FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Void Life- Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings

I normally don't show people the stories that I write, so I hope this is adequate enough that your not scratching your eyes out. Also, I think I have minor grammar problems but I can never catch them... Anyways, please leave a comment saying what you think so far. Thank you.

* * *

Rain dripped from the wispy tips of heavy clouds. The darkness hid the creatures of the night. The clouds shrouded the sky, enveloping the moon in a dark-gray sheet. Voices were hushed and whispers were shared. Paws rummaged through garbage and claps of rain splattered everywhere as furs ran to get out of the rain.

"Hurry up!" A voice hissed into my ear. I flicked my ears at the sudden noise, but at the same time I chased after the voice. My eyes caught sight of the fur running ahead of me. His arms swung in a pendulum motion, rocking back and forth at haste. His body was arched forward as rain pounded against his cloaked back.

Both of us had hoods to keep our heads from getting poured on. After all, felines hate getting wet. As we ran I could hardly see through the thick mist of rain. Dark nights like these made it hard to distinguish what you were looking at, perfect for our line of work.

The rain ran through the streets and down into the gutters where the sewers lied, along with other manner of things that no eyes should lay upon. Up here, above ground, makes me wonder what all is down there. But another part of me wants to stay as high as possible, away from such filth.

As my personal beliefs went through my mind I saw the fur ahead of me come to a steady stop. My footpaws also went to the same pace followed by the complete stop. "We're here?" I couldn't help but ask as I followed his gaze towards a small apartment complex. Several windows appeared along the sides, which indicated the floors, but only a few had a yellow light peering through them.

The apartment building itself looked run down. It was rather small and the small patch of yard that it held had only dead grass. It was boxed in with a black steel fence, giving it the illusion that it was old as well as creepy. Then right where the building should have been connected to other houses and such, it just appeared alone with two long alleys by passing it.

The complex seemed all alone in it's rotting state. This was where the line is crossed of how far the world can push people. This wasn't the up-side of town, no, it was the down-side where all fights were fought and blood was shed. This complex seemed to be a gift from god to those more poor than dirt itself.

"You ready?" The voice asked as I saw the broad shoulders moving towards the front door. My decision had been made long ago, why would he bother to ask me this now?

"I have been with it for this far, of course I am ready." I heard him snicker at this comment but he didn't bother to look back at me. I was a few paces away from him as I followed him through yard and up the crippled stone steps. The wooden door seemed to be in better condition than the whole house, it looked sturdy.

That was with a single glance though. My opinion changed as I saw the fur in front of me lightly touch the door knob to open the door but it practically fell off it's hinges with a soft tap. It just hung barely on the door frame but it was still movable. So, with a twist of the knob and a half-hearty push, the door swung open and showed the dimly light room.

We both casually walked inside, me shutting the door behind us. Then we both followed by slipping off our hoods, and revealed our faces to one another. The far more masculine feline looked back at me, with a grin stretched across his face. The tiger just looked at me, making sure that I was okay.

"How long are you going to baby me, Lance?" I couldn't help but say something as he was checking almost every inch of my body, making sure that I hadn't chip a claw on the concrete or scrape my pads while running. But at the sound of my voice he decided to cut the act of pretending to be my older brother. We were the same age, yet he always deemed me to be the younger one.

"Calm down V.V., I am just making sure that you didn't hurt yourself. After all, your mo-..." I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. I didn't want to bring that up, let alone that we were in the middle of something. He caught onto what I meant as I covered his maw with my black paw.

"Let's get this over with." I said as I took a glance around the room. The inside decor seemed to be rather good; at least, for this building's standards. There was the average light-bulb on the ceiling, bench along the wall of the lobby, and the pots with long drooping ferns lying in the corner.

"What stroke of luck, he is out cold." Lance chuckled as he walked out of the lobby, which normally you would have to get a room to get farther then were I currently stood. But as Lance stated, the manager was asleep.

My tail twitched as I walked past the counter, thinking that something else was the case. Lately, all of our tasks had been far easier than usual. Somehow, I thought Lance was to blame, but I couldn't really point fingers as I was helping him myself.

I saw Lance looking at the doors and counting the numbers under his breath. I was curious as to know which room we were suppose to go into. I drew closer to Lance as I tried to hear his words just a little more clearly but it was cut off as he turned to walk up a flight of stairs. Grabbing the railing, I followed up after him.

It was getting stranger as how it seemed he knew exactly what he was looking for. This too was new to how we normally took our "job". Usually, we would both decide on something but it seems as if he had his own plans. I should ask him about it, but I knew whatever he had planned couldn't be bad.

He went up another flight of stairs without checking the numbers on this floor. At first I thought he was idly just walking around, but now I knew he was looking for something. I followed him up once more to see him heading down the hall this time. I stayed back a little longer to see what he was doing. He was back to same old game, count the room numbers and taking a mental note of which ones he did.

The only thing he did different this time was that he stopped at a room. He turned his head and looked at me with a grin. I let my hand off the railing and walked off towards his direction. The tiger seemed excited about something when I stood right beside him. "Do you mind uh-" He started but I knew what he was already about to ask.

"Yeah, I got it. I have always been better at doing things like this than you." I squatted down beside the locked door. I unsheathed one of my claws and stuck it in the tiny crevice. Twisting it back and forth, I tried to force the lock open. Eventually I heard a slight click and instantly gained a grin of satisfaction.

"Done." I sighed, standing back up and opening the door with a flick of my wrist. As the door swung open, I couldn't help but look at Lance out of the corner of my eye. The tiger still seemed overjoyed to be breaking into another fur's house. But it came with the whole point of being "cat" burglars, I think.

"Nice job V.V." Lance said, pushing me inside. He slowly closed behind us and made it so that it didn't make much noise when it shut. I looked around the dark room but nothing seemed to be very noticeable in the dark room. Lance, on the other hand, was instantly checking the bedroom, which happened to be in another room.

From what I could tell from the lighting, the apartment seemed to be in alright condition. I mean, I wouldn't live here but it seemed livable. In a couple of seconds I heard a couple of muffled grunts and screams. I couldn't help but chase after Lance, and see what happened.

Being light on my paws, I didn't make much noise along the creaky floor. Almost sprinting I made my way to the bedroom in time to see what was going on. Looking inside the bedroom was almost like looking in a pitch black cave. So taking precautions, I flicked on the bedroom light.

"Mmpph!" A muffled scream appeared as the light flicked on. I saw Lance on top of a middle-aged canine's back. The mutt had his muzzle tapped shut and he was blindfolded. The sense deprived canine struggled hard against Lance's paws, trying to grab hold of the mutt's wrists.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed into Lance's ear as he finally held both wrists in one hand and used the other to grab a nearby tie to bind them together.

"Taking," Lance grunted as he finished tying the knot, leaving the dog immobile. "Precautions. Now come on, lets get this over with." Lance pushed me out of the room and turned off the light to the room and shut the bedroom door.

"How do you think he will get out of that?" I asked Lance, feeling sympathetic for the dog.

"Someone is bound to notice him gone." Lance shrugged his shoulders as he moved through the apartment, searching thoroughly for objects with value. I couldn't help but notice that Lance was starting to get more and more into our heists.

Before, we would barely take precautions such as these. Most of the time we would go in blindly and see what we could get. Of course, we were chased down most of the time. But it seemed as if Lance was determined to make sure there were no screw-ups this time around.

I honestly had no hard feelings for the mutt nor did I care about his health. In a retrospect I had the same thoughts as Lance. Take everything and give nothing back. We started to make a name of ourselves, but not once had we been caught. The infamous cat burglars around downtown Central.

Lance was probably wanted a lot more than me, though. He somehow left an impression on the cops, while I was just the accomplice of his crimes. He would get the life sentence at worse while I would serve 2-3 and be done. My life was nothing compared to his, as of right now. But no one has seen our faces before, all they know are that we are felines. So we are safe for the most part.

"Look at all this cash!" Lance cheered with joy as he opened a drawer in the kitchen. I looked at him and he had a fat wad of bill in his paws. I grinned with greed as I looked on at his discovery.

"This should be enough. After all, we did tie the old guy up and lock him away in his own room." Lance did have a soft side, but some didn't see it as well as me. I watched Lance walk away and I followed after him. Taking one last look at the money that he left behind. It seemed as if he left most of the money and set it on the counter to let the dog know that he didn't take as much as he wanted.