FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sorry for the wait on this one guys I've had a lot to do recently AND I had a critical system failure that wiped out my other stories, anyway if you don't know the spiel I suggest you go back to almost all of my previous chapters and look at the very top of the story.

Kate

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I whipped around a large moss covered tree on the only "road" leading in and out of the swamp region, the sound of the old humvee's engine protesting the abuse was almost to the point of insanity. I looked behind me in the rear view mirror to see if Serenity and Chad where okay and nodded to myself as I saw Serenity bowed over Chad using her body to keep him from bouncing around too much, which frankly surprised me with how small she was.

I quickly got my eyes back on the road and swerved around another moss covered tree as I tried to make it to the nearest city possible to get treatment for the guy who had not only saved my friends and my village but also the woman he had been hired to protect.

It had been almost eight hours since we had left the village and been dropped off at the only vehicle our town owned. (We only used it for food runs and emergencies) It had not been well met by some of the other townsfolk and one large grey wolf was very vocal about not letting us take it, but a few well placed reminders and he quickly fell into agreement with the others. (If only to have me stop kicking in his squishy bits)

I heard something behind me but I could not really hear what it was so I chanced a quick look behind me only to see serenity mouthing the words "Go faster" with the same frantic look in her eyes that she had when she had woken up earlier that morning.

I was just easing onto the gas pedal when the truck suddenly jerked to a stop much less smoothly than I would have liked it to.

"Son of a fucking bitch!" I yelled in aggravation as I looked at the dashboard only to find the gas gauge showing empty.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?" I heard Serenity ask in confusion.

"Out of gas" I yelled back as the truck came to a stop near a wooden sign that was facing the same direction we were, I knew what the sign said as some of my friends and I had made it and put it up quite a few years back, I chuckled softly at the memory as I walked to the back of the humvee and pulled one of the extra gas cans out of its holder and walked over to where the gas cap was.

"How much further until the next town?" I heard Serenity ask as I put the removable spout into place and started gassing the humvee.

"Another couple of hours from this point," I said, "two hours if we're lucky and this piece of shit holds together on us or three and a half to four hours depending on how far it gets before it breaks," I said.

I finished filling the tank and started putting the gas can away. After that was done I peered over the tailgate to the makeshift gurney we had made and the person who now lay on it.

"How's he doing?" I asked as I noted the pallid color of his skin and the sweat that was beading on his face and body.

I saw the grimace that came over Serenity's face as she looked at him; I quickly pulled the tailgate down and grabbed the first aid kit for under the cot that had been tossed there almost as an afterthought.

Frankly I didn't know how Chad had made it through this long, as far as I could tell the water from the spring had all but destroyed his arm and what was left of it was nothing but a mangled mess, a lesser man would have died by now. The only hope we had was to take him to the nearest medical facility and since we did not have a hospital within a week's travel our only hope was arbor dale which was the nearest town with a practicing doctor.

I quickly handed the first aid kit to Serenity before I closed the tailgate, "it's going to take me a minute to get this heap running again so use the time to clean his arm up and re-bandage him" I told her as I walked over to the driver's seat and climbed in closing the door behind me.

I started trying to get the humvee running as I heard her go to work, Luckily it only took me about ten minutes but Serenity was already done by the time I got the engine to turn over, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her putting the first aid kit down under her seat as I pushed on the gas pedal and pulled off.

It took us about two and a half hours before we finally saw the sign saying , Welcome to Arbor Dale and I could not help letting out a heavy sigh of relief as the town came into view as I quickly made my way to the local doctors office.

As we pulled into the parking lot I pulled into the nearest available space and slammed on the brakes, throwing the truck into park and hitting the emergency brake I practically jumped out of the truck and ran inside to the front desk with my heart pounding in my ears.

A human woman somewhere in her thirties, with a large belly and chubby features was sitting behind the receptionist desk doing her nails with a nail-file, as I walked up

"Look I don't have time for the whole nicey, nice act I need the doctor here NOW, I have an emergency" I said as the receptionist looked up at me and began to open her mouth.

Still she went through the motions as she spoke to me, "And what is the nature of your emergency?"

I was already aggravated as hell and just the way she spoke was enough to push me over the edge to the point where I wanted to take that nail-file and shove it up her ass, "I have a sick man out in my truck that's going to die in your parking lot if you don't get off your ass and GET THE DOCTOR!" I yelled at her.

I saw the color drain from her face as she quickly jumped out of her seat and ran to the door about ten feet behind her desk, practically throwing it open as she hurried through. A few minutes later she came back pulling the arm of a young man that looked to be in his early to mid twenties. The look on his face went from shocked annoyance to surprise and then something far more annoying to me personally as he looked me up and down with a flirtatious grin on his face.

"I hope you're here as a new patient," he said as his eyes came to rest on my cleavage before traveling to my face, it quickly vanished as I gave him a not to pleasant look. As much as I wanted to kick his teeth in for doing it I needed his help right now so I grabbed his arm and quickly lead him outside, before the door had even closed behind me I saw that Serenity already had the tailgate down and was trying to get Chad out of the back by herself, she had succeeded in getting him off the gurney and had him sitting on the tailgate but it looked like she was trying to figure out how she was going to get him from the truck to the doors by herself when she spotted me and quickly started motioning for us to hurry over.

I practically ran back to the truck and started to look Chad over when I got there, he was sitting with his back against the gurney and somehow his hair had come unbound and was hanging down covering his face.

The doctor who had apparently gotten their right after me gently pushed me out of the way as he put his stethoscope in and put it to Chad's chest; he felt around with it for a minute before he pulled the stethoscope out if his ears and looked at me.

"Go inside and tell the receptionist to get the exam room ready with an I.V. and a fresh set of bandages" he told me as he took Chad by his good arm put it over his neck, before suddenly stopping with a curious look on his face.

As I watched him he set Chad back down on the tail gate and started looking him over again, getting a better look at him.

"What is the matter doctor?" I asked.

As I spoke he was looking over the wings on Chad's back.

"These things on his back, they look like...wings?" that's when the doctor looked at me with a hard glare, "Is this man a shifter?" he asked me in a steady tone.

"Does it really matter if he is?" I stated, "You took an oath to heal the sick and wounded, this man got like this because he save my village and her life" I said as I pointed to Serenity.

The doctor just turned and started walking away leaving Chad to slump forward to the point I thought he was going to fall; luckily Serenity caught him as she gave an evil glare at his back.

"Where do you think you're going?!?" I demanded as he passed me.

He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at me, "I took an oath to heal the sick and wounded, yes, but that only pertains to humans" he said "shifters aren't human and therefore they do not apply, besides even if I wanted to help him I don't have the supplies or the equipment to spare...you're better off just dumping him in the woods somewhere and letting him die" he said before he started walking again.

As he spoke I felt every fiber of my being boil with rage at his callousness, before I could will my body to do anything my hands had already balled into fists and I was turning to go after the doctor completely intent on killing him.

"KATE!"

I stopped and looked back at Serenity as she pulled Chad back onto the stretcher, she looked me dead in the eyes and just shook her head, I knew what she was saying as I glanced back at the doctor only to catch him stepping through the door of his office building and vanish as the door closed behind him.

I quickly turned back to the humvee and helped Serenity get Chad situated before going to the driver's seat, I was getting in when something caught my attention, I stopped halfway on the seat as I stared into the driver's side mirror, The fur around my eyes and two trails down my cheeks where matted and I could see tears working their way down my face.

"What is it?" I heard Serenity ask, shocking me out of my stupor.

"Nothing," I said as I finished getting in and turned the engine over.

Just as I was backing up to head for the drive to the road I spotted two cars sitting in the parking lot, I looked around to make sure I hadn't missed a third one before smiling slightly to myself, on the left was an older car from around The 2030's which was kind of a retro time for the ring because they had started modeling cars after the ones from the sixties; this one looked like an old station wagon , and the one on the right looked like it had just been bought from the dealership.

I felt a grin slide over my face as a plan formed in my mind, *there's no way a receptionist is going to afford a car like that...* I thought to myself as I pushed on the gas pedal and started creeping the old truck forward, I pulled up to the front of that shiny new car that I was sure belonged to the doctor before I turned back to Serenity and spoke.

"Hold on to him tightly Serenity, this will get a little... bumpy" I said before turning to look at the car again, thanks to our truck being so tall it gave me the perfect opportunity to get some payback without damaging the truck to badly.

I hit the gas and felt the truck jump as we hit the car in front of us followed by the sound of crunching fiberglass and breaking glass, I hit the gas more and urged the truck farther up that assholes car until the truck dropped down with the sound of twisting metal and more crunching fiberglass.

My work done I tossed the gear shift into reverse and backed the truck up to look at my handy work, when the car finally came into view it was a total wreck; pieces of the hood were wedged into the engine compartment and the top of the car was completely level with the rest of the vehicle, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction as I backed away from the car and pulled off towards the entrance of the street, I caught a quick movement in the mirror out of the corner of my eye and saw the receptionist standing in the doorway with a grin on her face that would have made a clown proud, she gave us a quick thumbs up before vanishing into the interior of the building and letting the door close behind her.

As we pulled out of the doctor's office parking lot I heard Serenity calling to me and asking a question.

"Where are we going to next?" she asked

I gripped the wheel hard and gunned the engine as I called back to her, "Our next destination....Is night city!"

???

I stood up and whipped my hands on the rag as I tried to get the blood off, "These interrogations always get so messy" I said as I tossed the rag onto the corpse in front of me.

"Did you get the information you were looking for?" asked a voice off to my right side.

I smiled at the sound and turned to my right looking into the shadows, "And how long have you been there my little friend?" I asked.

"Long enough to be disgusted at your methods" the gruff voice replied.

At that I watched as a form seemed to emerge from the shadows and my intruder took several steps into what little light we had, my smile widened as I saw who it was.

"Ah yes these abandoned old warehouses really don't suit me do they" I said as I looked up at the night sky through a hole in the roof of the old rusted out warehouse.

"Come let's make our way home shall we?" I said as I turned away from the corpse and started making my way towards the door.

"Wait" the voice of my visitor said.

I stopped as I looked over my shoulder, "what is it?" I asked.

"Don't you think you had better put on something a little less conspicuous" I heard him say.

I looked down at myself and realized I was covered in blood; I frowned down at the bloodstained white suit as I glanced back over at the subject of my latest interrogation.

"And after I told him I didn't want to get my suit dirty, he goes and bleeds all over me" I said

"This suit is made from the finest wormmon silk money can buy!" I stated as I took off my jacket.

Looking over at my friend I spoke again, "This suit cost me $5,000 dollars to get it made, how am I suppose to host a dinner party looking like this?" I asked him.

With that he produced a white bundle in his left hand and looked at me, "your butler has seen fit to take care of that little problem for you" he told me as he tossed something to me from his right hand.

I caught it and looked as it sloshed somewhat to find he had tossed me a bottle of water, "wash up first, then I'll give you the clothes" he said as I smiled at him again and twisted the cap on the bottle.

"Ah my friend, you and my butler always take such great care of me" I said as I started to get changed and washed up to a respectable degree, after that we made our way out to the waiting limo.

My butler Sigmund was rather old; I believe he's somewhere in his seventies, but like the dutiful man he was he stood at a slight bow with the left door open and waited for me and my friend, I stopped and ushered my guest into the limo before me, to which he silently walked passed me; his yellow and white fur glowed beautifully in the moonlight the only strange thing about him was the solid black gloves that he wore completely unlike the rest of his kind.

As he climbed into the limo before me I watched him wrap his tail around his waist and slide in, I quickly climbed in after him and took a seat with my back to the partition between me and my driver Sigmund whom had already shut the door behind me and was now climbing into the driver's seat.

"Take us home my dear sig" I said as I hit a button and started rolling up the divider not even waiting for his reply.

I looked at the male renamon before me as the engine cranked to life and we started to move.

"So what did you find out" he asked me as we pulled off of the gravel drive and on to a paved road.

"My my, are you already so eager to hear the news?" I said as I smiled and looked out the tinted windows at the beautifully light city passing us by.

I heard a low rumble coming from the renamon as we rode, "Don't worry Scar, the rumors are true" I said as I picked up a wine glass sitting to my right and started to drink.

"It was him, he passed through the wall some weeks ago near the night region" I said.

I both saw and felt the hackles on the renamon's body raise as his right hand moved to the hilt of a Japanese style sword sitting propped up on the edge of the bench seat he was sitting on.

"So what are you going to do about it?" his gruff voice asked as his three fingers absently traced out the details on the handle of the blade that sat next to him.

I smiled as I lifted the wine glassed and held it between us, "it is very simple my dear friend," I said.

"First we locate him," I said as I got a good grip on the glass.

I slowly started to squeeze as I looked at the renamon sitting across from me, "then we kill him and everyone he holds dear"

*shatter*

Kate

"It's almost been a full day Kate, and Chad isn't looking very good!" Serenity called from the back of the old truck as I turn right down the street, my eyes scanned the walls as we drove slowly down the deserted street.

"Are you sure you can find this place?!" she called.

I could hear the anxiety in her voice and I could tell that like me she was close to the breaking point, suddenly I spotted the symbol I had been looking for and felt a shuddered breath of relief left my body, the sign was on my left near the entrance to and old destroyed building that was surrounded by a high cement wall that looked like it had been there for years, "his directions where pretty specific, so I don't think we're going to have much trouble in that respect" I said as I hit the turn signal and pulled up to the gate.

"Well that answers that question" she said shyly as I jumped out of the truck and ran to the gate.

"Damn it!" I yelled as I saw the locked chain around the handles of the solid metal gates that separated me from our destination.

"What's the matter?" Serenity called to me as I ran back to the back of the truck and climbed up on the bumper.

"The damned gate is locked" I said as I grabbed Chad's right arm and started inspecting the prosthetic limb near the elbow hurriedly.

"Hey! What are you doing? Be careful with him!" she yelled in protest as I found the button I was looking for and pushed it, instantly a small compartment snapped open and a key fell out.

I quickly grabbed the key and carefully laid his arm back down on the cot before running back up to the gate and unlocking the chain, I yanked it out of place before I pulled the doors open enough to get the truck in.

I took one look past the gate and instantly cursed, it was filled with debris from the destroyed building, and the truck wouldn't be able to make it in. I quickly ran back to the back of the truck and dropped the tail gate before I turned to Serenity, "We can't take the truck any further, we need to carry him from here" I told her.

She looked skeptically at me before looking at Chad again and nodding, with her help we got Chad onto her back and walked through the gates with Serenity in the lead and me right behind, as soon as my feet where past the door it slammed shut behind use with a resounding boom that made both Serenity and I turn around to look at it.

What I saw sent a shiver down my spine, in bold white letters on the back of the gate was written one word "death".

I quickly turned away from it knowing the reason it was there from Chad, "Serenity I need you to take Chad to that old building over there, starting from the center column go to the third one on the left and wait for me, and be careful" I told her.

She nodded before quickly vanishing into thin air leaving me to find my own way to the building.

It took too much precious time for me to get to where Serenity was waiting for me with Chad on her back, I quickly started inspecting the column until I found what I was looking for, a small symbol was carved into the pillar that looked like the crest of hope that someone had gouged a line through, it gave me pause for a second, it was like someone was trying to tell me that we had no hope of saving our friend, I don't know why but at first I started to feel like I was going to cry and I wanted to just give up right then but everything I am refuse to believe that there wasn't a chance and crushed it down as my blood pressure started to rise and my blood boiled in my veins.

I quickly mashed one of my clawed fingers into the symbol right in the middle hoping to claw it out, only to have it sink into the column before giving a loud click, suddenly the ground started shaking as a stone slab in the ground to our left slowly started grinding its way beneath the rest of the floor to reveal a set of stairs leading down into the ground, I heard Serenity gasp lightly as it stopped and we both looked at each other before nodding and making our way down the stair well.

It didn't take long for us to reach the bottom of the stairs but the effect was that it was almost impossible to see even with my low light vision and the atmosphere was smothering, I turned to Serenity as I spoke "this is going to be slow going for a bit until we find a door so I'm going to give you my tail so you don't get lost" I told her.

She nodded and opened her right paw as she repositioned Chad's leg so she could get a good grip, I gingerly put the end of my tail into her paw before I turned and started walking only to stop and look back at her.

"And whatever you do please don't pull to hard on it...it's very sensitive," I said quietly.

Serenity smiled and nodded to me before I turned away and started heading down the tunnel, it took us about five minutes before we finally reached what looked like a metal bulkhead at the end of the tunnel but it did not seem to have any kind of handle on it to open the door, I quickly started feeling my way around the wall that the door was set in until my fingers brushed over some kind of panel to the left of the door, it took some fiddling but I finally managed to get the damned thing open and as soon as I did small lights on the panel inside light up revealing what looked like an old speaker box .

*beeeeeeep*

*please enter your pass code now*

I think both Serenity and I jumped almost out of our skins when the loud metallic shriek came from the speaker box, I'm pretty sure I almost wet my gator skin pants too but I wasn't really concerned about that right know as I racked my brain for the pass code that Chad had given me, I suddenly remembered something and snapped my fingers as I did then reached to my waist and pulled at the straps of a leather bag, when I had it opened I reached in and pulled out a hunk of wood about the size of my palm that Chad had carved out of the bench seat in the boat, I quickly looked it over and started reading off what it said.

"Enable protocol 3, authorization code gamma 249, access code Prometheus 7" I said, the speaker box beeped and whirred softly before speaking again.

*access code authorized, beginning protocol 3... medical personnel have been notified*

Suddenly the door gave a loud hissing sound and the tunnel was suddenly filled with dust thick enough that it made both Serenity and I start coughing, the dust hurt my eyes but through it I saw the door swing open silently.

I gave a little tug on my tail and started moving forward through the door with Serenity close behind; it didn't take long for the dust to settle revealing a large underground bunker like area that was in complete shambles all around I could see large pieces of concrete laying on the floor and there where large holes in the wall like some massive fist had punched it's was through trying to get to something on the other side.

There was enough light in here from the lighting system that we could see fairly well but for some reason something didn't feel right and I could smell something unsettling on the air, I could feel the fur on my neck standing on end as we slowly made our way to the other side of the room.

"Kate something isn't right here" I heard Serenity say, I stopped and turned to look at her.

"What do you mean Serenity?" I asked.

The look on her face was strange and unsettling, as she looked me straight in the eye's and spoke, "I smell blood on the air".

_____________________________________________________________________________________

HA!!! Finally got this chapter completed, sorry about the wait everyone, I just had too much happening to me to be able to right properly.

But it is complete and I will start working on my next chapter soon so please be patient with me.

By the way I am hoping to find someone who can draw both Serenity and Chad; if you think you have what it takes contact me for further information. Your humble story teller, Vllad.