FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

...

At some point in your life - whether it's after your tumultuous years of college, or long, long into the future, when you're older, with grayer hair and less sensibility - you simply stop asking why.

"Laura, get the fuck down!"

"Huh?!" The woman was jarred from her thoughts as a large hand slapped across the nape of her neck and shoved her down hard, her forehead nearly meeting the dashboard. "What the FUCK, Brian?!"

Instantly the back windshield of the Gran Torino shattered in a hail of bullets and glass rained down over the back seat. Laura kept her head down as Brian gripped the wheel harder and ducked down in the seat. He jogged the car left then right a few times, and slammed on to the gas pedal again, bringing all 420 horsepower under the hood to full roaring life.

"Shit, Brian!" she yelled at him again. "You're gonna break my neck doing that!"

Brian turned his head to stare at her with the expression of a hooked trout. Only when he felt the two right-side tires starting to lose purchase in loose dirt and gravel, did he wheel the Torino back onto the desert road. "Why don't you shut the fuck up now and just get my gun, would you?"

One of the three police cars behind them charged ahead just then, and Brian's rear-view mirror was filled with the shining front grill of the Ford Taurus cruiser. In the next instant, they both felt the bone-jarring thud of the car hit them. Brian fought the wheel to stay on the road as the Torino bucked forwards like a kicked dog, and swayed unsteadily left and right over and past the median strip until he regained control again.

"Laura, now would be a good time!" Brian yelled again.

The young woman smacked at the glove compartment, and a semi-automatic pistol nearly fell out. She scrambled for it and then turned around in the seat, balancing on her knees and aiming out the now-non-existent back window, long dark hair flying.

The trooper in the front cruiser had time to think to himself that she was a real looker, someone bound to be the belle of the ball in Texas State Penitentiary, and then a single bullet from the pistol slammed into his skull, killing him instantly. For a moment, the cruiser kept right on going, and then as the trooper's dead foot tromped down on the gas, and his hands fell from the wheel, the car quivered, stuttered and then jerked hard to the right, slamming into and over the guardrail and down the embankment.

"Good shot, girl!" Brian laughed and Laura stuck her tongue out at him before lining up the next shot, this time into the front tire of one of the other two police cruisers following close behind. For a moment, she thought the car would hold, but at 120 miles an hour, trying to dart back and forth between the bullets she was firing, the cruiser couldn't hang on.

She watched in dread fascination as the cruiser pitched, swung hard to the left and went into a barrel roll, tumbling over and over, spitting glass and metal in all directions until the gas tank erupted. The last cruiser tried to avoid the crash and slammed right into the fireball. It came out completely engulfed in flames and pitched to the opposite side of the road, crashing into a group of trees amid a second explosion.

"Damn, girl! You're on fi-yaaah!"

Laura threw her head back and cackled, reaching over to slug his shoulder. "That'll hold them off. But we gotta get off this road, muchacho. The heat's getting thick. Pull over at the next stop you see."

"You got it. We're gonna need more money soon too."

Laura nodded and turned back around to sit. The take from the general store several miles back had been okay, a couple thousand, and the gold watch around the dead old man's wrist would come in handy at a Mexican pawn shop - provided they got that far. "We're gonna need a pretty big haul next time then. Loredo's, what, 20 miles or so now?"

"Yeah, give or take. Then we're at the border. Got a plan, angel?" He looked over at her and the feelings came over him almost immediately. She was just so beautiful, a Latina goddess if ever there was one. Long, long dark black hair, green eyes, caramel-smooth skin. But inside all that beauty was a wildfire, burning hot and out of control.

She sensed his desires, just like she always could. "Pull over here..." she said breathlessly, and her hand dropped to his jean pocket, caressing the growing, throbbing bulge tucked beneath it.

They pulled over to an empty field just off the road and made love, with her on top. Laura was always on top, and she enjoyed the fact she could control him like this. With her legs wrapped around his waist, tucking her ankles tightly against his ass, she rode his hardness like a woman possessed, tossing her head back and forth in endless negation. As they climaxed together, she pulled herself free of his pumping organ, grabbing at it, tucking it deep into her mouth to finish him off with painfully hard sucks, gulping down his cream in a few swallows.

Then they were on the road again.

"We're in luck, babe," Laura tapped at her cellphone until she had a good map. "There's a few small stores in town. Might be something good there."

Brian grinned at her. "Any motels?"

Laura giggled and punched his arm. "Brian Lewis Williams, you'll be the death of me yet. Can't you fucking wait until Mexico? Manny has got things all set up in Juarez and we'll be cool like fools. Enough weed floating in that town to keep us busy for years." She caught his hang-dog expression and nuzzled his cheek. "Will you relax? I love you, so my brother is gonna love you. You do good work for him, and in a few years, we can get out of the business and settle down, in any country we want."

Brian smiled warmly at her. "I wouldn't mind Mexico, really. Fat fucking hell of a lot of good the U.S. of A. did me anyway." He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I love you, Laura Rodriguez."

She smiled, blushing. That was a first. True, they'd whispered the three magic words to one another during their most intense love-making, but to hear Brian say it just out of the blue like this, when they weren't naked, curled up together and sharing warmth, made her feel wonderful. "I love you too, Brian Williams." She glanced at a passing sign. "Laredo dead ahead, sugar."

"Damn, will you look at all those trees?" Brian said, pointing ahead of them, where a huge patch of coniferous and deciduous specimens of oak, spruce, pine, and maple lay spread out as far as the eye could see on either side of the road. "Dang, it's like a national park in there..."

Laura too was spellbound. The trees were tall and full and thick for late September, and looked more like they were in mid-spring or early summer, at the height of their lives, full of life and thriving. "It's beautiful. Oh my God, deer, look!" A small family of five deer, a doe, a buck and three little ones paused from their grazing to look at their car as it whizzed past, and then went back to their meal, having lost interest.

They kept driving. And on either side of the road, the forest followed them. After five mile markers Laura looked at Brian a little worriedly. "Babe, did...did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"

Brian looked at the compass attached to the mirror. "Huh...that's weird." The compass needle, which had been jiggling between South and slightly Southwest for the past two hundred miles or so since Brian's breakout from the San Antonio jail, was now dead still. He picked it up and tapped on the glass, then shook the thing altogether. Still dead. He tossed it onto the dashboard. "Must have broke somehow. Don't worry, hon, you got your phone right?"

Laura nodded and looked at the tiny screen. "Yeah, but...no...wait, what the fuck? No signal, no juice. Brian, it's dead."

"Here, let me see it." Brian pulled over to the side of the road and took the phone from her. "Did you put it in sleep mode or something? It was fucking fine a few minutes ago!"

"Hey, don't snap at me, muchacho!" Laura bristled and those beautiful green eyes burned into his. "You said you had it fully charged!"

"Well, then you must have drained the fucking battery with that God-damn map then." This was all they needed, to be cut off from the rest of the world. He looked up and around them at the mighty trees surrounding them like sentient guardians. "Maybe...oh yeah, sure, interference from the trees, maybe. That's gotta be it."

"Well, I didn't _see_a fucking forest like this on the map, Brian. It's not my fault."

Brian shrugged and instinctively looked over his shoulder for traffic before pulling back out onto the road and driving on. That was another weird thing, he suddenly thought to himself. Since the police cars, they hadn't seen another vehicle of any sort on the road. "Well, we were pretty sure Laredo was coming up soon, right?"

Laura nodded. "I guess we keep going this way." She had a faraway look in her eyes now, and kept looking out the window at the gorgeous forest around them. "How much gas do we have?"

Brian glanced down. "Eighth of a tank. Maybe less. A few of those bullets could have done some damage someplace too. I keep hearing a knock now and then under the hood. Might have to get us some wheels in Laredo..." If we get to Laredo, he added silently. He'd never seen such a large forest like this. He'd been a Boy Scout in his time, had studied all the manuals and guides, even dabbled into Native American folklore a bit, but he also knew that forests usually had clearings, and fields, and glades, places where there were no trees. This forest just...simply didn't seem to have any space. As far as he could see, the trees just seemed to...

His eyes went wide and he jerked the wheel suddenly hard to the left as a early-model panel truck blared its horn and swerved past them in their lane, driving at breakneck speed, the driver's face nearly white as a sheet. Laura, who had been catnapping, was thrown hard to the right, slamming her head on the window. "FUCK!" he shouted as the car fishtailed back and forth violently and he struggled to right it again. The tires spun on the dirt shoulder and he clamped the steering wheel tightly, his hands pale, until the Torino finally found asphalt and made it back to the road again.

"B-Brian?" Laura said groggily, touching her head. She felt warm wetness back there and her fingers came back stained red. "Babe...I'm hurt..."

"Shit! Laura...hang on..." He looked wildly around them, for any sign of- There! They were coming up to a clearing, an infinitesimal aperture amidst the sea of green. As he got closer he nearly cried out in relief. "Red's Café" a weathered, hand-painted sign proclaimed on a beaten, rustic but large cottage at the end of a tiny graveled driveway. Around it, parked at several odd angles, were about twenty cars. "Babe, hang on...stay with me." He grabbed for her hand as he wheeled the Torino into the parking lot, nearly slamming into a 1950s sedan before swerving hard and coming to a full stop near the cottage doors.

He jumped out and quickly went around to the other side, opening the door to collect Laura into his arms. "Laura? You okay?"

"I...I think so..." she smiled, and touched her head again. "At least the bleeding stopped. I think..." She trembled in his arms.

Thoughts of shock trauma and concussions flew through Brian's mind like evil spirits. "Come on, let's go in and get you bandaged up. Place has gotta have first aid for folks, that's the rules for businesses, gotta look after the customers, the customer's always right..." He was babbling, just so Laura would hear him talk and follow his voice to full consciousness.

As they stepped inside, a tiny bell jingled above them and the people inside the place stopped what they were doing to look at them. Brian ignored the stares and set Laura down gently in an available booth, then pulled the semi-automatic pistol from his jeans and waved it around. "Alright," he said in a cold voice. "We don't want no trouble from anybody. I just wanna get some help for my girl, a little money, a new set of wheels, and we'll be on our way..."

An old man behind the main counter, his beard as white as snow, and his eyes as blue as sapphires, trudged around slowly and walked with purpose up to Brian, stopping a few feet from him. "Here now, you go on and put away your piece, son," he said gently and, Brian thought, not unkindly. "Ya'll don't need to do that. Ya'll are most welcome here." Without waiting for a reply, he walked past Brian and opened a cupboard. "Got some antiseptic and a few bandages here...also, the missus just put out some burgers and some apple pie. Ya'll should eat somethin', I reckon." He brought out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and shook it for quantity. "Ya'll runnin' from the law, ain't ya?"

Brian wordlessly nodded.

The old man grinned and it touched his eyes. "Figured. Knew it the minute ya'll walked in." He went over towards Laura, with Brian still training the pistol on him, and leaned down to stroke her hair gently. "It's alright, ma'am. This may sting a touch." He dabbed at the head wound carefully. "Oh now, this ain't nothing to fret over, hon, you just probably got a bit of concussion's all."

Brian finally spoke up. "She hit her head on the window. I was driving past this forest and...this fucking truck just came outta nowhere..." He stopped as the old man started to cackle almost insanely.

"Ohh, that'll be Rick. He's tryin' again!" With that, the whole café suddenly burst into raucous laughter, leaving Brian confused and bewildered. "Don' worry none about Rick. He's been tryin' to get out of here about thirty years now..."

Brian stared at him. "Thirty years? Wait...where's here? Where the fuck are we?"

The old man looked up at him steadily. "Here now, ya'll can stay but that potty mouth of yours gotta go, do I make myself clear?"

Surprised, Brian murmured an apology and unconsciously lowered his weapon, stuffing it back down into the back of his jeans. "I'm Brian," he said politely, "And the girl there is Laura." He added carefully, "And yeah, we're fugitives. She busted me out of San Antonio. Is...she gonna be okay?"

The old man stood up and offered his hand. "Name's Red. You can just call me that. Pretty hard to say my other name anyway," he chuckled and looked at Laura, "Your peach, she's gonna be just fine...they're not near ready to take her away yet..."

As he was talking, they heard the sound of a car pulling up outside and Brian recognized it through the open shades as the panel truck that had nearly killed them on the road. He started to go towards the door but Red clamped his arm with a surprisingly strong grip and shook his head. "Best leave him be, son. He's not right in his head no more..."

As if to verify Red's words, a tall, blonde man about twice Brian's age stumbled wearily through the door and, without looking at anyone, staggered to an open seat and plopped down, breathing heavily, his eyes wild and filled with fright. A lick of saliva dribbled from his open mouth and pooled onto his flannel shirt. One of the other patrons came over towards him and blotted his mouth, grimacing, then gently stroked his head as he set it down on the table and sobbed uncontrollably.

Red smiled as Brian gave him a puzzled look. "Rick there's been tryin' to get outta the forest. He caint, tho. None of ya'll can. And that's just the way it is."

"Wh-what are you...talking about?" Laura had rested some and slowly got to her feet, rubbing her head. "We saw all these trees and...we were supposed to be in Mexico by now."

"Ma'am," Red told her calmly, "I'd forget Mexico if I was you. Rick over there," he pointed with a spidery finger, "was on his way there too. Told me he had business there. Contracted murder, I think he said. I forget these days..."

Another figure joined them, an old woman with long, white hair down to her waist and youthful green eyes Brian thought mirrored a once-wild and precocious child. "Now Red, don't fret none. My memory's like a sieve these days too," she chuckled and brought a hand out to Brian as well. "I'm Sally, but people just call me Sal. It's easier. We're very pleased to have ya'll among us."

Brian took it carefully into his own and gave it a gentle squeeze, and was again surprised with the strength she used to squeeze back. "Well, we...really didn't count on staying long. Just enough to get her feeling better and maybe some food-"

"Oh, we got plenty of food, darlin'" Sal practically chirped and went over to the counter, picking up a tray of burgers, French fries, and pieces of apple pie. "Here...we had this waitin' for you folks. Eat up now..."

"What do you mean you had it waiting for us? You...you knew we were coming?" Laura looked back and forth between the old couple and the shaded window. "How's that possible?"

"My child," Red raised his hand. "What she means to say is we always got food ready for when the new ones arrive. Come on, now, eat somethin'."

Brian glanced about the café for any signs of a large kitchen equipped enough to handle the at-least 20 tables he counted around them. There appeared, however, to be just one other open area, what looked like a small hallway that jogged several feet to a closed wooden door in the back. The smells from the just-cooked burgers and fries were becoming hard to resist and he slowly nodded.

"Alright, that's more like it," Red clapped his hands and went behind the counter. "I'll pour ya'll both some fresh lemonade. And don' say ya'll don' like lemonade, cuz you ain't had Sal's."

"Oh Red," Sal laughed softly, setting the tray along with some silverware and napkins down on the table near them. "He's just crowin'." She winked at them, "ya'll don't have to like nothing here, you understand? We can whip up anything ya'll like. Just name it."

Brian and Laura wolfed down every bite as though they hadn't eaten in days, pausing just long enough to talk to Red and Sal as they say down nearby and watched them like proud parents.

"How long's this place been around, Red?" Brian asked, finishing the last of his pie.

"Ohh...I'm not sure, son," Red replied softly, his eyes suddenly distant and dreamy. "Too long. Damned too long..."

"What did you mean about us not being to get out of the forest?" Laura wanted to know. "I mean, we gotta get out sometime, right? It's not all forest out there..."

A young man sitting nearby them, about Brian's age, trembled at her words and spoke up in a shaky voice thick with a British accent. "I-I'm sorry, love, but that is impossible. We've all tried to get out, every one of us." He pointed out the window, towards the magnificent forest surrounding them. "Sooner or later, we all need to go out there." Then he picked up a coffee cup and took a sip before continuing. "My...wife. She went out, God, it's been years. I started to follow her but...I guess I wasn't ready," He tried to smile but it felt twisted on his youthful face. "Maybe someday..."

Red smiled at the man brightly and his eyes gleamed. "You'll go when you're ready, Thomas. Ain't no one here gonna force ya'll, you know that."

The man chuckled and nodded. "I know, Red. And th-thank you...thank you, I..." He looked at Brian and Laura for a long moment with deep green eyes and sighed. "You make a very lovely couple, the two of you. I can...I can see that now. You both..." He wiped at his eyes as they started to tear up. "You l-love each other..." He slowly stood up, wiping off his slacks, and then walked up to Red, embracing him tightly.

"You goin', Tom?" Red whispered to him as they pulled away.

Tom grinned as tears ran freely down his cheeks and nodded. "Can I still...catch up to her?"

Red's eyes watered as well and he nodded, the smile as bright as Christmas. "Oh yes, you can...and you will. I promise..."

Tom swallowed hard and looked around the café for a moment, raising his hand in a wave. "Goodbye, everyone." The twenty or so patrons, except for Rick, smiled and nodded. A few came up to hug him tightly and offer farewells and well-wishes. Then Tom turned to Red and Sal and hugged them both. "Guess I won't see any of you again," he chuckled, looking sad.

"Oh hog-wash," Sal spoke up, dabbing her eyes with her apron. "Now go on. Carol's waitin'."

Tom nodded and a look of grim determination came to his face as he turned and opened the door to go outside. Several of the people gathered around and waved from the window as Tom waved back and began to walk away. Brian and Laura watched as well, fascinated, as the young man walked boldly across the road and into the forest. For a few moments, they could see him making his way among the beautiful trees and then he was gone.

"I'll be damned," Red laughed and hugged Sal to his side. "I'd never guess he'd ever leave this place."

"What'll he be, Red?" Sal asked, still wiping away tears.

Red looked at her and kissed her mouth softly. "Ain't no tellin' about that forest. But I know he'll be alright."

Brian spoke up, "What's going to happen to him? Does he have to get through the forest to leave?" He found he was shaking uncontrollably and reached for Laura's hand to steady himself.

Red turned and looked at him. "My dear boy, ya'll will know when it's time. Don't fret none, alright? You oughtta be tending to your girl, make sure she's good to go."

Laura nodded. "I'm alright now, really." She didn't feel any pain anymore, and although she and Brian had been driving non-stop for almost seven hours, she didn't feel tired at all either.

"Well, we still need money, and a car and-"

Red shook his head at Brian and sighed, walking back behind the counter after giving Sal a look, causing her to giggle. "Ah, the youth..."

"Hey, wait," Brian could feel his temper flaring up and he pulled the pistol from his jeans again, pointing it at Red. "Now look, no more fucking games. We need all your money in the register and a reliable car to get into Mexico. I'll be God-damned if you think we're fucking staying here."

Red surprised him by bursting out into laughter, holding his sides and bending down. "Oh my dear Lord," he said between stitches as he stood back up, seemingly oblivious to the gun pointed at him, "Help, Sal, he's gonna get me." Sal was laughing too, shaking her head.

"You think I'm fucking fooling around here?!" Brian yelled and pulled the trigger. The report was very loud as it echoed through the café. He stood there mesmerized, expecting a red stain to appear on the old man's shirt above his heart and for him to crumple to the floor. None of that happened. He fired two more shots, and they too seemed to drift off into nothingness.

Red stayed right where he was, looking at Brian with the same blue eyes filled with merriment. "Oh son..." he said softly, "Thought maybe ya'll figured out by now, you cain't harm no one in here."

Sal smiled and hugged her arm around Red, laying her head on his shoulder. "He's right, Brian. You can fire that little peashooter all ya'll want but it ain't gonna do ya'll any heap of good. We're already dead."

Brian's eyes filled with terror and he backed away, still holding the gun. "No..."

Red nodded, "'Fraid so, child. You and Laura and everyone else all in here."

Laura put a hand to her mouth. "What do you mean dead? That's not...that's not possible! We can't be dead!" She covered her head and laid it on the table, starting to cry.

Sal frowned and went over to her, moving past Brian and sitting down in the booth beside her. "My dear child," she crooned, holding her shoulders. "It's gonna be alright. It's just that the forest wants you. You understand? It needs you and Brian...everyone who comes in and stays a spell."

Laura looked up, still crying. "B-but...how did we, I mean...when...did..."

Sal smiled widely. "My dear child, ain't no tellin' when. But if'n ya'll end up here, you're where you need to be. That's all I can tell you..." She looked up sharply as Brian approached them and scolded him. "As for you, young man, you better behave yourself 'round here from now on. I don' take kindly to violence, and doubtless the forest don' like it none too much either, y'hear?"

The young man didn't say anything but took a seat opposite them in the booth, still shaking his head in disbelief. He put the useless gun down on the table and sighed. Red came over and casually picked it up, examining it closely. "What kinda peashooter you got here, boy?"

"It's a Glock," Brian answered quietly, looking down at the table.

"Ain't seen one like this one. We had a family of five come out here about, oh, two maybe three years ago. Husband, his wife, three adorable kids. He had a piece, a .38, I recall. They, uh...oh help me out, Sal, my memory's done goin' on them, they didn't stay long."

Sal smiled at Brian and Laura both. "Oh, let me think. Yes, he was in, um, what is it when ya'll get put away to keep ya safe...uh...protect, oh yeah, Witness Protection. He said he'd killed a lot of people with that gun, and the local mob wanted his head on a plate. He was real scared, I remember that too, for his whole family. We told them, jest like we told ya'll and they just...left. Started walking down the road, back where they come from, left the car and everything. Eventually they knew where the road was goin' and headed into the forest soon after."

"D-do you know what happened to them?" Brian asked.

Sal grinned widely. "We see' em all the time, child. They're in the forest now, and quite safe. Every once in a while one of 'em comes out of the trees, or maybe the whole family does, and we wave at them and they just stand there and watch us..." Her eyes took on that faraway look again.

Brian sighed softly and looked at Laura as he asked, "So we...we could get out of here? And the forest is the way? And...we...we'd be alive again?"

"Son," Red told him gently, laying his hand on his shoulder. "You'd be more than alive. You'd be...well...it's like a do-over, I guess. Best way to put it. All you gotta do is accept it..."

"Accept what?" Laura asked, wiping her eyes.

Sal spoke up, "Accept the gift of the forest..."

Red added, "Ya'll are different from some of the others, I can tell. Ya'll are young, bright, energetic...you wanna live forever. Maybe ya'll had big plans like marriage, a family of your own, a place to call home..."

"We were going to go to Mexico," Brian replied softly, almost a whisper.

"Well," Red sighed, "that ain't gonna happen now. Ya'll gotta start thinkin' about what you can do, not what ya'll can't. It's pointless to live in the past here, do ya'll understand? Gotta think ahead now. Ya'll love each other, doncha?"

Laura slowly reached for Brian's hand and squeezed it, nodding.

"Then ya'll best get movin'. I can promise you somethin', alright? Ya'll are never gonna age another day, ya'll won't get sick or hurt, and be together forever. I ain't really supposed to be helping out like this," he started to chuckle, "but the forest can really, really use some young souls like ya'lls."

"How would we live out there?" Brian asked again, and looked towards the window and the ever-stretching forest beyond.

Red threw his head back and cackled. "Oh, my dear children. The forest provides. It always does and always will..."

Sal got up from the booth and stretched cat-like. "Ya'll should get movin' on now. It'll be dark before long. Don't wanna get lost inside them trees before you find your place, right?"

"Our place?" Laura looked at her curiously. "You mean, where we'll live?"

"That's right, child. Come on..." The old woman took Laura's arm carefully and helped her to her feet then looked over at Brian. "And you...come on, you two can't be kept apart."

Red grabbed Brian around his chest with surprising force and jerked him up from the booth. "You heard the missus. Let's go..."

Brian shook off his grip and stumbled a bit, blindly reaching for Laura's hand and glaring at them both. "We need a car."

"You're not gonna need one. Now go on..." Red gave Brian's back a push and herded the two of them to the front door. "We'll find a place for yours. They have means..."

"Who's they?"

"No one ya'll need to be worryin' 'bout," Sal chuckled and opened the door for them. "Go on, now. Hurry...just start walking in and you'll find your place."

Brian started to balk, stopping in his tracks, still holding Laura's hand. "What about...I mean...why...us? Why do we need to be there? What...what happens?" He looked at Red and the old man almost flushed seeing the boy's bewilderment.

"I know it's a lot to take in, son," he smiled and touched his cheek. "There's a lot you don' know. All I can say is, whether you're young or old, you gotta just stop asking why things are the way they are...and live with them..."

"But...I'm...afraid."

Red's face burst out into a huge smile that seemed to light up the café. "My dear boy, every single damned one of us is afraid sometimes. But for you two, that fear's gonna end...I promise you. Your lives are gonna be wonderful, and bountiful, and filled with eternity..."

Laura glanced at the old couple, biting her lip. "A-are we going to Heaven?"

Sal smiled. "Oh now I don' know nothin' about Heaven or Hell, pretty girl." She reached for Red's hand. "But it's a good place ya'll are goin'..."

Laura nodded and swallowed hard, squeezing Brian's hand tightly and gazing into his eyes. "Let's go..."

Brian licked his lips nervously and then slowly nodded, looking at the couple. "Will we...see you guys again?"

Red laughed, "Ya'll can come back and see us anytime ya'll want. We can't ever visit each other but...we'll see each other. I promise..."

Brian nodded and the two said shaky goodbyes to the couple and the rest of the people in the café before heading out the door. Red and Sal walked over to the window and watched the two talk outside irritably at one another, and then hug tightly before walking hand in hand across the road and towards the forest.

"Wonder what'll become of those two," Sal asked quietly.

Red put an arm around her and hugged. "Ain't no tellin' with the forest..."

They continued to watch as Brian and Laura reached the edge of the woods and within a few moments they were gone.

**

"How long have we been walking?" Laura asked as she stepped over a fallen branch, nearly tripping before Brian could catch her. "Ow, dammit."

"Maybe about an hour...I dunno. You getting' tired?"

Laura stretched her legs and then shook her head. "No...I'm not tired at all, actually."

"Yeah, me neither. I feel like I could walk..." The word "forever" died on his lips and he quickly shook his head. "This place has gotta end somewhere. Hey, geez, why didn't I think about this? Hang on..." He ran over to one of the large oak trees and gasped onto a low branch.

"What are you doing?"

Brian grinned, "What do you think? I'll climb up and I can get an idea where we are and where we need to go. Learned that in the scouts."

Laura rolled her eyes but watched in amusement as Brian clawed agilely up the tree until he was about 50 feet up. "Baby, be careful, don't fall and break your neck or something, huh?"

Brian ignored her, clamping his legs around a thick outcropping from the trunk and training his eyes on the terrain around them. There were trees, and nothing else. As he looked back the way they had come, he saw "Red's Café" a few miles away, and in front of it, the black asphalt road stretched out of sight. "I'm coming down," he called to Laura. "I don't see...anything...except where we've been."

As he carefully slid down the trunk, he knocked into Laura waiting below and she fell to the ground. "Oh babe, I'm sorry, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Brian. I'm just filthy now...ugh." She wiped at her legs, now caked with fresh dirt. "I wonder if there's water anywhere close by." She trained her ears, listening to the forest, and then grinned. "I hear it!"

"Hear what?"

Laura tugged at his hand and laughed. "Water, you boob. Come on..."

She led the way through the thick forest, pushing back several large bushes and shrubs. The rushing water sounds grew louder until it seemed they were almost atop of them. Laura pulled Brian through another set of tall bushes and suddenly a magnificent river appeared before them, nearly sparkling in the low sunlight that bounced off the surface. At either side of the wide riverbank, there were several types of animals drinking or lounging - deer, squirrels, raccoons, foxes and rabbits, to name a few. A large trout burst from the surface, swishing its tail, then dove back down again.

"Wow...this is gorgeous..." Laura said, taking off her shoes.

"Laura?" Brian asked, watching her pad like a doe into the water until it was up to her shorts. "It's not deep, is it?"

"I don't know." She waded a bit further and the water came up to her chest. "Oh wow...good enough to swim in. I think. Wait..." She took a breath and dove down.

"Laura!" Brian quickly took off his shoes and waded in, suddenly worried she could get swept away by the current. They'd swam before, the two of them, but only at the local swimming pool. Who knew how she could fare against a raging river? "Laura?!"

Her head suddenly burst from the surface and she took in a breath. "Oh my God, baby, it's so beautiful and clear! It goes down pretty deep too, way deeper than the pool! Get in here!" And then she dove down again.

Brian grimaced and shucked off his pants and shirt, stepping across the rocky bottom carefully until he could hardly stand up. He suddenly slipped on a rock and fell underwater. In a panic he tried to get back to his feet again before he realized he wasn't moving. The current he dreaded fighting against just...wasn't there.

He felt the girl come up to his legs from below and then her hand stroking over his undershorts from the back and then to the front. Despite everything, her touch brought him to hardness quickly. After a few seconds rubbing him, she surfaced in front of him, gasping in another breath and reaching for his neck to hug. "Mmm..." she seemed to purr. "Well...I'm glad this still works..." She rocked slowly atop of him a moment, kissing him deeply, bobbing her body against his raging hardon until part of his sex popped free from the waistband.

She unhooked her legs from around him and pulled off her shirt, letting glorious full breasts free, then sank under the water, working her shorts and then her panties from around her legs before coming back up naked into his arms to kiss. "I love you..." she whispered, and dug her hand into his shorts, grasping around his throbbing sex and squeezing it a few times until he moaned.

"I...I love you too..." Brian whimpered, holding still while she pulled down his undershorts and let them float away. "Laura...w-whatever...happens to us...I..."

"Shh," she said, and kissed him again. "We'll be fine. Can't you feel it, Brian? I feel so...happy."

Brian nodded. From the moment they'd set out on the road, he had been nervous, jumpy, and filled with fear. Now, as they slowly made love to each other in the river under the watchful eyes of the forest, all he felt was peace and contentment. With loud cries of ecstasy, they clung to each other as each enjoyed their orgasms, his sex pumping spurt after spurt of seed deep into her, meeting her own gushing of cum. When they were finally finished, they laughed and held one another tightly, nuzzling, making soft churring sounds.

"Mmm...how about another swim?" Laura asked as she pulled off of his flaccid length and started swimming backwards.

Brian laughed and stroked after her. "Aren't you wet enough, girl?"

She giggled over her shoulder. "Catch me if you can..." And she was diving down again. Brian grinned, took a deep breath, and followed.

Below, the water was incredible and clear all the way to the bottom, which Brian estimated to be about sixty feet. He looked down and spotted the girl, maybe twenty feet below him, her shapely brown legs kicking her deeper and deeper. He got aroused just watching her kick and dove after her, loving the feeling of his hardness bouncing against his stomach and thighs as he went.

He waited for the dull pop of his ears as he went deeper, or the strain on his lungs as his air supply was used up with his swimming, but he felt neither. He felt entirely comfortable in water maybe five times as deep as any swimming pool he'd ever been in. Laura had reached the bottom and turned over onto her back, scissoring her legs and beckoning to him. Her feet and hands swayed back and forth, and her hair kept floating around her breasts. She let out another bubbly churrring noise and spread her legs, tucking a hand between them and spreading her folds in invitation.

Brian never slowed. In seconds he had joined with her on the bottom, slamming his sex suddenly deep and hard into her body as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and bubbled her pleasure. Together they moved on the bottom of the river, their bodies pounding against one another almost fiercely. In time they lifted their bodies up and started to barrel-roll and spin and somersault, staying joined, enjoying one another's deep kisses as more and more orgasms rose and fell like endless tides.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they pulled away from one another and kicked up to the surface far above, breathing heavily and clinging to each other, trembling.

"Oh God, baby..." Laura nuzzled his cheek, still panting. "That was the...best...sex...ever..." She giggled, kissing him hard, wrapping her arms around his neck and treading water.

"Best ever..." Brian agreed and started to churrr with her. "Laura...? I feel...weird, don't you?"

She glanced up at the night sky, showing at least a million twinkling stars and then looked into his eyes. "A little...like...we're...like we belong here..."

"Y-yeah..." He felt something brush across his legs, thick and furry. "L-Laura?"

"Let's go back down," she said breathlessly. "We've never had a moonlight swim..." Without waiting for a reply, she curled up and dove back down - a thick otter's tail splashing him.

Brian blinked water from his eyes, passed it off as a trick of the moonlight, and dove down after her.

**

"Hey Red...come here, honey...quick..."

The old man got up from a booth where he was tending to a family of three and followed Sal's gaze across the street and towards the forest. "Whatcha goin' 'bout, hon?"

Sal pointed and smiled. "Just look, they're right in front of yer eyes if you bothered with glasses."

For a moment, Red couldn't see anything but the trees. But as he trained his wizened eyes on a backstretch of grass just beyond the asphalt road, he saw them. Two brown-furred river otters sat on their hind legs and watched the café silently, not moving.

"You think that's them?" Sal said quietly, squeezing Red's hand.

"Gotta be. I had those kids pegged as otters the minute I saw 'em."

They continued to observe the two otters as they watched in return. Then, after a while, they got back down on all fours, and chased each other in circles before running back into the forest.

END