FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Part 10

Chase grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and rather easily tore it off as Judy sat nearby nursing her leg, which was still throbbing. Bending down, the wolf tied the sleeve around the wound and tightened it. "You sure you can walk?" He asked as she stood up and somewhat teetered from one side to the other.

"I might need a little help, but I'll be okay."

"Come on." Fangmeyer said as he helped the bunny stabilize. "We've got to find the Chief and get out of here before those things decide to eat us."

The tunnel that the trio found themselves in had tightened to a point where they could only travel one at a time, and the tiger's nerves were already getting the better of him as they continued onward.

"Toby, are you okay?" Chase asked after a few yards of even his chest pressing against the walls. At least at this point it seemed to have stopped growing tighter and the tiger continued ahead of them.

"F-fine..." He answered. "Jus-just let's keep moving."

"Is anyone else feeling water on their feet?" Judy asked after a few more steps.

Chase could feel water now, but it was getting deeper with every step they took. "Must be a leak up ahead." He whispered. "Just keep going."

"I can't..." Fangmeyer said after another step. Looking back at the others, his face looked practically pale in the dull light coming from Howard's flashlight. "I'm st-stuck!" He grunted as he tried to move and suddenly thrust his hands against the walls, his nails dragging down them as he tried to desperately push on them, like he were trying to spread the walls apart.

"Calm down! Fangmeyer!" Chase shouted. "Listen to me, you'll be fine. What's stuck?"

"I-I don't know! I can't move..." He looked around erratically. "I think my chest is free, but something is holding me back, s-something is--choking me!" He gagged suddenly as he panicked, kicking back a bit wildly now.

"Chase... the water's getting higher here, I can feel it." Judy said into the wolf's ear, hoping Fangmeyer wouldn't overhear.

"Water?!" Fangmeyer's eyes had widened, his pupils constricted in his panic and he began to thrash. "GET ME OUT OF HERE! GET ME OUT!!!" He screamed now, scratching at the walls.

"Toby, calm down! Calm down! We need to figure out what's--"

"GET ME OUT! GET ME OUT!" Panic was settling in as Fangmeyer began to kick at the walls with his free feet, punching into the concrete and bruising his knuckles up.

Chase's ears picked up as he could hear something ripping. Quickly, he began to search for the source and tried to avoid the violent tiger thrashing about. Soon, he found it; a bolt had caught the folds of Fangmeyer's uniform and became twisted but the wolf couldn't pull it free due to the tiger's movements. "Fangmeyer! Fangmeyer! Listen to me, I can get you unstuck if you'd just hold--if you'd just--RAAAAAHHH!" Chase had had enough and instead shoved the tiger hard to get him away from the bolt.

Fangmeyer's roars of desperation turned into one of complete surprise as the few inches he was pushed, he found himself falling down a small incline and splashing into a small pool of water. Suddenly, he came up in shivers and grabbed his shoulders. His shirt had torn completely off him and he was now sitting half naked in the water that had been slowly flooding the tunnel. As Judy and Chase stepped through to join him, they both reacted simultaneously to touching the water.

"Freezing!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"T-Trust me... I know." Fangmeyer growled.

"It must be runoff from Tundra Town." Chase surmised as he investigated the pipe that looked like it was gushing water.

"I remember reading a report of unexplained warm spots there." Judy said. "This must be the cause."

"We'll report it to the mayor later." Chase said. "But for now, let's get out of here." He pointed to a ladder built into the wall that led upward.

"Oh, me first!" Fangmeyer exclaimed as he leapt to his feet and happily made his way toward the next opening; another manhole cover above them.

"Wait, Fangmeyer!" Judy shouted going up after him. "We have to check to make sure it's clear! Fangmeyer! Get back here!"

The trio climbed to the top of the ladder, but before Judy could stop him, the tiger pushed open the cover and exited into the room above.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" His voice cried out in disappointment as the other two made their way up.

The manhole had opened beside a set of train tracks; they had made it higher, but they were still in the middle of a subway tunnel. It was dark, but there were lights that illuminated the tunnel in front of them. Chase turned on his flashlight again and looked around, thankfully not finding any of the creatures they had been trying to escape from. "Looks like we're in the tunnels that travel between the Sahara Square and Tundra Town districts." He said. "I suggest we head toward the colder climate, keep the dinos from chasing us."

"Right, and which way is that?" Judy asked. "Both ways look the same."

"We just need to wait for a train to pass by." Chase said. "If it's covered in ice, we'll know which way is the right way."

"A train like that one?" Fangmeyer said, pointing toward a light suddenly appearing at the end of the tunnel.

"Right." Howard said before suddenly realizing the danger. "Oh, nuts."

Fangmeyer grabbed Judy and hoisted her up as he and Chase made their way down the tunnel, running to avoid being hit by the train. Their footsteps were quickly overcome by the rumbling noise of the approaching vehicle as both of them jumped at the last second onto a platform that gave them just enough room to not be struck as the silvery subway train rushed past them.

All three were panting, despite the fact Judy wasn't running. "I am--ready for this day to be over." Fangmeyer complained.

"Anyone get the license number of that train?" Chase asked. "Or at least its temperature?"

"I'm afraid I was running too hard for my life to notice." Fangmeyer panted.

*BANG!* A noise came from above. *BANG!*

"Oh no, what now?" Fangmeyer asked, looking up to a big ventilation duct that was over their heads.

*KABANG!*

The third strike knocked the panel loose and the three moved out of the way as it came crashing down. Looking up, they could see that Chief Bogo and Professor Onna were in the shaft looking down at them.

"Well, look what the cats dragged in?" Bogo remarked.

"Chief!" Judy exclaimed. "Oh it's so good to see you!"

"Hopps, Fangmeyer, Howard. Are you alright?" He asked.

"As good as can be expected, sir." Chase answered as he helped Bogo lower Onna to the ground before hopping down himself. "How did you end up in there?" He asked, admiring that Bogo's uniform was covered in dirt, grime and rips that exposed some of his darker gray fur underneath.

"Trust me, you don't want to know. Fangmeyer! Where is the rest of your uniform?"

Fangmeyer shifted a bit uneasily on his feet. "You really don't want to hear about it, sir."

"That replacement will be coming out of your next paycheck." He threatened.

Fangmeyer sighed and nodded. "Yessir..."

"Kidding." Bogo said as he punched the tiger on the shoulder. "It is good to see you're in better shape than you were earlier though."

"Well as much as I'd love to hang out in the sewers and revel in this comradery, I think we should probably be getting out of here?" Judy suggested. "We were trying to find our way to Tundra Town."

"I believe we are in the tunnels between Sahara Square and the Rainforest District." Bogo said, sniffing the air. "I smell water, and a lot of it."

"That would be the leaking pipe below us I think." Chase said.

"Let's just go, shall we?"

"Uhm... Joseph?

Onna's voice trailed off as she pointed straight down the tunnel in front of them. Three of the Allosaurs, who had made their way past the sewers somehow were now walking down the tunnel toward them. They each headbutted one another, but as they noticed the group of five, they paused and stared at them for a few seconds.

"How close do they need to be for you to activate their collars?" Bogo asked.

Onna looked down at her tablet, which was dark. She tapped it, but the screen would not come on. She gasped and her hands began to tremble as she dropped the device. "N-not close enough..." She said, and one of the creatures made out an echoing roar.

"RUN!" Bogo roared as the group turned and made their way down the tunnel.

The dinos all let out roars as they gave chase, their claws digging hard into the gravel as they ran after the group of five. Judy looked back as Fangmeyer held her in one arm, running down the tunnel. She watched as one of the dinosaurs stepped on the electrified rail and flew off the tracks, crashing hard into a wall. "One down!"

"Two to go! More than enough to kill us!" Onna said. "We have got to get to the surface!"

"Why? What's on the surface?" Chase asked.

"Don't ask, we'll go!" Bogo said as they continued to make their way down the dark tunnel.

Finally, the three reached the depot and each got out of the pit quickly, Chase; the last one to jump out of the tunnel felt the snap of jaws only an inch from his feet and the group made their way up the stairs and into the blazing hot sunlight. All of them cringed and shielded their eyes so they would get used to the brightness. Chase dipped his fingers into the uniform pocket and pulled out a pair of nice aviator glasses that he slipped on to help block out some of the light.

"I'm guessing this isn't Tundra Town." Judy said.

"Hurry! This way!" Onna said as the group continued to follow her. "We've only got one chance to stop them in their tracks."

"Here they come! Here they come!" Chase shouted, seeing the familiar three shapes exiting the tunnel and running after them.

"Quickly! Here!"

Onna dove behind an old, sunbleached building and the four remaining ran just after her. Finding her panting, out of breath and leaning against the brick wall, Bogo noticed she couldn't stop a laugh of relief.

"Victoria? What are you doing? We need to keep moving, we need to warn Zootopia--"

"That won't be necessary, Joseph." She said, regaining some of her composure. "I told you, we had another contingency. Right?"

"What are you talking about? Those things are right behind us!" Fangmeyer exclaimed.

"Are they?" She asked.

Chase and Fangmeyer looked at each other, then returned to the edge of the building to look out. To their surprise, the dinosaurs were nowhere to be found; they had simply vanished without a trace. Their footprints in the sand however quickly they were fading had stopped only about one hundred yards away. Slowly, they returned to the others.

"They're gone..." Chase said.

"What did you do?" Bogo asked, turning around to see Victoria backing away slowly. "Victoria?"

"I'm sorry, Joseph." She said. "I mean, there were so many things we had to prepare for, when Link cut the power to the facility, he shut down all of our power grids, underground and on the surface. I was really hoping she hadn't escaped, but I was wrong."

"Who?!" Judy asked. "Who escaped?!"

"She was our first subject... an Allosaurus who grew three times larger than the others, we couldn't control her, but we were able to contain her in our outdoor facility..." She frowned. "Fortunately, she was able to finish off her rivals--unfortunately, she will need a little more taming to stop and I can't risk being killed before we can control her again."

"Wait... Victoria."

"Meet... Big Momma."

Fangmeyer saw the vision of a shadow approaching from behind him as Chase gasped and Judy grabbed his leg in shock, the shadow of the great dinosaur suddenly covering them and blotting out all the daylight from an enormous dinosaur that had spotted them. It roared loudly, making the desert's winds look like mere gusts of warm air in comparison. Their fur fluttered back for a moment as they found themselves face to face with a queen of an extinct world now towering over them.