FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Lining up for the grand illusion

No answers for no questions asked

-Ana Johnsson's "We Are"

Based on Von Kreiger's New Found Form

Red Fields ran. He planted his right hand, vaulted the gate, and risks a quick look back, into the darkness. Nothing but mist, swirling above the gravestones. He keeps moving.

Harper reached the door first, and ramed into it with his shoulder, and promptly bounced off.

"Ow."

Cutter, a few seconds behind him, pulled up and reached the handle. "Calm down, rookie." The door opened easily. The others smiled at him as they darted inside. Fields and Cutter were the last to enter, scanning the mist all the way in.

A few seconds later, Fields looked over his team, assembled in the foyer of the church. "Is that everyone?"

"Th-think so," said a wheezing Cutter. Wasn't as young as he used to be. "I saw them get Winger. He went down fighting, sir."

Fields swore softly. "Trooper roll call." Breathe. "Fields."

"Harper."

"Tudyk, and might I add that this is overtime?"

"Kennedy, who really needs a pedicure."

They all laughed at that. Kennedy wasn't exactly dainty and feminine.

"Jovovich." No one was sure where Jovovich came from. All they knew was that he had excellent hair.

"Cutter." Cutter was the senior member of the team, vet of those riots a few years back. He still kept up with the young-uns, though.

A church is large, sturdy, and has lots of clear room between you and the bad guys, plennty of shooting time. They also tended to have a whole slew of little side doors and large, fragile windows. They were only good if the enemy didn't know where you were.

"We've got ten minutes, people!" yelled Fields. No, wait, no yelling. Those suckers out there could hear. "Rest. Reload. Repast."

"What?"

"Eat, Harper."

"Oh." Pause. "Chief, how do we know we won't become one of those things?"

"Because if any of that crap gets on you, we'd notice," Cutter drawled, laying a hand across the rookie's shoulders. "Convulsions, sweating, and you wouldn't be able to keep your hands off yourself. And growin' tits, that'd be a dead givaway."

"What about me?" yelled Kennedy, from the fount. She splashed her face in the holy water.

"Like the man said, it'd be a dead giveaway," quipped Tudyk. Kennedy splashed him.

Jovovich said nothing, only looked around at the church. After a few seconds, he caught Fields staring, grinned sheepishly, and pulled out a protein bar.

Fields nodded; good. Keeping morale up was good. Harper was the new kid, just in from Detroi-

"Did you hear that?" said Kennedy. She looked up at the windows. The Twelve Stations. Fields thought of his childhood, taking the sacrament-

He heard it too. Rustling. Was there something behind the windows, something fast-moving?

Slowly, making no sudden movements, the team slowly stood up. Jovovich stuffed the bar into a pocket, and pulled the charging handle on his new clip. And in the silence, in the dark, they saw it.

"Contact!" Kennedy yelled, swinging her rifle. But just as she drew a bead, it was gone, leaving her three-round spread to impact harmlessly on the carpet. She groaned something wordless, pure frustration.

"Second contact!" said Cutter. He didn't fire; the thing was already gone, and he scanned for the next target-

"Three! Three contacts!"

"Four!"

"Five!"

And they were back to back, their weapons lighting up the night, firing at something, anything, the creatures barely visible in the hellish flickers.

Fields knew he wasn't hitting anything, and was barely aware of his team drifting apart, and towards the rear of the church, no orders given. He grit his teeth, squinted against the muzzle-flashes and he just kept shooting and shooting and shooting at the dark shapes that flickered from column to column and just wouldn't drop.

Except maybe from the roof.

"Harper! Move!" Fields yelled.

The idiot just looked at him

And one of the things fell from the ceiling

And he was running toward Harper, firing, and he knew it screwed up his accuracy but he didn't care as long as he got a bullet in the creatures

And Harper has both guns out and he was screaming as something spurted

And the creature disengaged and rolled back behind some pews. No time to chase it.

Fields looked at Harper. "Did you get it?"

"No, I-" he touched one finger to his face. It came off wet. He looked at in horror, and then suddenly pointed his gun at Fields.

"Harper, calm down-"

"Stay back!" He pointed the gun at his head, then back at his superior, a parody of indecision. "I'm-I'm gonna be one of those things!" Slowly, he started to back away. "J-just stay away from me-"

And he tripped.

Fields rushed up to him and started to reach for Harper's hand, then checked himself. Not a good idea.

Harper had tripped over a hole in the floor. A few sunken rocks in a solid stone floor. He looked down. "The h-"

There was a rumbling, and all the stones in Harper's immediate area dropped half a foot. Fields took a few steps back.

"Oh." said Harper. "Moles."

Then he disappeared.

Fields heard screaming. "Pull back!" he yelled, and started running for the door. There were more of the things now, slipping in and out of shadow. He felt the ground shake under his feet, and a hole opened up right in front of him.

He stepped on the armrest of one of the pews, kept moving to the back of the next one, and tried to jump.

He almost made it. But a sinking just as he made his attempt threw him off, and he landed at the edge of the hole. The ornate rug didn't give much purchase, and he would've slit into the hole if Kennedy and Tudyk hadn't run back and grabbed his arms.

"Go on without me!" he growled. The earth rumbled ominously.

"We...have...a saying," grunted Tudyk. "Leave...no...man...behind!" And with that, he and Kennedy hauled Fields up onto the lip of the hole. They didn't waste time in rest, just scrambled to their feet and ran for the offices. Cutter and Jovovich had already arrived, and were standing in the doorway, holding their arms out. Just as their compatriots reached the door, they threw two flash grenades.

Then the door shut, and all was silence.

"Weren't...those...our last...two...flares?" panted Kennedy.

"Yep," said Jovovich. "Budget padding."

Everyone chucked. It wasn't that funny, but it got some of the tension out.

The moment of levity over, the flashlights were lit, and they followed the passage around the corner to a tastefully-appointed study, presided over by a tastefully-appointed priest.

"Welcome, my children," he greeted them, spreading his arms wide. "I am Father Cassock."

"What, seriously?" said Tudyk.

"Hello, Father," said Fields. "I claim sanctuary."

Cassock chuckled. "We may all need protection before this is over. Would you like some tea?"

"No thanks. Do you have any wea-"

There was a startled yell from Cutter, and the rest of the team came over to look, safeties off. What they found was one of the creatures, tied to a chair.

Fields found that it watched each of them in turn, finally settling on him, tracking him with an almost-human intelligence. Fascinating, he thought. Just like the reports said, it had breasts and a penis, the slit barely visible.

The chair's cushion was wet.

Aloud he said "What the-"-no, couldn't say that here-"-frick is this?"

"This-" said the priest, and swallowed. "This is my sister."

"Really?" said Tudyk, looking from the priest to the abomination in the chair. "I don't see it."

"We get that a lot," drawled the creature, startling Fields' men. "Now, if you'd just untie me...?"

"If," said Jovovich.

Fields sighed. "Is there a back door?"

Cassock pointed. Cutter went to check and returned a few seconds later, looking chagrined.

"But I wouldn't use it if I were you," the priest said.

Fields felt a twitch start, right under his left eye. He focused on a teacup nearby, a full one. White china, flowers around the rim.

Focus.

The tic stopped.

"Fine. First problem; secure the perimeter. Kennedy, Cutter."

The pair nodded and left.

"Second order of business-" Fields drew his sidearm. "Neutralize all present enemy threats."

Tudyk looked from his superior, to the chair, to the priest, and back to Fields. "She's tied to a chair."

"I'm with the chief," said Jovovich. "We don't know how long that thing will stay there, or what it can do."

"What if I pinky swear?"

"You can't hurt my sister," said the priest, moving between the chair and Fields.

"I agree," said the thing behind him.

"This is not a question, Padre!" Fields said, leveling his weapon. And just like that, he had a gun pointed at a priest. "You haven't seen what these things can do!"

"I've seen what my sister can do, and I know she's still in the-"

"Quiet!" hissed Jovovich. He had his head cocked, listening for something.

"Really? I would've thought big, manly men like you liked to make as much noise as possi-"

Without looking, Jovovich pointed his gun at its head.

Fields listened. Now that he was looking for something, anything, his nerves dancing on the knife's edge of a breakdown, he heard it; the faint crackle of a radio.

"Quid pro pro," said the thing in the chair, and hissed.

"Move!" Fields yelled, as round black objects came through the windows and exploded, filling the air with smoke. Thick smoke that hampered visibility and made Fields' eyes water even as he grabbed Father Cassock and pulled him though the doorway. Through the smoke, he saw Jovovich suddenly convulse, then Cutter and Kennedy closed the door.

"What happened, sir?" coughed Kennedy.

"Ambush." Cough. "I figure that thing in the chair was talking to-cough-distract us." He found he was wiping his eyes with his handgun, and holstered it. "Status?"

"No, son. There's no way out."

Fields took his first deep breath since the smoke. "So. We're trapped."

Silence fell.

Fields counted himself, Cutter, Kennedy, the priest and-no Tudyk. He thought he heard screams behind the door, but ignored them.

"Padre, can you handle a gun?"

Cassock took the weapon reluctantly. "I did take a vow of peace." He looked at the windows. "Then again, I also took a vow of celibacy."

Fields started to lay out his weapons.

"What are you doing?" asked Cassock, by his side.

"Inventory."

There was a thumping noise, then another. Fields turned to find both of his men on the ground. "What the-?"

Kneeling by their prone bodies, he found a small, feathered dart sticking out of each of their necks.

"Why two?" he wondered aloud.

"We only had two snipers," said Cassock behind him.

Some stars exploded at the back of his head, and suddenly he was on the ground. He felt Cassock quickly and efficiently locating his plastic cuffs and restraining him, then he saw the priest walking to the door, pulling the bolts, and then stepping over into his field of vision. His robe was open to the waist, and Fields saw some bandages-

Chest binding.

His throat tightened.

"Sorry about that," said Cassock, leaning on the bloodied silver tray. "The boss needed all the tasers."

One of the creatures walked into view, some wolf-thing. From the creature's bearing and clothing, he was part of some special-ops team, just like Fields was. In fact, Fields realized, he was probably the leader. It looked at the priest.

"Good job," it said.

"Can I do this one?" said Cassock. He was slowly unbuttoning his robe, and Fields saw the carefully compressed bulge underneath. Some buckle was loosened, and suddenly there was a dick the size of a P90 dangling down the priest's leg. The ma-no, the thing-looked up at the wolf shyly. "Can I?"

Fields groaned, and closed his eyes.