FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4

I had no idea where I was. Nor at that moment did I realise that I was moving. I'd just woken up from being knocked out and hadn't completely orientated myself. All I could really register was the fact that the ground was sliding in front of my face. When I finally gathered my senses I realised that a pair of bulls were dragging me by my arms down a long white hallway. My vision was still fairly hazy when we finally stopped outside a large metal door. The bulls let go of me, causing me to collapse on the floor. I felt one of them put a boot on my shoulder. There was no point; I was in no fit state to try to escape, but I suppose one can never be too careful. The second guard fumbled with the multiple buttons and switches on the door before it hissed at us and slowly opened in a cloud of steam.

"Welcome to the Kanavalov." Snarled one of the bulls, moments before picking me up and tossing me through the fog. I landed on my back and rolled slightly before finally stopping against a wall. I looked up in time to see the door close. Momentarily I lay still, occasionally rubbing my head before sitting up. After a brief pause, two pieces of information dawned on me. One; I had my clothes back again and two; I was on something called The Kanavalov. Before I could remember what it was though, there was a noise. It was a scuffling sound; the sound one would make trying to tip-toe while wearing boots.

"Hello?" I said, instantaneously regretting doing so. There were more sounds; small rustling and whispering noises. They were too faint to make out unfortunately. For some time we sat, locked in the stalemate of who was going to make the first move. Eventually I saw a dark shape form from behind the fog, which still hadn't cleared yet.

"Spectre." It said sharply. It was a code; one of our codes. I sat dazed for a moment, trying to remember the countersign.

"Erm.....Phoenix!" I blurted out. The shape remained still. I watched it nod at the wall behind it before it surged forward. It parted the mist cleanly and stepped out of it. What stood before me was a five foot tall, smiling tiger; it was Wren.

"Fuck man, I thought you were dead. What happened to you?" I blurted out, not really paying much attention to the other forms beyond the mist. Wren smiled at me and spoke in a calm, reassuring tone, which I liked for some reason.

"Well, during the base attack I managed to grab a jeep. The keys were in the ignition funnily enough and I gunned it. I picked up Zach and a couple of guys from a tank squad. Before we got completely out of the base we were followed by some Resistance troops. In the end they caught us and knocked us out. I woke up here with those two." He gestured to the figures behind him.

"What happened then? Did someone interrogate you?"

"Yeah, Stacey." He spoke coldly.

"Same here." I said, remembering the night in the cell. "Who are those guys by the way?" I nodded at the two figures in the background. The tiger looked back, addressing me just as much as he was them.

"They're just afraid of everything that moves in here." He barked at them. After an awkward silence the mist finally cleared and they stood before us. One of them was Izzy, the giraffe who "looked after" us back at the base. Even here, she still had to bend her neck to fit in the room completely. The other I recognised immediately, though I'd never physically spoken to her at all. Her name was Sammy, a beautiful young mare who was part of the Medical Corps at the base. She had brown fur, with a sunny-blonde mane and tail. She had a perfect build; she was skinny with nicely shaped hips and a nice pair of breasts to match. They overall result? Staggering. Now wasn't the time for admiring her, but I couldn't help it. Neither could Wren by the looks of it. Sammy seemed to notice us and gave us a warm smile and a wave. She bridled a little under our gazes, which we soon averted. We returned to the conversation.

"So, Wren. You're a spy. What's The Kanavalov?" I asked him. He frowned and looked up at me.

"Resistance owned airship." He spoke. "A perfect replica of old German Zeppelin airships, but with some minor changes. Such as prison cells." He gestured to the room. So, it was an airship. Now I remembered.

"What kind of changes?" I asked.

"Prison cells, flak turrets, fifty calibre machine gun nests, helium instead of hydrogen, more powerful engines, bigger cabins and a bomb-bay."

"What kind of bombs?"

"Depends on what they want to do, but pretty much anything." He looked as his feet and swore under his breath. "We're screwed." He concluded. Stacey and Izzy seemed to acknowledge this too and looked down at the floor in despair. I could have said something to cheer them up, but I came to realise that there was no way out too. For a moment we sat in the cell, having only the faint drone of what were presumed were the engines for company. None of us looked up at another. We simply sat with our heads on our knees contemplating our fates.

Time passed. Like the night before I had no idea how long; someone must've stolen my watch. Eventually, there came that ominous sound. It was the same sound I heard the other night in the prison cell; footsteps. They grew gradually louder, before seeming to stop outside the door. The forms beyond the door took a strangely long time the open the door. All I heard was a series of beeps and alarms of the electronic door system. Eventually, the door hissed open, revealing two silhouettes which stood beyond the mist it generated again. Then there was a familiar voice.

"Well you bollocked that up didn't you?" Said the one who was on the left as they stepped through the parting cloud. That's when I realised who it was. It was Zach.

The panther stood before us, clad in Resistance uniform and slinging some sort of SMG across his back. We stared at him, dumbfounded as he smiled back at us. The second figure spoke as he stepped forward, showing a slight hint of a Russian accent.

"At least I've managed to get us in the room. I doubt you'll have managed to even board the ship without my help." He said as he made himself visible. I sat back against the wall as I saw him. It was Xero. We all held still in silence, waiting for someone to make the first move. Funnily enough, it was Zach.

"Well, this is awkward." He spoke, showing a brief smile on his face. Wren got up to throw a punch at him, but was grabbed and held in place by Xero.

"Stop man! We are here to help you, not to pick a fight." He informed him. The tiger gave him a quizzical look.

"What?"

"We're here to help you. Me, the panther and the stallion, who is somewhere else on the ship, are breaking you out."

"Why should we believe you?" I asked. He turned and smiled at me.

"Have you ever heard about The Red Hare?" He questioned me. Of course I did. The Red Hare was an informant who infiltrated the Resistance command. He's been supplying us with top information for almost a year now.

"Yeah, what of him?"

"You're looking at him." He said, smiling. We all stared at him, bar Zach who must have heard already.

"March fifth, three months ago. Red Hare informed us of a WMD site situated where?" I tested him.

"Site Kilo-Niner-Bravo at ten thirty-two AM." He answered. I sat looking up at him.

"He's right." I uttered. "But you fucking raped me! Why should I believe you?" He seemed to frown at this statement. Wren, Zach and the girls exchanged glances and raised eyebrows.

"My apologies." He answered. "If I hadn't done it or had been less rough with you, the vixen would have known something was up. Believe me; it could have been much worse." It took a moment for me to process this information. I looked up and asked him again.

"Why are you helping us though?" He sat down in front of us after releasing Wren.

"My father created the Resistance a few years ago. Nobody knows specifically why, but they guess it was because he was defending his country when no-one else would. He hated me. He always favoured my brothers who were much better than me in almost everything. They were all killed, assassinated if you will." He spoke. I looked at my feet, remembering that I was responsible for the death of one of them. He continued. "After their deaths my father did all he could to protect me, even though it was too late and he had already lost my love for him. My mother left him after he created the Resistance. She later joined your army. Since she was the only one in my family who truly cared for me I vowed to assist her in any way possible. That included helping your army. Right now you are travelling on The Kanavalov. The ship is armed with a nuke which we salvaged from Kilo-Niner-Bravo." He scorned. I knew we forgot something while we were there. "We are currently heading towards Dar Valley, which is where your army retreated to after the base attack. My father intends to nuke the survivors of your army, including just about six hundred thousand civilians along with them." He frowned again and stood up, pacing the room. "I knew I had to stop him. This is where you come in. You four, Zach and the stallion are the only soldiers from your army aboard the ship. I plan to get you out the prison, storm the ship and take control of it. Zach and Shirehorse are part of the guard brigade, which will make things much easier to get close to my father and the pilot. Any questions?"

"Yeah." Wren uttered. "What actually is the plan?" We all wondered the same thing. Even Zach looked at Xero at the question. He smiled.

"Well. First I thought that I would--" He stopped mid-sentence after an obnoxious alarm rang through the ship.

"What's happening?!" Zach yelled over the alarm. The sound of a Russian voice blared through the ship. Only Xero could make out the words. He pulled Zach closer to talk more clearly.

"We've got inbound gunship choppers! They're calling everyone to battle stations! You need to find Shirehorse and follow him; I've told him what to do if this happens. Go now!" He yelled in his ear. Zach nodded and ran to the door, forcing it open and sprawled out of it. Xero turned to us, still shouting.

"You four stay here!" He delved a paw into his left pocket and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. He handed it to me. "Read that! I wrote the whole plan on that paper. Don't make a noise, don't try to escape prematurely and remember, I was never here!" He instructed before marching out the door into the crowds of guards rushing to their stations. He closed the enormous metal door and locked it. It was virtually sound proof. All we could here from the outside now was a faint echo of the siren and the clatter of footsteps. We sat in solitude again. Eventually one of the girls finally piped up.

"So what's the plan?" Sammy spoke quietly. Me and Wren looked at each other, remembering immediately. I fumbled through my pockets and clawed out the scrap of paper Xero gave me. I handed it to Wren instead of reading it myself. He unfolded it and ran his eyes over it. I watched as his smile slowly diminished into a frown.

"Shit." He mumbled. I looked at him awkwardly and snatched the paper. There was no writing. It was simply a picture of a naked arctic vixen posing seductively and holding up a sign saying something in Russian. A picture of Xero's girlfriend.

Shit.