FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Just clearing some confusion before it even starts, this is not part three of Chapter two, parts one and two were chapter one, and this entry (part three) begins chapter two.

******

Survival

Chapter Two: Dance With Me

Part 3

"Oh so this is a genetic research lab? I though places like this used animals and shit like that," Moira said, trying to manipulate the hair pin she had stuck in the lock of a door, suddenly breaking off the pin into the lock and stabbing the jagged item into her thumb, "Ow!" She exclaimed, sucking on her wounded finger, "Why the hell do we need in here again?"

Noir looked down from his look out position, "Entry codes, this door goes to the central security hub of the lower floors, there aren't normally personnel down here, and assuming that they haven't cleared the bottom levels of the Lab, then this would be the best place to get entry codes."

Moira sighed, "And what exactly do we need entry codes for, and better yet, why can't you do this?" She asked, returning her attention to the lock with a new pin in hand.

Noir sighed, "I can't pick the lock," he said, putting his hand in front of Moira's face, accentuating how it was as big and as wide as her head, his fingers large, claw-tipped sausages, "I have the dexterity but not the size to perform such minute, delicate tasks. And the reason why we need entry codes is to get into the armory."

Moira suddenly choked as he said armory, breaking her current pin, cursing, then pulling out another, "And why the hell do we want to get into the armory?" She asked, dreading her strange partner's answer.

"Well, to escape this hell hole of course," Noir said, "Sure this place has been fun, given me a few more edges on the average man, but I think I've milked this place for all it's worth in benefits, and to tell you the truth, I'm rather bored with killing stalwart guards. I want to make art again, to feel my knife be resisted by some young girl's sinew, hear the screams of my latest art work as she pleads to be left mundane. I want ... "Noir paused, at first to Moira's relief, "...to have my old life back."

Moira shuddered, yet again reminding herself of the type of man she had tossed her lot in with; she didn't even know why she trusted him, maybe because for some even stranger reason he had no desire to kill her. Or perhaps it was this procedure Noir kept on talking about, the thing that made her no longer human in his eyes. So did Noir only kill humans? What was his definition of human? He seemed to have no problem killing the men he had identified as Squires, were they also inhuman? Moira chuckled at her own internal dialogue, how could she ask if they were human when she had witnessed them practically eat a man, the guard that had been escorting her, alive. As Moira's thoughts turned back to the man who had told her to run, tossing his own weapon, undoubtedly his life, to her as he was pulled back by a horde of crazed men, she was just as abruptly drawn back into reality by a click and the sound of praise from her immoral partner, "Ah well done child, sounds like you've gotten the door, now kindly let me in so I can handle the rest."

Moira nodded, watching with a detached sense of being as the massive man beast confidently sauntered into the room, what looked like a security center, a row of four office chairs in front of an extended desk with an entire wall dedicated to monitor screens which showed what looked like different portions of the Lab. Moira could see many screens that were full of activity, men in riot gear fighting back crowds of crazed men. She was so distracted by the images on the security monitors that Moira barely noticed as Noir tapped her on the shoulder, holding up a sheet of paper to her face, "I got the codes Miss Kinseng, it's time to go."

Moira snapped out of her daze, nodding and again following her partner detachedly, "Umm, Noir, I've been wondering, how do you know so much about the Lab, I mean, you're a prisoner here, and apparently a test subject and obviously very dangerous, so how did you gain access to information such as the layout of this place and like where all the security rooms are?"

Noir turned back toward Moira as he continued walking down the hallway, "Child, I've been here for over twenty years, I've watched the world outside change through the changing televisions of a common room. I've been forced to undergo endurance tests in constantly renovated research chambers, and every time I've been carted to or from a location I was wide awake. Additionally I'm good friends with one of the more trusted Knights."

Moira interrupted Noir, "Okay there it is again, that word that you use to talk about yourself, what do you mean by Knight and Squire?"

Noir laughed, turning his back to Moira, "It's just a bit of nostalgia on the part of our creator;' he really likes pre-Renaissance era culture, particularly Knights, so the..." Noir paused for a second as he tried to think of the right word, "... genetic formula that is used to change us was named the Knight Strain' and those who could be changed by it, me and you for instance, were given the general code name of Knights."

Moira lifted her eye brow in confusion, "Okay, now I'm confused about something else, what's making all these crazed men that are attacking us?"

"Knight Strain, of course," Noir replied, turning down a new hall way.

"But if Knight Strain is making them go crazy, then why aren't we going insane?" Moira asked, pointlessly waving her finger as though she had made a strong point in an argument.

Noir stopped and turned back to Moira, "That's the really interesting part, I don't fully understand all of it, but all of the Knights share a gene that allows Knight Strain to bond with them, causing our... gifts to manifest, or so I was lead to believe. Case in point, I have Knight Strain bonded with me, and in addition to claws, fangs, fur and really good smell and hearing, it seems as though I can regenerate pretty much any wound. However, when those without the Knight' gene are exposed to Knight Strain, it kills them."

Moira laughed nervously at Noir, "What do you mean kills? It just looks like they've got some kind of freaky version of rabies, and they seem to go down like normal men, does it kill them after a certain amount of time after they run around trying to eat other people or what?"

"No," Noir replied, smiling his fang filled smile, "They die, usually within about two hours, if not more, then, here's the creepy part, they get back up, and they're insane, violent, and hungry. The old man dubbed them Squires out of their genetic inferiority to Knights, kind of a silly thing to call such sad creatures, they can't die easily, for some unexplained reason, they never seem to go down permanently until their central nervous system is damaged, anywhere from the brain to the upper to middle spinal cord., shoot them or slash them anywhere else, and they'll keep on coming, intent for your neck."

Moira glared at Noir, "Very funny, and here I thought you were some messed up serial killer, and now you're trying to scare me with monster stories, I can believe the first part, because you're kind of living proof, but I draw the line at men coming back to life and trying to eat people. That idea is so burnt out, the age of zombie stories has been dead for so long and it's not coming back, now just get me out of here so I can go back to my life would you, you crazy, messed up psycho."

The strange, black furred man simply smiled back at Moira, lifting his finger and pointing behind Moira, "If you don't believe me, try using normal killing methods on him."

Moira wheeled about, just in time to find herself in a grapple with a blood covered man.

******

Deputy Austin cursed to himself as he received a strange look from everyone in the room of Marron's house, Ashley standing beside him proudly, acting as though she belonged exactly where she didn't. The Deputy had entered the open front door, knowing the household as his father was good friends with Old Man Marron, but when he had encountered the group of teenagers, in the back room, he realized by their looks upon Ashley's entrance that his suspicions about her honesty had been true, Ashley had not been invited to this little party.

"So uhh, this is awkward," Said a large teen that Austin knew as Trent, "And uhh, no offense, but were you even invited dude?"

"Of course we were, "Ashley answered for Austin, "You're father sent us."

Austin rubbed his temples, that was the wrong thing for Ashley to mention, "What she means is that your father requested that I come out here and help Mr. Marron make sure that you guys don't get into any trouble, not that that will be any problem, will it?"

One of the boys nodded then pointed at Ashley, "Yeah, I don't mean to be an ass hole or anything, but what is she doing here, I can sort of understand the fucking cop, but did Kyle or Eva even invite you?" He asked.

Ashley smiled and tilted her head to the side, making it look like she was trying to rest it on Austin's shoulder, "Well no, but Deputy Austin here is my ride home, and I can't go home until his work's finished tonight. Until he can ride me home I've got to wait around with him."

One of the girls who was sitting down, a raven headed girl, stood up and walked over toward Ashley smiling, "Hello, I'm Eva and if that's the case then I guess it's alright if you stay, just as long as Deputy Austin is here," She said, winking at the deputy and grabbing Ashley's hand, "Why don't you go hang out with Xander over there, he's been kind of lonely since Carlos and Jayme went upstairs, he's only had Trent to play that moronic game with, maybe you can keep him company while the Deputy here has a talk with Kyle's grandpa."

Ashley frowned, appearing reluctant to leave her target's side, but couldn't think of a quick response fast enough to deter Eva from leading her to the couch and almost forcefully making her sit down. Then Eva turned back to Austin, "Mr. Marron is out back talking with my sister right now, though I think that's the best place for you to go right now," she said, glancing over toward Ashley then whispering, "Don't worry, we'll take care of her for you."

Austin smiled weakly, not knowing whether he should feel relieved that someone wasn't judging him as so pedophilic creep, or afraid that Eva would go too far in "taking care" of his problem. Deciding to just trust in what he knew about Eva's parents, Austin headed out the back door to find an even stranger scene. Outside on the back deck of the house sat a rather youthful old man with a teenage girl sobbing into his chest as gently held her in a loose hug. The old man looked up at Austin and held his finger to his lips, mouthing a shush at the young officer, who in turn stood there calmly, almost two minutes passing before the girl's crying let up and Marron asked looked down at her, "You all cryed out now Rei?" He asked in a nurturing voice, the girl responding with a slight nod, "Good, now what I want you to do is go inside, and get anything you want out of the fridge or freezer, you must be hungry about now."

Rei nodded and stood up, wiping her eyes, then blushing as she noticed Austin, quickening her pace to the door and quickly entering the house, "Teen troubles, such a difficult time of a youth's life, sort of a precursor to the shit that the rest of life gives, no?" Asked the old man, drawing Austin's attention from the closing door, allowing him to notice Marron's hand motioning for Austin to sit. The deputy obliged the old man's offer, taking a seat on one of the patio chairs, "So what brings you out to my neck of the woods Phillip?" the old man asked, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his drink.

The deputy took off his hat, placing it on the small table between his chair and Marron's chair, "Rosco Cooper's request brings me out here, Mr. Marron," Austin replied, "Apparently there's some mysterious kidnapper who's been kidnapping kids from gatherings such as these in the nearby counties, even had one suspected murder."

Marron nodded, "Heard about those, just confused about how exactly you have a suspected murder, doesn't murder kind of require a cadaver?"

"Normally yes, but this is a special case, there was no body found at the scene, but there was enough of the girl's blood on the floor to where she could never have survived, well, at least not without another body's worth of blood right on hand, happened about four months ago, wasn't connected to the kidnappings until just recently, don't remember what piece of evidence tied them, supposedly some genetic similarities between all of the victims, kind of weak, but apparently someone managed to tie it to all of them. So, what exactly do you have going on in your house tonight Mr. Marron?"

Marron sighed as he looked took another sip of his drink, "My granddaughter's entertaining, she and her friends wanted to have their kind of fun over spring break, and I figured that it's better for them to act foolish here than out in the middle of the woods with no one looking after them. I'm no fool Deputy, I know what Kyle does on the weekends, and I know what her peers think of her, hell, Cindy went through the same shit only two years before she had Kyle, and I can tell when she's trying to lie so I won't have to acknowledge what she's doing. Like I said earlier, if they're gonna screw around, might as well keep them safe in the security of your own home."

Austin nodded, not a fan of the old man's jaded and accepting wisdom, but seeing it as a better alternative to the zero tolerance conservative views that many of the parents in Jackson, attitudes and beliefs that often lead to many kids getting hurt, lost, or similarly endangered, "I can see where you're coming from sir, that would relieve a great deal of stress, knowing where your kids is and knowing what their doing is better than knowing what they're doing but having no idea where, though I don't think you need to be telling that to Pastor Green now."

Marron laughed loudly, "Oh that blow hardis such a ninny, he's content to sit behind his god damn pull pit and preach the gospel of Je-uh-sus Cah-rist, but when he has to get down and do any real work he guilts the church into doing it for him, then the wind bag gets up the next Sunday and talks about how hard the church worked and how glad he was to be part of a body that helps so many people as though he was one of the ones out working, fucking masked man."

Austin nervously laughed, "Could you keep that down? Pastor Green's daughter is inside you know, right?"

Marron laughed even louder, "Why the fuck would I care what she hears? Fuck what everybody thinks, all that matters is how you feel about it, as long as you don't hurt anyone, that's what my father told me, what I told Cindy, and what Cindy and I told Kyle, life isn't about sitting around thinking about what you're look like to everyone else, it's about living the way you want, and if that happens to be insulting a damn hypocrite, then more power to you," Marron said, lifting his drink and taking a swig, "So, what's the story behind your little friend?"

Austin laughed a little, "You know, that's actually just a little bit funny, in fact, I was thinking about asking for your help on that issue."

******

Ashley sat nervously on one of the couches in the room Officer Austin had left her in, well, more the room that that girl Eva had pressured her to stay in, across the black glass coffee table of the room on another couch sat a bored looking boy, who was eyeing her curiously from across the coffee table. It had been thirty minutes since Officer Austin had left out the back door, twenty since Eva had grab the other boy and pulled him upstairs with her, then the nerd girl had followed another girl, this one wiping her eyes as though she had been crying as she had walked through the room and exited through a door Ashley hadn't seen. And now she found herself alone, in a strange room, sitting across from a strange boy who was eyeing her like some kind of food he would like to sample. She had never felt so unprotected, the guy looked like he could easily rape her, he even looked like he would do it.

"So, how did you get invited to this gathering?" said the boy from across the room, adding a sarcastic inflection to his last word.

It speaks, Ashley thought as she smiled, trying to put up an air of confidence, "Oh, Officer Austin's my ride home, and since he was asked to come out here, I had to come with him. I think I already told Eva that."

The boy smiled back, flashing slightly yellowed teeth, he looked like more of an animal than a person to her, "Sorry, I must have missed that while I was getting raped at this game," he said, picking up the game case to the shooter they had been playing when Ashley had walked in. That was a lie, she knew he had heard her, he had been the one to ask why she was there.

"Oh, that's fine, I was just mentioning that I'd already told you how I ended up here," Ashley smiled fakely, wanting nothing more than to be out of this room with this one crazy guy.

The boy suddenly stood up, reaching across the tbale, "You know, I don't think we were ever properly introduced, my name is Xander, your name was Ashley, right?"

Ashley shook his hand tentatively, as though he were some kind of radioactive material, "Yes, I'm glad to see you're attentive enough to remember names."

Xander shook his head as he sat back down on the couch, "Man, you really are a bitch aren't you?"

Ashley's jaw dropped, and her eyes went wide, "Excuse me?! What did you just say?"

Xander continued, completely ignoring Ashley, "Of course I guess it would seem like that to me, let's face it, you don't like me, right? I can tell by the way you've acted for the past half hour, acting like I don't even exist, then treating me like I'm some kind of fucking retard as you sit and wait for the moment you're finally rid of me. But that's probably because you have no interest in talking to me, that doesn't make you a bitch, what makes you a bitch is the way that you so obviously want to socially pressure that police man into dating you, or fucking you, so bad that you'll completely ignore any possible chance for being friendly to someone when it doesn't further that goal. Did I hit anywhere near the spot?"

Ashley was struck speechless, how the hell could this creep tell she was into Austin? How could he know what she was trying? How could he tell after only seeing her for thirty minutes? Were her intentions that obvious?

Xander nodded, "I'll take I hit the nail on the head," then he chuckled lightly, shaking his head, "Good fucking lord you're all the fucking same, that Lyn girl wouldn't shut the fuck up about how Kyle shuldn't be sleeping with different guys, and you completely ignore any guy that isn't your little officer. You know what, I'm sick of this shit, could you be less of a bitch when you see Jayme and tell her that I'm walking home?" Xander said, standing up and walking toward the door to the hallway.

Ashley bit her lip as she watched him go by, turning as he was about to walk out the door and calling to him, Wait, I'm sorry about, being so rude, but... "Ashley paused as she noticed that Xander had stopped at the door frame, turning back to her slightly, "Nevermind." She said, turning back to the empty room.

Xander chuckle as he stood at the door, "She died, you know," Ashley turned to look at him, he was just standing there facing out of the room into the dark hallway, "I was supposed to, you know, go out with her that night, but I blew her off so I could hang out with my friends, I told her that I only got to spend time with them on the weekends, that I saw her every day. Then she died," Xander laughed a little louder, still facing away from Ashley, "She died, and I stayed home and shot cans with a bunch of ass holes. They think she was mauled by a bear, but some other guys think she was killed by a serial killer. I really don't fucking care, all that matters is that she's dead, and I wasn't there to stop it. Do you know how it feels, knowing you could have been the one to save a life, but you decided not to just to have a good fucking time? Well it feels like shit, and I'm tired of it."

Ashley stood up from the couch, but Xander had already walked out the door.

******

Moira lashed out frantically at the man as he grabbed her neck, knocking him back and causing him to trip over a door stop and fall to the ground. Fumbling with her rifle, Moira managed to level it as the man as he stood up, pulling the trigger and sending a burst of three bullets into the man's chest. At first the bullets seemed to hurt him, then he just growled and began charging at her again. Moira pulled the trigger again, only to hear an unsatisfying click as the man tackled her to the floor, leaning down and biting her shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain. Then everything began to take of a red tint, the pain in Moira's shoulder receding as the world suddenly felt lighter. Moira knocked the man away, sending him staggering back, then hit the ground with her fist, using the force to stand up and face the man as he charged her again. This time Moira didn't bother with the rifle, lunging forward and launching a fist at the man, landing a punch squarely on his chin and causing his head to whiplash backward. The scene seemed to freeze to Moira just then, the man standing there looking dazed, her arm outstretched, inches from the man's chin. Then the man slumped backward, collapsing ludly onto the floor, the world returning to its normal hue as the man settled to the floor, Moira only then noticed the clapping, wheeling around toward Noir to see him tapping his right index and middle fingers into his left palm, what should have produced only a light patting sound, but was instead making a sharp loud clap, "What's with the applause?" Moira asked, glaring at Noir.

"Oh nothing really important, just the show, it's not every day you get to see a Knight's animal bleed through," Noir said, smiling his fanged smile as he walked over to Moira, producing a loud stomping noise as his feet lightly touched the floor, "How does it feel to tap into your inner animal my dear child?"

Moira gave Noir a quizzical look, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Noir laughed his high pitched laugh, seeming so loud to Moira that she was forced to cover

her ears, "Look in a mirror child, we can take the time, you need to see what you're becoming, just go in the bath room right here and take a quick look, I'm sure you'll love it my little canine friend."

Moira glared at Noir this time, but decided to take his word and go look at herself in the mirror, she was too curious as to what he could mean by canine. Stepping through the door marked with a restroom sign, Moira quickly located the sink and looked in dashed over to the mirror, seeing no real difference in how she normally looked at first. Then she noticed that her ears were pointed, and somewhat curved, almost like a the shape of a wolf's, and that her skin seemed to have a yellow tint, which she quickly realized was a very fine coat of blond fur. Her eyes went wide from the shock of realizing that her body was becoming like an animal's, causing a sudden flood of light to her newly heightened sight, stunning her and causing her to fall back to the floor ungraciously, "Ow!" Moira yelled as she fell down, hurting her lower back. Reaching back to massage her bruised back, Moira felt a strange lump at the base of her back, her eyes growing even wider as she jumped to the obvious extreme of what was growing out of her back.

******

Kyle sat up in her bed, looking across her room in the mirror as she listened to Rodney quietly snore beside her. It was four in the morning, and she had been unable to go to sleep after a four hour marathon with her boy toy, he had fallen asleep almost instantly, but she just couldn't sleep, and now there she sat two hours later, completely bored and unable to sleep. Kyle hated having nothing on her mind, because then it began to wander, and for the past few hours it had wandered over every issue of stress Kyle was having, the upcoming test in her math class, keeping her scholarships in college, basically the whole package that came with being a senior in high school, and everything Kyle hated thinking about.

Finally deciding to distract her mind in a more productive way than trying to induce sleep, Kyle lightly rolled out of her bed, stepping softly over to her window, which was really a sliding door that opened out onto the second floor deck, sliding it open then stepping out into the cold night air. It was a good night, the moon reflecting its one quarter off the lake Kyle's balcony overlooked and a calm silence permeating throughout the clear air, only broken, by the light sound of conversation Kyle heard from the deck below. Taking a deep breath, Kyle walked over to the edge of the balcony, pulled a stuck knife off out of the wooden banister, and began to add to the swirling, curving designs that were carved into the wood of the deck's railing. Kyle had been working on the carving for some time now, even though she was all that skilled with the knife, she liked to cut the vine like shapes into the wood to get her mind off of her troubles. She didn't know how long she stood there, leaning against the banister and drawing lines into the wood with her knife, but it wasn't long before Kyle felt like someone was watching her.

Suspecting that maybe Rodney had woken up, Kyle turned back to her window, expecting to see him out of bed, but she saw no one near the window. Shrugging, Kyle turned back to her work, trying to put the feeling out of her mind, but only managing to cause herself to concentrate more on the feeling of being watched. Then Kyle suddenly felt something brush the back of her hair, wheeling about to see nothing there, "Must have been the wind," Kyle told herself, "Just the stupid..." Kyle was cut short as she heard the sound of breathing behind her, and felt something brush against the back of her head.

Kyle jumped forward, turning as she jumped to face the direction of whatever was behind her, to find that she was staring at an empty balcony, again. Thoroughly frightened, the teenager backed against the wall, hoping to keep any further encounters in front of her as she edged her way over toward her room. The feeling of a presence had ceased and Kyle was right next to her window when she heard a voice, "If you go inside I'll have to kill the old man."

(End Part 3)