FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter One: Essence of Faith

“Huh huh, come on, where is it?" The sleek, hooded, figure whined breathlessly as it raced across the night shrouded and rain drenched compound. Already, it had made the almost fatal mistake of attempting to slip past two guards, with the effect that the whole place was now in an uproar. Alarms blazed, soldiers yelled over each other, and general chaos echoed across the place. All the while, the figure was chased from corner to corner, always just one step ahead of his pursuers. But that one step had sent him into a dead end, and it looked like that would be his fate as well.

“Where the hell did that he go?"

“Does anyone have eyes on him?"

“No one just disappears!"

Or perhaps his luck was changing. Bracing against the wall, the young man waited until his breathing was calmed. Pulling down his hood, the face of an early twenties cheetah, unmarked by scars or tattoos, was revealed. Slowly, his panting ceased, becoming a steady rhythm. Getting off the wall, he began to take deep breaths, but he stopped mid intake on his third. He could almost swear that he could see the original two guards whom had confronted him through the wall in front of him, creeping towards his sudo-hiding place. Shaking his head, he was ready to put it off as nothing more than a hallucination from a tired mind; however, he reevaluates this assumption when he hears the slight sound foot falls on water soaked pavement from around the bend. Hastily looking around, he spotted a large storm drain and proceeded to enter it. Just seconds later, two humans in full armor round the corner, rifles raised. Seeing nothing, they dropped their fire arms.

“I could have sworn he went this way."

“If he did, he must be long gone. No way he could have known we were coming."

“Whatever. Come on; let's check the east coms tower. Maybe he climbed it or somethin'."

Turning, the two strode away, heading to the aforementioned place. Sighing in relief, the small male pulled himself from his temporary asylum, now thoroughly drenched. Peering around the corner, the man saw nothing out of the ordinary. Leaning against his trusty wall, he turned over what had just occurred as he adjusted the backpack he'd brought.

“What the hell was that?" He asked to no one. He looked at the opposite wall again and saw nothing. Maybe I subconsciously knew they were there, he thought, and my mind just gave an image to the knowledge. He shook his head, dissatisfied with that answer. However, he knew now wasn't the time to deal with that. Either way, it was time to move.

Shaking himself off and leaving the tiny alley, he began his search again. Somewhere on the base was a secured vault that was supposed to contain the stolen valuables from his town that the American forces had confiscated from a group of pirates that had robbed his people months ago. He would have preferred to just ask for it back, but without his governor's knowledge of the U.S.'s acquisition and request to have the goods returned, the soldiers weren't just going to hand the items to him. No one but him even knew that the contents of the vault weren't at the bottom of the ocean. So, he decided not to ask.

He approached the primary entrance to the fortified warehouses, but he soon realized that to enter through that way would lead to an awkward situation, as they was protected by three patrolling squads of five, along with four troopers posted at the actual entrance. Should have known this way would be a dud. Looking to his left, his eyes fell on a small structure just to the side of the entrance. Creeping closer, he saw that it was an elevator shaft, only protected by two soldiers; a male human, and a female coyote. So, they have furs on base. That could prove useful. The feline decided he needed a better view. Glancing at a short building close to the elevator, he saw that it would give him a good vantage point. Taking a quick once over of the area, he saw nothing of consequence; and so, as stealthily as possible, he ran to the building. Giving its brick exterior a few good tugs, he found it sturdy. Giving one last look around, he began to scale the building, moving upwards as quickly as he could. Within thirty seconds, he had scaled the two story structure.

Reaching the top, he realized something. “Phew, I am really out of practice." Taking a moment to rest, the cheetah proceeded to the edge, allowing him to see the elevator and still be hidden from view. After a while, another soldier approached, and the two on guard saluted. The new arrival saluted back, and then swiped his ID card on a pad next to the door. It opened, and he disappeared inside.

“So, I'll need a key card to get in." The cat assessed quietly, thinking out loud, “That's going to be near impossible."

Standing up and sighing, he took in his surroundings and noticed a large tower with a sniper's nest at the top. A little farther up, he spied a small ledge, and on it was… Is that an eagle? He wondered. Indeed, the bird of prey had chosen the ledge as its perch. Odd. You don't tend to see eagles this close to people. Looking back down, he settled into thought. After a few minutes, he looked back up to see the eagle had begun to circle its resting spot. Huh. What made it leave? He could tell from here that it seemed focused on something on the ground. As a predator species, he had always had great vision; and that came into play here, as it had before.

“Maybe it saw some prey." He speculated. Shrugging, he erased the event from his mind and got back to his predicament.

“Well, I don't think I'm going to find anything up here. Time to head down, I guess." This time, he managed to get down in ten seconds. Once down, he decided to explore the rest of the compound and hopefully find some way to get to the vault. As he wandered, he noticed some very strange things: the alarm wasn't sounding anymore; there were very few guards on the path he took; and to top it all off, when he walked over to the sniper tower to see what had been so interesting to the bird, he found a pile of hay under the ledge.

“Weird. I didn't see any horses around; and why here?" Curious, he moved to it, and in an act of slight stupidity and insanity, he stuck his hand in.

At first, he felt nothing out of the ordinary. But soon enough, he discovered one of the reasons there were so few soldiers around, as his paw brushed against the sleeve of one inside the pile. Startled, he yelped and pulled his arm out.

“Shit! What the fuck?!"

Calming himself, he reaches inside again to check the soldier's pulse. Finding one, he gives a relieved sigh, and brings his hand out again.

“Who could have pulled this off? And why?.. I'd best be on the lookout. Whoever did this may still be on the compound."

Hearing voices, the cheetah ducks behind a transport truck.

“… I thought I heard it from over here."

The feline could hear multiple sets of footsteps ringing through the courtyard.

“Hmm…" A second voice, gruffer than the first, was heard. “You two, search that side. We'll take this side." From the shuffling, the hidden infiltrator could tell they were looking for him. Thankfully, none of them had approached his area.

“I'm going to check by the truck." The first voice called out.

The cat growled. He had spoken too soon. Literally ducking this time, he waited until the footsteps got closer and then he proceeded to move under the vehicle. Once under, he could see the feet of the soldier; or rather, his boots. A quick search with his flashlight revealed nothing to the trooper, so he moved on.

“Nothing here, sir." He reported.

“Guess it was just your imagination. We should head back."

The three subordinates responded, “Yes sir!" And the group moved on.

Waiting a few seconds before rolling out from under the behemoth, the young man brushed himself off.

“That could have gone better." He remarked as a small patch of debris fell off of his pant leg. Taking a deep breath, he considered his options. One; he leaves, and informs his governor about the stash. Two; he continues on his merry way until he is caught. Or three; he…

“Put your hands up and turn slowly, cat."

Cursing to himself, he turned to face the speaker, his hands raised. A middle age male human stood before him, rifle raised at him and a military police logo on his helmet. “You're under arrest for infiltrating a military compound and evading military personnel. Come with me, or I will open fire."

The fur sighed and started to walk towards the guard as the human pulled out a walkie-talkie. However, before he could speak into it, there was a small whistle, and the guard grabbed his neck, gasping for a moment before collapsing. The feline stood shocked as he slowly crept forward to see if the man was alright. A quick check of the soldier's pulse showed not only that he was unconscious, but also showed the cat what had caused it. On the nape of the man's neck was a small dart that had been filled with a sleeping agent. Breathing shakily, the feline gets to his feet quickly and looks around.

“What the hell is going on?" He asks quietly, actually hoping no one would respond; and no one did. Closing his eyes, he slowly calms his breathing and steels his nerves.

“I can't stop now. I've come too far. I just need to go a little farther." Hearing his confident voice soothed his not so confident mind, and he began to formulate a plan. Looking at the fallen guard again, he decided that the man's outfit would look better on him and would suit his purpose. Striping the soldier, he picked him up and placed him in the hay bale with the other. He then removed his own clothes and put the soldier's uniform on. It was a size too big but would work well enough. Not like he'd be wearing it for long. Picking up the bundle of his original clothing, he placed it into his backpack before arming himself with the guard's handgun and rifle. He didn't plan to use them, but knew that they would complete his disguise. Alright. It's now or never. Let's see if this works.

Turning, he headed to one of the entrances to the warehouses, opting to take the less guarded side entrance and ignore the elevator for now. Approaching the two uniformed combatants, a male wolf and lion, he nodded at them and showed them the thankfully picture-less ID he'd taken from the man, and they looked it over before returning the nod and opening the gate. His heart soared, but he kept his face expressionless and walked through. Once in, the gate closed and he walked past the two MPs on the other side and heads to the first warehouse. Thank fuck that they didn't know that guy. Entering it, he searched the many crates and boxes, waving to the occasional guard with a slight smile. He groans softly as he fails to find the vault, and so moves to the second. He's in luck this time, and he almost laughs with relief when he sees the tall metal container. At the moment, he was just going to take pictures of the contents to show his people. Hopefully then they would be able to send the proper authorities to retrieve the vault. Smiling wide, he moves towards it but stops. His smile lowers as his gaze rests on the open vault door. Once again walking to the door, the cheetah opened the heavy metal object to find it completely empty. He enters it slowly, putting his paws to his muzzle as he looks around.

“No… No, no." He shook his head, a tear rolling down his eye. All of his effort had been for nothing. The soldiers had likely moved the contents, and he didn't have the time to check everywhere, nor the equipment. He'd failed his town. He fell to his knees and closed his eyes, sobbing gently. The feline didn't notice a figure with a gray hooded cloak enter the vault stealthily and approach him. In fact, he only noticed the figure when they suddenly had him in a choke hold. His eyes shot open, and he gasped as he felt a needle enter his neck. As his vision faded and he lost his strength to fight, the figure gently lowered him, and he saw another similarly clad person enter before his eyes once again closed.

“Don't worry, little one. You are amongst friends. Rest…"