FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I was lucky in the way luck favoured tropical zones on earth, there was food available. I sampled anything resembling food and soon enough found out what was edible and what had to be avoided. A shelter I could make from branches and big leaves. Within several days I had created a basic means of survival.

I took my time, waiting at the nearby source of fresh water to observe what kind of wildlife came there. I could, but didn't particularly like to survive on plants and small fish alone. A species of rodent reminding me of rats and mice was abundant and wasn't a bad source of protein. A larger species looking a little more like deer and a species like pigs lived around here as well. Too bad I'd need something like a bow for those. I also encountered a medium sized predator with brown, grey and black streaked fur, something that had a canine head, the body of a feline and a short, bushy tail. It had acted aggressively, but a growl and a stomp from my foot had sent it away.

It had been nine days since I found myself washed up on the beach. In the meantime I had secured myself a small shelter and sources of nutrition. A semblance of daily routine had establish itself by gathering food, fishing and exploring the area. I needed to get into contact with military command, but that was of secondary concern. I still needed to survive as if I'd be the last of the human race.

Gradually I began to expand my exploration of the area and knowledge of the routine of wildlife around here. I had salvaged my clothes from the beach, putting them aside and only using my pants while hunting. It made running a little less awkward. Digging into the memories left from survival training I found the right materials to make a bow and arrows. I even thought about looking into salvaging steel from my pod, see if I could melt it and create more effective arrow tips and maybe a blade or two.

I couldn't get a clear view from the edge of the beach, but it looked like the island was the tip of a short underwater mountain ridge, maybe even volcanic in origin although I saw no direct evidence from the hilltops I was able to see. I expected it would take me several days to walk across the island, not counting the extra time it would take to get through the jungle. At least that would mean there'd be enough wildlife to survive without having an impact on the place. Can't live if I ate all the food here.

Seeing it would be a long time before military control knew the ship went missing, and even more time before they'd have any idea where to look, I decided I'd go explore the island in a while and accept it as my new home because the chance of getting rescued would be minimal.

***

A jungle, or any kind of area involving lots of trees, was never quiet and it took some time before I was able to get used to the noises from the nocturnal animals and get some decent sleep. This time though I woke up when something screamed and yowled nearby.

I grabbed my knife and stoked up the dying fire to make a torch. If this was a new kind of predator prowling at night I'd like to know it first before it could attack me thinking I'd be a sleeping meal for it.

I heard several more yelps and growls and suspected it was one of those mixed predators which I named cags. Yeah, I'm no biologist. I carefully followed the sound of scuffling behind some bushes to find one in a death grip with a poisonous lizard. The cag twisted its muzzle and the lizard went limp, letting go of the cag's leg. The cag limped with its bleeding leg toward a small shaking heap of fur. It let out a peep and I understood the mother cag had protected her young. I saw her lick it and it crawled closer to her. She didn't call for others so it looked like this was her only young.

The bushes rustled as I moved out of them and she growled at me. Her head swayed a little from the poison's effect.

'Shh..' I said softly, putting down my bow and torch beside me. 'I'm not here to harm you.'

I sat on my knees until her growls faded, then crawled slowly closer. The little one whined softly, giving its mother licks and nudged her with its nose, but she would no longer be able to respond to her child. I crawled closer and it looked at me, panic in its yellow eyes, then pawed at its mother.

'I'm sorry, little one.' I whispered as I sat in front of them. 'She can no longer care for you.'

It whined for a while, licking its mother's face again, then laid down on the ground against her, glancing at me. I didn't know if it was going to be a stupid idea, but thinking I'd have to let nature take its course and abandon the pup, or kitten, or whatever the right name was didn't sit well with me.

I held out my hand. 'I can't teach you anything of your kind, but I can make you my pet.' I said. 'How about that?'

It cocked its head and blinked at me.

'Staying here doesn't look like a good idea to me.'

It sniffed in my direction, then crawled a bit forward on its belly.

'I don't think you'd taste good, so no worry about me eating you.'

It crawled up to the tip of my fingers and sniffed them.

'I'm a new smell, but at least I'm not a deadly predator.' I said smiling gently, then thought about that. 'Well, not in the sense that you'd find here otherwise.'

It moved a step closer and I could stroke its muzzle with one finger until it seemed convinced I wasn't something bad to it, then it moved close enough for me to scratch its head and behind its ears.

'See? Nothing to worry about.' I whispered.

After a while of scratching I leaned forward and started digging. Luckily the ground was soft here and it didn't take too long to make it deep enough to bury the little one's mother. I lowered the body gently down, then picked up the little one and held it so it could lick its mother's muzzle one last time in farewell. It whined while I covered the grave and picked it up to take it with me to my shelter.

'Your new home.' I said, putting it down before closing the entrance.

It sniffed and looked around, then back at me.

'I guess I'll also have to name you.' I said, then looked closer to see it was a she. 'Rover or Boris won't do, I see.' After trying a few names I chose Wendy.

'One of my fallen comrades had a little sister named Wendy and used to tell me about her all the time. He was the one who took care of her since they lost their parents in her teens. He sounded more like her father to me than a brother.'

I chuckled at the memory and picked up Wendy to stroke her fluffy fur and distract me from the sudden sadness. She yipped at me and made me laugh.

A couple of leaves made up her bed in a hollow in the ground next to my head. 'Sleep now, and we'll start a new chapter in our lives tomorrow.'

She yawned and closed her eyes just before I drifted off to sleep.