FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

by Hector Scofield and Ben243

Kenny and I had known each other since we were in Kindergarten. We were best friends, even though his parents always thought I was a bad influence on him. Granted, they weren't entirely wrong. I got him into trouble more than once, but in return was always there when he needed me.

Our paths separated when he went to college. Unfortunately, my grades were not good enough to get me in, so I stayed behind and looked for a job to keep me afloat until I managed to breakthrough as a writer. I tried in all possible professions such as waiters, bike messenger, Burger Flipper ... but they were too tiring for me, and did not bring in enough money to support me. What I needed was a job where I could have plenty of opportunity to work on my novel. A job with minimal distractions!

One evening after a night on the town, I met that guy, Hank, who was not only good in bed, but great looking too. After a long talk during our date, he told me he worked for a security company and they had several openings available. That sounded interesting to me, and I asked him if there was a night watchman position open. He said there was, and gave me some tips on how to get my application noticed.

A few days later I had the job. The pay was not great, but for now it was enough. I started school in the first week and spent my first few nights with a supervisor. The assignment was an exhibition hall on the outskirts of the city. My boss brought a large German Shepherd named Max with him, who obeyed his verbal commands quickly and efficiently, but would also sit eerily quiet. The first time I saw him, I thought he was stuffed and wanted to touch him on the muzzle. As I reached over, he barked suddenly. I literally jumped out of my skin. My boss laughed, and I couldn't help feel embarrassed.

We patrolled the halls paying careful attention to every sound and shadow. Nothing seemed to escape Max's attention. I do not know why, but something bothered me about Max. My boss had control of him, but it seemed like he was fighting him sometimes. It gave me an odd feeling. Something was defiantly wrong, but I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem.

My proficiency scores proved most satisfactory, so I was finally left alone and Max disappeared from my life. I wasn't allowed to carry a weapon yet, but I was issued a walkie-talkie, a flashlight, and a pouch with pepper spray in it to carry around with me. The uniform looked good on me, that much was clear. It consisted of a grey shirt with black trim and tie, black pants, black shoes, and a black leather belt with enough pockets and connecters for all my gear.

The nights were quiet and uneventful. No one would dream of breaking in here. There was barely something of value. I was mostly here for insurance reasons.

I had hoped to have some time to work on my novel, but it was often so quiet that it was hard to concentrate. I almost would even have been happy to deal with some burglars to break the monotony. Damn, even with all of Max's peculiarities I would have loved to have him by my side!

One day, as I was getting ready for work, there was a knock at my door. It was Kenny. I was surprised to see him after all this time. He explained that he had a fight with the dean of the college and decided to drop out. He couldn't tell his parents as they would never understand, and would probably kill him. He needed a place where he could stay the next few days and work things out. Of course, I offered him my bed. I had only one key at the moment, I had never needed more, and my schedule often caused me to come in late when most people would be asleep. I wasn't sure I wanted to leave Kenny alone in the state of mind he was in, so I suggested he come with me to work. Why not, he said, we were on the way.

It was only when we pulled up to the entrance that I remembered the security system. I didn't know how I could sneak him in without getting us both into trouble. I could control the cameras, and delete the security tapes. The security doors, on the other hand, had been equipped with special sensors that registered and logged each person as they walked through.

In my case, that was not a problem because they had implanted me with a chip in my right hand, that also allowed them to track my location within the building and served as my time card.

How I could smuggle Kenny in was a mystery to me. I couldn't send him home as we only had the one car, and we were too far from the city for the bus. Neither of us had enough cash for a taxi.

Suddenly I had an idea! I told Kenny to wait outside and ran to my office. After three minutes, I came back. When he realized what I was holding in his hands, he was terribly frightened.

"What's this?!!" he shouted in panic. "Stay away from me with that thing!" It was the jet injector my boss used on my first day for the implant in my hand. He had probably forgotten about it after and left it in the office. That alone wouldn't have helped much, but luckily when I was searching for some coffee the other day, I had found a vial with another microchip. It took a lot of persuasion for Kenny to allow me to inject the implant. He was ultimately convinced with a case of beer. I pressed the injector against his skin and heard the hiss as it delivered its payload.

My ill conceived plan seemed to work and we spent the rest of the night playing cards together and roaming the hallways talking about old times. When my shift finally drew to a close, we packed our things.

I made sure to replace the Injector in the office so no one would be the wiser. As I removed the vial the chip had been in to dispose of it, I noticed it said "Max". I laughed at the thought of Kenny being identified as a dog. But I began to worry that it might had some negative effects on him, so I kept this secret for now and drove us home.

I went straight to bed, while Kenny played a video on his phone. When I awoke hours later he was sprawled out on the sofa making strange noises. I figured he was just having a nightmare and let him sleep. It was getting late, so I went off to HQ, where I got prepared to finally get my Weapons licence. I would have to deal with Kenny when I got home.

After lecture, I spoke to my boss. I told him I accidentally broke the vial with Max's name while cleaning the security room and asked if there was something important in it. As might be expected, it was Max's replacement implant. But he told me not to worry as they could make a new one within a few days. I was puzzled and asked him why it would take so long. Why not just reprogram one of the existing microchips like the one I had implanted? This made him suspicious and he asked why I wanted to know. His sudden serious tone made me uncomfortable. "Just curiosity!" I replied cautiously and then quickly ended the conversation.

When I went back to the apartment I was almost frightened to death. Kenny was sitting on the sofa and wasn't moving. He just stared straight ahead. It was creepy, somehow it reminded me of Max. "Everything okay?" I asked cautiously. He looked at me as if he had just noticed me. "I slept well! Did you sleep well?" He almost sounded like a robot. I nodded!

"If you want to take a shower, towels are in the second drawer from the top." - "Should I take a shower?" he asked, as if he were just waiting for the command. Curious about what would happen, I said, "Yes!" Kenny jumped up, went straight into the bathroom and closed the door. A little later I could hear the shower running. Oddly there was no other noise. No singing! Because of our time at summer camp, I knew that Kenny liked to sing while in the shower, mostly Bohemian Rhapsody. This time there was not a peep from him. I was really starting to think that something was wrong.

I thought for a while what to do. If his behavior was due to the implant I had to get it out as soon as possible. I decided to ask an old friend, a physics teacher for some suggestions. He had little to offer and suggested that I try to cut it out. I was leery to try but didn't know what else to do.

When I got back to the apartment, Kenny sat soaking wet and stark naked on the floor, like a dog, staring stoically in front of himself. He seemed to have no will of his own, waiting for commands from his master. I didn't like the zoned out look in his eyes.

I made up my mind, I couldn't waste anymore time. I grabbed the scalpel I'd bought on the way at a Medical supply shop, looked at Kenny and told him to give me his "paw". I told him to hold really still and brought the knife down into contact with his arm. As I managed to pull out the implant, he began to scream all of a sudden, and started writhing in pain. His flailing caused the scalpel to fly out of my hand and clatter to the floor several feet away. My heart was racing. Had I permanently damaged my best friend? No! He came to after a few seconds. He asked what had happened and I took him in my arms.

While Kenny was recovering from the ordeal, I went to buy him the beer I had promissed. I went through in thought the events of the past 24 hours. It seemed absurd. Like the plot of a pulp sci-fi novel! I had to laugh: It was almost a pity that I had to destroy the chip. In the end, Kenny would propably make a really good Guard dog.

I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to pull the tapes from last night! If my boss reviewed them, and saw that I had Kenny there when I was supposed to be working, I would be fired. Or worse. I had to get back there and get rid of the evidence.

I drove as fast as I could to the fairgrounds, hoping none of my colleagues would be in the video room. Unfortunately, I had forgotten I was a big blinking dot on the monitors - it was normally me to register stuff like that. I barely made it down the corridor when my collegue dashed out from the security office. I tried to explain I had forgotten something, but to my dismay he was followed by my boss who already held the Video tape in his hands. I had to answer some tough questions and tried to explain what happened. When I confessed I'd removed the implant, he all of a sudden panicked and commanded me to bring him to Kenny immediatly.

It was already dark when we arrived. I opened the door to my apartment, and what we saw nearly gave me a heart attack! The apartment was a pile of rubble. Everything was broken, loose wood and leftover food were strewn about. And in a corner of the room was Kenny. I couldn't help but stare at him. From head to toe he was covered with brown-black fur. His arms and legs looked unnaturally bent. I would have sworn his mouth was somewhat elongated and his nose looked flatter. He was crying, no, howling in quiet desperation. "What is happening with me?" he yelped. "What you did to me?"

I slept little that night in the cell until I was finally brought to my bosses office. He was furious, ranting and screaming. Losing my job was the least of my worries now. I could end up in jail, or worse. But I still was concerned about the outcome of Kenny's Transformtion. As I asked my boss, he became a bit calmer and decided to show me the edited Recordings from the lab. To reassure me, but also to punish me for what I had done.

Kenny was tied to an Hospital bed, surrounded by figures in white lab coats, either puzzled what to do, testing or attaching machines to monitor his body functions. With each cut his changes seemed to be accelerating: Cut. His mouth was now several inches longer, and his nose was completely black. Cut. His fingers had shortened, and his thumbs had almost disappeared. Cut. His hands and feet were now completely paws. Cut. His face was unrecognizable as his nose and mouth had completely changed. Cut. He was unable to speak, and could only whine. His ears had become pointed and moved to the top of his head. Cut. The fur had gotten thicker, and I could no longer see his skin underneath. Cut. A fully formed tail unfurled from underneath him. Finally my boss stopped the tape and I was sitting there, shaking. There were no words. No thougt. Just nausea and desperation.

My boss decided to explain what happened. The implant was part of an Experimental treatment to accelerate training for Guard, Police and War Dogs. Max was a Beta tester and as I'd seen, the chip wasn't quiet adjusted yet. The vial I'd used on Kenny was a more advanced version, enhanced by some nanites that were also supposed to strengthen the carrier and even heal wounds and broken bones. As I extracted the implant I cut off the neural connection, but also triggered the nanites who began to repair the wound. Because Kenny was not a German Shepherd as they were programmed to assume, they rearranged his complete physiology.

I asked what happens next. My boss looked up and pointed outside his office window. Across the hall was Hank, the guy I had met in the bar, who had helped me get this job what felt like an eternity ago. On a leash, he was leading a black and brown shepherd, wearing a harness with a big patch of the company on it. I knew right away it was Kenny. I wanted to say something, but my boss stopped me. He grabbed me on the arm and forced me back on my seat.

"You can't just make him one of your damn Guard dogs!" I yelled at him. "That's insane! He's still a Human being!" Not any more, he replied serious. Kenny has now been completely and irreversible transformed into a dog and was still implanted with the nanites, which makes him a legal property of the company. And the company will by no means risking losing control of this technology again, it was to dangerous!

I could try to take responsibility, of course! Go to the authorities and tell them everything. But even if I could bring them to believe me, it would bring more harm to everyone than benefits, including Kenny. What would his parents say? Kenny would be seen as a monstrosity, a crime on humanity and I would get executed for commiting it! Hundereds of employees would lose their jobs if the company had to close. This way Kenny would at least had been taken care of and could be of some use!

I realised he was right, but was devastated though. This was all my fault and I could not do anything to help my friend. I was about to leave, sure I'd seen the last of Kenny! But I was stopped again by my boss. He had a sad look on his face, and I could tell he meant it when he said he wished there could be another solution.

Kenny was glad to return to his kennel after a long day on patrol. He had eventually gotten used to his life as a Guard dog, even adjusting to the food and the strange bond with his new master, who had no idea who Kenny really was, and his superiors had told him nothing that would make him suspect Kenny was anything other than a normal dog.

Kenny tried to sleep in the dark, cramped kennel. Listless, he started gnawing on a chew bone. Somewhere, a radio was on and playing his favorite song. He thought to himself, this is what he would miss the most. Not being able to sing! "Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead ..." No, Kenny thought. That was not the worst! The worst part was that his best friend had gotten him into this position and now he had abandoned him. "Mama, life had just begun. But now I've gone and thrown it all away ..." Some friend. Kenny thought. How could he have let this happen? Where did he go? Is he going to leave me here? "Mama ..." sang Freddie Mercury. "Woooohoooohooooohoooo ..." yelped the new dog in the kennel next door. Kenny looked up in surprise and into the dogs eyes. There seemed to be something familiar and mischievous in those eyes.