FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Written by brazy "birb" seeker

Inspired by K.A. Applegate's "Animorphs"

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CHAPTER 10

Mikey and I sat for a while in the dust under the shade of a decrepitude building, the structure seemed to be one push away from falling down. He started to cry, and then I started to cry too, quietly. I started to wonder if we would ever even make it out of this place, let alone find out how to morph. I felt stupid. I was hurt, physically and mentally, and here I am crying in front of my best friend in the middle of a desert thousands of miles from home. Hell, my only friend. I shouldn't even be alive, honestly. I'm just lucky I haven't died of internal bleeding yet, my insides hurt like hell. It's only been a few days though, maybe the damage is just taking its time to kill me. The dryness in my mouth was worrying me more though.

I stared off into the desert with Mikey. It was silent almost, way quieter than the constant noise of insects and animals we were used to in the forest. It was beautiful, honestly, aside from the searing heat that drenched the valley in death.

There was life still, mostly in the form of scattered bland grasses and the occasional stubby tree. I couldn't help but be amazed by that, regardless of all the fear. How is it that life still manages to carry on in the most extreme situations? Is it a curse? Why is it we keep going at all and so much pain and struggle. There must be a reason, deep down, why we carry on. There has to be, what the hell would even be the point then.

My eyes fixated on some distant shrubbery. There were some small squat cactus near them, if I looked hard I could even see what must be a lizard sunbathing on a rock.

"Hey Miguel?" Mikey said as he stared off into the deserted valley with me.

I made a little sniffle and stopped my silent thoughtful crying for a moment.

"What?" I said, looking over to him.

"Do you really think there's a reason for all this? I mean... All of this. Are we even worth anything at all? Is there some kind of path?" Mikey said, making me shiver. We were thinking similar things I realized.

I paused, not responding for a while. As I thought about his words Mikey leaned over and took a section of cloth he had prepared from one of the shirts in our bag of junk. He looped it over my arms, taking time to wrap my wrists loosely together, then while very carefully holding them in place, he placed the cloth behind my neck. I felt him tie a knot, and after some pained groaning, I had a crude two armed sling. It felt nice to take the tension off my labored bones.

I finally looked over to him after making my arms comfortable. Well, as comfortable as two broken arms could be.

"I... I don't know. I don't know if there's an answer we're able to know," I said, "I mean, if there is a path to anything, who are we to know? Say, say this were a game. I know you play games sometimes. Cheating is fun, right?"

Mikey nodded slowly.

"You know how that rips away all the fun eventually, right? It becomes boring. Having everything is only fun for a bit." I said. I wiped away my tears, feeling a little more confident. "It's like were cursed to like not having things. Not knowing."

I nodded my head out towards the desert. "What if we knew exactly how our paths were to go? What the hell would be the point? You'd take one look and put a bullet in your head. There would be no thrill, no surprise! We could die right out there, right in that desert, but since we don't know it, it gives us hope. We don't know so we keep going, hoping for the best!"

"That's... Pretty positive, coming from someone who's jumped in front of a car... Twice." Mikey said.

I grumbled some in embarrassment, looking at Mikey with a look that said, 'I would punch you if I had arms.'

Maybe I was crazy, but I think the fear was starting to grow on me.

"Death is a lot less scary when you get in kissing distance of it I guess." I said.

I looked back out into the desert again and Mikey's gaze followed. I spotted some sort of bird circling over the deadly land below and my eyes tracked on it. I focused on it's wings, I could almost feel how the air lifted and swelled under the bird, lifting and twisting, every feather trying to keep the flight steady. I couldn't help but feel jealous once again. I tried to imagine how it would feel for myself to be up there and inhaled deep.

I don't remember closing my eyes, I don't remember trying to sleep. I sort of faded out almost, I guess the heat was just intoxicating like that. It's strange how simply being awake in the sun makes you want to sleep. I thought of the lizard.

Next thing I know I'm being painfully shaken awake to the sound of Mikey calling my name over the roar of engines.

"Miguel, MIGUEL! WAKE THE HELL UP! We gotta move, there's people! We're saved!" Mikey yelled to me.

I stumbled and groaned in the increasing soreness I feel every time I sit too long. My eyes fluttered open and blinked to try to take in the scene. Bikers! A few powerful looking dirt-bikes, two of them, tore up through a sandy path that intersected the road we came in on.

Wait no, not only bikers. A larger engine roared. Suddenly I saw lights shine through the settling dust, It was a Jeep of some sort, I had seen them before back where I live, well, lived. I stood up slowly and focused my eyes. Mikey was waving his arms at them. The bike that was leading the small convoy skidded to a stop a little distance away on the crest of a sand dune.

The man was dressed heavily in what looked like military gear, but, he had a normal looking black helmet on top. It was odd. I looked closer and he even seemed to have more civilian looking clothes under the whole getup. The other vehicles came to an almost dramatic stop by him.

He hopped off his bike and seemingly in a hurry he ran over to the Jeep as one of the passengers handed off a black object. I squinted to try to see what it was. It looked long and sleek, but unlike anything I had ever seen.

Dangerous.

I looked back to Mikey, he was running up the dune towards the men, still waving his arms and yelling towards them. I didn't move an inch, I was locked in my sand filled shoes right in place. I saw a glint off to the side of my vision, looking back to the Jeep. The man was resting something on his bike now, the strange object.

I twitched. I felt fear jolt through me. I froze, again.

"M-Mikey...!" I barely managed to get out the words.

TSEERRRRP- THUNK!

A bright flash struck my retinas as a beam of light shot from the object. It was sky blue, almost pretty, if it wasn't like I was staring at the sun. The sound struck me a fraction of a second later. It was a piercing and unnaturally electrical sound, it sounded more like something out of a video-game. It was like someone took 12 car batteries, put them all together, and then shorted the wires. Imagine that all mixed with the sound of a siren someone threw in a pool and you've got an idea, all of that deafeningly loud as if it was right by my ears.

The beam of light shot to Mikey instantly, it looked more like it connected rather than travelling, and I heard a sickening thunk. Mikey froze in place and fell flat into the sand, crumpling halfway through the descent, his clothes smoldering and smoking some into the deadly heat.

I felt my legs give out and I plopped to my knees, only managing to let out a small:

"Mikey..."

The beam ended almost immediately after it began. I stared at Mikey's lifeless body lying in the desert and my vision seemed to narrow in on him. I wasn't even thinking, I was just looking, looking into him, into his very being. I didn't even see it hit me.

Light.

TSEERRRRP- THU-

Dark.

Dark is good. Dark means more sleepy time.