FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The First Anthromorph

The guards stood nervously before me, my one good eye keeping track of their every move as they held their weapons raised towards the sealed lab entrance. Outside the vicious twang of ricocheting bullets seemed to have steadily intensified as the fire-fight moved throughout the building, drawing ever closer to this room.

I deigned not to move, my ankle twisted, and my left eye swollen shut, the residual impact of the beating I'd taken still leaving me in a light daze. I just couldn't muster up the mental runtime to fully process what was going on around me beyond the simplest of sensations and inputs. Given that all of the equipment in the lab was currently deactivated, giving off little more than an eerie radioactive glow, and the overhead lighting was in emergency standby mode after the explosion at the generator, there was very little to see beside the guards and the door. The only point to focus upon was the sounds of weapons discharge.

A resounding metal ping from the blast proof doors drew the instant attention of each one of us in the room, the younger of the two guards taking a half-step backwards as his confidence wavered.

"Steady, soldier." His comrade broke the silence, his deep voice cutting into the darkness with a menacing edge.

Another ping, followed by a second and a third ricochet signalled the beginning of a cacophonous maelstrom of gunfire and anguished screams of pain from the hallway beyond.

"She's getting closer..." I whispered, barely recognising the rasp of my own voice. I suddenly found myself craving a drink - water or whiskey, who knew?

The less senior of the guards rounded on me, his eyes wide with something akin to both panic and anger, "Shut up!" I found myself staring directly down the barrel of his gun. I would've smirked if my split lip had permitted me the pleasure.

The other guard took the smaller soldier's weapon between the thick calloused digits of his right hand, forcing him to lower it, "Don't threaten the doctor."

"Why not? It's his fault we're in this mess!" the younger guard was clearly having some difficulty in overcoming his fear. It would've been a lie to say I didn't relish it. After all, we'd never seen things eye to eye.

"Standing orders are he lives." Judge Dredd the elder turned to face me directly, though he didn't release his colleague's weapon, "Else I'd have killed him myself."

I could see the hatred in his eyes. He wasn't lying. But then that was something I would just have to get used to. After all, it was my fault.

This time it was a loud dully thud against the titanium-reinforced doors that refocused our attention outwards. A second thud, followed by a distinct shuffle of feet signalled a lull in the sound of explosive gunfire and misaimed ricochets. By the time the third and fourth thuds fell the sounds of activity outside fell away completely.

The next thirty seconds drew out into an eternity as we each waited for the pneumatic whine of the door's internal clamps releasing and revealing the darkness of the corridor to we three observers.

But there was nothing.

I jumped in my seat when the larger of the two guards broke the silence with a gruff command to his colleague, "You! Guard him!"

He stalked away to the door, checking over his weapon and cocking it.

"Those doors are sealed." I interrupted him as he reached towards the egress number pad to enter in his code, "You open the doors and she'll just-"

The butt of the remaining guard's gun impacted with my already swollen eye, knocking me sideways with a loud exhale of pain. He didn't have to say anything. When I turned back to regard him his expression said it all - another word from me and I'd get the bullet too.

Well, that was fine with me. A fool just won't be warned.

As the mechanical whine of the locking mechanism unbinding drew to a close, and the doors parted with a hiss, I knew it was too late anyway. The guard was stepping out into his own death-sentence - when the doors closed again, this time without the dramatic fanfare of the safeties locking them in place, it was the last time I ever saw the man.

Great. With Dredd out of the way that just left me with Captain Oblivious. We simply glared at one-another for a moment or two, interrupted only by the sound of a single automatic weapon opening fire in the hallway.

The burst of gun-fire lasted all of a minute, the vacant click of an empty magazine following soon after. I'm not by any means a gun fanatic, but most people know that sound, and the inevitable release as gun and depleted mag separate. It all happens in less time than it takes to draw a breath.

The breathless stifled scream, futile scuffle of thick rubber soles against sterile tiles flooring, and heavy thud of a two-hundred pound bruiser hitting the deck take only a few seconds more.

In that time my would-be captor was already by the door, ear pressed against the metal as he tried to discern what was going on outside.

I already knew.

"He's dead." I stated simply.

The guard rounded on me again, and this time I couldn't tell whether it was panic or rage.

"Shut up!" his weapon raised directly to my head. Obviously it was the latter, "I'll kill you! You'll never-"

The doors behind him opened wide once more, but there was no way he'd be able to turn on his heels quickly enough to see what was coming next. Not that it mattered much which way he was facing.

But I could see everything.

The wide-eyed anger turned to wide-eyed panic as he took a stumbled step forwards and seemingly caught himself. But the blood that began to drip from the corner of his lips was a sure sign that he was no longer in full control of his emotions. As both he and I lowered our gaze to his upper torso it became instantly apparent why.

Protruding from his chest was a four-digit clawed hand thoroughly inhuman in nature, dripping with thick, deep red arterial blood and clasping a still-beating human heart. I couldn't imagine what was going through the guard's mind at that moment, but if there had been any bile left in my stomach I was certain that I would've thrown up at that point.

The gargled whimper that escaped him came almost as a last breath, had it not been for the further wince as he was lifted an additional foot clear off the floor. He dropped his gun, making a futile grasp for the forearm of his assailant where it protruded from his ribcage. Surely he had to know it was all over for him?

He persisted a moment, gruesomely torturous as it was, and I just couldn't look away.

And then the hand clenched shut like a vice.

His prone body fell to the floor in a pool of his own blood, lifeless eyes still locked open in terror.

The silence that fell was tick and oppressive, and all I could do was stare at the vaguely outlined silhouette standing between the doorway and myself. I could barely make out her face in the darkness, but I could feel her eyes upon me.

"Lights." Her voice came like sweet honey, barely even echoing around the hard surfaces of the room. I half-expected nothing to happen, but then she never was one to act without reason. When the laboratory computer responded instantly, lighting up the room with an intensity more akin to the midday sun, I wasn't as surprised as I should have been had she been anybody besides herself.

Ice blue eyes locked onto me, looked straight at me, looked into me with an intense scrutiny that gave her a very predatory air. The black-tipped, pointed ears atop her head turned slightly this way and that, no doubt paying close attention to anyone or anything in or around the room. The musculature of her deceptively slight frame was still tensed, coiled, ready to strike at any moment, the long thick bush of her tail poised to keep her balanced lightly on her toes.

I couldn't help but notice the sheer volume of blood that stained her usually immaculate pure white fur, though from the way she held herself I had no doubt that none of it was her own. She was a creature of liquid grace and beauty, that much was certain.

And now she was regarding me like I was her next meal.

All I could do was look back through my one good eye.

She moved forwards without uttering a word, closing the distance between us until she was well within striking distance. It would've been an easy kill.

Under her scrutinous gaze I felt myself burning. It was taking all of my willpower to resist the intimidation. Only when I felt her draw breath to speak did I allow myself even the slightest tremble of fear.

She was looking straight into my damaged eye when she spoke, "They sure did a number on you."

"Hello Riri." I replied with a dejected sigh.

"Come on, Graeme." She extended a paw to me in order to help me up, an offer I gladly accepted in light of my twisted leg. The way she turned, leaving my arm around her shoulder and my weight nearly fully supported on one side by her core strength, I was sure that had I not just seen a complete display of her strength I may have been surprised that such a slight creature could lift me so easily.

The blood was a bit of a giveaway too.

We started to the door.

"And I've told you before," she turned her head to look at me with a remarkably earnest smile, "Call me Rittou."