herself and ran her hands slowly over her chest. "The wounds are gone."

"Mine, too." He lifted his shirt. "See?"

She slithered up to him, stared for a moment, then reached out hesitantly and touched his chest. Her skin was softer and warmer than he'd expected. She moved her hand slowly over his chest for several more seconds, looked up and met his gaze, and finally pulled him into a tight embrace.

"How?" she whispered.

"I don't know. Maybe whoever brought us here is able to heal wounds like these."

"But why?" Tears trickled from Nishara's eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Why are they doing this to us?"

"I wish I knew." He pulled the bottom edge of his shirt out to wipe away her tears. "I wish I knew how to even begin to find out."

She put her upper-left hand over his, held it to her cheek, raised her lower-left hand to his cheek and stroked it softly. She gazed into his eyes for a moment, then leaned forward slowly and kissed him.

_What the hell?_Though it caught him by surprise, it was also quite nice, so he let it continue as long as Nishara wanted. When she finally pulled back from him, her face turned slightly darker and she couldn't look him in the eye again.

"I--I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"_I'm_not." He smiled.

Ayastal managed a chuckle, though she was still visibly unsettled. She stood and ran a hand over her chest, as if still looking for her wounds, and finally looked around at the other bodies.

"Since the rest of us are here, I think we can assume they were killed, as well, and will wake up soon."

"Yeah." Dylan turned slowly, looking around at the others, but kept his left arm around Nishara. "I wonder which one of them died next."

"I wouldn't know." Ayastal's muzzle quirked slightly into what might've been an attempt at a smile. "I was unable to observe anything, being dead at the time, myself."

"Right. Heh." Dylan managed a shaky smile, then waited silently to see if anyone else woke up.

They did, one by one. Dylan, Nishara, and Ayastal took turns explaining what had happened--or what they thought happened. Cora and Grishnag understood instantly, but Syala and Zilaka took a bit longer.

"We died," Syala whimpered. She remained on her platform, pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and rocked slowly. "How can we be alive if we died?"

"Whoever's doing this to us," Grishnag said, "if they're able to abduct us and bring us who knows how many light years to this place, then repairing fatal wounds might be child's play for them."

"So, this is what our lives will be from now on?" Tears trickled down Syala's cheeks again. "Dying, waking up here, and being killed again?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Dylan walked over to her, and Nishara joined him. At the same time, they each put an arm around Syala. "But that means we might have a chance to get out of here. As long as we survive, there's hope. Right?"

Syala didn't answer. After staring at nothing in particular for more than a full minute, she put her arms around him and cried into his shirt. He glanced at Nishara, who smiled and nodded. He embraced Syala and rubbed her back slowly.

"And maybe not," Grishnag finally said. "Maybe they'll leave us alone for a while."

"I sure hope--"

A door at the end of the room slid open and two of those damned nine-foot humanoids entered.

"Aw, fuck," Grishnag grumbled.

Everyone stood and faced them except Syala. She gripped the front of Dylan's shirt, twisting the fabric in her clenched fists, as if terrified that he was about to move away from her. He and Nishara remained by her side.

A third nine-footer followed the first two, pushing a large cart. They stopped in front of Dylan and the females, and the two in front stepped aside. The third pointed into the cart.

Grishnag peeked into the cart. "Guns. They're arming us, this time?"

"Oh, shit," Dylan moaned. "What the hell are we gonna be facing?"

"Doesn't matter." Grishnag shook her head and backed away from the cart. "I'm not fighting for someone else's entertainment."

The humanoid pointed into the cart again. Grishnag growled.

"_Fuck_you. I'm not playing your games."

The nine-footer on the right turned its blank faceplate toward her and raised its left hand, pointing its palm at her.

She hunched over suddenly, clutched her head, and screamed. Everyone else gasped, and Syala clamped a hand over her mouth and began crying again.

Grishnag stumbled to the right and toppled over, curled up on the floor, and continued screaming.

"Stop it!" Dylan pried himself away from Syala and rushed over to Grishnag.

The humanoid on the left pointed its palm at him. He ignored it, reached out to touch Grishnag's shoulder, but hesitated. He glared at the humanoid on the right and shouted, "Stop it! We'll do whatever you want, just stop it!"

Both nine-footers lowered their hands back to their sides. Grishnag suddenly went limp, still holding her head and weeping, but no longer screaming. She rolled onto her back, sobbed, and tried to pull herself together.

"Fucking_monsters_," Nishara practically hissed before slithering over to help Grishnag sit up.

Dylan clasped Grishnag's right hand in both of his and just held it while she took deep breaths and regained control of herself. Finally, she looked into Dylan's eyes, reached out and caressed his cheek. Then her eyes widened and she pulled her hand back, as if shocked by her own actions.

Okay, what is it with me and alien women, anyway? Have I turned into Captain Kirk, or something?

"You gonna be okay?" Cora said softly.

Grishnag shuddered before answering. "Eventually." She pushed herself back to her feet and staggered over to the cart. "Fine. I'll go along with whatever insanity you've got planned." Glaring at the helmeted humanoid in front of her, she picked up one of the huge, long-barreled rifles. Then she snarled, "How do you know I won't kill you with it?"

The nine-footer stared blankly at her. She held its "gaze" for a long moment and finally sighed and turned away. Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly.

Dylan sighed and picked up one of the guns. He thought it over for a few seconds, then turned to the humanoid on the right. "This is for hurting my friend."

He aimed his gun square at the bastard's chest and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Trembling, he sagged and stared at the gun. "Fuckin' shit!"

Grishnag patted his shoulder, smiled shakily, propped the gun on her shoulder and strode out the door.

"I can't do this," Syala mumbled.

"You saw what will happen if you don't." Nishara hugged her and rubbed her back, then took her hand and led her to the cart.

"We'll be right there with you," Dylan said. "We'll all get through this together."

Zilaka nodded, patted Syala's back, and picked up one of the guns. Holding it uncertainly, she sighed and clopped past the guards.

Dylan smiled one more time at Syala, took a step past the nine-footer who'd tortured Grishnag--then he spun around and slammed the stock of his rifle into the bastard's faceplate. The impact knocked the alien off its feet and sprawled it on the floor.

Holy shit, that actually worked?

The other guards stepped toward him and pointed their hands at him. He propped the rifle on his shoulder and scowled at them.

"What?" he snapped. When he made no further moves against them, they stepped back, but kept their palms aimed at him. He realized suddenly how close he'd just come to being subjected to the same punishment that had been inflicted on Grishnag, but tried to cover up his fear by pushing past the guards and grumbling, "Get the fuck out of my way."

As he turned the corner to follow Grishnag, he caught a glimpse of Syala staring at him with an awestruck grin--then picking up one of the guns and marching after him.

He caught up with Grishnag at the end of the corridor, which widened out and ended with what looked like a hangar door. The sounds of boots and hooves approaching from behind told him that the rest of the women had armed themselves and joined him and Grishnag.

"I just realized something," Zilaka said, obviously struggling to keep her voice steady. "There were many others sent with us onto the first battlefield, but we're the only ones who woke up in that room back there."

"The others were killed almost immediately." A troubled look crossed Cora's face. "Maybe they were rejected."

All the confidence Dylan had just built up drained away as her meaning sank in over the next few seconds.

"Wonderful." Grishnag turned back to the door. "Well, let's get this over with."