FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next two days were spent pretty much upstairs and packing bags. Ricky's condition had improved over those two days, going from yellow skinned and dangerously skinny to regaining his color and putting on a few pounds. Abbie, Raf and I got to know him over those two days as well. He told us that he had worked for Voltor Firearms before the Pandemic started and had spent time in the Army. He told us that he didn't trust anything on a firearm that wasn't from Voltor or Magpul, which explained the interesting set up on his AR-15. He had a full Voltor weapon, barrel, Receivers, stock, buffer tube, compensator, everything. His sights and grip as well as his magazine were Magpul, now why go with BUIS on a 20 inch gun rather than a scope? Basically, He didn't like optics. He had a hell of a handgun as well, an FNH five seven with a load of Voltor parts on it. Ricky seemed like a nice guy and it made me glad we had found him because otherwise he would have died over the last two days. The morning after the snow melted, it was crystal clear and about 70 degree's outside.

"Gonna be a pleasant drive if it stays like this", Ricky commented looking out the window.

"In my experience over these past few weeks it will", I said putting my boots on. I grabbed my duffle bag with my guns in it, "Ricky will you grab those two other bags, they got the food and tools in them."

"Sure", Ricky said.

He grabbed the other two bags and we walked down stairs and out the front of the hide into the fresh, crisp air. The wind was blowing and I could hear the birds chirping. The wind blowing in the mountains miles out could be heard all the way down here in the countryside. The sky was perfectly clear except for a few black spots marking birds high up.

"Damn", Ricky said as we put the bags in my truck, "nice out here, windows down today."

"Hell yes brother", I smiled.

"I'm gonna miss driving my Renault through this kind of weather", Ricky said, "oh well. Guess all good things come to an end."

I nodded, "I know the feeling, I lost a 450 wheel horsepower Nissan 240SX to a thrown rod", I held up my key chain by a key with a faded Nissan emblem on it, "I couldn't fix it, that car sits in a shed behind my house because I couldn't bring myself to sell it. I'd dare to say that if it was self aware, it would wonder what it did wrong."

"Why couldn't you fix it?", Ricky asked.

"It's too hard to find parts for", I said, "modding 240's was getting as big a thing as Supras in the days before the outbreak. The one guy I found who could build me a new block wanted 45 grand for it. I couldn't afford it."

"Wow", Abbie said not looking up from her work on the F550, "that sucks."

"Is it weird that people get attached to their cars like that?", Ricky asked, "my Dad used to have a Renault Alpine 110 that had twin turbochargers and made the best idle noise ever. Then my little sister came along and Mom forced Dad to sell it. I remember seeing my Dad cry as it disappeared around the corner of our country road. I remember how hostile he was towards her for a while after that."

Abbie, who'd been working on the F550's engine now added her own comment, "I don't think so. Pets become a part of people's lives, so do cars. My Focus? I remember having an asthma attack one day and my Dad raced through traffic to get me to the hospital. If we had waited for the ambulance I would have suffocated."

"Hell", I smirked, "Dad took Mom to the hospital in the Chevy back before it was a Diesel powered sand kicker. I learned to drive stick in it and for years it was my daily and on the weekends Mom and Dad would take it to the store because Dad's Camaro had a roll cage in the trunk. I would like to know who stole it."

"It got stolen?", Abbie asked closing the hood of the 550.

"The same night Dad died", I sighed, "I was in bed that night and I heard it start. By the time I got out there with my Gun, it was already at the edge of town. I probably should have chased it, though I doubt I could have caught it seeing as I only had about 700 horsepower to my Dad's 1400 from a Mazda 12 Rotor."

"Wow", Ricky said as Raf brought out another duffle, "that dude had some nerve."

I sighed, "yep, sure did."

I took the duffle from Raf and stuck it in the bed of the truck. Ricky and I made a few more trips up stairs to get the rest of the duffle bags and guns and stuck them in the Chevy. Abbie finished working on the 550 and then closed the hood. She cleaned herself up and then came back out dressed in jeans with combat boots, blue jeans, a white shirt and a jean jacket with a heavily modified AK-47 over her shoulder and two boxes of ammo.

"This is the rest of it", she said sticking it in the back of the focus, "you guys got everything?"

"I do", I said.

"There's one more thing I have to do", Ricky said disappearing around the corner. About three minutes later we heard an engine start and thirty seconds after that, a bright, matte blue three door Renault Clio V6 drove around the corner. It was sitting fairly close to the ground, on Team 5Zigen wheels with blue neon around the brake discs and had a really cammy idle to it, telling me it was easily making 500 or more horsepower. There was a custom top lip diffusers on the back and front and there was an air intake resting beside the intercooler visible in the front bumper.

"Oh wow", Abbie said as Ricky stepped out of the car, "you didn't tell me you had the AWD Clio V6."

Ricky sighed, "yeah. Anyway, you have a place I can lock this up?"

Abbie leaned against the 550, "Nah, don't worry about it. Keep your car Ricky, I'm not gonna make you give it up so I can hang onto a flat bed."

"So what are you gonna do with the 550 then?", Raf asked from behind the Focus?"

Abbie huffed, "I'll just leave it here. At some point I'm sure I'll be able to come back for it."

"In that case", I said opening the back door of the Chevy, causing Jericho to bark loudly and jump in, "we should get going, long drive ahead."

Abbie and I looked at a map. Abbie told me that we were in the remnants of Winston-Salem North Carolina, so it was pointless to try and get back on I-77. Instead, we decided to drive through town a ways and get on I85 South and continue from there. Raf climbed into the Focus with Abbie and Ricky slid back into his Renault. I climbed up into the Chevy and put the transmission in neutral, engaged Rear Wheel Drive and stuck the key in the ignition. I gave it a turn and the new engine coughed a little bit before coming to life, settling into it's cammy 500 RPM idle. I put the transmission in first and drove to the edge of town, turning on my blinker to let Abbie and Ricky know that we had to go right to get back on State 485 and then get on I 85 from there. Abbie and Ricky followed the Chevy across State 485 and then we took Exit Ramp 40 and got back onto the interstate. I turned on the blinker at the foot of the off ramp and rolled down both windows as I came to a slow stop, Abbie behind me and Ricky behind her. Even though I knew there was n one coming either way, I looked right and left before pushing down on the accelerator and making the left hand turn onto the interstate. Keeping the pedal pressed as I doubled clutched the Truck into second gear, garnering a response from Abbie.

"Stop that", she said, "you don't double clutch a diesel pick up."

"You do if you don't want to brake acceleration", I replied.

"That's not why you double clutch Cameron", Ricky answered.

"Sure it is", I said, "want proof?"

"Did you just challenge us to a race?", Abbie asked.

"Sure did", I said shifting into third, "Mile Drag, got plenty of open road."

Abbie laughed as I slowed to a stop and put the truck in neutral, She pulled up beside me and lowered her windows, Ricky did the same.

"What's he wager?", Ricky asked.

"Winner gets my old lever action", Raf said, ".22 caliber."

"Sounds like a legit prize", Abbie said, 'Quarter mile for a lever action, I'm down for that."

"Looks like I got a new rifle", Ricky said rolling up his window.

"As if", Abbie said.

"Shut up and drive", I said to myself as I rolled up my window. Abbie and Ricky started reving their engines. I was about at the middle of the pack as far as horsepower went, but my engine had a low range knock your teeth through the back of your head torque punch that Abbie' inline five and Ricky's V6 couldn't match, if my time on the strip with other high power diesels had taught me anything, it was that torque is what takes you through the wall, horsepower was just how badly you were smashed. I smiled and put my hands on the steering wheel, keeping my foot over the clutch, ready to pop first gear as soon as a go came. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Raf pick up Abbie's CB and put my hand on the shifter.

"3, 2, 1", Raf counted, "GO!"

I popped into All Wheel Drive and smashed the gas to the floor. The Truck's Front end lifted about 3 feet off the ground as the inline four screamed to 7500 RPM before I bounced off the rev limiter as I forced down the clutch and shifted into second gear. Abbie wasn't exactly lagging behind with 1,000 horsepower at the crank and a little over 900 at the front wheels and a nickname like the Texas Circuit Terror, she wasn't going to go quietly. Ricky's full time AWD Super Hatch wasn't going to lay down with 600 at the crank and 500 at all corners either. At 6500 in second, the turbo kicked on. The new engine blew black diesel smoke from the exhaust as I kicked the clutch for third.

Abbie and Ricky were just a little ways behind me. They couldn't compete with the sheer amount of torque I could put to the road, but Ricky had me beat for traction because his car sat closer to the road than the truck and Abbie had us both beat for sheer horsepower. By the time I hit fourth gear at 125 miles an hour, Abbie and I were pretty much bumper to bumper while Ricky was right beside her. The new engine pulled the Chevy through 4th gear and I went into 5th at 156 miles an hour. Abbie had slipped out from behind me and Ricky and I heard the Focus hit 6th gear. Damn, that Focus ain't no slouch. Our front bumpers were pretty much aligned when I got a crazy idea. I reached over to the boost controller on the dash, and turned it completely off. I had only done this one other time, on the 240. The Turbo I had on that car could compress 340 pounds of boost with the controller turned completely off and it was only a small one, 50mms. The one on the truck was a monster 70mm Garret Diesel, it was waist gated for 40PSI, but the gate would only open when the controller was one, with it off, I had no idea what it would do over the boost threshold of 6500 RPM. I watched the tach climb. 5,000, 5,500, 6 grand. Then, at 6500 RPM, the Turbo came on. The front end of the truck cleared what felt like 5 feet and the turbo screamed so loudly it drowned out the sound of the engine itself. The boost gauge on the dash jumped to over 250 PSI as the truck's rear wheels fought for traction. All I felt at this moment was pure adrenaline as the Speedometer past it's listed speed of 200 MPH. When the truck's front wheels hit the ground again, I felt a lurch and saw the tach fall a little before promptly returning to over 9 grand. Abbie's Focus and Ricky's Renault fell behind so quickly that I'm sure it startled them just as much as it did me.

"What the fuck was that!", Abbie said as I started to slow down, the turbo winding down like a jet engine.

"I turned the boost controller off", I said over the CB as I came to a stop, "I ran over 250 pounds of boost on that last gear."

"The front of your Avalanche cleared about 5 feet Cameron", Ricky said, "your lucky that shot of pressure didn't blow the welds on your intake."

"Probably", I said coming to a stop and putting the truck in park, "we should let our engines cool down for a bit."

Abbie and Ricky agreed and we stopped, letting our engines idle and cool off for about a half hour before we continued on. The sun rose high over I-85 as our convoy drove through the rolling country side. The temperature had dropped a little bit, making put on a light jacket and causing Ricky to roll up his windows, but put down the sunroof. The truck felt a little weird without Raf in the front seat, replaced instead by Jericho, who wasn't too much of a talker. It felt weird, sure, but at the same time it was nice to beable to drive and not worry about Raf blowing the 2 10 Subwoofers in the doors or blurting out a spoiler to a story.

"Feels weird with out Raf huh boy?", I asked reaching over and petting Jericho's neck. My dog barked a reply and continued to lean his head out the window.

"That's what I thought", I smiled.

For the next few hours, the driving was mostly uneventful aside from a few stray animals. I wasn't listening to Magnum 1 like I normally did, instead, I was tuned into Radio New America. The same DJ that had broadcast a few days ago was on again.

"That was Magnum 1 Molten Metal", he said, "this is DJ Spark with Radio New America, reminding everyone again that good music can lift spirits even in the darkest times. And now for a few announcements, The Network has told Radio New America that they expect to have Cell Towers, the internet and even Xbox Live back up within the next few weeks and in the meantime they have agents working on restoring basic phone service and wireless services within the perimeter of Silverton so you can stay tuned into Radio New America where ever you are. Personally I can't wait for Xbox live to be back up so my brother and I can play Matchmaking. For now though, here is Magnum 1 Delirious Schizo."

I listened to the radio for about 20 minutes before I started to get hungry. It was another six or so before I saw a sign reading "Rest Stop-5 miles ahead" I picked up the CB radio and phoned Abbie.

"Hey Abbie", I said.

"What up?", she asked.

'Starting to get a little hungry", I told her, "there's a rest stop a few miles up the road, wanna stop and take a brake?"

'Sure", she said, "we should probably find a place to gas up soon as well, I'm down to a little under a quarter of a tank."

"I'm down to about 100 miles to empty", I said, "what about you Ricky?"

"About 1/3 a tank", Ricky answered.

"Yeah", Abbie said, "let's stop for lunch and then look for a place to gas up."

We cleared the five miles to the rest stop and pulled in from the wrong direction. The place was a lot like others that Raf and I had seen over the course of our trip, There was a large main building with two small brick structures on each side with tables and vending machines. There were a few cars in the parking lot that didn't look very expensive or well driven. I could see shadowy remains in a few of them. Former owners no doubt. I parked the Chevy near the main building and put it in park, sliding out with Jericho behind me as Abbie and Ricky pulled in and killed their cars.

"I believe I'm owed a lever action 22 caliber rifle?", I smiled as Raf climbed out of Abbie's Focus.

"I'm not giving you my gun Cameron", Raf said, "you have enough of them."

I smirked, "true, true. Whose making lunch?"

"I will", Ricky said, "the driving has left me mind numbingly bored."

I grabbed the duffle bag of food and the stove, following Ricky and Abbie inside the building. It wasn't that big, so I suspected it never saw a lot of activity. The floors were made of marble with a compass made out of inlayed steel wires and there were two small rest areas with couches, chairs and coffee tables to our right with bathrooms on the left.

"Nice place they got here", Ricky said as I put the stuff on one of the table's and sat down on the couch, beginning to field strip my M4 and look it over, "what you guys want for lunch?"

"Just whatever", I said looking over my rifle.

"Meat", Raf said.

Abbie just shrugged.

Ricky ended up cooking a few chicken breast MRE's along with Mashed Potatoes and a little bit of sausage from Abbie's rations. We were in the middle of lunch when I heard a car pull up and shut off. I turned around to see a Ford F-150 that had been blacked out completely There were about five or six guys in full combat gear that was totally blacked out in the bed who disembarked the second the truck came to a stop.

"Who the fuck are those guys!?", Abbie whispered as we ducked down behind the couch and I began sticking my M4 back together.

"Ricky", I said, "didn't you say those guys you were with seemed like government?"

He nodded as he checked the magazine in his M16, "yes, I've seen that truck before as well, it's them. I wouldn't know why they'd be back this far though, when I split off they were in Nevada."

"Sir", one of the men outside said, "the engine on this Chevrolet Avalanche is still warm, the owner can't be too far away, I doubt he would leave such an expensive resource behind."

"Same story on this Ford Focus", another voice said, a woman's, "roll cage, stripped interior, Manual transmission."

"Isn't that the Texas Circuit Terror?", another woman asked, "sure looks like it."

"Looks are where it ends", a second man said, "no way it's the Texas Circuit terror, why would it be in South Carolina?"

"True enough", a third man said, "split off and search the rest stop, find the owners of these vehicles and bring them to me."

"yes sir", about five voices answered.

"Fuck", Ricky growled, "they come in here were screwed."

"Out the back", I said, "stay low and only engage if your spotted, otherwise wait for my go."

Abbie grabbed the stove and shoved it into the food duffle bag with the empty pots as quickly and quietly as she could and then we ran out the back. We crept around the side of the building and ended up behind the big F-150 and two guys.

"Fuck", I sighed, "can't shoot them, we'd sound the alarm."

"So how do we get away from this one?", Abbie asked.

I threw my AR-15 over my shoulder and reached for my combat knife. Ricky went for his as well, seeming to know my plan.

"Jericho", I said pointing to one of the men, "go boy!"

Jericho, without making a sound, took off for one of the men. Pouncing on him from behind and grabbing his neck. I closed the distance and had the other man in my grip before he could do anything. I buried my knife into his neck and tossed Abbie a package of C4 that I had in my vest.

"Put it on the engine", I said taking the bag from her and sticking it in the Avalanche, "when I close this tailgate it will give us away, Raf, get Jericho and get in the truck, Ricky, get in your Renault."

Abbie stuck the pack of C4 underneath the engine of the F150 and then ran to her focus. I waited till she was buckled in and ready to go before slamming my tailgate shut and running to the riverside of the Chevy.

"There around front!", I heard one of the women shout.

"Go go go!", I shouted as I did up my harness as quickly as I could before kicking the clutch and starting the truck. Abbie, Ricky and I raced out of the parking lot as the mercs ran to their F-150 and piled in. I saw the truck pull out of the parking lot and start towards us. It wasn't short on power as it managed to close a sizable 300 yard gap in a very little amount of time.

"Punch it!", I said over the CB as I turned the boost controller off and jammed the pedal to the floor. Abbie and Ricky must have turned their controllers off as well because all three us put about 200 yards between us and the Ford.

"Blow it Cameron", Ricky shouted.

I reached into my center console and pulled out the Detonator.

"Go to hell!", I growled as I clicked the button and the Ford pursuing us went up in a cloud of diesel smoke and fire.

"Fuck me!", Ricky said as we slowed down to a stop. I slid out of the Chevy and stared back at the burning F-150.

Abbie and Ricky came up as Raf got out of the truck with Jericho.

"Ricky", I said, "who were those guys?"