FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Dustin and Kristin drove down the antique Route 66, not stopping for anything. They wanted to find a place to stay that wasn't destroyed at this point. He drove on until he came to a small town, completely barren it seemed on the outside. He finally stopped the car and shut it off. Just in time, they were almost out of gas. He got out of the car and Kristin did as well.

"Well... wherever we are, it looks safe for now." Dustin noted.

Raven rolled her eyes; she turned halfway around, and quickly scooted him over. She moved his foot off the gas and put hers in place of it. She removed his hands and was now driving. She smiled as he began to wake up. "Get some sleep, please." Her tail tickled him and she giggled.

Vasily stared at her a moment before grumbling. "If you say so," he said smiling a little. He knew better than to argue with a cat; they were stubborn as hell. He took one last look at her before leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes. Soon he was fast asleep and breathing deeply and slowly. His head was rocking from side to side with the truck's movements.

She laughed lightly. She shook her head and kept following Dustin, looking at everyone, seeing them asleep. "Aw, cute!" She giggled and looked back on the road. She hummed a soft lullaby to pass the time.

Vasily woke up with a start looking around wildly. He rubbed his eyes, wondering how long he had been asleep. It did not feel like that long. As he looked out the window, he realized they were not moving anymore. "What?" he said looking around.

She smiled seeing him awake as she came stopped humming. "Hey, sleepy head. Have a nice sleep?" She looked at him smiling, and then looked back on the road.

"How long was I out?" Vasily Romanov asked looking around a bit confused as to why he had suddenly woke up feeling anxious.

"Not that long; for a couple of hours, that's about it." She smiled softly. She looked at him, "What's the matter?"

He looked at her. "Oh nothing." He said before looking around again. "Where are we? And why have we stopped?" He asked her, starting to unbuckle his belt moving over next to her looking at the dashboard.

"We stopped to rest." She said, unbuckling as well. She stretched. "We will be moving soon, the others are asleep in the inn." she smiled and yawned before pointing to the inn.

"Inn?" Romanov asked, looking around. "Oh well that's good. Umm... why are you out here?" He asked, understanding why the truck seemed so empty.

Gongon came back out to the car quickly. Gongon re-entered the truck. "The beds there are horrible. The sheets make me itchy..."

"I fell asleep in here." She shrugged, "They left without waking me up." She smiled softly, halfway telling the truth. She looked out the window before hearing the truck door open. She smirked. "You could have taken off the sheets." She said to Gongon. Raven turned into a kitten and stretched; she rolled onto her back and played with her tail.

"Have you seen what is left of their beds? They do not have mattresses. It's just a wooden frame and the sheets." Gongon protested.

Raven giggled, "Which is why this is more comfy."

Gongon nodded. "Yeah, the back of this truck is better. But no, I just had to go into the inn and try the beds."

Vasily stared at him. "I never said you had to go into an inn. I've been asleep for the last two hours."

"I didn't order you... did I?" Raven thought back, but could not remember.

Kristin stretched her legs and began to head towards the nearest payphone to see if it worked. Maybe she could find a survivor or two in town that could help her and her brother and possibly Lexi out. Dustin followed slightly behind her to make sure everything was going to go well for them.

V kept watching them from a safe distance. Wow, what a group! I wonder if they would let me join, he thought to himself.

Gongon sniffed the air. "We're not alone. Someone new is nearby..."

V decided to show himself. After all, that gorilla had sensed him anyways. They would go after him if he did not show himself. He stepped into plain view and looked over at them. "Hello, I'm V!" He said. His body was like a raptor's, but it was in blood red armor and was as big as a silverback gorilla.

Gongon, actually being an albino silverback, was surprised that V seemed as large as he was. He got out of the truck and offered a handshake. "My name is Gongon. The two in the truck are Vasily and Raven. The two in the car are Lexi and Dustin. The one at the payphone is Kristin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. What brings you here?"

V shook his hand. "Well I've been searching for others that are different like me. I am also looking for others that are still alive. I am trying to get the person that created me, and the other creatures like me, though I am happy to be alive. My purpose was to kill everything but I did not want to do that. I'm too nice for that."

"Most of us are just trying to survive. It is great that you have something to do with your life. Maybe I can ask the others and we can help you out." Gongon smiled, then stepped on a nearby bug and ate it.

"Ok, thanks. By the way, how did you become able to speak the way humans do... not to say you should be dumb or anything," V said looking around.

"Radiation from the super-weapons being tested in the military base next door to the Los Angeles Zoo mutated me. However, I was this color to begin with. All it did was increase my strength and intellect, and maybe modify my vocal chords." Gongon explained as he chewed on a second bug.

"Hm, I guess humans are kinda useful." V said staring at the others. They all seemed trustworthy from this distance. If he had to, though, he would protect himself.

"Not really. Because of their stupidity, this planet is the way it is right now. In my opinion, humans are the most suicidal species on this damn planet. They spew toxins into the air and the ocean, they killed themselves by inhaling the fumes of burning plants, and they kill each other over practically nothing. I think God just sat there one day and said, 'Oh, this creation won't work out. Maybe if I give it the urge to kill itself, I will not have to do any work getting rid of them. They'll understand.' "Gongon sounded bitter towards humanity.

"I see your point; though not all are bad, just a vast majority is useless," V said jumping into a nearby tree and scouting the area for further signs of life.

"I never said they were bad, they just do bad things unintentionally. They're useless and stupid." He then looked back at the others, remembering how helpful they had been in his survival. "Most of the time..."

V jumped out of the tree quickly as a shell hit it and exploded. "Damn it, what do they want!" V said pulling a large gun from his back. V roared as a machine came near the inn. On its shoulders were four people and they got down to point their guns.

"Oh, V! It is good to see you again but I do not think you're going to get away this time," Said one person.

Gongon lifted up the machine and began spinning it while singing Carmen.

The people ran back and watched. V laughed. "Hey! Put that down, you big ape!" One yelled, pointing his gun at him. "Or I'll shoot you!" V pointed his gun. "I don't think so!"

"If you insist!" Gongon hurled the machine at the men, effectively killing them while causing the machine to blow up.

V laughed, "I guess that's one problem gone thank you," V said.

During all of this, Raven had hopped up and watched everything. "Umm... okay." She saw a butterfly and jumped up, trying to catch it. She was easily distracted by butterflies. It almost amazed her that it was still alive.

V walked over and stared at Raven, "aren't you a cute thing, um kinda a cat aren't you" V said. Raven laughed somewhat. She looked at him and the butterfly landed on her nose. She sneezed and shook her head.

By the side of the inn, Kristin searched the phonebook and began to find people's names, hoping there was somebody to call. The phonebook was small compared to the one in LA, and it was only a few pages long. It was not even enough to be considered a book, really, except for the advertisements. Kristin searched for people she thought could help, not finding any phone numbers in the book except one. She picked up the phone, but it was dead. So much for that idea.

Meanwhile, Dustin had approached Gongon, Raven, and the new raptor-like creature. Dustin did not feel like being as nice and welcoming as his father, but nonetheless, he still forced a smile and introduced himself subtly, "Hey, Gongon, I don't think anybody's here in this town, but I'm sure there is plenty of food here. Who's the raptor dude?"

V looked at Dustin, "I'm V and that stands for Virus." He said, and then took out his satellite phone. "I wonder if I can call Mai... if she's even got her phone on her, I might be able to call her." V laughed a little.

Dustin shook V's hand. "Nice to meet you, Virus..." Dustin found it to be a strange name, even for a strange creature. "I'm Dustin. My sister Kristin's in the phone booth over there." He turned to Raven and Gongon, "When did we pick him up?"

Raven sneezed again. "We found him." She smiled. She stretched and stood up. She turned into her half-form. "I'll go." She stretched.

Dustin nodded, "Well, tag along if you like... as long as we have food and shelter for all of us, I'll be glad if you tag along. Now then..." Dustin started, "If somebody will be so kind as to help me look around town for somebody that can help us, I'd appreciate it."

"I'll help. I got nothing better to do.," said V, walking towards Dustin.

Dustin turned to Gongon, "Stay here with Kristin, Gon. Make sure she doesn't run off." He turned to Raven and V, "Okay guys, let's go check out the town." And with that, Dustin led the way into town.

Gongon did as he was told. "Uhm... Uh... Are you too old for piggybacks, Kristin?"

Kristin stared questioningly at Gongon. "What do you mean, too old for piggybacks?" She found it to be a rather odd and funny question. She wondered if Gongon had the strength to hold her up for one, despite her being 13. She smiled at him, "I'm only 13... What do you think?"

"I... don't know what to think... I have never had to baby-sit. I've seen children and interacted with them dozens of times, but I don't even know a thing about 'em." Gongon scratched his head.

Kristin shyly turned away from Gongon, blushing. "Why, did you want to give me a piggyback?" She giggled.

Gongon shrugged. "I'm supposed to keep you from going anywhere, and the only way I can do that is to entertain you here. Moreover, I have no idea how to do that... They should've let someone else stay behind..."

It was abandoned, looking quite like a zombie movie almost. Dustin scanned the area, looking from building to building. It was obvious that this was a small town, there was hardly anybody there to begin with, let alone now that the town was empty. He guessed there were maybe 300 people living here before the town was deserted. Now he figured there was nobody, but it did not hurt to check. Especially if food was in abundance here. He approached one of the larger houses and knocked on the door. When he got no response, he walked in and found it empty. He went to the fridge to discover it was full of uneaten food. He hoped to see sights like that a lot more soon.

V stared at the food. "Looks like we found what we wanted." He said, looking around the house and the turning around to face them.

Raven looked around the house. "Clothes are good." She whispered to herself, finding girl clothes and boy clothes.

Dustin smiled lightly to himself, searching for a few bags. He found a few paper bags and threw as much food as he could inside them. "Okay, on to the next house." He muttered to himself as he left the house and crossed the street to the next one. Maybe someone was still here in town.

Raven walked out of the house and looked around. Then, she felt a tug on her tail and looked around and down to see a poodle had tried to attack her. "Hey! Let go dog!" She said, trying to pull her tail away from the small dog.

Dustin turned and grabbed the small poodle off Raven. He chuckled, "Guess being part cat still has the dogs wanting to chase you, huh?" He turned around when he saw a small boy, no older than six, leading his apparently blind grandfather outside into the backyard. Dustin smiled happily, finally! Some civilians that weren't dead! "Hey, kid!" Dustin exclaimed happily, "Come here a minute."

The boy led his grandfather to them timidly. "Is this your dog?" Dustin asked calmly. The boy nodded. "Was my sister's before the virus got her. Now my grandfather's got it and I-" he began to cry.

V came up behind them. "Talk about the virus kid, maybe I can help." He said lightly.

Raven rubbed her tail. "That hurt..." She saw the kid crying, "Oh, don't cry little one." She walked over to him and hugged him.

"The virus..." the boy sniffled, "It makes you blind, then deaf, and then your brain fries like an egg. That is what the TV reporter said. I did not believe it, but then my sister got it and she died. Now my grandfather's gotten it from her and I..." he stopped before talking anymore.

Dustin firmly looked at the small boy, "What's the matter? What's wrong with you?" He did not mean it to sound terrible as if he knew there was a problem with the boy, but it sounded that way.

The boy turned away, "I... I..." he sputtered before crying again, letting his tears fall freely. The grandfather, apparently deaf too, did not seem to notice that his boy was crying, or hear a word anybody else was saying.

The poodle growled at Raven, sensing her cat half. Instinct wanted to make the dog chase her until she ran up a tree like normal cats, but the poodle was too stupid to know Raven probably would not do that.

V sighed, "Yeah, I've seen this before and I've developed the antidote. I don't know if it will work, though." V said.

Raven looked at the poodle. "Don't you growl at me now!" She said to it before she turned to the boy. "It's okay, please don't cry!" She tried to comfort him. She rubbed her tail again, mumbling, "That hurt!" She looked at the poodle again. "Freaking dog!" She sighed.

Dustin demanded an answer from the boy about what was wrong with this town, but he asked the question nicely. "Can you tell me anything about the people in this town?"

"They're all dead now!" cried the boy, "Was in the food they ate!" Dustin, knowing he had touched the food, dropped the bags quickly so that they splattered to the ground.

"Yikes!" Raven exclaimed as she looked at Dustin, then at the boy. "Sweetie, it's going to be okay." She kneeled down to his level.

Dustin wiped his hands on a nearby tree, hoping he was not infected. The boy continued to cry, the grandfather oddly enough not knowing anything was going on. Dustin thought both people were very strange. "Is anyone else alive besides you two?"

The boy nodded. "Just the inns keeper, but he's on the roof of the inn, threatening suicide."

"Oh boy, I'll go stop him." She stood back up and looked around. She spotted him and climbed up on a roof, where she jumped from rooftop to rooftop and landed in front of the inns keeper.

The elderly man shocked and in fear, coughed up blood and backed away from the cat girl. "Please... don't come near, I'm sick!" cried the old man with a raspy voice. "I don't want to infect you, just let me die!"

Raven looked at him. "It's okay, what happened here?"

Gongon noticed that there were other people on the roof as well. Upon listening in further, he rushed over and restrained the old man for them.

"A couple of days ago, a German stranger came to town very ill. He brought that damned virus with him. He killed the hospital's staff, and they spread it to their families, who spread it to the rest of us. It did not take long for all of us to drop dead. That boy and his grandfather and myself are all that remain, and soon it'll just be the boy." The elderly man told his sad story quickly, wishing to be released. He coughed blood on Gongon, exclaiming loudly, "Oh no! I just coughed on you! You might have it now! Lemme go! I have to end this!"

Finally awake from her long nap, Lexi got out of the car and headed towards Gongon and the others. She noticed blood on Gongon's chest and rushed over to help him thinking he was hurt. "What happened?" Lexi screamed, unaware this blood could possibly kill her.

Gongon's chest and arm started to glow an odd green color. The blood turned into a vapor, and drifted upwards. As the glow subsided, Gongon could feel and odd taste in his mouth, and his nails and incisors seemed slightly longer.

Dustin climbed up to the top of the building to see the vapor disappear. Dustin quickly approached Lexi and Gongon, wondering what happened. "What's going on?" Dustin quickly asked. He had not noticed the changes to Gongon.

"He's infected! He is infected! Lemme just die so I don't infect anyone else!" the older man screamed insanely.

"That's nonsense. I don't feel any different... except for an odd taste in my mouth..." Gongon protested quickly.

Dustin quickly grabbed the older man and slapped him. "Calm yourself down, old man! Nobody's infected!" Dustin exclaimed loudly, he had grown tired quickly of listening to the older man's screaming. The boy had climbed up by this time onto the roof to see what had happened as well, while the older man continued to rave madly. If he had been any worse, he would have been like a rabies case. He continued to rave, "He's infected. Infected!" the older man coughed and sputtered up more blood, soaking himself with more blood and causing some to be thrown onto Dustin's hand-paw. Despite his efforts earlier to get rid of the virus found on the food, this time Dustin had no time to react before the virus could infect him. It turned into a vapor and was absorbed into his fur quickly and he barely had time to react before he tasted blood and steel in his mouth at the same time, even though neither element was in his mouth at this moment. Dustin angrily hit the man again in fury that he had just been infected, not even noticing that he would just suddenly gained another inch in height and that his claws had grown subtly as well.

Gongon looked at Dustin, noticing the subtle changes about him, but unable to recognize that these changes had actually occurred. "Uhm... Dustin... There seems to be something different about you, but I can't put my finger on it..." He said.

Dustin stared oddly over at Gongon, noticing he too looked a little stranger than before. "Well... what do you think we should do with this guy, Gon?"

Gongon felt odd. He felt a sense of bloodlust he never felt before. Let us put the old fool out of his misery. A quick death will be better for him than the sickness. C'mon... You know you want to... He ruined your shiny white fur with his blood... He deserves it... Against his better judgment, he tossed the man as far as he could. He then did the sign of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Dustin stood shocked in fear and disbelief as Gongon threw the elderly man. The boy quickly ran and screamed for the help he desperately needed, but would never get. The elderly man, deaf and blind, never moved an inch. The older man flew threw the air and landed smack into Kristin, knocking her onto her back. She cried out in fright as the older man bled all over her and as she screamed, a trail of blood slid into her mouth. Dustin jumped from the roof to save his sister, ripping the body off her and then quite shocked to find that she, now, was infected as well. He growled angrily. "This isn't going to be good when the effects take in." He muttered, not noticing he had already grown an inch since the blood had touched him.

"Oops..." Gongon jumped off the inn and ran, knowing that he would be blamed and that nobody would believe it was an accident. Paranoia set in. He feared his death. He continued on, as fast as he could, having no idea where he was going or why...

Dustin ran after Gongon, hoping to catch up to him. He did not want to kill him; he desperately wanted the group to stay together so that no more would die. "Gongon! Come back! Come back! We need to stay together!" Dustin shouted.

Gongon started to panic upon being followed, speaking gibberish in gorilla. They are after me! They are going to kill me! I knew I should not have thrown that man off the roof, but I did and... And... Argh! I am so confused!

"Gongon! Come back! I want you here with us! We need you to survive! I'm not going to kill you!" Dustin shouted random things hoping that one of them was the reason Gongon was leaving. "C'mon, it was an accident! You did not mean to! Come on back with us! Gongon!"

Gongon backed himself into a corner, his eyes bloodshot. "You...You're just lying to me... You are going to catch me off guard, like when I am sleeping, or when I am reading... Then BOOM! I'll be dead, just like that!" The fact he was talking rapidly and occasionally inserting a nervous laugh worried Dustin greatly.

Dustin growled at Gongon. "What am I going to do, Gongon? I am as you see me, harmless. I could not kill you if I tried. Just come back to us and I promise I will not hurt you ever. Please... we need to stick together, Gongon." Dustin pleaded, hoping Gongon would come to his senses and rejoin the group. Their survival depended on them all being together and if they could not stay alive together, they would never be alive after all. They would be dead before the next sunrise if everything happened to them. Dustin could not let that happen. The group had worked so hard for this group to stay alive, and for one of them to leave would make their efforts futile. Useless. Dustin could not let this happen either. He charged after Gongon, hoping that whatever happened next would not make Gongon hostile.

He would kill Gongon if he had no other choice....

To Be Continued....