FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The tall grass swayed in the breeze. The clouds floated idly in the sky. The mountains loomed in the distance. The road snaked through the open field.

A crimson car traced the long, empty route. It's engine roared violently, pushing the vehicle at least twenty miles per hour faster than the speed limit. But none of the occupants seemed phased by such reckless speeding.

"This party really is in the middle of nowhere." The brunette in the passenger played with her long hair, her amber eyes scanning the horizon. She saw no signs of any technology. The land looked almost untouched aside from the highway they were on.

"That's why Tyson's hosting it there, Ana. No need to worry about neighbors or the police." Valerie moved her sunglasses to top of her head. The sun was setting and no longer bothered her driving. Her eyes turned to look at the rearview mirror. "So, Eddy, ready for the best party you've ever been to?"

The third occupant in the car leaned back against the right hand side car door and stretched his legs across the back seats. "I've been hearing about Tyson's parties for months. I think after this party, everyone's going to be hearing about me!"

"Hey, hey, don't get your shoes on my seats. Ana, something tells me your brother's going to bite off more than he can chew."

"What, Eddy?" She tossed him a quick glance. "You ever heard of 'all bark, no bite'? He's as gentle as they come."

"I still say keep your eyes on him. Wouldn't want to put him on a leash."

Eddy waved at the air, as though searching for something. "Hmm, strange, there's no glass. Explains how I can hear you talking about me like I'm not here!" He rolled his eyes when the only response was high-pitched laughter.

"Say what you will but I have a plan to get the ladies." Eddy held up his arm. "The girls love a brave, survival story."

"Oh, seriously? You're going to use that?"

"What is it?" Valerie had to focus on driving and couldn't see what Eddy was showing them.

"When Ana and I were at our family camping trip last month, I stumbled across a wolf in the woods."

"No freaking way."

Eddy leaned forward. "It's true. I startled it and it ran straight towards me. It pounced at my neck but I used my arm to block it." He grabbed his left arm with his right hand to simulate the bite. "Its teeth sunk into my arm and I thought it was going to try and tear it off. But I found a rock on the ground and smacked it on the head. It fled back into the forest."

Valerie turned to look at the arm again. The skin was discolored at multiple points but the pattern did resemble bite marks. "That looks nasty. How did I not notice that before?"

"It's been cold this past month so you've probably just seen me with long sleeves."

"Well, good luck at the party." Ana crossed her legs, while reclining her chair slightly. "I'm sure the girls will really want to get with a guy who ran into a wolf because he didn't take his flashlight to go pee."

Eddy grumbled as he had to deal with another wave of laughter.

Ana wiped off her eyes as her giggles died down. "Anyway, Valerie, are you sure this is the right way? The sun's pretty much set." The only evidence of the sun were tints of crimson reflecting off the clouds.

"I, uh, I think so. This road's got to lead to somewhere, why else would it exist?" Valerie flicked on the headlights as she lost visibility of the road. "Check my phone. The GPS should be on already."

Ana grabbed the phone that sat in the cupholder. "Uh, I don't see any map apps open. We don't even have any signal, either."

"What?" Valerie slowed the car to a stop. She took her phone back and swiped through it. "Crap! I was sure I-"

"Ow!" The sound had come from Eddy.

"Eddy? What happened?" Ana turned on the interior car light to see her brother. He was clutching his left arm, tightly. The muscles in the forearm were tensing.

"My arm just started stinging. It was prickling and then it's - ugh - like something's stabbing it." Eddy gasped, his eyes shutting tightly. "Ah! It's getting worse!"

Ana reached for her phone and then let out a frustrated groan. "No signal, shit! Valerie, you have to go to a hospital."

"I don't even know where I can find one out here."

"Just turn around and go back, it's the only thing we can do!"

Valerie bit her lips, but nodded and put the car back into gear. She did a swift U-turn and then gunned the gas pedal.

Ana rubbed her hands together nervously. "Damn it, why are we so far away from everything?" She turned to face the back. "Eddy just hang on. We- oh my god!"

Valerie jumped in her seat. "Oh Christ, Ana, what happened?"

"Eddy, y-your hand!"

Ana's brother still had his eyes closed due to the pain. But when he opened them, he also gasped. His hand was deformed. Every finger was abnormally longer, like stretched clay. At the tips of each one were elongated nails, with pointed ends. Eddy slowly clenched and unclenched his hand, testing to see if these fingers were actually his.

"Wha-what the hell's going on? Gah!" Eddy winced as the bones in arm popped audibly. Under his right hand he could feel his left arm shifting, also getting longer. The muscles in his arm swelled up, enough to stretch his arm sleeve to its breaking point.

"Oh my god." Ana had a hand over her mouth as she witnessed this inhuman event.

Valerie took a quick peek at the rear view mirror. "Holy fuck."

"Just keep driving, Valerie!"

Eddy's breaths were labored as his body started spasming. "Ugh! It burns!" He awkwardly tried taking his shirt off, accidentally scratching himself with his foreign left hand, even ripping it as he removed it from his changed arm.

His fists were clenched tightly as pain emanated throughout his body. Eddy pushed himself against the seat as his body began changing as well. His ribs pushed out, widening his torso. He groaned as he could feel his organs shifting. And just like his arm, his body thickened with muscle until his torso looked tough enough to withstand any punch.

"What the fuck's going on back there?" All the painful groaning and sickening noises made Valerie uncomfortable. Her adrenaline was pumping from the escalating situation. It was difficult focusing on driving, especially while going triple digit speeds.

Eddy's body slid down to the left until it spread across the back seat. His right hand, changed just like his left, gripped a headrest. His left arm was waving around erratically, sometimes hitting the driver's chair. "Aah, fuck, aah!" More pain erupted, this time from his back. His spine stretched, sliding his body across the seat. In reaction to the pain, he started kicking his feet against the car door.

"Just hold on, Eddy. We're getting to the hospital as fast as we can." Ana didn't know what else to do except try and reassure her brother. She felt helpless, especially when all Eddy could do was thrash about in pain.

Ana heard Eddy trying to say something, but his groans masked out his words.

"What is it?"

"Stop...car!" Eddy's voice was hoarse and seemingly deeper than it was before.

"We can't stop, we have to get you help!"

"No! You...have...to go-oOOAAARRRR!" Each word got rougher and unnatural until at the end his voice changed into a bellowing roar. At the same time, his face started transforming. His mouth and noise appeared to jut out of his skull, pushing out inch by inch. His nose flattened, looking more animalistic than human. His teeth grew longer out of his gums and sharpened until all of them looked like canines.

Both Ana and Valerie reacted to the sudden noise with shrieks. The car reduced speed until it was parked at the side of the road.

"What the hell?" Valerie unbuckled her seatbelt to see what was going on. Her chair suddenly pushed forward, an unrecognizable Eddy snapping at her with his new sharp teeth. She screamed and immediately opened the car door to get out.

Ana did the same, getting out before Eddy could attack her, too. She stared through the window as Eddy kicked out a foot, his legs tensing. The jeans he was wearing split apart at the seams as his lower body outgrew them.

During this stage of the change, Ana noticed Eddy's hand clumsily going for the door handle. She ran around to the other side of the car.

"What are you doing? Wait don't open-" Valerie stepped back as Ana opened the car door.

Eddy, or what was Eddy, crawled out of the car and sprawled on the ground. His body had become hairy, like he was wearing a fur coat.

"Eddy..." Ana didn't know what to say. She wanted to help her brother but didn't know how. The hospital was still so far away.

Eddy was still groaning, sometimes growling, but he made eye contact with his sister. "Grrrrooooooo....hrrrurrryyy..." His eyes closed as his feet jerked. His shoes were still on but they with a loud rip the front burst as thick deformed feet pushed out. Each toe was much longer and thicker than human ones and carried thick, pointed nails.

Valerie pulled at Ana's shoulder. "We have to go, now!" She closed the back door and got into the driver's seat.

After one last look, Ana ran over to the passenger side of the car and got in. The vehicle peeled away and sped down the road again, leaving Eddy behind it's red tail lights.

Eddy's body pushed out in one last growth spurt, completing his transformation. He slowly got to his feet, his legs tensing with primal power. He curled his fingers, aware of the incredibly sharp tools at the edge of his finger tips that were matched by his fine, pointed teeth.

He sniffed the air, taking in the scents of perspiration, burned rubber, and fear. His ears twitched as he could hear the car's engine with his refined ears. Any rationale thought was replaced by primal instinct. And that instinct told him to howl.

Ana was sobbing while Valerie was just able to hold it together to keep driving. The car kept going, on the lonely road in the middle of the empty plains, visible only from the light of the rising full moon.