FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

by Hector Scofield. Edited and corrected by Ben243.

1. The year of the great protests. There had been reports of lootings, violence and vandalism. But the footage from the people involved told another story. A story about Police brutality, of peaceful protesters being attacked and ran over by the very people supposed to serve and protect them. The media tried to report, but was attacked too. It was more than clear, things had to change. But not the way they did, when Jordan Shepherd's father died.

It had been a peaceful march. People carrying banners. Chanting slogans. Suddenly: Aggressive shouting had rung through the streets. Teargas canisters were thrown into the crowd. Rubber bullets rained down. One stray bullet hit the old man's head. He tripped and fell. Within a couple of seconds, he was dead.

Jordan was shocked when he found him. He fell down on his knees, heartbroken, screaming, tears running down his cheeks. He cried for help, but instead they hit him and tried to drag him away. To arrest him. To make it look like he'd killed the old man, not them.

He knew, he had these powers. He knew what he was capable of, but his family had done everything they could to hide them away. They had forbidden him from using them, so he had developed little control over them. And now, with adrenaline pumping through his body, he just let it happen.

The first officer who reached for him had screamed in horror. His colleagues thought he had been attacked and came to his rescue. They saw Jordan. They saw the blood on his hands. In the chaos one of them shot him.

Too late they discovered what had really happened. What they had done. The cop who'd screamed pulled off his gloves. His hands were covered in thick brown fur. His fingers retracted to form paws, slowly shrinking, while horribly cracking. He broke down in pain. Some of the other cops reached for him, realizing too late that they were cursing themselves too.

There was no way to stop it. They had killed the only one who could have ended it. The first cop had already turned into a full dog. Ten others were still tormented by their shifting bodies. Scratching at their skin, they tried to alleviate the itching caused by rapidly growing fur. They struggled to get out of their armor. A horrific number of teeth dropped on the asphalt like peebles, only to be replaced by sharp fangs.

The cops behind them had run away in a blind panic. The curse had kept spreading. Reaching out to each and every one of them. Man and Woman alike, anyone in uniform, screaming in agonizing pain. Collapsing. Shifting. Losing everything that had made them human.

Some of them had even tried to shoot themselves, in fear of what would become of them. The curse had progressed too rapidly. Their hands altered so quickly they couldn't pull the trigger. Others who hadn't been transformed yet fired at them. It was impossible to tell if it was in horror or to spare them a gruesome fate.

In the end there was not a single cop on the street left unturned. Eventually the loud noises stopped. A semblance of quiet returned to the street, only to be interrupted by the whining and howling of a pack of straying dogs.

The protesters hadn't seen it. There was far too much Tear gas in the air. When the air had finally cleared, all they found were some confused looking animals and various pieces of police equipment lying scattered around. That and the body of Jordan Shepherd, a bullet in his head, side by side with that of his father.

The media had spoken of some sort of heavenly intervention. After that all law enforcement units had hurriedly laid down their weapons in fear of being turned into dogs themselves. To be safe, many had decided to resign.

Others, terrified of what would happen to them confessed to their abuses of power, and were finally arrested. Many, many were charged with murder and other heinous crimes. Most in the public were shocked at the extent of what had been covered up over the years.

It wasn't long before the pressure from the citizens was too great. The politicians had no choice but to submit to their demands. The police force was broken down and rebuilt from ground up. Some of their budget was redirected for more social programs.

The dogs were all eventually caught by Animal Control and brought to an improvised shelter. Scientists tried to find out what had happened and if there was a way to reverse the process. Ultimately, they were not even able to differentiate between them and natural dogs. Communicating with them was difficult, but not impossible. It seemed they had mostly kept their human minds, but struggled hard with their canine side.

The ones who fought that side with anger and aggressive force, who tried to dominate and suppress it, found themselves losing control. Ironically because it was exactly that, what made them less human in the first place.

It seemed only those who were empathic enough, who at least tried to be supportive and friendly in the past, who arranged themselves with this new side, found a balance and accepted their fate, were able to communicate - be it on a very limited level. They had forgotten how to read or write, barely understood what other humans were saying to them.

When confronted with their friends and families, they were at least able to run towards them and bark: One time for Yes, two times for No. They got adopted and taken good care of. Some even joined the police again. The K9 units of the reformed Police departments, where they served under new handlers who were often oblivious about their canine partners being former colleagues. It made things easier!

The others weren't so lucky. There was barely any indication they'd ever been humans after all. After two months the decision was made, to accept that they were nothing more then dogs now and had to be handled in that way.

It had also been decided, regretfully, to leave the general public in the dark, so things wouldn't get complicated and to avoid some uncomfortable questions. They got fixed, registered and given up for adoption. And in some cases, put down after a while.

Some were adopted by civilians, lonely old people, even families. Some were loved, some found themselves mistreated. Some lived with African Americans and Latinos, the very people they oppressed once. Learning first hand the daily struggles they had, even with the new Social programs. Things were changing, but as every good thing, it would took a while!

Some ran away and turned completely feral, doomed to live in the ever so cold and unforgiving wild. Some died, hit by a car or met some other untimely demise. Some became test subjects for laboratories, forced to endure inhumane experiments. One even got stuffed by a taxidermist. Former Officer Daniels, who by sheer coincidence was the same man responsible for Jordan's Death.

The new Police dogs in the meantime, found out how wrong they had been all these years. They'd been mislead into thinking it was their job to be strict authority figures and always right, because they represented the law. That there was no other way, to make things better. Now they discovered how far policing could come with much better trained officers and by working WITH the community, not AGAINST it.

More than that, they were proud to be a part of it. Being trained by their respective handlers not just to seek out contraband, to intimidate and attack criminals, but to be supportive and comforting to people in Need. And once in a while they were able to sabotage some of the few remaining "Bad Apples", that still caused trouble.

The Shepherd family never fully recovered from that tragic day, but went on as best as they could. Eventually Jordan's cousin Georgia was born. The family soon discovered she had the same powers as Jordan, and they decided they would train her properly so nothing like that would ever happen again.