FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The gangsters scurried apart fearfully as they saw a heavy, crazed cheetah thundering at them.

Benjamin pounced at the gangsters and slammed one of the gunners against the wall with his heavy paws.

The others tried to shoot him, but he darted around them and got out of sight.

Benjamin knew not to fight fully alerted enemies. Hunt for the wounded and weakened ones first.

So he went straight for the gangsters hung up by Adira's traps. He sank his teeth into a zebra's neck and tore her throat out.

The zebra's friends tried to save her, but their sight was snatched by Benjamin's claws, their guns dropped and body torn apart by the cheetah.

Cheetahs didn't have the sharpest claws in the room, but his claws were plenty unfriendly around eyeballs. The gangsters felt a shadow whisk past them, a swipe and they never saw anything else ever again. They tried to shoot blindly and ended up wounding each other.

He killed all of them in frenzy, each and every gangster that tried to fight back or run. He was not satisfied, the bear was missing.

He ran around the warehouse trying to find her, his eyes darting left and right in search for the large mammal. At last he smelled fear from a room. She was cornered.

'I swear it was an accident. I didn't mean to shoot her!' The bear pleaded to the slowly approaching cheetah, his mouth dripping blood as he walked slowly towards his target slowly.

Benjamin didn't recognize her words. He only knew to kill this bear painfully and make her suffer.

She had no choice. She stood up and opened her arms in preparation for the fight.

Benjamin went straight for her exposed belly and bit into the soft layer of tissue. The bear tried to push him away and watched in horror as Benjamin yanked and tore a large hole in her belly.

There was a reason why mammals used to walk and fight on all fours. It was to protect their soft underside. Trust was established when predator and prey stood up.

The bear struggled and screamed as the cheetah dove his head in and maimed her insides.

As he mauled her intestines, Benjamin remembered about the wounded panda. The panda also had to pay. He prowled back into the house for the panda lying on the floor, leaving the limp body of bear behind. He leapt at the panda and was pulled backwards by the tail.

'You don't want to do this, Ben...' Mansa grabbed the tail as tightly as he could.

The cheetah hissed in annoyance. He tried to pull himself out of the grip and failed, his paws slipping on the floor. He lost his temper and slashed the buffalo's face.

Mansa tried to dodge the claws by yanking his head back as far as he could. The claws narrowly missed his eyes and left a deep gash on his ridge instead. Mansa gasped in agony after the sudden jerk and his chest felt as though stabbed with a burning poker. Benjamin's tail slipped out of his clutch as Mansa had no strength left in his hooves.

'Please...' Mansa begged one last time as Benjamin bared his fangs at the panda. The cheetah looked crossly back at Mansa upon his begging. All of a sudden Benjamin's consciousness returned for a split second, and he collapsed on Adira.

Mansa panted as his consciousness slipped bit by bit from him. He saw the pool of blood under Adira meet his and his heart sank.

It's all over. Mansa could hear hurried footsteps around him before blacking out, sinking deep down to a bottomless abyss... he couldn't breathe...

Benjamin heard from the other mammals that you don't feel anything when you are unconscious. It wasn't true.

He kept seeing his sister get shot, then Mansa. And he watched in disbelief as he saw himself rushing in to fight the gunners, tearing them limb from limb. Diving into the bear's belly to eviscerate her, his teeth sinking into warm and tender intestines, he could taste it in his mouth and to his disgust; he somehow enjoyed the sensation of biting into another mammal's insides.

The memories were in shambles, jumping from one place to another, and yet stubbornly haunted him without mercy.

Benjamin screamed in his nightmare. He wanted out. He was crying out tears and yet the images remained crystal clear in his dream. It lasted for an eternity before he felt his tears being wiped gently from his eyes.

He opened his eyes with difficulty. He felt the bright light and unfamiliar bed. He saw Mansa sitting in a hardback chair by his bed, looking at him gently. He was in a hospital.

'Where's sis?'

Mansa didn't answer. He was afraid that he might also break down in front of Benjamin. Benjamin saw his brown eyes staring at him apologetically and understood.

He cried more onto Mansa's chest. He couldn't stop himself. Mansa held Benjamin in a tight embrace and forced his own tears back,

'I'm sorry...'

Crying hurt, Benjamin felt as though his body was on fire as he sobbed and sniveled in Mansa's hug.

Mansa waited until Benjamin had calmed down slightly and poured him a cup of water, 'Try not to over exert yourself. You've overworked your muscles.' Mansa said in an attempt to change the topic.

Benjamin quietly sipped the cup of water. Besides the sorrow he had for his sister, he also had a burning question to ask.

'Mansa, I saw things before I woke up...'

'What did you see?' Mansa asked sharply.

Benjamin couldn't recall the fractured nightmare clearly, 'I saw myself biting at others and ate a bear's insides. You also appeared in the dream trying to stop me...'

'No!' Mansa shouted furiously.

Benjamin was scared of Mansa's expression and trembled.

Mansa began again, 'I mean. It's just a nightmare, Ben. The things you saw, they never happened, okay?'

Masna grabbed Benjamin by the shoulders and looked intently at the cheetah, 'Forget them, all of them. You fainted after Adira was shot, so whatever you saw is not real.'

Benjamin was still shaken by Mansa's reaction to his mention of a nightmare. But he trusted Mansa.

'It's just a bad dream.' Benjamin repeated to himself and Mansa.

Mansa nodded and stood up, 'I'll come back this evening.'

He limped out of the room.

Benjamin held up his paws with difficulty and inspected. He didn't see any trace of blood. Then he noticed his phone on the bedside cabinet. He reached painfully to the side to pick up the phone.

He swiped the lock and saw it was already Saturday. There were also 2 unread messages from <BUFFalo>.

<BUFFalo> Sorry but I have things to do on Saturday. I can't come to the concert with you.

<BUFFalo> My friend is in kind of a situation right now and I must take care of him.

<CHEEtah> It's okay I'm kinda in a situation right now. I can't go tonight either becoz I'm staying in hospital.

<BUFFalo> Do you need me to visit? I'm near the hospital.

<CHEEtah> No, I'm fine. My friend just left.

Benjamin paused a while before continuing,

<CHEEtah> Maybe it's fate that we don't get to meet each other. I'm afraid that everything would change if we see each other, like waking up from a good dream. I need every good thing in my life right now.

<BUFFalo> I understand.

Benjamin stared at the ceiling mindlessly for the rest of the afternoon, refusing meals and mourning Adira. It was until Mansa finally returned in the evening that he managed to crack a tiny smile,

'You came.' Benjamin noticed the addition of stars to Mansa's uniform.

'Sorry for being late, the station is extremely busy right now.' Mansa sat down, trying his best not to show his stress and exhaustion to Benjamin, 'I brought your favourite.'

Mansa fed Benjamin donuts for the rest of the evening until the nurses shooed Mansa away from the ward.