FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The lights of the rig were shining into a small town with houses that were boarded up on either side of the road. Unlike the rest of the towns I'd seen, this one was neat and clean. Rubble had been cleaned up from the street, trash cans had been stacked against walls and the air was void of the pungent, dead smell that plagued the rest of the planet. I could see a green tractor that had a yellow rain coat hanging off of it close to a stack of logs and a barrel of gasoline as well as white sheets covering the lumps laying on the logs. A Pyre, gotta get rid of the bodies somehow. Abbie put the truck in park and killed the engine as I slid out.

"Get your brother and follow me", she said.

I turned to the back door of the truck and pulled it open, stepping up on the side skirt. Raf's face was almost white now from the blood loss and there was barely any color left in his eyes. His breathing was shallow and his hands were starting to twitch. It killed me to see him like that. I never should have told him to go off on his own. What kind of brother was I?

"Cameron?", Raf asked shallowly.

"Hey buddy", I said gently sitting him up, "how you feeling?"

"Like shit", he answered laying his head on my shoulder, "I'm so cold I can barely move."

"Hang in there", I told him, "Abbie and I are gonna do whatever we can okay?"

He didn't answer. I picked him up and carefully climbed out of the truck to avoid jarring his body and starting the bleeding again, which had finally stopped. Abbie led me into the building directly beside the Ford which was one of those old, old business buildings with the apartments directly above it. Inside were white cardboard store shelves that were well stocked with boxes of ammunition, dried food, cans, paper products and even a couple of rifles. Behind the check out counter were plastic cans of gasoline and in a corner to my left was an old freezer that was now serving as a medical chest. Abbie pulled open the glass lid and took out an orange cloth bag that was a field surgery kit, our medic for Delta carried one on his vest that looked just like it and he used it to dig a .45 caliber slug from a Tommy Gun out of my arm once. We walked down into the basement which had been converted into a small operating room. In the middle of the room was a table that came to about waist height with the surgical lights bolted to the ceiling. There was an IV stand in one corner of the room and there were a few cabinets that had just been thrown together over a counter with a sink. Abbie walked over to it and washed her hands.

"Lay him so I can see the point of entry", she said putting on rubber gloves, "if the bullet is still in there, I can dig it out easier."

"It's not in there", I replied siting Raf on the table, "there was an exit wound."

"Still", she said, "I need to get any pieces of lead out, so again, where was the point of entry?"

"His back", I said helping Raf lay down. I pulled off the HALO seal and Abbie used a baby wipe to clean the dried blood away from the hole. It was very, very nasty looking. The entry hole was surrounded by torn skin and I could see welts and bruising from the force of the impact all up and down his back.

"That's a bad looking hole", Abbie said giving Raf a shot of morphine and then taking out a small, bright pen light. She circled around the wound with it and then clicked it off, "looks like there's no lead in there, and the way the skin is torn makes me think it was a steel slug. If that's the case then chances are really good that he'll make it as long as he doesn't get sick. I'mma clean the hole with some rubbing alcohol and then give him a sedative to help him sleep."

She looked at me and shook her head.

"Which from the looks of you, you could use as well."

I yawned, "I only wish I had that luxury."

I stood there and held Raf's hand as Abbie got a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. She mixed the two together and then dunked a cloth into it. She rung it out and came back over to us.

"This is gonna sting Raf", she said, "so just brace yourself."

Raf squeezed my hand, "I'm ready."

Without hesitation, Abbie set the cloth on the hole in Raf's back and started cleaning it out. Raf tensed and squeezed my hand as tightly as he could and gripped the side of the table. I saw a single tear streak down his pale face. It took her about a minute and a half to clean out the hole after which she dried it with cotton balls and then placed another HALO seal on it before bandaging it up. She had definitely picked something up somewhere. I've had combat doctors who couldn't do as good a job as she was. After that, we carefully turned him over on his back and repeated the process on the hole in his stomach. When Abbie didn't find anything, she cleaned, sealed and bandaged the hole. As an extra measure, she used a piece of medical grade elastic to cover the bandages and the seals so they wouldn't come off. I then helped Raf into his flannel pants and a white T-Shirt before carrying him back up to the ground floor and then up stairs.

Abbie unlocked an old looking wooden door and then stepped inside. To my right was a coat hanger that was playing host to a heavy winter coat and pants as well as a big scarf. At the back of the room there was a wide, two person Sofa with a coffee table made out of buckets and ply wood in front of it. There was a small TV beside a large map which I guess must have been of the town. To the back of the apartment I could see the kitchen. There was a white stove next to an old black refrigerator and there were counters separating the two. The microwave was held above the stove and there was a small camping table set up in the middle of the room with four chairs encircling it. The apartment was cluttered with any manner of supplies and weapons and the only light at the moment was coming from a few scattered light sticks. There was one lamp on the table, but I assumed it wasn't powered.

"I have air mattresses in the back room", Abbie said, "put your brother on it and I'll fire up the generator so you can have a shower."

"Thanks Abbie", Raf said weakly, on the fringe of falling asleep, "we owe you."

"Ah don't mention it", she said, "what I'm here for. You guys can stay here as long as it takes to repair your truck, but try not to get killed any more."

I smiled my thank you and then carried my brother to the back room. There was a single, un made air mattress on the floor with a bean bag in one corner, a couch with a lamp in another and a TV stand in front of the couch that was holding an Acer monitor with an Xbox 360 underneath it. There was also this huge book shelf that went across the back wall. I could see quite a few novels and even more technical books, one in specific about the inner workings of the small block Cummin's inline four, which was the one in my truck. Thant could come in handy. I laid Raf in bed and pulled the covers over him.

"How you feeling buddy?", I asked.

"Like I got shot", Raf said yawning.

"Well you should be okay now", I told him, "Abbie patched you up real nice."

Raf yawned again and was going to say something else, but fell asleep before he could. I kissed his forehead and then walked back downstairs, finding the front door open. I walked to the front window, finding my hand gravitating to my Hi-Power as I neared it. I watched as Abbie climbed back into her Rig, started the engine and then drove down the street before parking in front of a mechanics shop. She pulled open the garage door and then backed the truck up to the entrance and started lowering the bed. I stepped out into the airy night, shut the door to the store behind me and jogged down the street, getting there just as the bed reached the ground.

"Need help?", I asked.

"Yeah", Abbie said, "put that damn thing in neutral."

I climbed into my Chevy and clutched in, switching to Rear Wheel Drive and disengaging the driveline. I climbed out of the truck as Abbie took my place. She turned the tries to my left as I pushed the truck inside with fairly little effort. Abbie climbed out and shut my door with a thud.

"That truck is a piece", she said, "I've seen Chevy's RFAWD transmission in a three and four speed paddle shift, but never a six speed manual."

"It was a custom order", I told her, "I worked with a man at Chevy to make the six speed in manual and paddle shift for the Avalanche to compete with the Ford F150 and the GMC Sierra. One thing the Avalanche had going for it was the fact that you could transverse a Cummin's engine in it because it was so wide. The Chevy Sport Rally Avalanche with that power plant was set for release this year."

Abbie whistled, "Damn, talk about bad timing."

I sighed, "no shit."

"You okay?', she asked.

"Not really", I answered her, "the truck is one thing. My Dad and I built it up from a used, 4 speed automatic with bolt on fender flares to a 6 speed manual 700 horsepower Diesel slurping sand kicker, but as much as I love it, I can find another truck. If Raf goes....I'll lose it."

"I know how you feel", Abbie said, "I lost both my parents to the parasite at the same time and then my two older brothers bought it in a fight with the UN."

I sighed, "Fucking UN had no idea what they were messing with when Agent Six hit the atmosphere. All their damned "protocols" got in the way of the CDC, the members of which were working around the clock and depriving themselves of sleep to find a cure for it, but the UN wanted what Vaccine they thought they had to be approved by the WHO."

"When did they have it?", Abbie asked.

"Shortly before the 10th of December", I said, "UN wouldn't let us administer it and then the infected accused us of having the cure and keeping it for ourselves. Even with all the dirty shit the US Government had gotten away with, this time we were innocent and no one fuckin believed us."

"That's the way the cookie crumbles", Abbie said, "come on, 'I'll start the generator, you need a shower."

I took one last look at the truck, grabbed the bag of clothes and my tablet from the back and then went with Abbie back to the store. I entered and walked up stairs as she went out back. I heard her fighting with a pull cord for a few minutes before the generator came on and the lights with it. Soon there were foot steps coming up the stairs and then Abbie entered the room.

"Mom always said to let company go first", she said, "I'll air up a couple of mattresses for us."

I nodded as she went back down stairs. Huffing at myself, I grabbed a change of clothes from the duffel and then walked over to the bathroom door and pulled it open. It was about what I expected to see in a trailer, small, but workable. The room was made in a right angle with the sink and a mirror directly in front of me, showing me a tired, worn out, shell of a man that I did NOT want to be meeting right now. The shower and toilet were to my right. The were small, but I could still use them. I stripped off my clothes and turned on the water, not waiting for it to warm up. I soaped myself from head to toe. I shut off the water and stepped out, drying myself off and dressing as quickly as I could. I walked back into the room and found that Abbie had set up two more air mattresses and sleeping bags. She was currently sitting on the couch reading that book about the Cummin's engines.

"Your truck is a straight four right?", she asked.

"Yeah", I said, "1.5 liters."

"Is it custom?", she asked, "this says that there were never any cars that featured transverse mounted Cummin's engines."

"The transmission is custom", I answered, "the engine was out of a Dodge RAM."

She sighed, "you said on your transmission that you threw a rod?"

I nodded as I lay on the bed, "right through the side of the engine block. I just hope it didn't screw up my tranny cause if it did then I have to find another Avalanche to jerk an automatic out of."

"Hopefully it won't come to that",Abbie yawned setting the book aside, "I've got a pizza in the oven since I can't go to sleep before I've eaten something, what about you?"

I yawned, "to tired to be tired, but yeah, I am hungry."

"It should be done in like five minutes", Abbie said, "I'mma take a shower, so if I'm not out by then feel free to help yourself and...make yourself at home Cameron, it's always good to have someone else around, especially a fellow solider."

"Thanks sister", I said.

Abbie smiled at me and got up, walking into the bathroom. I got out of bed and walked into the kitchen, peering through the glass window in the oven. The pizza inside was just about done, but looked like it had been in a while. The crust was hand made, set in a square pan and the smell coming through the stove made me want to pull it out right there, but somehow I managed to keep my head. I set the timer on the counter for three minutes and then sat down at the table with my tablet. I typed in my password and my Call Of Duty Ghosts back ground came up as a table for all my apps. I clicked on my games folder and then was stuck between Minecraft and Insectonator.

"Which one do I play?", I asked myself, "Minecraft makes me want to carve up mountains, Insectonator makes me drop nukes on ants."

"Nukes on ants?", Abby asked walking out of the bathroom, she was dressed in a white tank top and a pair of blue pants.

"It's a App on my tablet", I said, "you kill insects with over sized weapons ranging from rocks to nukes."

Abbie laughed as she took the pizza out of the oven and cut it up, taking three slices for herself and giving me three as well, which left two pieces left.

"Can I ask you something?", I said.

"Sure", she answered.

"Are you out here by yourself?"

"Not at first", she answered, "I was with a friend of mine, but she cut herself on a piece of glass and died of gang green."

"That sucks", I said leaning back in the chair.

She sighed, "I had just gotten done burying her and was coming in here to play Xbox to take my mind off it when I heard your transmission. I didn't want anyone else to lose a friend if I could help it, so I grabbed a few things, hopped in the Ford and started down the interstate."

"I'm grateful that you found us", I said, "Raf would have bled to death if you hadn't come along. I didn't have the equipment to even try to start doctoring that bullet hole, so I kind of had to roll the dice."

"Lucky that you did", Abbie said, "I found signs of a light infection in the entry wound, wasn't anything serious, thank god, so I doubt it will be coming back."

"So where do we stand on parts for the truck?", I asked, "what's around here that I can salvage?"

"There's a couple of Dodge RAM pick ups down the street from here", Abbie said, "we could probably tow one back here and jerk the engine out. If you built the truck right, shouldn't take more than a day or so."

"There's still the matter of timing, fuel calibration and not to mention all of my aftermarket parts", I said, "I built that truck up to 700 horsepower with a ton of custom work, just yanking any old four banger out of a dead guys pick up won't cut it, we'll have to build it back to 700 horsepower."

"How long will that take?", Abbie asked.

"Two or three weeks at seven hours a day", I said, "if were lucky."

Abbie sighed and put a key on the table, "I won't be able to help you a lot of the time because of my work around here, until your truck is running again, you can drive my Focus."

I picked the key up off the table, 'and you trust me with this?"

"Why wouldn't I?", she asked.

"Just saying that there are a lot of people who would run off with your car in the middle of the night", I answered, "I'm happy that you trust me, I just think you were a little too quick is all."

"Your one of those guys huh?", she asked.

"What you mean?"

"Great and don't bat an eye in combat", Abbie said, "but when the time comes to put the gun down and take off the uniform, you can't switch off soldier mode."

"You never turn it off", I said biting into my last slice, "it stays on the first time you pull the trigger on another person and stays on till someone else pulls the trigger on you."

"Isn't that the truth", Abbie said finishing her pizza, "well I'm going to bed, I'll help you tear down your pick up tomorrow and see what can be saved and what needs to go."

I nodded as I finished my pizza and put my plate in the sink. Abbie and I walked into the bed room where I found Jericho laying on his back next to Raf, drooling on the mattress.

Abbie laughed, "aww."

"It's disgusting", I said climbing into my own bed, "that dog slobbers on everything."

"It's what dogs do", Abbie said crashing on to her mattress, "Night Cameron."

"Night Abbie", I said, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.