Terraphile

Story by ParallaxPrism on SoFurry

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#1 of Short Stories

A little bit of fun in an outback backwater.


The events described within are entirely fictitious. Any similarities to reality are pure coincidence. Do not attempt anything described herein This piece contains acts of bestial sex. Do not read if you are under 18 and/or not of the legal age in your area. The author reserves all rights. No part of this may be copied or used without the author's permission. Do not distribute without the author's permission.

Terraphile

"At least it's done." I hit the print button before saving and closing the document. "It'll be on your desk when you turn up tomorrow." I said spinning slowly in my chair to face Jack.

He smiled at me, taking his hand from the back of my chair and standing up straight, the vertebrae clicking with released tension. "Good, at least with this Mary will be able to see better where we stand for this year, and why she can't agree to some of the things the EM's been telling her to do. Thanks for that Morgan, I'll see to it that you're paid for your overtime. At least it's quitting time for you now though, some of us have to spend our afternoons at work too."

I waited while Jack left my office and then got up and threw the plastic biscuit tray that was all that remained of my lunch in the trash bag. "Some of us would prefer the extra hours though." I sighed as I pulled my coat from the back of my office chair, with my other hand I grabbed my briefcase, then paused in thought a moment before hefting it onto my desk, unlatching it, and stuffing it with several papers. I wasn't doing anything else today after all, may as well use the chance to get ahead on work.

Pushing the glass door open I made my way down the corridor and through another glass screened door to the outside.

The glare of the afternoon sun and the dust from the unsealed gravel road combined to make me sneeze several times and forced me to fumble awkwardly in my coat pocket for my handkerchief. The roads up this part of the complex were steep too and made my feet hurt as I walked them, the other option though was to walk all the way round the Dust Bowl and on a hot day like today it'd be murder, that was if I couldn't hitch a ride. I looked over at the keeper complex but all the golf carts were there, no luck then. Surrendering myself to aching feet I headed down the road.

There were a few tourists around, mainly foreigners and families with small children, actually more than I expected for a weekday, but it was still nowhere near the numbers we got on weekends.

Riland Hart Zoo, a place anyone would love to work, and I do love to work here, I just wish I could do it as something else than a bloody accountant.

My fault though, I surrendered myself to this life, studying something boring in my university years at the behest of my parents, I'd have probably been happy with it too, if I had had gone to work for some big accounting firm. But no, I took a job in a place that hands down kicked my profession out of the ballpark. Sure I was part of the zoo, an essential part, but while I was filing paperwork others were feeding lions, while I was adding numbers the keepers were out teaching kids about monkeys and parrots and zebras. I couldn't help looking at the contrast and feeling unsatisfied.

The door to the main entrance to the zoo glided open as I approached, letting out a welcome burst of cold air. Admission counter, gift shop, café. I waved to the girl on the counter as I passed through.

The staff carpark was actually quite far from the main entrance, there was a large (heavy truck sized) side door that could be used but it was far too much a hassle to open. Jumping the low fence that ran the edge of the carpark I slid between the silver hatchback that was Jack's own car and my own small sedan.

Again I started fumbling in my jacket pocket, this time for my keys, then I heard the sound of footsteps beating on the tarmac, getting louder, headed towards me.

Looking up I spotted Jeramy, Jeramy was one of the zoo's wildlife warriors, he attended callouts for people who unexpectedly found themselves in close encounters with the more exotic animals than your average cat or dog, as well as working full time at the zoo itself. He was also one of the best friends I had. I stopped and waited while he caught me up, we'd planned to have a few drinks after work that day but, he'd told me that morning that something had come up an he'd have to work late.

"Hi Jer," I greeted him as he squeezed between the two cars. I was a bit curious, he was in full ranger gear, which suggested that he was still in the middle of work. "Morgan, hi. You still got nothing on after work?"

I adjusted my coat in my arms, it was sticking to my skin, "No why?"

"We're releasing a croc back into the wild today, you remember the one I told you about, the one with the wrecked leg? She's all healed up and we're putting her back out this afternoon, but Sinai went home with a bad stomach bug and we're a man short. May would have out heads if we ignored safety regs and headed out under strength, but if we don't release her today she'll have to stay another week in captivity. Will you come with me and be our last man?"

I'd heard the keepers talking about croc releases several times in my time at the zoo, sure they always talked about the hair raising moments but that was to be expected. I knew that croc releases were always fairly straightforward affairs and the crocs we had in captivity were always easily and expertly handled by the keepers, it's what they did for a living after all. "Of course, I'm your man."

"Great!" Jeramy replied, chuck your things in your car and meet me at dispatch in two minutes." Squeezing out from between the cars he sprinted off back in the direction of the main entrance, vaulting the low fence. I snatched open the car door, threw my stuff inside, closed and locked it and went after him.

The dispatch area was a simple paved area outside yet another side exit to the zoo, currently parked on it was an open top Jeep. Two other men, both rangers, were standing around the vehicle loading equipment, I recognized them from seeing them around the zoo, not that I could have told you all their names.

"Morgan, jump in!" Jeramy called from behind the open driver's side door, I did as he said and nodded to the other guys there as I got into the passenger side and slid over behind Jeramy who got in the diver seat, "Where's the croc?" I asked him, one of the other keepers loading equipment overheard me and laughed, Jer cracked a smile and I blushed. "Nah," Jer shook his head, "We're going to take her fairly far out, she'll be taken out by helicopter to rendezvous with us so we can release her."

"Oh." I said as Jer started the engine. A quick look behind me confirmed that the rest of the gear had been loaded and as I located my seatbelt and plugged it in the rest of the crew were climbing into the jeep's other seats. Jer must have been counting the clicks or something because as soon as the last seatbelt went home we peeled out of the dispatch zone.

It took us only ten minutes to clear the city, which wasn't surprising since the zoo was right of the edge of town, but then it was another forty minutes of traversing increasingly unsealed terrain at high speed as we headed into the outback. Eventually we came to a small copse of trees just off the track with a track leading down beside them to a grassland, or at least what I assumed to be grassland, until the tell tale glint of water in the afternoon sun gave it away.

The whole thing was really a wide, very slow moving river mostly covered with aquatic grasses. Jer killed the Jeep's engine and the rangers leapt out, hauling equipment from the jeep's back. "This is our favorite place to let crocs go," Jer said opening his door, "don't go down beyond the trees. That's where the water starts and you want to be ten meters from the edge at all times, any movement while you're there and run like hell back to the Jeep, got it?"

I nodded and he flashed me a smile before getting down from the Jeep, I opened my door and did the same then watched as before my eyes a landing site was set up on the ground. "Now it's just waiting for the croc to arrive." The others were setting up tables and chairs, sitting down and as though from nowhere producing packs of cards and six packs of beer. "Come and sit down." Jer called over his shoulder to me as he headed toward the group, I hesitated, "Uh, how for away is the helicopter?"

He shrugged, "Who knows, it could be ten minutes, it could be an hour."

"Oh, OK then," I followed Jer over to the tables and took a seat, as I did one of the other rangers slid a beer over to me, "What do ya know about poker?" he asked shuffling a deck of cards, I grinned, "Five Card or Hold'em?"

It was almost two hours later and the sun was getting very low when I heard the distant thwack-thwack of chopper blades, "Helicopter's here." I said looking up from my cards toward the source of the noise. "Good thing too," the other ranger said dropping his own cards, "you'd just about depleted my funds," he winked, "that's if we were actually playing with money."

The chopper was just a speck on the horizon but it rapidly grew to fill the sky, the downwash from the rotors blowing the tables over and scattering empty beer bottles. Beneath the chopper, about forty meters beneath, on a long length of rope dangled a bundle wrapped in tarpaulins that was decidedly crocodile shaped. The helicopter descended slowly, gently laying its burden on the ground exactly in the center of our prepared landing zone. One of the keepers ran over and unclipped the web of ropes that held the captive croc from the main rope. Jer had walked to the edge of camp, where the pilot could see him, and as soon as the task was done flashed him a thumbs-up. Within seconds the 'copter turned, and vanished back over the horizon.

"All right everyone," Jer said walking back to the group, "she should be sedated but as you know you can never tell with crocs, I want no chances taken. On my count we all pile her. 3 - 2 - 1"

I ran with the rest of the keepers toward the bundle and hurled myself onto its prone form, the croc didn't even twitch. "Nice to have a croc that's done this before," the keeper next to me said. "Sure she's not just still asleep?" I asked. He shook his head, "Nah way mate, didn't ya feel her twitch as ya got on her? She twitched for me she would've twitched for you, after all you got her head."

"Wha?" I started in horror as I looked down at the tarps, the other keeper laughed, "That's all right, she's had her mouth tied shut, the head's the easy end. Not much strength there ya see, it's the tail ya gotta watch out for, knock a fully-grown man off his feet. Hard as hell to hang onto if the croc starts thrashing. Not that she will, it's only the ones that haven't been tackled before that try to get away."

I had to move my hands as another keeper reeled out a tape measure along the croc, I couldn't help reading it as he pushed around the tarp to locate her head, the thing was over three meters long!

"Good for a freshie, 'specially one well fed as she has been" the keeper beside me said, "but you'd have to add another three or so meters to get something close to the length of some of the salties we've tackled."

"All right, let's get her released," Jer called from down the other end of the croc. Following what the other keepers were doing I grabbed a handful of tarpaulin and began to unwind it from around her. Slowly I revealed her blunt snout, and her eyes. They were closed but I could tell she was defiantly awake, a twitch of muscle in her eyelid betraying her as the last of the day's sun filtered through. Her snout was indeed bound shut, with a good amount of duct tape and that was something that I was thankful for. Even still the teeth jutting from her jaw made me give a little shudder.

By now the keepers had completely removed her covering tarp and were in the process of cutting the bonds that held her feet. As they did so the last of the light faded from the sky.

Jer's voice suddenly came from the darkness, "I don't like this guys, the crocs'll be coming out of the water by now, let's forget about freeing her today. It's too dark to stay here. On my count, 1, 2, 3."

We all abandoned our hold simultaneously and headed back in the direction of the jeep. Halfway there I looked back and could just make out the shape of the croc still lying exactly as we'd left her. As the rangers collected some of their scattered possessions under the headlights of the jeep and loaded them into the back of the truck I overheard Jer talking with an older ranger, "I'd like to have her gone by first light, and someone needs to activate her transmitter collar but I don't want to make another trip out, I'm thinking I should camp here overnight instead?"

The other ranger considered it, "Yeah, actually that would be good, we're putting a chopper out this way again tomorrow, just to do some aerial data gathering on the animals in the area, I could get them to pick you up. Although with the amount of gear still out here you'll need someone else to stay with you and help pack up to be ready by the time the chopper arrives. I don't think that you'd find any volunteers among the others either and then there's the question of safety, you'll need someone else if things go pear shaped. There's no way we'd leave you alone out here."

"That's why I was hoping you'd stay with me." Jer replied, the other ranger laughed, "Nay I'm to old to be sleeping it out rough, already done my share of that."

Jeramy sighed, "Guess I'll head back out in the morning then."

"Uh, Jer?" I asked, "I could stay, if you'd like, if you think that would be OK?"

"There you go," the older ranger laughed giving Jer a slap on the back, "I lie, there is someone willing to volunteer, and he's not even a ranger. Good on ya mate."

"Really?" Jer asked me, "you'd stay."

I nodded, "Yeah, I don't have anything on before tomorrow afternoon, and I'm sure we'd be back by then- besides, when would I next get the chance for a helicopter ride in my job?"

"That's right," the older ranger said, "I forgot, Jer said you were the zoo accountant, you did well on the croc this afternoon, handled yourself like an old pro keeping her head down. Good, then we've settled it, I'll dig out a survivalist pack from the Jeep and we'll leave you two here. Keep the landing site set up until the chopper arrives okay? I'll tell the pilots to look for it."

"Thanks, will do." Jeramy replied.

The old ranger headed back toward the Jeep where the rest of the crew was already seated waiting. Hauling a large bag from the trunk he tossed it over to us, it thumped heavily to the ground. "Just don't pitch it where the crocs'll get ya." He called out, Jer laughed, "See ya tomorrow."

Getting into the driver's seat the ranger started the engine, turned it around and gunned it back up the track leaving us alone in the dark.

"Well, where do you think we should pitch it?" Jer asked, crouching over the bag we had been left, "What?" I asked, "Tent," he smiled pointing to the bag. "Oh right, uh- as far away from the crocs as possible?"

"Good answer," Jer chuckled, "how about behind the woods? The crocs wont come that far inland."

It took us several minutes in the dark to find the little copse again, despite the battery powered lamp that Jer pulled from the bag. Reaching the site Jer once more dug trough the bag to pull out a large metal frame almost my height. "Grab a corner and pull," Jer ordered, I did so the whole contraption suddenly popped out into a tent frame. "Collapsible tent, now we just need the cover." The cover was quickly found and thrown over the top, its sides zipping up to create a completely enclosed space.

Jer tossed me a water bottle from the pack, "Shelter, water, now all that's left is food," Jer grimaced, "it's too dry to light a fire though, we'll have to survive on cold rations. We made do with what we had, Jer showing me several sandwich filling combinations I would never have thought to try, most of which actually tasted pretty OK.

With nothing much else to do we walked around the copse and checked on the croc, she was still lying where we'd left her, and then turned in for the night.

When I woke again it was still dark. The sound that had awoken me came again, it sounded as though someone was groaning softly with pain. In a split second my mind conjured all sorts of desperate scenarios, admittedly most of them involving crocodiles. "Jer?" I hissed into the dark.

"Morgan?" Came the response after a moment and just from his voice I could tell it was him that had woken me, "You all right man? You sound awful."

I could hear him breathing loudly and it took him several seconds to answer me, "Not really mate, I've come down with a bad stomach bug."

"Should I use the emergency beacon?" I asked but he gave a weak laugh, "No, it's not quite that bad, I'm sure I can live a couple more hours until we're picked up, though have a look in that bag for some paracetamol."

I did as he asked, fortunately the first aid kit was in the front pocket and was well labeled. Opening it out with the aid of a small torch I found the packet of painkillers and tossed it over to him. I heard him open the packet and dry swallow the pills before gulping several mouthfuls of water from his canteen. A moment later he flicked on his own torch.

"God you look awful too," I said, "sure it's just a stomach bug?"

He wiped his hand over his face, "Yeah this feels a lot like what Sinai described when he rang me up yesterday to excuse himself from this trip, I figure I must have caught it from him."

Yawning I zipped the bag back up, "What's the time anyway?" Jer shrugged, "I dunno, open the flap and see if the sun is up yet."

Scooting over to the tent flap I unzipped it and peered out, the sky was just beginning to lighten, the last of the stars giving up the night and sinking back into obscurity. "Early morning." I called back, "Like the truckers and bakers finishing their night shift, early."

"Right then, time to go find ourselves a croc," I heard him lever himself up off the ground, then I heard him cough, the cough turned into a splutter and then I heard him throwing up.

"I hope that wasn't in the tent," I said when he'd stopped, he thumped back down onto the groundsheet, "No, I managed to unzip the side before I threw up the first time. Ugh, I was hoping it would be earlier, that I could have a couple more hours to get my stomach under control, I can't even move without being sick."

Finding the larger lamp I flicked it on, "Well that defeats the idea of the paracetamol anyway, do you think you'll be all right by the time we need to fly out?" I asked.

"Hopefully," he replied, "Though we still need to free Silmane. The croc." He clarified seeing the confusion on my face, "Morgan, I hate to ask this but do you think that you would be able to free her yourself?"

I shook my head, "I dunno man, what do I have to do?"

Jeramy curled up into a ball as another spasm of pain wracked his body, once he'd got his breath back he replied, "All you need to do is get close enough start the transmitter and to cut the tape on her mouth. That's not the dangerous bit though, she'll know you're freeing her and hold still for you, it's the other crocs you've got to watch out for while you're doing it. You really need someone watching your back, that was going to be your job while I freed her."

"Doesn't sound hard." I replied with a grin, "Get close to one croc, stay away from the others. I can do that."

"Thanks, you'll need the tracker on my phone, it's linked to the radio locator part of the GPS collar we put on her, that part's already on, it'll help you find her if she's moved." Pulling his phone from his pocket he poked the screen several times before passing it to me, "My knife to cut the tape, careful it's sharp, don't hurt yourself or her when you do it." He picked it up from beside him, leather holster and all and passed it to me, I clipped it to my belt. Finally he passed me one more object. "And a little extra insurance to keep the crocs away."

"An umbrella?" I asked curiously.

"If a croc gets too close for comfort open it up and point it at em, it'll keep them unsure and they wont attack you. Just back away slowly and they'll let you go." He chuckled, "Don't try it on Silmane though, she's used to it, and take the lamp too you'll need something to see with."

"K then see ya later." Gathering my items I stood and ducked out the tent flap just before I could let it fall however Jer called out, "Take this too." I stuck my head back inside something bumped against my foot, it was a handgun. I picked it up, "This'll stop a croc?" from inside the tent Jer laughed, "Yeah, though please only as a last resort, definitely try the umbrella first.

Taking Jer's words, and his pistol, with me I kept both eyes peeled as I made my way back down to the landing site. On my way though I saw nothing even remotely resembling a croc. Not even the croc Silmane. She wasn't where we'd left her, obviously she'd moved away in the night. Fishing Jer's phone from my pocket I thumbed on the screen, a small dot flashed on the screen next to a scale, apparently I was 230 meters from my target.

Keeping an eye out toward the lake for other crocs I kept walking, my path took me parallel to the river, which I hoped suggested that Silmane wasn't in the water, this proved to be correct because with only fifty meters to go I spotted her lying on the ground amongst some freshwater rushes.

In the morning light the croc didn't seem anywhere near as big as she had done the previous night. She was facing away from me but I could tell she heard me as I approached, lifting her head slightly off the ground. "Hiya girl," I called out, slipping Jer's phone back into my pocket, "Glad to see you didn't swim across the river, I didn't fancy a swim this early in the morning."

As I stepped up next to her she swung her head toward me and I almost jumped back in fright, but she stopped and twisted her neck presenting me with her jaw. I let out a soft chuckle my nervousness melting away, "You know what's up huh girl."

Kneeling down beside her I gave a soft gasp of surprise as water soaked up through my pants, she had been swimming after all. I pressed the little red button on her collar first and theraking Jer's knife I carefully set it to the tape and with three short cuts cut it apart. She didn't move as I did so, even when her jaw was free, so I tentatively grabbed the trailing edge of the tape and unwound it. Taking the ball of tape with me I slid Jer's knife back into its sheath and stood. As I did something tapped me lightly on the back of my ankles.

I turned to look, and took both eyes off the croc. It was her tail, she had curled into a semi circle around me.

I snapped around as I felt her move again, she scrambled about faster than I could react, enclosing me within her form.

I tried to step away but she just moved with me, I tried to step over her but this time she got underfoot, and in the process of trying not to stand on her I fell. I really expected her to go for me then as I sat helpless in the grass. Instead all she did was tighten her circle about me. Really she didn't seem to be threatening me at all, she even put her head right against my leg. Slowly I reached out and touched her, just on her neck at the base of her jaw. She rolled her head toward me, rubbing herself against my hand.

Feeling braver, convinced now that she wasn't about to attack me, I rose back to my knees beside her and put my other hand on her back. She liked that, closing her eyes as I petted her head. I stroked her cold scales all the way down her back and then down her flank, all the way to her back foot. Her foot jerked as I touched the crease of leathery skin at the joint. I'd touched a ticklish spot.

I did it again and she raised her foot completely off the ground, claws hanging in an inverted pyramid pointed toward the ground.

She had rolled almost completely over, presenting me with the much lighter scales of her belly. Holding onto her foot I massaged it, enjoying the feel of her scales in my hand. She pulled it away slowly, leaving my hand over her hole. Heat pulsed from the flesh between her legs, warm on the bottom of my palm.

Reaching out I touched the hard ring of her cloaca. I heard a low rumble start in the crocs' throat and looked up, hesitating.

Determining it to be a bellow of pleasure since she didn't turn and kill me I looked back up toward the campsite, I couldn't even see where we had pitched the tent and Jer had given me his tracker, he wouldn't be finding us here.

Fingering the crocs' cloaca I checked the phone, the heli wasn't going to be here for ages yet. Silmane began grinding herself against my hand, her growling got higher too, probably with frustration. Slowly I pushed my finger into her. She seemed to drop into a swoon, relaxing totally only her back, a clear invitation for me to do as I pleased.

I worked my finger in out of her a few times then crouched down over her, opened my mouth and pressed my lips to her, licking her outer folds. It was like licking tree bark, though smooth, like someone had polyurethaned her scales. I pulled back my head to force another of my fingers inside, then another. Her slit was producing her own fluids now, each time I pulled out of her a small wave of her almost transparent ejaculate, slipped down over her scales.

We both stank of her sex, I glanced toward her muzzle, her eyes were glazed, the muscles in her neck lax. She looked as though she'd been drugged again.

I was feeling the effects too, heat pulsed through my erect member trapped within my chino work slacks. I could resist no longer, I climbed on top of her. Silmane gave a grunt as I did and I froze cold but she kept breathing, deep and hoarse, and didn't move.

I pulled my hand from her and undid my fly, pulled down my boxers. Gently I lay down atop of her, my chest between her forepaws. I pushed into her easily then, when I reached my full length, the muscles in her suddenly constricted, crushing my member. I moaned, pleasure and pain, into the cold metal of the GPS collar on her neck and jerked my hips back.

For a second later she held me, then her muscles relaxed allowing me to pull out. I hesitated but then pushed back into her.

The same thing happened and I was left gasping and moaning as her cloaca worked me until I was allowed to pull out.

I only lasted a half dozen thrusts under the croc's ministrations but, fortunately, Silmane had been close too and as I filled her belly with my seed a shudder went through her and my own belly and my thighs were slicked with sticky, pungent fluids that swelled from her.

We stayed shuddering against each other for several seconds, then as is slipped, limp, from her she gave an explosive snort, shook herself, and rolled over - throwing me off as she did. Spotting the sharp look that had returned to her eye I swiftly yanked my fly shut and scrambled to my feet, ready to run.

She didn't even look at me, just turned and slipped off through the grasses towards the edge of the billabong. I took a few deep breaths, straightened my clothes and gathered my belongings. The sun had crested the horizon and it's warm rays helped me to stop shaking as I headed back round the lake.

The familiar copse of trees had just come into sight when I stepped on something in the reeds. The ground seemed to come alive beneath my feet.

I'd stepped on the tail of a crocodile.

The reptile snapped around as though made of molten steel, letting out an incredible bellow. I didn't even have time to think about running, let alone trying to use the umbrella or the gun. My leg buckled as it's snout struck me below the knee. I was lucky, it's mouth was open, another inch and my leg would have been in it's jaws.

I realized I was yelling, fright and pain as the reptile came for me again. Suddenly another croc was there, Silmane! She hit the first croc in it's side, plowing it aside, it's jaws snapped closed so close to my arm that I felt the animal's breath on my skin. Silmane and the other croc tumbled over and over through the reeds bellowing so loud my heart vibrated with the sound.

With a silent word of thanks I shot off for the copseat a weak legged run for the trees.

I was met by a white-faced Jer clinging to the tent frame. "What? What happened?" he asked as I slowed to a breathless stop. I forced myself to speak calmly as I replied, "Crocodile fight," I gestured back the way I'd came, "just walking along and it started up about twenty meters away, scared the shit out of me." I said with a grin to show that I was okay. "What about Silmane?" he asked.

"Gone, I freed her. Took me ages to find her though, she was on the other side of the lake."

Jer gave me a weak grin, "Good, well done."

"Thanks," I replied, "How're you holding up."

He nodded, "Better than I was, though I don't think I'll be any help packing up."

"No problem go and rest, I can do it."

Jer smiled gratefully and staggered over to a tree and let himself slide down it's trunk while I pulled out the tent bag and set to dismantling our camp.

I'd only just finished when the now familiar sound of chopper blades beating the air reached our ears. I helped Jer to his feet and we made our way down to the landing site then, just a few minutes later, we were both lifted up, out and away.