FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Location: New Vega, South-East Section, Abandoned Rover Factory.

Time: 14:20pm.

Year: 2180, March 7th.

There were eight people in the room; me, Elise, four Red Foxes, one Red Dragon, and a short but bulky diving suit. We all stood on separate sides of the room, forming a rough circle. Everyone was carrying a weapon; from huge riddles to small handguns. Unfortunately I just had a crowbar, a baton, and a tire cap to use as a rough shield, so I was at the disadvantage here.

"Let's begin with a few name calls." I heard a voice say from the centre of the room. I quickly remembered that there were two Dragons there; one white, one black, and both talked at once. They must have been behind the whole treasure hunt...

"I can already see The Blood Clan." The Dragons continued; "It's hard to miss Rosie... there are others, though..."

"Elise Elorara Mayer, one key." Elise spoke up, introducing herself, taking a short bow and removing a small key from her cloak, holding it up.

"Aashaa Tyr, one key." The Red Dragon spoke up, holding up his key as well. The white and black Dragons nodded at once.

"Kobalt Monday." I spoke up after a long pause; "Working alongside Elise Elorara Mayer."

"More people to join The Great Hunt!" The Dragons exclaimed. "Now we shall get right down to-."

The Dragons had suddenly stopped. We all heard someone yell down from the top of the warehouse, directed at all of us. We all looked up at someone wearing a Seeker jumpsuit, showing only his black head fur. It was Enhime!

"Hold it right there!" He yelled out, sliding down a ladder reaching up to him. "You're all under arrest!"

"What the hell?" One of the Red Foxes said, holding up a gun. "Who the fuck are you? Answer me now!"

"Thanks for the help, Kobalt." Enhime called over to me. "You made it much easier for me to arrest everyone here; as well as you, of course."

"What's going on, Enhime?" I asked, drawing my crowbar and shield. "Don't tell me you're an Enforcer. I may just have to kill you."

"I'm afraid so." Enhime confessed, drawing a large handgun. "I did a bit of research; did you know that this 'treasure' is considered Enforcer property. I could kill you all for just knowing about it."

"Either shut up and fight." I offered; "Or run back to you're buddies; but you've ratted out the Seekers, so you know I can't let you leave alive."

Enhime pulled the trigger, sending a flurry of bullets my way and everyone else into cover. Luckily, my shield was large enough for me to crouch behind, and I pulled Elise with me so that neither of us would be hit by the bullets; I still needed her to get this treasure, though I didn't need her as much as I wanted her. She was good company, which is rare in these situations.

I heard the bullets ping off of the metal shield, after which I proceeded forwards, still covering mine and Elise's body from the spray of bullets. I was just half a dozen meters away when the bullets had stopped firing. Instead, the noise had been replaced with a loud scream and a much louder drilling noise. I looked over the shield with Elise and watched in surprise; though most people would have watched in horror.

Standing face to face with Enhime was none other than Rosie. It had just been scratched by a few bullets, and his right drill-arm was shoved into Enhime's chest. Blood was leaking from the wound and almost completely stained Rosie's drill-arm. The large diving suit advanced forwards and into a wall, terrain off a small support beam and impaling Enhime in the heart, leaving him hanging on the wall, and pulling off what looked like another key. Rosie just let out a loud grunting moaning sound, and returned to what was the circle of people.

"Well that's just great." The Red Dragon sighed, looking at me. "I'm not blaming you; anyone could have fallen for a slimy bastard like him. Now let's get back to..."

The Dragon had slowly stopped mid-sentence, and looked in shock at the pillar of light that held the two other Dragons. It looked as if the pillar had been hit by one of the stray bullets, and was starting to shatter. The image was flickering off and on repeatedly, in a stammering voice.

"Th-the G-great Hunt-t-t-t will Cont-cont-inue." The Dragons stuttered in a hazy and monotone voice. "S-sudden D-d-death is in effect...effect...effect."

The pillar had faded to black, but didn't shatter. It just stood there, with the bullet still implanted in it. My mind was buzzing; who were the Director and Epitaph? Why and how did they organize this treasure hunt? What do they have to gain? Were they even still alive? Just before I could ask myself anymore questions, a shot was fired into the air. I looked over to one of the four Red Foxes, who held his gun up.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" The Fox asked rhetorically. "It's sudden death now. We can do whatever we want. Let's roll boys!"

At that, the four Red Foxes pulled out all of their guns and formed a circle, shooting at everyone else; the Red Dragon, Elise, even Rosie. Everyone had split up and attempted to leave the room except for me and Elise, who took cover behind the tire cap that I was still carrying. We were both backed up in a corner, and were fully protected, listening to the bullets constantly ping off of whatever they hit; especially Rosie's armor. That was their worst mistake.

The bullets had stopped for a moment, giving me a chance to look over and take a look. One of the Red Foxes had been drilled by Rosie, who barely had a scratch. Rosie tore the hanging body from its drill-arm and threw it to one side, leaving a large trail of blood. The Red Dragon was the next to fall; it had planted a knife into another Fox's neck, but was unfortunately drilled by Rosie. The drill hand hit the underbelly, the only weak point of a Dragon's scales, causing blue blood to pour out and stain the right side of Rosie's body.

There were only five of us left now; two Red Foxes, Rosie, me and Elise. By the time that Rosie had removed the Red Dragon from its drill and dropped the body on the floor, the two Foxes had already escaped out of the large room. Elise paid no attention to Rosie, and ran up to the large pillar in the centre, running her hands along it and turning back to me.

"Hold down Rosie for a second." She ordered. "I need just need to get something from here."

I obeyed without thinking, and drew my crowbar, holding my shield in my right hand. Rosie ran up slowly with its stubby legs and prepared to drive its drill into my chest, just like the last three people it killed. Unfortunately for him, I put my shield in the way and stepped to the side; the drill had pierced the shield, but didn't break it. Instead, the tire cap had jammed the drill, stopping it and creating a small cloud of smoke. I took that opportunity and tore what looked like an oxygen tube out of Rosie's mask, letting out a white cloud of smoke.

"Let's go." Elise called to me. "It'll be back up before you know it."

I quickly turned around to face Elise and ran alongside her, and away from Rosie. She was holding something; it looked like a small black cube about quarter of the size of the palm of her hand.

Before I could ask her about it, I saw a figure in front of us; it was one of the Red Foxes again. He held up a small handgun and was about to pull the trigger, aiming for Elise. It made sense since she was the one with the key; I was just dead weight in his eyes; but before he could pull the trigger, I pushed Elise back and stepped in the way, resulting in me being shot, but giving Elise a chance to shoot back.

I fell to the ground and heard a few shots being exchanged, and finally, it all stopped. I had passed out from shock, and partly because I just realized how exhausted I was again.

I felt terrified. I wasn't ready to die yet, and I was so uncertain about where I would go; if all death had was just darkness.

I didn't know where I was at all. I felt like I was floating on water, but it wasn't cold or warm. It was like floating on nothing but air; I wasn't even sure that there was any air at all. I didn't try to breathe, but at the same time I felt like I didn't need to. I couldn't tell the difference between closing and opening my eyes; both had resulted in me only seeing black, and nothing else.

I couldn't feel anything; I wasn't scared, I wasn't confused, nothing at all; though I did feel curious. Something must be here with me; it was just instinct that I thought that. I couldn't see, and I couldn't hear anything. I took my first breath tried to calm myself. With that done, I tried to sniff out anything that could be there; there was nothing. No smell at all, only fresh air. That was what bothered me; It was like I was out in the open.

Suddenly, there was a flash, but the noise didn't settle in until seconds after the flash had faded out. It was like white noise, and nothing else. I opened my eyes and saw a completely white floor, which completely contrasted with the pitch black sky overhead. There was a grey line in-between the two, which constantly shifted around to block my vision wherever I looker. It was that feeling when you had something in your way, and no matter where you looked, it was always in your way when you wanted to see past it.

My breathing started to quicken, and my body was trembling. I felt cold; the kind of cold that dug right into your body, and didn't affect the outside of your body at all; that kind of internal cold when you were ill or stressed. No matter how many times I tried to calm down or keep warm, I kept failing and shivering. I began to scream out and twist and turn, trying to get the grey line out of my sight. Unfortunately, my efforts were useless; I even tried to fall to the floor and just face the white floor, but it was useless.

I just lay there, facing the pitch black sky; at least then the line would be less visible. I didn't know what to do after that. I just spread all of my limbs out and began turning to the left, then to the right, then looked back up at the sky.

"Wake up." I heard a voice echo through my head. "You don't look that beaten up."

I started to breathe in and out slowly and deeply. I wasn't in control of my body; I unintentionally moaned and groaned in pain, and felt as if I was lying in a bed with the sheets pulled over up to my head. I slowly felt like I was suffocating, and slowly losing consciousness; but just before that, I heard the voice echo in my head again.

"Good to see you up." The Voice echoed. "You really are a heavy sleeper."