FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The land lay barren not a single living thing in sight. In fact, one could see forever but all one would see would be death and destruction. All trees, flowers, grass, everything that had once littered the beautiful world in all it's splendor was dead or brown, the perpetual color of the day. The sky seemed dead with its almost permanent cloud cover. Akinyi scanned the landscape before her and sighed. She focused on a small mountain that rose from the brown horizon. It's peak not even white with snow.

"Be sure you're back in time Akinyi. Adara needs that medicine." A voice called behind her.

"I know mom." Akinyi said turning around. "Don't worry I'll be back in time. After all, I'm officially eighteen in a week aren't I? So of course I'll be back." Akinyi smiled and squeezed her moms hand as her father walked up next to them. In his hands were what seemed like a brand new .30 caliber rifle. Akinyi looked at the gun a little perplexed.

"Mom! Wh...is that?"

Her father smiled and her mother weakly nodded. "Well, you're almost eighteen like you said and well, your father thought it was time."

"I found this about five years ago." Her father explained, "and spent that time fixing it up for you. Everything is redone and sanded, I even managed to find some stain for the butt. It's the nicest rifle in the entire town. I thought, well, since this is your first time going out alone that you needed it." He extended it out. "Happy early birthday Akinyi."

Akinyi reached out and gingerly took the weapon, it was lighter then the one she had used for the rest of her life and it shined like it was brand new. The barrel was polished to a shine and the wooden hand rest and stock was buffed and polished. She checked the chamber, the clicking of all the mechanisms felt like music to hear ears, everything worked very smoothy. She brought it up to a shooting position and aimed down the sights.

"All the sights are dialed in, did it this morning." Her father added handing over a small bag of shells. "Remember aim for the head, you know how rare bullets are."

Akinyi pulled the trigger and listened for the click, smiling. She slung the rifle over her shoulder with the leather strap that was attached to it and then tied the small bag to her belt for easy reach.

"I know dad, always aim for the head. Ferals are hard to take down. You've only told me a billion times."

"Just avoid them at all costs Akinyi. They'll have you for breakfast if they get the chance." Her mother added sounding even more worried.

"Don't worry mom I know. I'm not stupid." Akinyi hiked the shoulder bag she had up a little and spread her arms out for a hug. "I'll be back soon. Don't worry, with this new rifle I'll be able to fend of anything."

"Just remember find the medicine!"

Akinyi started walking out of their little town of survivors, it's population was only around 30 or so and they were a tight knit group. But her sister, Adara, had come down with the flu and with their medicine pack being used up it was her job to try and go find a med pack that had not been used. Her parents said that there used to be a hospital at the bass of the mountain in the distance so that was her quest. She really didn't have an idea of how long it would take but she wasn't worried. Usually the ferals were south during this time of the year but just to be safe she chambered a round.

The town behind her started to disappear behind her and ruins and wrecks started to overtake the landscape. It was a sight Akinyi had grown accustomed too with her many treks with her father and the rest of the town. She passed by several rusting cars and glanced inside, every sort of usable material had been salvaged and all that was left was an empty husk. She was glad though that there used to be a highway that traveled to the mountain, it made everything so much easier.

"Well this is fun." She said to herself glancing around. "Nobody to really tell me how to do things. I can do it myself!" Akinyi started to move playfully around but she came across something. It was a print. A huge canine print.

"What?" She immediately took her new rifle off of her shoulder and took a couple glances around before kneeling down to examine the print. It was massive, bigger then her own hand, which really wasn't that large in itself, but this creature certainly could take her down. She had seen the likes of these tracks before in years past, they were from Ferals. Mutations of animals, mainly canines, which roam the land in search for food. Akinyi had actually killed a few in her past excursions but that was always when someone was with her. This time it would be different. But another thing perplexed her. Usually these creatures are much further south during the colder times of the year. What ever is keeping this one up here must be bad news.

After taking shelter in a rusted out car for about twenty minutes Akinyi figured that it would be safe to press on. She hiked her rifle again and started down the road for her long trip ahead of her.

Akinyi found a large looted out bus as the hazy sun started to descend on the grim horizon. She climbed inside, using her elbow she hit out the back windows and set a small fire with some tinder and a few pieces of wood she had found a little off of the freeway. With a small crackle going she sat on the select blankets she had taken from home.

"I guess I should have counted this in the first place."

She grabbed the small bag of bullets her father had given her and carefully poured them out, counting each of them while putting it back in the bag.

"twenty-four." She muttered. "Plus the one in my rifle. That's twenty-five. I shouldn't have to use more then ten if i'm lucky."

Akinyi's small fire flickered against the wall as she placed her bullets safely back on her belt and her rifle on the side against the wall. As the sun finally disappeared over the wasteland Akinyi used her foot to snuff out the fire. She curled into a small ball and covered her body with the blanket. In the dark and even at a close look she would look like just some more junk not worth a look. Just the way she wanted.

Her trip was fairly uneventful, a good thing really. She had a couple close calls with a couple raiders but was able to escape them without having to resort to using her weapon. With the limited ammo she had it was better that Akinyi didn't use it. While it took one maybe two bullets to take down a human, it could take up to five to take down a feral. She entered a small town with a sign that still read "Welcome to Samson." But behind it lay a demolished town save for a few crumbling buildings.

"Must have been a pretty small place." She muttered and started down main street. Above it the mountain towered, casing a long shadow and covering half the town. Akinyi gawked at it's size and ultimate position, while there were big hills around here nothing was as tall as this mountain. It was an anomaly of geography, something that really didn't belong. At the end of the town, close to the road that lead to the mountain Akinyi could see the hospital, or rather clinic.

"Dad must have heard about this place from other traders...and been misinformed." It was a two story building with a quarter of the entire building gone and in rubble. She peaked inside, rifle first and saw nothing but dark rooms and a creepy atmosphere.

Creeping inside she found the front desk and checked behind the counter. The computer had long been looted and all that remained were binders of papers of old patients, a lot of it had also been strewn about the room but the closer it got to the elements the less and less it there was, as the acid rain had resolved most of it. Akinyi went through the drawers and cupboards of the waiting room, more papers and no med packs. She sighed and moved to the next room, an exam room. Pretty much the same story, papers mostly, however in a case she found bandages. Fresh, clean bandages and gauze.

"The town would love me for that!" Akinyi packed it away and moved on.

No matter what room she checked all the good stuff had already been looted or it was broken and not worth her time. The young girl started to grow frantic and frustrated.

"My first expedition and I can't find anything!" She griped and leaned against a counter in the final exam room and sat down in the booth with her head in her hands. She did something that probably nobody bothered to do, read the papers that littered the ground. She turned her head so she could read it up right.

"Hey!

Sorry about the short notice but I was told by the people upstairs that the facility on the mountain needed some extra supplies. Do we have any to spare? They were getting ready for something and wanted to make sure they were prepared. If you have any i'm heading up there tomorrow and if you cou....."

The rest of the paper was smudged and unreadable.

"Supplies....facility? Nobody ever said anything about a facility." Akinyi wondered and stuck her head out the broken window. In the shadow of the mountain she followed the winding road up until she couldn't see it anymore and sure enough there was a building large enough to be seen. It was mostly overgrown it looked and you had to be looking for it to notice but there was something there. Without so much as a second thought she jumped down the stairs and started out the clinic without checking her corners. She was met with a growl the second she stepped into the road. Her muscles froze and her heart jumped into her mouth. It penetrated her chest and rumbled her insides. A dark deep evil growl from the depths of hell.

"Feral."

Akinyi slowly turned her head to see a massive wolf before her. It stood as tall as her and had the ability to stand on it's hind legs for an extended period of time, but he was showing his teeth and claws extended.

The entire world stood still for a moment as Akinyi thought of her next move. She could run back into the clinic and lock herself in an exam room or she could try her luck and reach for her rifle, ready with a bullet in the chamber. Before she could make a decision the feral pounced and roared, forcing Akinyi to grab her rifle and blindly shoot in the general direction of the animal. He fell back on to the ground but got back up and started running at her with a limp in his right front leg and a little bit of blood trailing behind him.

"Shit shit shit shit!!!"

Akinyis hands shook profusely as she dug into her pouch and chambered a round, cocking the mechanism she took a fraction of a second to aim and pulled the trigger, aiming at the head. She missed and hit his shoulder. But it didn't slow him down and the feral continued to raced after her. It growled again and it's mouth hung open displaying it's devilish teeth ready to tear her apart. Akinyi, with not enough time to chamber another round, swung out with the butt of her rifle and landed a hit, square in the creatures jaw. It whimpered slightly giving Akinyi just enough time to load another round and shoot it squarely in the head. It shuddered and died with a last effort at a breath.

Akinyi stood with her heart still thumping and her hands squeezing her rifle in the same position. It took a good while for her to calm down enough to lower her weapon and think about the situation.

"Three bullets, that twenty-two left. Damn." With one least look at the dead feral Akinyi turned to the mountain road and started up it.