FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Part II

Fire alarm blaring. Now they've done it, they've set the whole building on fire. There have to be hundreds of furs in this place, I have to help them. I throw on pants, not worrying about anything else, and rush out my door.

Jack is frantically messing with something in the kitchen, knocking stuff over with his tail and waving a towel around.

"Whoa, Flash, where's the fire?" Jack says nonchalantly as he continues to coyly extinguish the flames on the stove. "Except this one, this fire is right here."

"God damn it, Jack, what the fuck are you doing?" I walk over to the stove, where he's apparently trying to cook breakfast. "Are you serious?"

"I was hungry, and you weren't awake. I thought I could do it this time." For as long as I've known Jack, he's always been a terrible cook. I honestly didn't think it was possible to set breakfast on fire, but he's proven that it can.

"Couldn't you have just eaten a sandwich, or something? There's plenty of tuna salad in the fridge, I'd like to see you set that on fire." Now I have a reason to be frustrated, as I try to make the smoke detector shut up.

"Tuna salad?" He asks as if it's a joke. "Why don't I just play with a ball of yarn, or shit in a box while I'm at it?"

"I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm just saying, you knew something bad was going to happen. It's whatever, let's just go get something. I'm hungry, too."

Jack agrees, and gets back to tending to the fire as I go back to get clothes on. We leave the mess and grab our jackets, heading out the door. We walk over to the elevator, where I notice a sign, 'Out of Order'. Awesome, we just had to live on the twenty-fifth floor.

"Looks like we're taking the stairs." I say to Jack, who's attention is on the panther-girl down the hall. "Hey!" I nudge him in the shoulder to get his attention. "The stairs, Jack."

"What about the stairs?" He says, confused as he snaps back to reality after her door closes behind her. "Did you see Jean? I would tear that up."

"I don't think her boyfriend, the very large lion, would appreciate that comment." Jack can fight, I've seen him in action, but neither of us like to get in to things that we don't have to.

"Fuck that guy." Jack says smugly. "His girlfriend is a skank anyway. She'd probably give me fleas or something." I just shake my head.

We make our way over to the stairs and head down. We pass a few furs moving about during our decent, exchanging formalities. You never really notice how far up you are until you have to take the stairs.

"So, do you think Mel knows anything about what's going on?" Jack asks. "He usually knows anything before anyone else."

"I plan on asking him. I'm just worried about food right now, the smell of that burned breakfast made me hungry." I don't even remember the last time I ate, sometimes I forget with everything we do.

"This would be a lot easier if they let us drive." Jack complains about not being able to drive all the time, and I don't blame him. Having to walk everywhere becomes a huge pain in the ass, it also limits where we can go.

"If you're anything behind the wheel like you are at the stove, I'm glad you can't drive." I say to Jack, who shrugs agreeing.

The diner we're heading to is about 10 blocks away, and just on the outskirts of the fur-district in the city. We don't see a lot of humans around here, mostly cops. Furthermore, if you do see any humans wondering about, it's usually trouble.

Our town is nothing to brag about. A hand-me-down section of their city. Run down, falling apart. We do the best to keep it looking the best we can, but without proper supplies, there's not much we can do.

We finally get to the diner, and it's crowded with furs as it always is, even at this hour. May, Mel's wife, greets us from behind the counter, May is a red fox, probably in her late fifties and one of the nicest furs I've ever met. We get a few other greetings by others as we enter, the usual.

"Hey, May." I say to her, waving as we sit down at the counter. "Is Mel in tonight?" Mel is her husband, a red fox as well. I'd guess him to be in his early sixties. They own and run the diner together. It's still hard for them or anyone else to get by around here. The humans tax us to death, leaving next to nothing for ourselves.

"He's just taking out the trash, Roo. Can I start you boys off with anything to drink?" We don't even need to say anything, only nod; she knows us too well. After all, we have been coming in here for as long as I remember. She bring two mugs over and pours us some coffee.

"Rufus, Jack! How have you boys been?" Mel walks in from the back door, seeing us immediately. He has stains all over his apron, he works hard for so little, I pity him.

"Same thing every day, Mel. And yeah, the usual please." Jack just nods as he starts scribbling on a napkin. He couldn't keep his attention on anything for very long if his life depended on it.

Jack and myself sit at the counter waiting for Mel to finish our food. Jack still doodling something on his napkin as I sip on my coffee.

The background chatter is always the same. Furs talking about how one day we will be equal, or what they would do to change things if they had a chance. Stories on how bad things used to be, and all the injustices in the world. At this rate we aren't getting very far.

Mel puts our plates up and rings the bell.

"Order's up, guys, enjoy." He says as May brings them over to us. Mel turns back around and goes on with his business. Gotta love breakfast at dusk, I figure if I just woke up, it's breakfast time.

Jack scarfs his food down faster than I can season mine. I've known the guy since I was a kit, but damn can he be messy. I wouldn't trade anything for him, though. In my line of work, it's always good to have someone to trust; who you know isn't going to turn on you as soon as he gets the chance.

"So, May, do you think Mel will have some time to talk to us any time soon?" I ask as I finish my last bite.

"Looks like the crowd is dying out, you boys always come in so late. I'm sure he can fit you in to his busy schedule." She says with a smile on her face.

We sit around chatting with may, and a few other furs leaving the diner before Mel puts his apron on a hook and makes his way out to us.

"Mind if we talk out back, Mel?" I ask him in a serious tone, but trying not to be obvious.

"Sure boys, I think I know what this is about." He says losing the smirk on his face. Mel hears everything. He's our go-to guy when we need answers. Jack and myself follow Mel through the diner and out the back door.

"So waddaya already know?" He asks as soon as the door shuts behind us.

"Just that a lot of it has been happening lately. More than usual, and it's only getting worse." Jack can be serious when he needs to be. "I'm sure if something like this was happening on the human side it would be a different story."

"You may be right, but there's a lot more to this than you know. I'm sure you think that it's senseless fur killings, done by the humans. What you don't know is who the furs are that have been killed."

"What do you mean?" I ask him. I've been to all the sites, not long after they happen. They all seemed like run-of-the-mills furs to me. The furs around here know what we do, so when something goes down, even before the cops are called, they call us first.

"All of those furs been gettin' killed lately work for the humans. Insiders, if you will." He says as he coughs, lighting a cigarette. We light up as well, using his flame. "I have reason to believe it's not the humans taking them out, it's one of us."

"Why would furs be killing their own kind?" Jack asks.

"Well, as far as some see it, those furs were no better than the humans they work for. A bunch of assholes only lookin' out for themselves." Mel takes a drag off his cigarette and looks around cautiously.

"So why haven't the police done anything about this? Our police, they have to be able to do something." I say to Mel. This doesn't make sense. Usually when a fur is killed, steps are taken. It doesn't seem like anyone really cares.

"Maybe that's what you boys need to look into. It was nice talkin' to ya, and let me know if you find anything out. I gotta go." Mel tosses his cigarette and starts to head back inside. "And watch your backs."

Jack and I put our cigarettes out and head around the diner. I wonder what Mel meant. Does he think the police have something to do with what's going on? Something has to give.

"So, where do you want to start first?" Jack asks as we head down the street.

"I don't know, this thing really has me confused." As soon as I finish talking, my phone starts to ring. I don't recognize the number, but this could only be one thing.

"Hey, is this Rufus?" The voice sounds skittish on the other line.

"Yeah, who's this?" I don't recognize his voice. They never tell me who they are, but usually I can pick up on who it is.

"That's not important. I have some information for you." He says, sounding a bit more confident.

"Yeah, well what is it?" I ask inquisitively.

"Who's that?" Jack butts in. I put my hand up at him, waiting for the caller to continue.

"Not over the phone, I think we should meet up." Now this is starting to sound sketchy, they always just tell me where I need to go, and I go. No one ever meets up.

"He wants to meet up." I say to Jack, holding the phone away from me. "Says he doesn't want to talk on the phone.

"Sounds sketchy." It's like Jack is reading my mind.

"So, where do you want to meet?" I ask the caller.

"Restgrove park, off third street." He says.

"And when did you want to meet?" I don't even know if I should be meeting up with this guy.

"Now-ish." He says, matter-of-factly.

"That's all the way on the other side of town, you're going to have to give us about thirty minutes to get over there." I say to him, hoping he'll meet us in the middle.

"I have all night." He finishes, hanging up the phone when he's done.

"So, what did he say?" Jack asks.

"Wants to meet at Restgrove as soon as possible."

"But that's all the way on the other side of town." Jack points out the obvious as we start to head in that direction.

The streets are almost bare at this time of night. A few furs wondering home after working a late shift, or stumbling around after having too many drinks. Maybe the occasional human cop, looking for trouble.

Jack and I stay quiet on our walk, just like the city. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves.

We finally make it to the park, and it looks barren, which is to be expected. I stand at the entrance waiting for someone to lurk out of the shadows in a trench coat, but nothing happens.

"So, where did the guy say he would be?" Jack asks, lighting another cigarette.

"He didn't say, just said to meet him here." I reply, looking around. Then we see it. Lights flashing at us from the other side of the park. We both walk slowly toward them, not knowing what to expect. I would have never guessed, a police car, with a wolf sitting behind the wheel.