{"sf1_id":894608,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Brothers in Concrete and Steel","author":"tigerwriter93","words":1362,"posted_at":"2015-08-05T01:42:00.000Z","tags":["Bull Shark","Cat","Clydesdale","Elephant","Factory","Fox","Horse","Incomplete","Male","Mild Abuse","Multiple Species","Pig","Shark","Short Story","Truck","Various Species","literature","suspense"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/894608-brothers-in-concrete-and-steel","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/894608","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=894608\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nTwo meaty, gloved\nhands lifted open the door to the storage unit, exposing its contents to the\nfreezing blizzard. The light above the door was burnt out and the clouds\ncovered any natural moonlight. It didn't matter to Kazuo if he could see what's\ninside or not, he knew exactly where and what he was looking for. \n\"Director, don't you\nthink we should be doing something else about now?\" Protested a scrawny, black\ncat. \"It's freezing out here and we all just -\"\n\"Quit your whining\nand get this stuff loaded in the van!\" He smacked the cat upside the head.\nThe cat rubbed the\nback of his head. \"Yes sir,\" he said half-heartedly.\nThe cat and his\nfellow subordinates, an elephant, a fox, a bull shark, and a Clydesdale horse,\nreluctantly complied to their orders. Despite that they were all taller, and in\nthe case of the elephant, bull shark, and horse, bulkier than Kazuo, they did\nnot want to disobey him. They knew he would do anything to keep his tight leash\non them.\nThey loaded up a\nmoving van with everything in the storage unit: two large, steel drums each\nwith two valves and a meter, several blue, plastic barrels filled almost to the\nbrim with liquid, three racks holding some configuration of clear, rubber tubes\nand various chemistry glassware, a heavy, black duffle bag, and a seemingly\nendless supply of boxes, each weighing nearly the same: heavy. \nNo one said a word as\nthey worked.\nKazuo stood there in\nhis large, black trench coat that covered his suit underneath, his heavy, black\nboots, and his ushanka, smoking as he observed them. His subordinates only wore\ntheir dark purple coveralls; their digits, faces, and tails had to fend for\nthemselves in the cold. The only sounds were the sounds of them loading the\nvan, the howling wind, the snow crunching under their feet, and Kazuo sniffling\nhis snout as it ran because of the cold. \nWhen the van was\nfinally loaded, he tossed his cigarette to the side before getting into a\nshiny, black SUV that was leading the van.\nAs he got in the SUV,\nhe turned to the cat in the driver's seat, then to the fox in the back seat.\n\"You boys took too long.\" He gestured ahead. \"Now drive.\"\nThe SUV headed out of\nthe storage locker facility, followed by the moving van.\n \n*          *          *\n \nThe freezing winters\nwere something Teódulo regretted about immigrating up north to the States two\nyears ago. Growing up in a tropical region near the coast didn't exactly prepare\nhim for this brutal weather; his naturally thick skin insulated him so much and\nneither did his dark purple coveralls. When he started working for Takenaka\nTechnologies at one of their factories of the Midwestern branch, he never asked\nto be a slave to this greedy pig.\nHe, his coworkers\nAlan, Marty, Skiddles, and Bud, and this slave-driver were the only survivors\nafter the factory collapsed during the attacks on Axeford. Director Kazuo was\ncoincidentally finishing up moving his main office here when everything went\ndown to hell. His direct presence has only made it more so.\nWhen Teó and his\ncoworkers finished loading up the moving van, he got in the driver's seat while\nMarty and Bud sat next to him. Alan and Skiddles entered the shiny, black SUV\nin front of them along with Kazuo. \nTeó let out a long\nsigh as he stroked his slicked back, black hair. \"Why'd we end up getting stuck\nwith this sonofabitch?!\" he said in his Latino accent as he started up the\nmoving van. He leaned back, but suddenly stopped. \"Gah! This fuckin' fin gets\nin the way all the time!\" he complained as he looked back. \n\"Hey at least you're\nnot stuck in the same car as that son of a bitch,\" said the elephant, \"I feel\nbad for those little guys.\"\n\"Think of it this\nway,\" assured the Clydesdale, \"that shrimp's probably going to drop dead any\nday now. Between the amount of candied death sticks and stress he goes through,\nhis heart's just gonna give up and quit on him. Then we won't have to deal with\nthat asshole ever again.\"\nTeó gave a half\nsmile, still looking at the road ahead. \"Wouldn't we all love to see that day,\"\nhe said with a slight chuckle. \"Still, I agree with Marty. I feel bad for Alan\nand Skiddles.\"\n\"Well, there's not\nmuch we can do now,\" said Marty, \"Let's just keep complying to Kazuo until an\nopportunity presents itself.\"\n\"Or if he drops dead\non his own,\" interjected the Clydesdale.\n\"Yes Bud, or if that\nhappens,\" Marty sassed as he turned slightly towards the horse.\nBud rolled his eyes.\nThe three of them\nnever said much else for the rest of the trip, and none of the knew where they\nwere Kazuo was taking them. Teó just followed the SUV as closely as he could,\nso as to not separate from it. \nTheir journey took\nthem through the storage locker facility to its exit, past what was once their\nprevious place of employment. The aged manufacturing facility Teó has come to\ncall his second home now lies dormant and hollow. His coworkers may have just\nviewed this place as a necessary evil, and from the looks he noticed on their\nfaces as they passed by they could've cared less about what happened. But for\nTeó, it was where he found his real family.\nThe SUV led them out\nof the company property and down one road that lead onto a highway none of them\nrecognized. They then got off the highway and went through what looked like an\nentirely different town. After nearly three hours on the road, they soon found\nthemselves at an old, abandoned movie theater and an empty parking lot. \nIt wasn't all that\nbig, but it has seen better days. It's concrete corners were eroded with age,\nand it was missing half of one of its square columns at its entrance while the\nother three were chipped in various places. The drab cream and brown colors\nfrom the bricks and concrete were so faded they were almost completely white.\nOn one side of this ancient construct, brown, dry vines still clung to the\nbuilding; the sudden winter has not been kind to them. Any windows were now\nboarded up with plywood as well as the doors. Running through the door handles\nwas a rusty chain with its padlock completely rusted off and lying on the\nground. There were no other noticeable doors or windows other than an emergency\nexit.\nThe black SUV slowed\nto a stop in front of the movie theater and the moving van followed suite.\nThere were no surrounding buildings or trees near the empty parking lot or\ntheater preventing the brutal blizzard from obstructing their view. \nEveryone got out of\ntheir vehicles, just barely keeping their stance from the strong wind. Teó and\nhis comrades felt the icy snow beneath their feet, almost instantly numbing\ntheir paw pads. Kazuo was the only one wearing any footwear.\n\"Whaddya guys\nstanding around for?! Get everything unloaded and set up!\" Kazuo barked at them\nafter getting out of the SUV. He then headed towards the abandoned theater.\n\"I'm gonna turn that\nasshole into bacon when I get my hands on him,\" Teó whispered to himself.\nMarty put a large\nhand on his shoulder. \"Just do what he says. You know what he can do to us if\nhe senses any rebellion, right?\"\n\"Maybe for you guys,\nbut I have nothing to lose...at least, not anymore,\" he replied. \"I know you guys\nwant out of this as much as I do.\"\nMarty started heading\nto the back of the van along with his other comrades. \"Just help us get this\nshit unloaded so he doesn't yell at us again, ok?\"\nHe gave an\nexasperated sigh and then complied to his orders. \nI just want to get you guys out of this mess too; you\nguys have been like brothers to me since I came up from Honduras. You're all I\nhave now.\n"}