FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 5

I woke up slowly to the back pains associated with sleeping essentially on the ground. My joints, without moving, complained, but other than that, I felt rested.

Normally when I woke, I would stretch out my arms, but as I tried to move them, they met resistance and suddenly I became aware of the feeling all along my side and across my chest. Then, I remembered last night. Nothing had happened and yet I was still painfully aware that we were naked and he was essentially spooning the entire left side of my body

Finally opening my eyes, I glanced over to see Rob, his face mere millimeters from my face, our lips nearly touching. Each breath of his would tickle my nose and mine to his. The wet black thing twitching ever so slightly.

Had we been like this all night? Rubbing ourselves together? I shuddered ever so slightly at the thought. Not of revulsion though. No feeling of disgust came to mind or a feeling to puke. It just wasn't what I was used to. I wasn't even very comfortable with hugs. Too many years serving had removed the notion of affection or just this kind of touch from my mind. Now there was too much of it.

Closing my eyes again, I took a deep breath to calm myself. Inhaling through the nose slowly before letting it out through my mouth.

Then, just before I closed my mouth, something wet and slimy swept across my lips, even going as far as brushing against my front teeth. I must have blown on his nose, tickling it.

It caught me entirely off guard and I coughed and jerked back, sputtering.

Rob then, immediately woke up and sat straight up, tense and pulling the blanket with him, letting cold air rush over my body.

Somehow, for a moment, I missed that warmth that his body had provided. I really would have froze over the night if it hadn't been for him.

Rob reached over to where his clothes were, digging under the bag and pulled out a small hand gun. Was that always there?

His ears were perked and swiveling slowly, covering all angles. His eyes were dilated and his upper lip curled upwards ever so slightly.

"No, uh it's alright," I said, waving at him. "Must've breathed in some dust or something."

Rob's ears turned towards me for a moment before I saw the stress leave his body. The tense muscles of his bare back sliding down his shoulder blades as he set the gun back down.

"Just startled is all," he sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I suppose it's best we woke up anyways." He stretched his arms above his head in a stretch, showing off those slim, but muscular arms of his.

I glanced away when I felt a flutter in my chest. My heart pounded and I had to take a deep breath in.

"It's bright enough to get moving," Rob said, but didn't move. He sat there, his paws sitting idly in his lap. Then he glanced over to me. "Wasn't too cold, was it?" I could see his tail give a slight swish.

I struggled for words for a moment, nearly biting my tongue. "No. I actually slept through the night quite fine."

I was still laying down, my upper chest exposed to the cold air and I shivered.

Rob chuckled. "Bet you had this fur," he said and rubbed one of his paws over his chest.

"Perhaps," I said and then changed the subject, almost regrettably, but I felt that I needed to get going and to be able to look at something else. "Is the path to the next tent site a hard hike?"

The paw, just running across that soft white fur, fell back down. "Not too hard. While there are mountains, the path skirts around the sidesnof them. Only occasionally going up or down dramatically. Nothing neither of us can't handle."

With that, whatever moment we had ended. Rob had quickly donned his damp clothes. The blanket covering much of him during the process, though I wouldn't have seen much anyways since I spent the time getting my clothes on as well.

We then packed up the tent, ate the last few MREs and then set off again.

It was a blessing that as the sun rose, it warmed up significantly. My clothes had indeed remained damp through the night, sapping my body heat straight from my bones and for the first hour or so, I had been shivering relentlessly. After that, the sun dried and warmed me along with the exercise of walking up the slightly inclined trail.

The going wasn't bad, just as Rob had said. It wound and snaked, following the terrain along the mountainside and only occasionally went directly up the mountain or down to avoid sheer rock faces.

Rob and I kept up some occasional chatter to help pass some of the boredom. Mostly it was some more details about the mission such as how I would most likely remain separated from him for a while until the Pelitans decided I was trustworthy. After that, I would meet up with him to begin the work of figuring out what we could.

He talked about how we would get out of Pelitan since once the mission was complete, our espionage would most likely be suspected. Various plans ranged from stealing a boat to sneaking back across the border, but it was impossible to have a plan ready so far out.

It should have concerned me that the plan overall seemed very loose and on the fly, but it didn't. I could recall half a dozen times when I had been tasked with taking a position and that was the extent of the orders. No support, no artillery, just pointing me at the objective. I just hoped that Rob was an competent as he sounded confident.

About four hours into the hike, we came tobwhat Rob said would be the steepest part of the hike.

The path took a sharp left, going almost straight up the mountain with only gravelly foot hold, ingrained from years of use by feral animals, and the occasional sapling to grab hold of for support.

Rob didn't have much difficulty, his smaller paws digging into the soil easier without slipping. While my larger feet slipped from under me on a number of occasions, but I still made progress. Albeit, slow progress.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Robb called from behind him. "We're making good time."

I could see his tail wagging back and forth, acting as a counter weight to keep him upright. The white and grey appendage whipped back and forth like a metronome and I couldn't tear my gaze away from it until it went still.

"Stop moving," Rob said, holding his paw back out towards me.

I stopped dead in my tracks and watched as Rob's ears scanned for noise. His nose twitched, undoubtedly testing the air for smells. What smells though? I had been under the impression that we were alone out here and would be alone until tomorrow once we got to the Pelitan border.

I took deep breaths, slowing my heartbeat enough so that I could try to listen to whatever had spooked Rob. I couldn't hear anything though. Nothing unusual. A squirrel chattered way off in the distance and the wind was gently rustling the trees overhead. In my opinion is was perfectly peaceful. I suppose perception is hardly reality because Rob moved quickly.

He reached behind him and under his shirt, pulling out the small pistol he had and aimed it into the trees to our right and up the mountain. There he kept the gun aimed, his arms still and keeping his aim true.

"I know you're there," Rob spoke suddenly and loudly. "Come out slowly or I will shoot."

There was silence for a moment and I strained my eyes, staring into the part of the woods that Rob was so focused on as well. I couldn't see anything.

Then there was a noise. Very faint. The rustling of leaves. It was slow. A crunch and then a pause. Then another crunch. It slowly got louder and louder. Enough that I felt confident I was no looking exactly where the sound was coming from. Though there was nothing to see yet. The woods were still thick with lots of undergrowth that had grown and grown, undisturbed by civilization so that it was impossible to see much more than thirty meters out.

"I am impressed," a shrill voice said from the woods. It chittered after as if the speaker was nibbling on their lower lip and inhaling at the same time. It made me shiver. I continued to speak. "Even with the blocker on, you still smelled me once the wind shifted."

"Step out where I can see you," Rob commanded with a growl. His hackles raised and his tail was more like a stiff stick, pointed straight and slightly upwards.

I remained silent. Quite sure that there was nothing I could do to help and everything to do to fuck this up. I really wished I had a weapon. Anything. Even in the worst combat situations, being armed made it a little better on the mind.

"No worries," the voice replied, taking time to speak each word as if it wasn't speaking its native tongue.

There was something very vaguely familiar about it. Not the voice itself, but how it talked. A slight tingle at the back of my head.

"I do not wish to harm." The voice grew slowly louder as the speaker approached, the crunch of leaves sounding like massive drums to my ears compared to the rest of the dead silent woods. "I am merely curious as to who would be out here. To take a closer look."

Each word if spoke made that tingle slowly grow into a buzzing before that too became an image. Images I had repressed.

A headache washed through my head like a wave as the memories, ones I had drowned away in drink and denial, all came back.

Greasy black fur. The constant chittering and manic laughter in the night that had haunted me for months. The piercing shrieks of the night guard who were pulled into the inky blackness of the night by little grabbing hands with claws. If there was a hell, one of its minions, one of its devils was here with us now.

"Rob," I said, only barely managing to say the words through my slowly increasing panicked breathing.

One of his ears twitched but he did not look at me. "Not now," he said.

"We need to go," I said, desperate and almost begging.

The crunching of the leaves was so loud now. It drummed against my ears.

I could hear the little skittering on a hundred paws, alone, not much, but as a horde, deafening. The memory clawed its way through my brain and to my eyes as I recalled it. The Emthirians of Emthiron, te nation of rats to the south. Normally peaceful, but on occasion, drenched in blood because Emthiron was a waste with little food and its inhabitant would grow hungry on occasion and look to the north to fix that.

It was not an official war for there was no real government in Emthiron. Just those constantly vying for power and those just trying to survive.

I had been there on the southern border for just six months I wish I hadn't been there for even a single second. Twelve from my company died the first night. Another three the next. Rats would come from nowhere to slit throats and drag the gurgling and kicking soldiers away before anyone could react. They would burrow out from under us in the trenches. Men would cry out for anyone as they were pulled down, often just leaving their helmet and gun behind and nothing else.

When they weren't stalking us in the night, they swarmed in the broad daylight. A sea of black furred bodies with red beady eyes atop fangs snouts would charge across the vast barren fields at our lines, dying by the thousands to bullets, artillery, flamethrower and even poison gas. Most were unarmed willing to use tooth and nail, but so driven by hunger, they charged to their deaths.

On rare occasion, they would reach a trench line, pouring in on the whatever defenders who hadn't turned their weapons on themselves and feast even as the rest of us fired into the feeding frenzy so massive that no one could miss. Each day of attack the waste would be covered in bloating bodies of the rats and the smell was unbearable, but the absolute worst part was the night that followed.

It was laughter, always laughter. They cackled and snorted as they ate their dead. Whatever thousands that died the day before, tens of thousands came out to eat in the dark.

No one would shoot at them, for fear of bringing the countless rodents down on us in the dark.

Why did I have to remember?

My skin was pale and slick with sweat as the Emthirian stepped out finally.

It was a short figure for very few of the rats got enough nutrition to properly grow. It's back was hunched slightly and it couldn't properly walk without a staff of intricately carved and polished wood with was a topped by several deer antlers. It wore tattered clothing of leather, as if it had come from a time hundreds of years ago. Its fur had been black at some point but was now tipped with grey and white. This rat was old, easily the oldest one I had ever seen.

"Stay right there," Rob said and the Emthirian obeyed, leaning slightly on its staff which is gripped with both paws.

"You see," it said with a smile of fangs and missing teeth. "I am old and cannot harm you."

"Like you would ever get the chance," Rob said.

I watched in horror. Why was he talking to it? He needed to shoot it and we needed to run. From my experience, I could never imagine the rats to be trustworthy in anyway. It was up to something and I didn't give ansingle fuck as to what that was.

"Rob," I hissed.

This time he looked over at me. Maybe that was the mistake.

"I could not harm you," the rat said before I could tell Rob to shoot it. "But my children can."

The earth rumbled for just the briefest of moments before it burst apart.

I screamed, already knowing.

Hands came forth from the ground and grabbed at my ankles and before I could even try to jump away, I was pulled down to my knees.

Gunshots rang out and something squeeled in pain, but I didn't see anything. I could only look down in horror as the hands pulled me into the dirt rapidly.

I tried to struggle, but I could feel more than a dozen little hands all over my body, their claws raking through my clothes against my skin.

"No," I screamed out, remembering how so many other called out the same word at the same moment as me. "No. No. No." It was all I could cry out as the dirt went to my chest.

I clawed at the ground as if I could somehow dig faster than I was sinking.

"No!"

The dirt was up to my neck. My arms became useless as the rising grown forced them upwards above my head.

"N-"

Dirt poured into my screaming mouth and darkness swept over.