FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Bravery Part II

Days turned to weeks. Weeks into months.

Please, Cen thought, if there is anybody out there, please don't let it turn months into years. The boy tied down the heavy tarps to the Secret Base and looked up worriedly at the sky. The wind was blowing very hard lately, and every night he imagined their makeshift home coming apart. If not for Prill showing him how to tie some really fantastic knots, he was sure they wouldn't have been able to keep a roof over their heads.

Thinking about Prill made Cen pause, frowning and slowly sliding down the side of the rubble of the base, landing gently on his feet and pushing his forehead against the metal. Pain wracked his body and his hand clenched at his own chest as despair came once again.

The cat was not getting any better, Cen knew this. Lately he was even getting worse. What had been something of a bad flu had now taken Prill's strength and vitality, causing him to get tired quickly and sleep for long periods of time. At night it sounded like he had trouble breathing sometimes, but every time Cen woke the cat, he was fine, if not tired.

The dog came inside and ruffled out the fur on his neck with a sigh. It was nice and warm in the base. There was a glowing heat lamp set in the middle of their home which bounced warmth out and then in. Cen quickly got close to it and extended his paws over the heater and sighed as he thawed out.

"You're an ice cube again?" Prill asked, propped up in his next of blankets and reading a book. He seemed to be in a good spirit today.

"It's really windy outside!" Cen answered with a laugh, flopping down on the blankets next to his friend. They were camped out next to a textile factory of all things so they had all the blankets they could want. Cen pulled one around his shoulders. "But if the storm comes, like your little scanner says it is, we'll be waterproof and fine."

"I really should get up and check them." Prill rose up to his feet but was held down by a canine paw.

"Nah, you stay right there and warm. I did everything you told me and checked it three times. You need to rest and focus on getting better."

Frowning, the cat tried to protest, "But you--"

Cen shushed him up by waving a finger from side to side like a metronome to drive the point home. "You're restin'. I'm the worker, you're the thinker, we planned that out. So you focus on restin' and thinkin'. Capiche?"

"...Capiche." Prill begrudgingly surrendered and leaned back on his pillows. "Just don't push yourself too hard. You need to be heavy enough to help me walk out of here when rescue ships finally arrive."

"You know I will!" the dog answered with his own broad smile--while trying not to think about what it would be like if Prill didn't live that long.

There was a storm that night, and Cen couldn't sleep a wink. He stayed up the whole time listening to the wind shove and pull on their home. The sound of rain tapped rhythmically on the waterproof tarpaulin which he had found at the shop down the ruined road. Cen felt thankful for the find; they could be as dry as a bone because of it.

To keep himself busy, Cen picked up the medical kit he had found the other day. It was a sleek box like a briefcase. When he opened it up, he saw that the top part had a bunch of screens and little buttons. The bottom had some tools and inserts for various things. He pushed the button on the front and the medical kit came to life.

"Medical Kit 010A, initiated. Diagnostic and self-inventory analysis confirm that this medical kit is fully stocked and powered. Please proceed with the query and testing."

The screens came to life and blinked, the familiar sounds of a computer making him relax even as the wind roared loudly. It wasn't linked to the 'net or anything, but it was still part of a life he once had.

The dog pushed the buttons and worked through the menu. When the kit asked for his medical experience, he pushed the beginner indicator. The kit beeped once and the voice returned.

"User experience level: Beginner. This kit will assist the user with diagnostic and treatment necessary to triage most injuries and illnesses. Please be aware that this kit is not a suitable replacement for a proper medical professional, and a doctor should be summoned immediately."

No doctors here, the dog mused as he kept pushing buttons to familiarize himself with the controls. A lot of functions blinked red or yellow, the computer telling him to not use those functions unless indicated by the kit as the patient could be injured from improper use.

"Please remove the diagnostic scanner from the port. Port is blinking now."

A circular half sphere was flashing near the bottom portion of the kit. Cen plucked it out of the box and watched as the flat bottom began to glow and change colors rapidly.

"Please move back and forth over the patient's body until told to stop. Do not stop until told to do so. Do not scan another body while diagnosis is in progress."

The dog crawled closer to his friend and looked the device over once more. He brought it over and began to pass it back and forth along Prill's sleeping body. He watched as his friend's face and chest became illuminated in various colors. He didn't want to scare Prill, which was why he was using the kit at night. Cen never let on just how sick his friend actually was.

"Subject identified. Displaying vitals now."

Prill's lifesigns and information was on the small screen. Numbers were changing and he could recognize some things such as heart rate and blood pressure. Most of it may as well have been an off-worlder language.

"Analysis processing."

Cen waited.

"Treatment hold. Further data required to provide proper diagnosis. Beginning sample of air particulates now. Please use the indicated detronal scanner."

Cen plucked the scanner from the box and found the button to turn it on. This time it was a red beam which he held onto Prill's body. It beeped once and indicated to be put back in the slot.

"Dispensing blood analyzer hypospray."

A cylinder with a gold head was ejected. The dog turned it over in his hands as the computer displayed where to push it on the patient to take a blood sample.

"This won't hurt him, will it?" he asked nervously.

"Negative. Please collect the sample for analysis."

Cen pushed the gold head against his friend's arm and then pushed the flat button on the back of the device. A low hiss sounded and the clear phial in the base of the device began to fill with blood. The hypospray vibrated when it was full.

"Please put the blood sample in the analysis scanner."

A small port opened up on the port side of the box. Cen slipped it in and closed it up.

"Beginning analysis. Please stand by."

Cen began to get bored. The medical kit had told him it was working. He wondered if it was like one of his video games where it could get stuck in an endless loop of loading and processing. He thought about hitting it, or shaking it, but decided against it. He settled down and waited.

By the time the machine beeped, the storm was dying down outside. On the small screen were the words: "Analysis indeterminate."

Cen frowned and quickly pushed the button on the computer that said More Info and sat back on his shins.

"Medical diagnosis complete. Unknown illness resisted all means of identification by this unit. Unable to properly diagnose the patient and provide a cure."

"What does that mean? You can't figure it out?" Cen asked, grabbing both sides of the box and shaking it.

"Affirmative. This unit has exhausted all means to identify illness. Protocol 12-5 should be followed. Please take the patient to the nearest medical facility."

"But...we can't!"

"Processing. Dispensing with medicine to treat symptoms. Please seek proper medical care immediately."

And then the voice fell silent. Cen watched as a small box opened up with some pills of various colors. A small slip of paper was ejected with instructions on when and how to take them. The dog frowned. Just what was wrong with his friend...?

The medical kit was out of medicine, was out of power, and Cen was terrified. Prill was sleeping so much more lately. While the pills had absolutely helped keep him alive, he was asleep almost constantly. He couldn't even remember the last time Prill had been awake a whole day.

At first Cen wanted to give up, to cry, and just let it all go. He sat there next to Prill who was sleeping so comfortably and warm, who was breathing slower every day. What was going to happen to his friend if Cen gave up?

As tears rolled down Cen's face, the pup got up and shook his head, clenching his fists together hard enough that claws bit into flesh. There was no time to feel sad. Prill was going to make it and that's all there was to it. He hiked up his bag and slung it onto his back, tugging the straps so it would be secure against him and not bounce around when he moved. He looked down at the sleeping Prill and smiled before rushing out of the Secret Base, knowing where he would look today for supplies.

Nothing.

Nothing.

NOTHING!!

Where was everything? How could a planet devoid of life but for two kids run out of everything?! Cen thought as he wandered all the way to the other side of the city, through the rubble field they called the Shards -- the metal pieces jutted out like sharp blades and they had cut their hands trying to come through more than once. Prill had said they should never come back here; it was too dangerous. Cen agreed.

But he needed to get to the clinic and the only way was through the Shards. He had squirmed, pushed, crawled, ripped his sleeve, and all he could find was some bottles of water and stomach pills.

Alone, angry, sad, Cen screamed. He threw his head back and screamed as loud as he could, listening to his voice echo upwards along the walls of the buildings that had once been his home city now looking like rubble. He screamed until his lungs burned and then even a moment or two after.

His head spinning from the lack of oxygen he fell down to his knees and cupped his face with his hands, crying into them. He felt angry and helpless. He was so scared. What would he do if Prill died? What would he do if he couldn't find even the most awful of foods to eat? The idea of eating only cabbage until that too was gone made his stomach turn. But the mental image was enough to make him laugh in a very tired, sad kind of way.

He let himself gush all of his emotions until he didn't feel anything. He had to keep going; Prill was counting on him. Blinking the last few remaining drops of tears away, he pushed himself up onto his feet and wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. He had someone counting on him and he wasn't going to lose hope just because he ran into a bump or two. The small dog sighed and shook his head, collecting himself mentally.

"Gotta do it," he said to no one, clenching his fists as he took one step forward. Then another. And another.

Cen went into what he liked to think of as autopilot. He knew what to look for at this point, the boxes of supplies marked with blue and red corners, some even having flashing LED lights stuck to the sides of them. The red ones had medical supplies and the blue ones had food. The green one, which they had only found one of, was what they thought of as survival supplies. There had been rope, matches, a lighter, a small hatchet, a flare gun and an old analog compass.

Cen let his eyes scan the area while he withdrew into his thoughts, trying to plan out what they would do if he couldn't find medicine. He knew the next city over, Prescola, had a large hospital. He could try to find a hover car and get Prill there. He didn't really know how to drive a hover car, but the idea of speeding along the sides of the abandoned roads with Prill next to him made him smile.

For some reason he kept picturing Prill with giant sunglasses.

Cen always snapped out of his little imagination moments to make sure he was still actually working. Gradually his eyes came back into focus, and he found himself crouching over a medical container that broke open when it fell. Many of its contents looked wet, but he wagged his tail. This was a good find!

He began to go through the various pills, checking them and sniffing them for dampness or mold. They were in small clear plastic cylinders and a lot of them in various colors. He knew the medical kit back at the Secret Base could tell him what they did -- a lot of them had names he couldn't even pronounce. He figured too much was better than too little.

As he was putting in some of the colored phials of liquid medicine, he heard something odd.

He stopped.

He listened.

Anxiety took him like a great beast. He quickly looked left, right, up, and even down. Where is it? Where is it coming from?!

He was on his feet and whirling around. Where is it?!

And then, he found it.

Up in the sky was a ship. A low flying ship. It was oddly shaped, one he had never seen before, but it was flying over the city. The ship was low but not so low that whoever was onboard couldn't see Cen with their naked eyes.

Without even thinking, the boy began to run after the ship. He dropped the pills as he ran, wiggling through the Shards as he chased.

"Stop! Come back!"

He screamed and pulled off his backpack from his shoulder, whirling it around to his front and yanked it open. He dug around inside, bumping into a pole but not stopping. He fished out the one tool he had never used before.

The flare gun. It was box shaped with a handle and trigger. He pulled the head open and saw four holes.

Hands shaking, trying to watch the ship and what he was doing, Cen fumbled with the flare cartridges. He slammed them all home after three attempts and closed the cover. He hit the button on the side that released the safety and aimed the device up at the sky, both hands gripping the handle.

Don't go, he begged silently as he pulled the trigger, his eyes closed shut.

Loud echoes of something firing cut through the air. Cen opened one of his eyes as he watched the smoke trails climb higher and higher and then explode in wide plumes of crimson. The dog's eyes widened as color painted across the sky right in front of the ship that was coasting toward him.

Click. Click. Click.

Panic.

Cen looked down at the flare gun and realized it was out of rounds.

No! It can't be! he thought as fear took him. Images of Prill dying, growing old on this planet all alone, never knowing the warm smile of someone you loved.

The fear turned into a ball in his chest and he screamed loudly while tears streaked down his young face. He took off running toward the ship, hand up and waving. The flare gun fell from his hand but he didn't care. He kept running, screaming.

"STOP! DON'T GO WE'RE HERE WE'RE HERE!!!!"

The ship didn't slow down.

"STOP!!! DON'T G--AHHH!!"

In an instant, the ground vanished from under his feet, and Cen found himself rolling down the ruined soil of a crater. He felt himself roll head over heels, twisting and slamming his arms and legs against the many small rocks protruding from the surface of the crater. A gash formed on his forehead as he rolled over a rather sharp rock.

He didn't know for how long he tumbled. But when he stopped he was laying half in a puddle of freezing water, hand outstretched out for the ship. He whined in pain as he tried to get up.

"Please... Don't leave me... Don't leave us..."

But his body, which hadn't been given any proper food for weeks, was at its limit. He felt darkness slowly swallow him. The despair of losing their one chance at being rescued was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness.

Until the loud sound of a roaring engine forced the darkness to clear up.

WOOOOOOSH!!

Cen sat up quickly, slamming his hands over his ears and crying out, clenching his eyes closed tightly as wind whipped across his face, sand getting into his muzzle.

He forced open an eye and saw the unbelievable. There, in front of him, was a ship. It was extending its landing gears and touching down. The wind stopped and Cen could finally open his eyes wider, taking in the hull of the foreign ship. It was sleek and blue, lights blinking along its central hub with glowing green highlights.

Cen couldn't believe what he was seeing. Fear and relief washed over him and he felt tears once again streaking down his face. He was starting to push himself up to his feet when the gangway to the ship opened.

Men dressed in military attire and carrying rifles--soldiers, no doubt--came out of the ship. Some also had scanners by the looks of things. A few ran past Cen as he dusted himself off. He watched one of the soldiers, a canine, stop and crouch down in front of him. He spoke into his helmet and reached out, attempting to touch Cen.

The boy jerked back, looking down at his arm, and then at the direction of the ship once again. Someone not in military armor was standing there and heading right toward him.

The first thing Cen thought was: This is the Captain.

The wolf carried himself with a regal stride and purpose. Soldiers watched the wolf as he approached and did not get in his way, confirming that he was the leader. The emblem on the wolf's uniform was also that of the Conclave -- the peace keeping force of this sector of space. They didn't usually have much of a presence here as the planet was so far off from any major threat. The last time Cen saw any soldiers en masse was years ago at a Liberty Celebration.

The man was big and strong, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. His dad would probably say this wolf was "cut"--whatever that meant. The eyes were hard, blue, and welcoming with that smile. It was all Cen needed.

"You came," the boy said softly and ran forward, slamming into the captain and throwing his arms around his waist and pushing his face into his stomach. The pain, the worry, the fear, all his sobs came out in an instant. He just kept repeating the same words over and over again that they had come and he was thankful.

Cen felt the captain shift and then kneel. He looked into the boy's eyes and cupped his cheek with a hand.

"Shh," the man said with a deep and warm voice that made Cen feel like everything was going to be okay. "You're safe now. I'm Captain Solomon Shaw of the C.S.S. Endurance. Are you... have you been alone here all this time?"

Cen nodded and wiped his face with his sleeve, trying to not look so gross. He was still crying. "Yes, sir. Me and... Oh God, we need to help Prill!"

"Prill? Who--" Shaw's question was cut short as the dog's small hands grabbed the man's much larger hand and began tugging him toward the city.

"He's my friend! He's been here with me and he's very sick and I don't know--" Cen stopped when he saw the soldier walking up toward them at a quick jog. Prill was in his arms, bundled in the blanket of his. The cat was awake but looked as exhausted as he always did. He was also clutching his book tightly to his chest.

"Captain!" the soldier said as he got close. "We found this boy not too far from here. It looks like he's been exposed to geodesic radiation, probably from when one of the reactors breached."

"Geo..." Cen said, looking up at the huge wolf he was standing near.

"Get him to sickbay, decon and maximum treatment," the wolf commanded. "Tell Doctor Allenby to make sure the kid lives. It's our damn fault we took so long to get here. We didn't think there'd be any survivors."

"Yessir!" the soldier said and ran off toward the ship. Prill looked over his shoulder and waved weakly to Cen as they jogged away.

All at once everything just fell away from Cen. He had been worrying for weeks, months now, about what was going to happen to Prill, to them. He had also refused to talk about those moments with Prill, being the strong one for their little duo, but in ignoring those feelings he had buried them deep in his chest.

His hands clenched his chest and he felt himself clench up. He gripped fur and fabric and then fell to his knees as he found it hard to breathe. Tears poured down his face again as he tried to control this feeling, this fear and anxiety. He had never felt so crushingly overwhelmed before.

Shaw was kneeling there, rubbing his back. "Hey, kid, you okay?"

"He's... He's... live..." Was all Cen could force out between clenched teeth and sobbing. He fell forward and pushed his head into the dirt, screaming out the tight ball of worry and fear he had kept at bay.

With a flood of relief, exhaustion claimed him yet again as the boy collapsed. His last conscious thought on the planet -- the planet that had been his home -- was Shaw picking him up and carrying him onto the ship. Cen remembered looking up at the man's face, seeing his kind smile, and feeling the warmth of his arms, before closing his eyes.

And he got the best sleep he ever had in his entire life.