FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Alright alright, settle down, it's just an email. You know how people are, it's probably a scam anyway."

"Look at the address Cody, this isn't a scam!"

"Alright alright settle down Dallas, it's not like you won the lottery or anything."

"Well I might as well have!" I said as I stood up, pushing my phone into my pocket after locking it, a wide grin on my face as I grabbed my jacket off of the door handle and threw it on. "This might even be better!"

"You know I never understand you half the time. How can beta testing some program be better than... hundreds of millions of dollars?" Cody asked.

"Ohhh you'll find out Cody." I said as I opened the front door. "Only fifty thousand people get to see these things in action, and only ten thousand get to actually beta test them."

"Yeah yeah thousands of reasons for me not to care." He said. What is it, supposed to make you think like an animal?" He asked.

"Ohhh more than that." I laughed. "Much much more than that." I said as I pushed open the screen door. "I'll be back in a few hours, leave something for me in the microwave."

"I'm probably ordering pizza tonight." He said.

"Good then get me a wrap and leave it in there, I'll pay you back later." I said as I shut the front door, dashing out toward the car. I quickly turned around however, pushing the screen door open before it could close and opening the front door quickly.

"OH! AND LEAVE ME A SALAD TOO!" I said before shutting the door again, running back down the two front steps and dashing out to the car, barely getting my keys out of my pocket and unlocking it before I'd made it to the door. I jerked it open and sat down, shutting the door and shoving the keys into the ignition. My hands were wobbling so badly with anxiousness that I wound up dropping them.

"Fuck..." I mumbled as I ducked down underneath the steering wheel, grunting loudly as I scooped the keys up off of the mat and located the ignition key, sitting back up so quickly that I bumped my head on the steering wheel and dropped the keys again.

"Oh come..." I said as I ducked back down, grabbing the ring of keys.

"On..." I said as I sat up, grabbing the ignition key and shoving it inside.

As I pulled out of the driveway, I realized I didn't punch the place into my GPS and had no idea where I was going. I figured I probably shouldn't waste any more time and just went off down the road. The good thing about living in such suburban areas was that I had many opportunities to pull over and do these sorts of things if I ever changed my mind. Luckily, or rather unluckily, there was a ton of traffic once I actually got to the city, so I had time to actually input the place into the GPS. Not that it would matter at this point anyway, I could just follow all the traffic, surely everyone, or almost everyone, was going to the same place.

It took literally a half hour to go ten blocks, and by the time I did there were cars piled up behind me, as well as on the sides, trying to squeeze into the line as it moved forward. It was at this point that I pulled away and shut off the GPS. I found a parking garage not too far away and paid for my ticket, then parked inside. As I got out of my car, I put the address in my phone's GPS and locked the doors, slipping the keys into my pocket and walking out of the garage. I figured with all that traffic it would be easier and faster just to walk, and boy was I right. In another half hour I'd almost made it to the place. There were people gathered all around it, and it was so noisy. There were security guards at either side of the front doors, each holding an automatic rifle. There was one guard positioned at each side of each door, and they stood there without any expression on their faces. As I approached the screaming crowd, I was greeted by one of the guards that wasn't guarding the doors, but rather walking around through the crowd of people. There were about twenty of these guys all holding some type of electronic clipboard.

"Ah, we've got ourselves a smarty here huh?" he laughed as he approached me.

"Smarty?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're pretty much the only one that didn't pull up to this place in their car first and realize they couldn't park anywhere." He said.

"Yeah, the traffic was insane so I parked over in a garage and walked here." I replied.

"That was good thinking on your part." He said. "Are you here for the viewing or the actual testing?"

"I'm here for the beta test. I got an email about it if you want me to show you." I said as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"No no there's no need for that." He replied. "Heh, good thing you're one of the testers, it'd be a shame to see such a smart guy like you only watching."

"Heh, yeah I guess." I said, nervously scratching the back of my neck. "So how do I get in?"

"I'll need your first name and middle and last initials." He said as he poked a few things on his clipboard.

"Dallas, and my middle initial is an S." I said.

"Ah, here you are." He said as he poked the screen again. "Just for verification purposes what's your last initial?" He asked as I peeked over at the clipboard he was holding, but to me the screen appeared blank.

"It's a C."

"Alright sir, I'll just need to see some form of identification and you're all set." He said.

"Oh, I've got... This. If that's alright." I said as I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket, opening it up and showing him my driver's license.

"Oh that's perfect." He said as he looked it over, then looked at me, before nodding and pressing a few things on his clipboard. "Welcome to Catamount Dallas, please take this tag and clip it to your collar or shirt pocket, somewhere it will be visible." He said as the device he was holding spit out some sort of tag, which he pulled off and handed to me. "Just show that to the guards and let them scan it and you should be all set."

"Thanks!" I said as I took the tag, folding my wallet up and shoving it back into my back pocket.

"You're welcome." He said, smiling as he turned around and made his way through the crowd of screaming people.

I made my way over to the front doors and held up the tag I was given. The guard took some sort of scanner off of his belt similar to the ones they use in stores to scan barcodes, and nodded to me when it beeped, placing the device back onto his belt and tipping his hat as he opened the door for me.

"Welcome Dallas."

"Thanks." I said as I calmly walked inside, sticking the tag into my shirt pocket and making sure most of it still hung out and was visible.

The guard closed the door behind me and everything went mostly silent. All the screaming seemed to cease immediately, and I turned around to make sure I hadn't been warped somewhere or something. Sure enough everyone outside was still there, jumping around and crowding the area like animals. The doors must be very good at blocking out sounds.

"Welcome." Someone said as they motioned toward the elevator straight ahead. "Please refer to the number on the back of your tag as that will be the floor you will be going to." He said. "Have a nice day, and good luck!"

"Thanks." I said as I walked over, pushing the elevator button and stepping back in surprise as one of them opened immediately. I stepped inside and pulled my tag out of my pocket, looking down at the number on the back.

42-C/B19

Alright... There's two numbers on the ticket...

I looked at the elevator's button panel and pushed the number 42. The doors closed and the thing literally sped off, going about one floor every second. I looked around the elevator as it ascended, then faced back towards the front as the elevator reached the 42nd floor.

"Floor forty two."

I turned around as the doors behind me opened, and exited the back of the elevator into a dimly lit hallway. As the doors closed, I looked around at the doors until I spotted the C, the second door on the left. I opened the door and was surprised to see what appeared to be something similar to a movie theater inside with a few rows of seats.

"May I see your tag sir?" A security officer asked as I entered the room.

"Oh... yeah here." I said as I handed him the tag.

"Row B seat 19. Enjoy your stay." He said as he handed my tag back.

"Thanks." I said as I took the tag, walking down the middle aisle until I came to the B on the floor, which was the second row from the front. I went to the left until I got to seat 19 and sat down in it, looking around as I slipped the tag back into my shirt pocket. Just as I did so, the lights dimmed even further and a man in a suit came out onto the stage in the front.

"Welcome everyone. To Catamount." He said as the giant flatscreen above the stage displayed the company logo, which was a picture of three cats perched proudly at the top of a mountain, with the cat in the middle at the very peak, his head held high while the other two stood by his side, the one in the middle having a pose that kind of resembled a howling wolf, only his mouth was closed.

"At this time all of our chosen members have been accounted for in room 42-c, so without further ado, let's begin." He said as he raised his hands into the air, the screen above changing to show a diagram of the seats we were in.

"If you would all be so kind as to reach underneath your seats and retrieve the small box that's under there that would be great." He said.

I looked down between my legs as I leaned down, reaching under and grabbing up a thick cardboard box that was colored to appear to be wooden for some reason.

"If there was no box under your seat then it either means you're in the wrong seat or you don't belong in here. In which case please refer to your tags to find the correct seat." He said.

I looked around as several people stood up and walked around for a bit, until a few minutes later everyone was seated again and the man cleared his throat.

"You see, you can't just sit in any seat folks. Following directions is very important. Those of you who sat in their correct seats without having to move, please place the box back underneath the seat."

I made a face as I reached back down, placing the box back underneath the seat like he'd asked me to. I heard something click and the seat vibrated a little bit, followed by another click.

"Now please reach back down and retrieve the new box."

I reached back down and pocked up what was indeed a much different box. This one had a soft outside almost like the stuff on a pool table, and it felt lighter almost.

"Please open your boxes and retrieve the device inside."

I slid the cover off of the box and opened it, making a face as I pulled out a wrist watch, holding it in my right hand as I stared up at the stage confused.

"Some of you got a watch, some of you got a ring, and some of you got a necklace. The ones that have the watch can go ahead and put that on." He said as he folded his hands in front of him.

I placed the watch onto my right arm and fastened it, frowning to myself as I looked at the face.

Great. I came all this way for a watch. I look at my phone when I want to see the time.

"I know what most of you are thinking, and the answer is no, there are not ten thousand people in this room, nor are these devices what they appear to be. Everyone else can go ahead and put on their rings and necklaces. The other people have been brought to other rooms in the building to avoid overcrowding. They are watching me right now on large screens in the front of their rooms, and hopefully doing the exact same thing you all are doing." He said. "Everyone outside the building... They have also entered." He said. "Only they have been brought to our observation rooms, and their seats contain nothing underneath them." He said. "That forty thousand or so are only watching, and will not take part in any of the upcoming events until the devices are released publicly." He said.

I pulled out my phone to check the time, then looked at the watch, and sure enough it was set for the correct time.

"Now, these devices are not actual wrist watches." He said. "Those of you that got rings and necklaces can return those to the tray underneath the seat, don't worry about the boxes. In a few seconds retrieve your watch from the tray. It will be a different color than the others. People who got rings will have a red watch, those who got necklaces will have an orange watch, and the people who got watches in the first place, yours are black." He said. "Now, on to the next step."

I watched as the screen above him labeled the different buttons on the watch I was wearing, and then the colored ones came up beside it and it labeled the buttons on those too.

"Now I know what you're all thinking. What is the crazy stuff this man is showing me on the screen? It's just a watch! Well actually, no it isn't. The device you wear on your arm right now is actually a brand new technology we like to call Watchcat."

I looked down at the watch, then at the screen, comparing the buttons and nodding as I memorized their functions.

Transform... first time selectinn... Button will deactivate after first time use... what...

"Of course I'm just joking about that name folks. The real name of the product is Catawatt. If you look under your seats one last time you will find an owner's manual. Feel free to take it."

I reached down and grabbed the booklet underneath the seat, looking it over and nodding as I placed it into the inner pocket of my sweatshirt. "Alright..."

"If you do choose to take the booklet you're welcome to leave early and go test the devices as soon as you'd like, as all you need to know is in that little book. However if you'd like to stay and have a physical demonstration, for those of you that aren't very good at following text and get a better grip on things from physically seeing it happen, then by all means stay."

Well, I love following complicated directions and figuring things out myself. Let's get testing!

I hopped out of my seat and through the aisle, making my way back to the door and nodding to the guard, who smiled at me as he opened the door and motioned toward the hallway. I proceeded to walk out and make my way toward the elevator, pushing the button and entering the empty car, grinning wide as I pushed the button for the lobby, the doors closing before all of the people rushing out of the rooms could get to the elevator. I had no intentions of holding it for them and riding down in a packed elevator car. They're fast anyway, they can wait the fifteen seconds for another one to get up there.

I was surprised when the doors on the same side opened, because I could have sworn I had to turn around when I got to my floor because the doors behind me had opened. I was actually almost certain I had to turn around before and exit the back of the elevator. When I stepped out I wasn't even in the same area as before. The walls next to the doors had the L stamped on them, just like before, only this wasn't the same place. Perhaps you exit the building from a different place than where you enter to avoid the crowd swarming you? If that were true then it would surely explain the whole two door elevator thing. You enter the front and exit the back. I looked around the open area as the doors closed and walked toward the exit, not paying much attention to anything else in the area. There didn't seem to be anyone else around in this area, but I was sure there were security cameras. As soon as I opened the second set of doors the crowd could be heard all talking at once, and I made a quick exit, walking a few blocks behind the building, knowing they'd be looking for someone around the building with a watch on. Not knowing the city very well, I walked a few blocks to the right and then made my way back toward the building, while keeping the distance of the couple blocks I had walked to the side. However as I was making my way back to the car, I got this overpowering urge to hide out somewhere in an alley and test out the device.

I looked up into the sky and sighed softly, watching all the clouds.

'If it snows it'll take longer to drive home... Which means I'll certainly miss dinner, but Cody will surely save me some, I can't think of a time when he didn't... Plus I'm not even sure what's for dinner in the first place. Eh... Let's go try this thing out.'

I listened to the crowd's bickering as it slowly got quieter and quieter, until all I could hear was the average normal city noises. An occasional car horn, a siren here and there, people talking, the wind blowing... I decided to stop walking once I was sure I was far enough away from the crowd, then proceeded to look around for a nice dark alley where I would be out of sight while I was testing the watch.

"Alright..." I said as I placed the instruction manual down ontop of a dumpster, flipping it open to the table of contents and tilting my head as I stared at the bold text in the top.

TIRED OF READING THROUGH BORING MANUALS AND CONSTANTLY HAVING TO LOOK BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE BOOK AND WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON? Well we at Catamount have a solution for that! (turn to page 52.)

Shrugging, I did as it said, flipping to page 52.

To skip all the boring stuff place your finger on the circle below.

"What..." I mumbled to myself as I placed my right index finger onto the circle, my eyes going wide as I felt a powerful tingle against it as if I'd been hit with an electric shock.

Almost immediately I turned my attention down toward the watch, and suddenly I could identify all of the buttons and what they did. I didn't know what would happen when I pushed them, but I knew what to expect after I did.

"First time selection... Well that seems appropriate." I said as I grabbed the manual and closed it up, rolling it up and stuffing it into my coat pocket as I turned the corner in the alley. Now that nothing but brick walls were on either side of me, I pushed the button. Nothing happened, so I walked deeper into the alleyway, toward the wall on the other side. As soon as I got to around the middle I was overcome with a tingling in the arm the watch was on, but it quickly spread to the rest of my body. It was beginning to become dark out anyway, but now it was too dark to see a single thing at all.

Feeling around myself, I tried to locate one of the walls that weren't too far away from me in any direction, but before I could touch one everything returned to normal. I slowly placed my hand back down at my side, looking around before lifting my arm and gazing down at the watch. It was then that little pictures of black and white animals appeared around me in a wide circle, going right up against the walls before rearranging themselves down the alleyway floor in a list. There was a rabbit, a dog, a cat, a mouse and a rat, a ferret, and a raccoon. I slowly walked forward, and each time I stepped on an animal a counter would appear and begin to count down from ten. I quickly made my way to the picture of the cat and stood on it. When the counter reached zero I felt another strong tingling sensation and all of the other animals were quickly drawn into the number zero and the menu disappeared. A few moments later about a dozen more came up and lined themselves up in front of me on the floor.

First came the menu asking me about size. There were three black sketches of cats lined up in a row and the one on the left was small, the one in the middle was the size of a normal cat, and the one on the right was slightly larger. Underneath the one in the center was a kitten.

Stepping over the kitten I stood on the picture of the normal sized cat, and the counter began to count down again from ten. A thought occurred to me that perhaps in the wild it would be better to be a bigger animal, and so I took a step to the right, standing on the picture of the larger cat. The counter reset itself and counted down from ten again, and when it reached zero the pictures once again were drawn into the number zero and the menu disappeared, only this time the menu behind it moved up, and I had to step back because I was standing in the middle of it and the counter had started.

This one was asking me about breed, and the alphabet was scattered out letter by letter in front of me, pushing all the other menus farther back along the floor. I definitely didn't want to be a hairless Sphinx cat, or any other cat that didn't have fur, and I didn't want my fur to be too long either, or all a solid color. The breed that quickly came to mind was Tortoiseshell, and I quickly moved to stand on the letter T. After fifteen seconds the letters all disappeared and the T moved upwards along the floor. Underneath it came a list of breeds that began with the letter T, and one that particularly caught my eye was the word Tabby, however I walked over and stood on the word Tortoiseshell regardless. Ten seconds later all of the breed manes slid over ontop of the zero and disappeared, and the next list moved up, right after I had taken a step back, remembering from last time that they like to move toward you. There was a little preview on this one in color of what the fur patterns would look like, and I quickly chose the one that looked the most random to me, while at the same time not having any white on it. When the counter went through I realized it was pointless choosing one without white because the next menu asked me which fur colors I didn't want to appear. After selecting all the lighter colors I stood on the green checkmark and that menu went after ten seconds too. The next one asked me about fur size, and I chose medium, and the next one asked me about eye color. I chose random for that because it didn't matter to me. The next menu asked me what color collar I wanted, and I selected blue. The next one asked if I wanted a bell, and I selected no.

The last menu asked if I preferred to be declawed or not, which I found to be absolutely ridiculous. I stood on the word no, because a cat without claws wasn't much of a cat at all. That would defeat the whole purpose of being a bigger cat in the first place.

An overview of everything I selected came up in front of me. Fur pattern, colors, species, breed, everything. I stood on the green checkbox and waited ten seconds until everything disappeared, only this time it pushed everything upwards and asked if I were sure this was what I wanted. I moved over to the word yes and waited another fifteen seconds before everything slid inwards toward the number zero and disappeared, then everything was normal again. The sounds of the city in my ears, I turned around and looked back toward the way I'd came. I was expecting something to happen, but when nothing did, I lifted my arm and took a look at the watch. Surprisingly there was actually a display on it that told time. I was distracted from that however as a snowflake landed on jacket sleeve.

"Oh great." I mumbled. "Snow."

I felt a powerful urge to just get to my car and drive home before it began o storm, but an even stronger urge told me not to. I wasn't sure how long I was supposed to wait after configuring the watch until something actually happened. For all I know I could be driving and it could like... take over my body or whatever it does.

Turning my attention back down to the watch, I decided to test if I had to actually wait for things to happen or if I had to press the button myself, and pressed the button again This time however nothing happened.

"Right. Disabled after first use..." I mumbled to myself as I moved my finger down and pressed the second button on the device, the one that the manual had labeled as "transform".

A counter appeared on the display of the watch and counted down from sixty. As it got down to 50 seconds I became impatient and pressed the botton again. That knocked it right down to thirty. I raised an eyebrow and pushed it a third time, and then a fourth, but it didn't speed the countdown up and farther. It continued to count down from thirty. When it reached ten my heard began pounding with anticipation, another snowflake visibly falling right in front of my face. A memory flashed into my head that I could either hold the button down for five seconds or be holding it when the counter reached zero to cancel, but I had no intentions of doing so.

As soon as the counter reached zero, the watch went dark, and I was overcome with a tingling sensation far more powerful than the last one. This time I felt as if I'd passed right out. The dizziness caused me to fall to my hands and knees, and I cried out as everything went dark.

"Who's that?" Someone asked as they stood in the alleyway entrance. Luckily I was in the far back around the corner or I would have been seen.

"GAAAAH!" I yelled out again as a sharp pain shot through my arm right underneath the watch.

That must have been the DNA sample the manual said it'd take. That felt like a lot more than a single hair!

"AAAAAAAAGH!" I yelled again as I dropped my head down between my arms, my vision completely black as the watch gave a little barely audible beep. At this point I heard the footsteps of someone running, or rather multiple people running. And it was getting louder, much louder. In fact it was becoming a lot louder than it should ever be, amplified by about a million. I let out another yell as I sat back on my knees and clutched at the sides of my head with my hands, covering my ears. I wanted to throw up, the tingling sensation was too much for me to handle. It was like being juiced with a power line. I didn't know what that felt like, but I assumed it had to feel something like what I was going through at the moment.

"Someone's HURT BACK HERE!" someone yelled as the footsteps became even louder, the voice alone making me want to rip my ears right off at how loud it was booming. A few seconds later and my hands suddenly felt heavy. Way too heavy. In fact my whole upper body did, and I would up uncovering my ears and yelling again as I fell back down onto my hands and knees, only instead of thumping onto them for some reason I landed smoothly and almost silently. It was then that the tingling suddenly stopped.

At the same time the group of men made their way around the corner and ran right towards me, but they all stopped once they saw me.

I froze as I stared right at them, unsure of what to say. God only knew how this looked to them, a man on his hands and knees probably growing fur in large patches, shrinking, whatever else happened when you transformed into an animal.

"I... I can explain... Just don't hit me. I'm a normal person just like you." I said as I took a step back.

All of them began looking around, then turned around and looked around back toward the way they came.

"Man there's nothing but a fucking cat back here we went down the wrong way."

"Naw he's probably dead by now. He went all silent. There's no way to tell which alley is the right one now."

"Well it sure as hell ain't this one."

"Just someone's pet."

"How do you know that belongs to anyone?" one of them asked as he stared at me.

I blinked a few times as I stood perfectly still. "I... What are you talking about?"

It was then that I noticed right in front of my eyes, my multicolored snout tipped with a small black nose.

"Man he's got a collah on fool."

"OH. Damn you right." He said as they all turned around, talking amongst themselves as they left the alley.

"He's got some cute little meow noises though don't he?"

"Oh... man..." I said as I took a few steps forward, instinctively moving both legs on my right side at the same time and moving both on my left at the same time. It was only when I tried to override my instinct and walk like a human that I began to wobble and almost fell over.

Alright alright... Just let it happen. Don't fight it.

Without thinking about it I took a step forward, then another, and quickly sped up, until I was walking at a fast pace, turning the corner and breaking into a run as I quickly exited the alley. Learning how to walk and run was a breeze, as long as I didn't fight my instincts I did perfectly fine. However as soon as I left the alley and walked out into the open a strong instinct kicked in and I darted behind a dumpster in fear. I twisted my ears to the sides, noting that the sounds of the city were much louder now, and I could actually still hear the crowd of people bickering back at the Catamount building. I recognized it immediately, and as the snow began to fall at a steady pace, I stayed behind the dumpster watching the people and cars go by. A wave of bravery washed over me and I slowly walked out from behind the dumpster. At this point the snow had begun to cover the ground, and the sky was pretty dark. However, I could see perfectly. Even without the streetlamps I could see just fine. I glanced over down an alleyway and was surprised that I was able to make out every single object in there, including a rat that was shoving itself underneath a dumpster.

"Ooh look at him. Whoever he belongs to feeds him well! He's a big kitty!" someone said as they passed by me.

Instinctively I ran down into the alley as I heard their footsteps come close, and sure enough I felt a pair of hands grab me around my belly. I yelled out and twisted, flailing hard enough that the person grabbing me actually lost their grip. As soon as I felt the hands leave my body I instinctively twisted around, landing on all four paws and darting off into the same alley the rat had, only instead of going underneath the dumpster I ran behind it and out the other side.

"Oop, there he goes into that alley."

The rat fled from underneath the dumpster and went deeper into the pitch black alley, however, I could see everything as bright as day, and as soon as I heard the rat run, my ears twisted toward the direction of the noise and I snapped my head over to look in his direction. For some reason it immediately seemed appealing to me, not as a cute little mouse, but as a meal. Both my feline instinct and my human ones screamed hunger, and I could have sworn my stomach actually gave a little grumble of approval as I stared down the rat. It stopped in its tracks and looked back at me, and I narrowed my eyes at it, lowering my head as I gently and silently placed one paw forward, beginning my silent instinctive journey toward my prey.

Human instinct screamed at me that pursuing such an animal for predatory purposed was simply disgusting, however it also egged on my feral feline instinct, as they both had hunger in common. With hunger the main focus in both my human and feline thoughts, I began thinking about my choices.

'Cody is saving me dinner back at the house...'

'But why wait however many hours until I get back at the house when I can have a hot juicy dinner right here. He looks like a small rat anyway. I bet I could even get him down in one swallow.' My feline thoughts argued.

'Oh my god that's disgusting. Am I seriously considering eating this thing?'

'He looks like so delicious...'

My ears flicked as I heard my belly agree with my feline side. Why wait for food when there was a nice juicy snack right in front of me?

'I guess... I AM a cat now and it'll be over quick... as long as I don't chew...' my human consciousness finally agreed.

'Look at him. Sitting there all innocent looking.'

I hungrily dragged my tongue from the side of my muzzle up over my nose, then back into my mouth, lowering my head even farther as I took a second silent step toward the rat, then a third, before finally breaking into a quick run as the rodent attempted to make a run for it himself. I followed him through the alley where we squeezed into a hole in the wall between the bricks, a hole that looked far too small for me to enter. However I tried anyway, and as soon as I poked my head through, I felt a little tickle as my whiskers lightly dragged against the sides of the hole, and my feline instinct gave me the greenlight. I immediately crawled forward and shoved the rest of my body into the hole. When I got to the other side I was in what appeared to be a very dirty bathroom, as the scent of waste immediately washed up into my nose, causing me to wrinkle it up as I made my way toward the door, which was propped open slightly by a stopper. I had no idea where the rat had gone. By the time I exited the bathroom I realized right where I was.

I was in a grocery store.

My human consciousness immediately screamed at me that there was no need to pursue the rat any longer, as I'd found proper food now, however my feline side disagreed. I had already entered hunting mode, and my feline instincts had already taken over, leaving human ones only enough room to comment on what was going on without really having and influence over my actions at all. As I crept silently through the aisles, my ears picked up the sound of things actually moving around up ahead, which was strange because the store was closed and the lights were off. As I moved even closer, I could have sworn I actually heard little voices, and as I got to the end of my aisle, I could hear everything that was going on.

"Man you could have gotten me killed you stupid shit. I told you we shouldn't have wasted this on being fucking rodents. This huge ass cat out there fuckin stared me down man. Licked his fuckin chops and everything he wanted me for DINNER man. I could have been cat chow."

"He's inside the building?"

"Man no he's outside in the alley."

"I never told you to go outside I said look around the building."

"Man I know but that's some scary shit."

"Could he have gotten in?"

"Man no the hole was too small that cat was big enough to swallow me whole!"

"Well then don't worry about it. Just put the money in the bag and let it go."

Money? I recognize that word...

'Wasted this on rodents? Money in the bag? That rat... He's human! And he's a criminal!"

'And he's dinner.' My feline side argued as I stalked around a stack of soup cans, silently dashing toward the register one of them was making noise at.

"Man I nearly had the piss scared out of me back there ya know."

"No, I don't know. Now shut up or you won't get your share. I don't want to hear another peep out of you. And stop fucking eating the paper."

"Man I can't help it this rat mind wants me to eat everything."

"I swear to god if you take another bite out of the money I will personally drag you outside and feed you to that cat myself."

"Naw chill man I ain't gonna take no more bites."

'I can't eat them. It's disgusting, and besides it's murder. They're human beings! Criminal or not!'

'They're rats. Big juicy rats.' My feline side argued as I silently padded out from underneath the register.

'No. I can't just murder these two people. I just can't.'

"ONE MORE TIME AND I SWEAR TO GOD LENNY!"

I perked my ears up as I heard something smack into one of the rats, and a second later a pack of gum fell to the floor in front of me, causing me to jump up, startled. My paws never actually left the ground, I only jolted back a little, managing to remain unnoticed.

"Wwwaaaah!" the rat, or human, apparently known as Lenny cried out as he fell forward, slipping off of the register counter's rounded metal edge, a wad of paper pills held tightly in his mouth, clenched in his teeth around the middle with the paper hanging out of the sides of his mouth in the same way a stick would when a dog fetches it.

I was just about to take a step forward when something smacked me hard right in the center of my back. THAT made me jump a little.

Whipping around, I looked the rat dead in the eyes as he held tightly onto the paper in his mouth his eyes going wide as he stared right at me. He was trying to spit out the paper so he could yell for his friend, and I knew that's exactly what he was doing too. Only I never gave him the chance to.

'I can't just eat this rat. He's not even a rat! He's HUMAN! He's...'

I sprang forward in a rush of instinct and with one swift motion, snapped the whole rat up into my jaws.

'Delicious...' my feline mind said in my head, finishing off my human side's sentence.

My human side didn't even have time to interfere. In a split second I'd pushed the rat all the way to the back of my maw with my tongue, wiggling it underneath his squirming form. The squirming. Oh it felt so great. It egged my feline instinct on so far that it was virtually unstoppable. The feeling of a meal wiggling for its life in my maw.

And just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. My sharp molars came down with a loud crunch over the rat's head, and I felt a gush of warmth squirt onto the back of my tongue. It tasted delicious, and with nothing but a tail and the corners of a few hundred dollar bills hanging out of my mouth I swallowed down the still wiggling body, licking over my nose a few times with satisfaction as the tail and money was pulled in along with the rest of the rat. A second later it all stopped, and he went limp, nothing but a lifeless body making its way down my throat.

I'd done it. I'd eaten him whole, just as I intended to.

As the tail and the last bit of the money were pulled into the back of my maw, I gave a few extra gulps to get it all down, licking over my nose a few more times with satisfaction. A sense of overwhelming accomplishment flowed through my on my feline side as I felt the dead rat, along with anything else he was carrying, push past the sphincter and fall into my stomach, which gave an almost inaudible growl as it sensed the presence of a fresh meal.

'I did it. He's mine. Now for the other one...'

'No. I just murdered someone without even giving it a second thought. What kind of person am I?'

'Person? I'm a cat! Rats are food~'

My human and feline side continued to argue over what had just happened until the other rat called out.

"Lenny stop fucking around I didn't hit you THAT hard. Get your ass back up here and finish bagging the dough."

I perked my ears up and hid underneath one of the cabinets, silencing my breathing and licking quietly around my muzzle a few times as I listened to every movement the other rat made.

"Lenny I'm not fucking playing around."

'Time for seconds~'

"Lenny I swear I will FEED YOU to him if you don't show yourself." He said as he hopped down off of the register across from me, landing on the floor right in front of me.

As soon as he saw me his eyes went wide, and he made a run for it, his little paws slipping everywhere on the tiled floor as he tried desperately to get away. However it was no use, as I quickly swiped a paw down, claws fully unsheathed as I smacked it right onto his tail, digging my claws into it and dragging him backwards along the floor before withdrawing my claws and pouncing right ontop of him.

It's over. I've got them both~