FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Mike was just headed out for the night. In order to get to work he always took a shortcut through the alleys of the industrial park. He had taken this route hundreds of times in his life, but he knew that tonight would be different. He walked down the alley, only vaguely aware of the three raccoons following him. The gray fox was stopped by a rough paw on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're goin' pal?" Mike looked up into a face devoid of any love for his fellow Anthro.

"I said where you goin'?"

"Work." The other two raccoons stepped in front of Mike, each of them holding a lead pipe.

"Tell you what, you donate to the Anti-mugging fund and we'll let you use our alley tonight." The last thing Mike needed tonight was this kind of crap on his plate before he even got to work. Tonight was audits and he needed to make sure his programs were running alright. He took out his wallet and gave the raccoon the whopping sum of twelve dollars.

"Pfft. This is it? Your gonna have to do better than that buddy."

"Look dudes, that's all I got. Tell you what; come back next week and I'll have some donations for you."

"A smartass huh? Here's a deal for you, make with some more green and we won't beat the hell out of you." Mike turned to walk back to the street, but he was cut off by two more raccoons one with a pipe, one with a nail studded bat.

"Uh...hold on. HELP!!!" Mike shouted in pure desperation. When you live in a city of four hundred thousand, screaming for help is about as helpful as tickling your assailant with a feather. Mike jumped onto a dumpster and over the three behind him and down the alley. The five raccoons followed in toe. They followed the fox down the alley until they hit a dead end. The fox was nowhere in sight.

There was an open door to their right. "He's in there, grab his wallet, then slit his throat!" They pushed through the door and into a warehouse packed with boxes. They heard a door shut on the other side of the room. They worked their way through the maze of boxes, stopping at the door they assumed that damn fox had gone through. But when they tried to open it there was something on the other side holding the door shut. It took all of their combined strength to force it open. When they got outside they saw the door had been blocked by a dumpster full of garbage.

"How the hell did he do that?!"

"There must have been another door."

"No way man, we checked this was the only other door. Something ain't right here."

"Look! There he is, he should have run when he had the chance, get him!" Once again the five took off down the alley, none of them noticing the two other shapes following them in the shadows. Seconds later another door left open. They got inside and slammed the door behind them. This building looked like it used to be a factory of some kind. Time had rusted the machinery and all of the windows broken.

"Where is he?" The factory was completely silent, and no light came through the window to help them find the pathetic fox.

"Split up! When you find him, cut his fucking balls off!" They split up and dispersed into the factory. More than an hour they searched the factory, but there was no trace of their mark. Until a blood curdling scream split through the darkened silence.

"Did you find him!?" There were three calls of no, but someone didn't answer.

"Is every one ok?"

"I'm fine." It was Jerral.

"This place smells like ass" That was Tom. He was right though.

"I'm alright, but I cut my hand on something." Jimmy, he was always hurting himself somehow. Dan didn't answer.

"Everyone get to the door over by that huge column!" It took several minutes, but they eventually found their way to the door. Dan didn't show.

"Shit, did any one see him?" The three remaining raccoons shook their heads. "Alright, that's it for tonight, were all gonna go home and never talk about this. If the cops show up at any of your guys' houses, tell them we didn't see each other tonight. Got it?"

"Yeah." They all said in unison. They walked out of the door and into an alley. None of them recognized where they were. The only choice the group had was to pick a direction and hope it got them out of the concrete maze. They wandered for almost an hour until they came around a corner.

At the end of the alley, holding Dan's nail filled bat was the fox. "What did you do to Dan?! I swear to god if you hurt him..."

"Fuck you." The four raccoons stared in disbelief. "I said fuck you. Aren't you going to chase me again?" They started to advance, but before they even got within ten feet of the fox he jumped onto the wall, dug his claws directly into the mortar between the bricks and climbed up to the fire escape.

"No way man, I can't take this shit. I'm out." Jimmy turned and ran down the alley. The rest turned to see the fox had climbed through the window, into an apartment building. The fire escape ladder had been let loose.

"Pussy! Get up that ladder!"

"Didn't you see what he just did!? I think Jims got the right idea."

"You're right, let's get the hell outta here!" Just as they turned they head another of those horrible screams coming from where Jim had run to.

"Get up that ladder! Go go go!" The three of them clambered up the ladder and in through the window. Once again the building looked like it had been abandoned for years. The paint of the walls was chipping, only a few of the doors were still on their hinges. They could hear someone climbing up the ladder outside, and they ran. The stairs had been barred, but someone, or something had ripped the gate right out of the wall and threw it down the hallway. The group started to bolt down the stairs, but not before Jerral looked back towards the window, just in time to see two dark shapes crawl in through the window.

"There's someone following us!" They ran down several flights of steps, all of the gates were still intact. When they got to the first floor they found the front door barricaded.

"Where do we go!?"

"Graw, they're coming!" Tom was right, he could hear them tromping down the stairs. The only other way out of the front hall was an open door leading into the basement. They made for the basement, Graw in the lead. They followed the stairs until they went through another door. Graw turned and locked it behind them. Someone found a pull string and turned the lights on. The room was full of random piles of junk. Furniture, boxes, bikes, and general garbage. Graw turned, only to find one of his friends standing behind him,

"Where's Tom?"

"I thought he was behind me..." Tom's voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

"No please! HELP! NOOO!" His screams faded, and another sound caught their ears. Laughing. Deep maniacal laughter. The last two raccoons turned and ran down the aisles of junk, adrenaline pumping through their terrified veins.

"God they got im'. What do we do, what do we do!?"

"Shut up Jerral, just keep going!" The basement was a sprawling catacomb of boxes and pipes. From far behind them they heard wood shattering, and that laughter. That sound gave them newfound strength to keep running. Soon they found a door. It was still moving, as if someone had just gone through it seconds ago. They stopped for only a second, both of them considering what might be up those stairs. But the sound of hoof beats made up their minds for them. The stairs lead out into another alley. This alley was completely devoid of debris, which in Rock Fall was nothing short of a miracle.

"Which way do we go...? Jerral? Jerral!? SHIT!" Jerral was gone. Graw clutched his lead pipe and took the alley to the right. If he got out of this he would never enter another alley as long as he lived. Graw could hear cars now. He was near the street! Just around the next corner and he would be free. His victory would be short lived. Just as he got close to the end of the alley, the fox stepped from a door way. Graw slid to a stop ten feet from the fox. He was still holding Dan's bat.

"Where are they?" The fox lifted the bat onto his shoulder and took a step forward.

"Stay back man. Gimme my friends back and I won't have to kill you."

"Do you really think you can do that?" The fox took another step. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with."

"I don't need to know who you are, where are my friends?" The fox tapped the bat against the wall. Behind Graw two more doors opened. From inside these doors stepped three figures. Two wolves, one carrying Tom, one carrying Jimmy. The third was a half horse, half rotweiler taur. The centaur was carrying Dan and Jerral.

"If you had just taken the money and left none of this would have happened. We didn't need you five, but you brought this on yourselves." The wolves and centaur dropped their cargo and started to walk towards Graw, as did the fox.

"Please, please don't kill me." Graw dropped to his knees and started to sob.

"Don't worry, none of you are any good to us dead." The fox smiled, revealing every sharp white tooth in his mouth, the front two slowly extending. The same happened with the fangs of the wolves and the centaur.

"Look Cygnus, he started it. He tried to mug me. I figured I was just getting a dangerous criminal and his crew off the streets."

"I don't care what you thought you were doing. Do you remember what happened last time you tried to act like an upstanding citizen?"

"Most of those kids were fine, it wasn't my fault the bus driver drove off that bridge. You gotta admit it was pretty funny though."

"That's true, it was pretty funny." The one who was presumably Cygnus was a huge black lab, burst into a fit of laughter, as did the four vampires. Graw took this chance to try and make a run for it.

"Freeze blood bag." Mike shouted and raised his hand palm out. Graw froze, unable to move any part of his body.

"So I guess we'll just be leaving now Cyg, catch you later." The wolves and the taur picked up the unconscious raccoons and started to walk away. A shot rang out in the alley. One of the wolves was struck in the head and fell to the ground. He only lay there for a second before jumping to his feet, the wound already closing.

"Wow, that almost worked Mike. Now drop the kids and maybe I'll let you and your Coterie mates live."

"You haven't been able to kill me yet, what makes you think you can do it now?" Cygnus put his fingers to his mouth and blew a shrill whistle. Four furs appeared on the roof tops. One, a female black lab wearing a dirty denim jacket covered in patches and jeans. A black female cat wearing black jeans, and a black t-shirt. The third a brown squirrel, its species only decipherable by the tail sticking out from under a hooded crimson robe. The last, a buck, his antlers trimmed down to a single sharpened point. The buck was sporting a Mohawk, spiked leather gauntlets, and black baggy pants covered in chains.

"Because I've brought some friends with me this time." The wolves dropped their quarry and started to back into the door they came from, but Mike and the taur stood their ground.

"How many of them are death mages Cyg? The squirrel? Maybe that buck? Even if they all were they wouldn't be a match for us. Come over here." Mike motioned for Graw to come to him. Graw, unable to disobey the order started to walk. His pulse raced, his breathing came in ragged gasps, but as much as he fought it he couldn't stop himself. When he got close enough Mike wrapped an arm around the raccoon and pulled him close.

"And you wouldn't dare attempt to kill me while I held this..." The sound of a thunder crack, and seconds later Graw and Mike lay in a smoking heap on the ground. Mike weakly raised his head and called to the lab still on the roof.

"An elementalist? You dirty whore!" The female lab stood and launched another bolt of lighting at Mike. He scurried out from under the now burning corpse of Graw.

"Did you really think we cared about that little puke? It's people like them that allow the undead to thrive. People that so disgusting and horrible that no one would miss. If there were fewer of those kinds of people walking around you might all just starve to death." Cygnus looked up at the lab, his mouth agape. This was a prime example of Mages loosing touch with their humanity. Mike looked down to inspect the damage to his body. There was a smoldering hole right through his gut. The flesh attempted to heal, but the burns cauterized the wound. He looked to the other vampires and nodded. They took off into the building, hauling the raccoons as fast as they could. Mike leapt onto a nearby fire escape, onto the roof, and was gone. Cygnus called to the mages, "Split up and follow them!" None of them moved an inch.

"You gonna pay extra to get us to follow them?" Cygnus lowered his head,

"I already gave you all the money I had." Three of the mages left the alley with no intention of following the vampires, but the buck stayed. He clambered down the fire escape and inspected the body of Graw.

"Mind if I take this with me?" Cygnus shook his head in a combination of disgust and defeat,

"Go ahead, I don't care." The buck hefted the corpse onto his shoulder and carried it into one of the buildings. His hooves clopping into the darkness. Isn't that all the world is today, darkness filled with horrible creatures doing horrible things? Cygnus holstered his silver plated, black handled Desert Eagle and followed the alley onto the street.

The raccoon was so close to escape too. Cygnus hailed a cab and took it back to his apartment building, an eleven story project. He stopped in the front hall and checked his mail box. Empty of course. It might have had mail earlier, but the lock had been broken for the last five years. Cygnus had to take the stairs to the eighth floor; the elevator had been broken for six years. Apartment H12, no need to unlock the door. The lock had been broken since he moved in, ten years ago. He sat down in front of the television, which miraculously hadn't been stolen yet, and turned it on. The cable was surprisingly one of the few things here that wasn't broken. He flipped through the channels. Four news channels, all covering war, murder, rapes, and kidnappings. Seven channels, all porn. Nine channels of infomercials selling useless products for making already easy tasks easier. He clicked off the television and went to the kitchen. He checked the cupboards, all of them empty, save for a box of cereal and his dishes. The fridge held a fifth of a gallon of skim milk, and a half empty bottle of unlabeled scotch. He grabbed the bottle and undid the top. He took a swig and pulled the Desert Eagle from his pocket and laid it on the counter. How much longer can I do this? He took another swig of the scotch and cocked the Eagle. Those goddamn mages. All they think about is their precious research and experimentation. Another long draw of the scotch, bringing with it that delicious burn. All that cash I spent and I didn't even kill a single one of them. I should have followed them. The room started to loose its sharpness. His body becoming numb, along with his mind. Cygnus picked up the gun and looked closely at the decorative carvings of ivy along the silver slide and trigger guard. I should have gone after Mike. That son of a bitch. And that elementalist cunt, firing right through that kid. If I only had some real help. Cygnus turned off the safety on the gun. What would it matter? Not even an army of mages and hunters could kill every vampire. What's the point to any of it? He pointed the gun to the side of his head. There is no point. We can't win.

(I want to thank everyone who decided to read my story, and Jeeves who put up with my errors while trying to post my first story, and my dermatologist who implanted new hair for me after I tore it all out after editing the story for the thousandth time.)