FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as she ran through the wooded arena. She couldn't hear any signs of pursuit, but instincts told her to keep running and don't look back.

Of what she could remember, there used to be fifteen of them that were simply told to “survive," then they were all unceremoniously dumped into an arena. The place was filled with tall trees and a humid atmosphere that was surrounded by tall, sturdy walls and a ceiling filled with lights that gave off an odd heat. The older ones told the younglings to scatter and stay out of sight before following their own advice. At first she had stayed with a few of her youngling litter mates, but then it became apparent that they were being hunted and they finally heeded the advice that they were given and scattered.

That was maybe two… three days ago?

She wasn't sure.

The one thing that she was sure of was that the screams started shortly after they had separated.

There were so many at first, at least seven different terrified shrieks on the first night. The second day there weren't as many screams, but that still meant that she was among the last six left of what she knew. She was alternating between hiding and moving as stealthily as she could. To her knowledge, whatever was hunting them never picked up on her.

Till now.

Her first mistake was on the first day. She had stumbled upon one of her litter mates foraging in the ground looking for food some time after they had scattered from each other. The youth was too busy digging for herbs and roots to notice her, or to notice the other set of eyes watching them. It happened so fast that she nearly yelped in shock, something big had leapt out of the leafy canopy and grabbed her litter mate. They barely had time to let out a scream before a black shadow had leapt at and snatched the youngling, disappearing into the underbrush with the youth.

She had smartly ran away from the scene and hid till the overhead lights had gone out for the night and came back on the next day.

After that incident she was more careful, taking stock of her surroundings and wary of any movement she saw as she changed hiding spots. If one paid close enough attention, one could catch glimpses of signs that some kind of creature was hunting them. An odd shadow that was there one moment then gone the next. Leaves sometimes would move wrong like something was on the tree branches. One time she saw another youngling running through the trees before they tripped and was dragged back into the shadows...

She wasn't sure how long she was there in that arena,another day, maybe two when she made her second mistake. She was foraging for food when she heard a cry from close by, making her jump and causing her to lose most of the food she had gathered. Part of her instincts told her to run the other way, yet another part drew her to where the scream was. She hurried through the underbrush in the direction that she heard the cry, hoping that she wasn't too late. Somewhere along the way she had picked up a stick, a broken branch really but maybe it was enough to fend off the predator that was hunting them. When she found where the scream originated and saw what was going on she froze.

She didn't recognize the two that were there, a boy and a girl that both looked like her only with different fur colors instead of the smoky grey and black fur that she had. He was mostly black with white socks on his arms and legs with a head of shaggy hair of the same color. What she assumed was his litter mate was a brownish blond fured girl with a head of slightly darker hair. But it was the sight of the two there that made her freeze, it was the sight of the predator looming over and surrounding them.

She had never seen such a thing before…

It was a huge muscular beast, easily multiple times her small size both in height and mass. Its four legs were almost as thick as she was with a body pudgy and thick giving off a feel of power that made her shudder. The beast was covered with some kind of blue leathery scales that you could almost see through, exposing a dark milky body interior as well as what she assumed were the creature's bones.

Whatever it was, it was pacing in front of the two as the boy stood shakily in front of the girl in a desperate attempt to shield her. The creature stopped and roared at the two in a challenge as it dug it's clawed feet into the ground, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and a maw that could easily swallow a youngling.

Without giving it much thought, she charged the scaly creature. Not fully sure what she would be able to do against such a beast, she swung the stick wildly as she ran at it before hitting her mark and breaking her makeshift weapon on its leathery back.

It was her third mistake...

The beast spun on her, knocking her over onto her tail as it did and causing her to roll on the ground some ways. Shaking the daze that she felt off, she started to pick herself off the ground and noticed that the two other younglings had taken the distraction that she had created and ran. Turning her head to look at the beast, she realized that the creature was now charging at her with it's mouth unnaturally wide to swallow her whole. It only took a moment of looking into the infinite blackness of the thing's maw to bring her around enough for her to react and scramble back to her feet, running as fast as her legs could push her as the thing gave chase.

Adrenaline and fear helped keep her moving through the trees until her body's weariness caught up to her and she had to stop and catch her breath. It was then that she finally noticed how her body burned, not just from exhaustion and her shortness of breath; but also how her entire front of her body burned in pain. She brought a shaky paw up to her chest and held it there while she tried to steady her breathing when she felt her paw get wet. Looking down, she was shocked to see that her paw and most of her front was now stained with dark crimson blood that was seeping from a nasty gash that nearly went from her left shoulder down to her right hip. She couldn't help but to wail out in pain as she touched the wound on her body.

A light crunch that she nearly missed brought her back to where she was and the fact that she wasn't out of danger yet. She pushed off and started to stumble away from the trees as she held her arm to her body in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. It was becoming harder for her to use her senses and move her body as fatigue and blood loss was starting to take their toll on her, but she still stood on shaky legs. . Her instincts told her that she needed to move, that she needed to run and run now!

But if she ran blindly, she could easily get turned around in the trees and no doubt run headlong into that thing. Meeting her death as many of her kind probably did already.

She stilled herself and listened, focusing as much as she could even though it was something that was rather taxing now with what her body was going through. She let everything that the unnatural environment could offer come to her, piercing together everything that she could.

There was a repugnant odor in the air, it surrounded her. The beast had circled her, with her bleeding, it had easily tracked her and was closing in.

A low growl. It was close by, waiting for her to make the first move to extend its hunt.

There was a soft squash of mud as it stepped into some soggy earth that hasn't dried yet from the watering that the vegetation gets now and then.

The sound came from just off her left. She bolted to her right around a tree. The creature roared as it charged her and collided with the tree instead as it tried to get her.

Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as she ran through the wooded arena. She couldn't hear any signs of pursuit, but instincts told her to keep running and don't look back. She knew that she was now running on borrowed time and was pushing her exhausted body to its limits.

She hadn't noticed at first in her desperation, but she had run out of the trees and onto a barron stretch of earth that surrounded the artificial forest that she was in. Sliding to a stop just before colliding with the cement wall that made up the perimeter, she quickly gauged her opinions. Continuing forward was out for obvious reasons and going back was a death sentence, leaving her to choose left or right. Either way would probably spell the same outcome.

A roar directly behind her and the hard thumps of running feet told her that her time was up. She moved on instinct only to immediately slip on a patch of mud, causing her to fall forward into the slick surface. Her eyes barely registered the shadow that came over her followed by the sickening crunch of bones breaking and gore splattering.

Her sight faded to darkness as she felt a heavy weight descend upon her.

She awoke to movement, namely the heavy weight being lifted off her and her body being shifted in the process.

“Ha, stupid thing." She heard a voice say. “Ran right into the wall and crushed its own skull."

“It did a pretty good job of hunting those Mauluses that were sent in." Another voice said next to her. “Out of twenty five that were dropped in, only three survived. This one almost made though." She moaned in pain as she was flipped onto her back by a foot. “Well, look at that. The mouse girl is still alive."

“Jus-s-st barely." Another hissed over the shuffling of its movement. “Not s-s-sure if s-s-she's lucky to s-s-still be alive or not."

“So. Demo good?" Yet another strange voice spoke, approaching the three others that were around her. “You interested in more? Beast make good hunt."

The second voice made a 'hmm' sound as he thought it over. Minuet didn't hear much more of that conversation due to fading out at that moment but she came back aware for a little longer when she felt a hand on her and who was probably the leader spoke up. “Fine, I'll take the information as well as the remaining Mauluses that are left standing."

“Three Mauluse, more shiny."

“Hey boss, what about this one?"

“What about her?"

“Can't just leave her like that."

“S-s-she's-s-s going to be a corps-s-se s-s-soon. It's-s-s not good to have a dead body."

“I think she still has some fight in her and who knows, she might even prove useful once she's healed."

She couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as her hearing started to fail her and the last thing she felt before she fell into the dark was being lifted off the ground.

---

Her head pounded... Oh gods above did her head pound. It was bad enough that she wished she was dead. Well... At least numb enough to where she couldn't feel it.

Her ears started to pick up voices in the background, but she couldn't quite make them out yet. Both were familiar to her, she knew that one was male and the other that sounded a bit more distant was female. The male's voice was starting to panic while the female's stayed calm as they came into focus for her. She slowly opened her eyes and took in her blurry surroundings. Looking off to the side she found the male standing up on the other side of what she thought was a small room that they were currently in.

“Good bye Jordan," The female said over the com-link in a scary calm voice.

“NO!" Jordan shouted at his wrist into the little watch-like communicator. “Rulve!"

It was barely audible but Rulve's voice did falter when she spoke next. “Please tell the others," She paused as alert indicators started to go off in the background. “I'm sorry and... farewell."

“RULVE!!!" Jordan shouted as he stood up as if the act alone could stop her. The com-link went dead just before there was a resonating boom that echoed through the bulkheads as the room shook violently from a distant explosion, rattling everything throughout the station.

Warning sirens went off inside what Minuet soon realized was the tram car. Additional lights came on in the room, bathing everything in a red glow. “Warning." A female-like voice said over the loudspeaker inside the car. “Explosive Decompression In Cargo Hangar Seven. All Personal, Please Vacate the Area Immediately."

Minuet groaned as she moved her arms. Her body was still sore from the beating earlier but it was dull enough that she could easily withstand the aches she still felt. She pulled herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her temples to message the headache she felt away. “J-Jordan… w-what happened?" She asked weakly.

Jordan looked up at the Mauluse from where he was kneeling. “Min…" Instead of getting up from where he was, Jordan crawled over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist as his head fell in her lap. “It's all my fault… I am so sorry…" Minuet was a bit taken aback as she looked down at the crying wreck that the human became.

“Jordan, you're scaring me, what is your fault?"

“It's my fault… It's all my fault…" He sobbed into her lap.

The Mauluse looked around to get her bearings, unsure of what to do or what was going on. Jordan was saying the same thing over and over again. Minuet looked around the compartment and spotted Dusine who was now sitting up but had her legs curled up under her chin, staring at the floor with a vacant look in her eyes. It started to sink in to her that her remaining teammates were not themselves. Something was affecting them and changing their personalities. There was a nagging familiarity though, something that hung on the edge of a nightmare, or some forgotten, repressed memory.

“Jordan…" She said as she pushed the human off her lap so that she had a clear view of his face, “I'm sorry." She brought her hand across his cheek, causing the loud slap to echo throughout the tram car. “But this isn't you, you need to get a hold of yourself. You're… Scaring me."

For the moment, Jordan just stared at the Mauluse. His eyes seem to be blank slates as he stared into Minuet's worried eyes. Slowly, realization seems to set in on the human as the sparkle that Minuet remembered returned.

“I… You're right, Min." He sighed as he leaned back. “That… Wasn't me. I'm sorry if I scared you. I don't know what was coming over me."

“I'm just glad that you're back to yourself." Minuet mumbled low. Jordan smiled at her but before anything more could be said the tram car rocked and began to take off to an unknown destination. Minuet squeaked as she grabbed Jordan in surprise. “Wh-what's going on?"

“I don't know." Jordan admitted as he looked around as he did his best to keep his balance with the mouse girl holding him. He managed to get up and went over to Dusine who hasn't moved this entire time and shook her to get her semi coherent. “Dusine, We need your help." He said as he looked into her now semi-vacant eyes. The Caushae seemed dimly aware of what was going on around her, but soon regained some of her composure and she nodded her head to Jordan in response that she was at least partly there.

As soon as they felt the car start to slow down, the trio took cover behind the few seats that were there at the far end of the tram car that they were in. As a chime sounded over the intercom to announce their arrival at whatever their mystery destination was, the group tried their best to steady their nerves while both Jordan and Minuet held the only two effective weapons that they had at their disposal covered the door and waited for any possible monstrosities that might try to board the car. The car continued to decelerate further as it approached its station before sliding to a halt. There was a click from the door and it soon parted open with Jordan and Minuet preparing for the worst to come in.

However, what came in shocked the three.

A black furred Mauluse quickly charged inside and slapped the control panel, closing the doors which he leaned on as they caught their breath.

The three were stunned to see another survivor among the monstrosities that seemingly took over the station. While she was relieved that there was someone else, Dustine couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with their new passenger. Before Dustine could voice her concerns, Jordan had already stood up and slung his rifle.

“Hello." He said with his arms up, trying to show that he wasn't a threat.

The Mauluse squeaked as he turned towards the trio. “Who are you?!?" He demanded, looking ready to bolt but had nowhere to go in the tram car as it had already started away from the station.