FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ Chapter 36 ~

Moonlight shone through the cloudy panes of glass stories above the main floor of the warehouse. There was no color to the light. No coolness or haunting etherealness. Everything was ambient gray. Towers of boxes blended with monstrous metal machinery lying dormant - dinosaur bones frozen in time.

And there was no noise. The screaming had stopped almost immediately when I opened the doors of the storage room; which was really nothing more than an overly long walk-in metal cabinet. There were others just like the one I tiptoed out of freestanding next to one another on the crowded floor of the warehouse.

But there was no noise. I wasn't sure who had screamed. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to recognize it or not. I needed to know who it was and why. I walked as silent as a mouse towards the origin of the pained echo.

Somewhere, I remembered, looking up at the windows, was where Bo and Aaron had first crawled into the warehouse. Was that window still up there, or was it now one of the unblinking, illuminated, broken eyes standing sentry next to its cloudy brethren? And when was that? A year ago? Aaron was here a year ago, younger and innocent. Where was I a year ago? I couldn't remember.

My ears registered whispering and I avoided touching anything as I walked to it, to where someone screamed. Where there was now only one voice. God, please don't let me be too late already.

An irregular shape in a room of angles stood out easily despite the lack of light. My eyes had adjusted to the best of their ability, but I wasn't a felan. I couldn't see in the dark but I could hear and smell. And I heard angry, sharp muttering and smelled copper or iron or blood. The shape grew and split into two, one mass remained motionless on the ground and the other stood tall over it. An arm lifted from the standing shape and pointed to the iron-smelling pile.

Ears.

"Aaron, stop!" I stepped forward from behind the machinery where I was hiding.

The shape, Aaron, swung the gun from the mass to my chest. His face was distorted in rage and glinting tears. His teeth were bared in a snarl. His eyebrows were angled sharply over glaring, mad eyes. With a shake of his head, he added confusion to the list of emotions he was conveying and blinked his eyes. "Cade? How- Why?"

He looked alien to me, standing in the pallid, murky light of the warehouse. I couldn't begin to wrap my head around the idea that this was the same canan that I had met at the zoo or walked with through a park one night. My brain simply refused to comprehend. "Aaron I'm, I'm sorry," the corners of my mouth felt weighted to the earth and I took a deep, audible breath. "I got your letter and the watch. I tried to get ahold of you but you weren't answering. I ran through the tunnel after you and- and I'm sorry!" I couldn't hold back my own tears anymore. I choked and sobbed. Warm rivers flowed down my face as my body shook. "Don't," was all I could muster.

Aaron rubbed his eyes with the heel of the hand that was holding the gun. Moonlight reflected off of its black metal. His expression softened and his gaze returned to the person on the ground. "I watched the warehouse," Aaron worked out aloud, more to himself than me, "trying to think of another way in since security's heavier than when Bo and I snuck in."

The person on the ground gurgled a moan. It was Remy and he sounded in bad shape.

"I saw this son-of-a-bitch at Infinitá and I remembered that he was one of the thugs that murdered Bo." Aaron paused and eyeballed Remy.

The only sound in the warehouse that I could detect was Remy's labored breathing but even that was quiet. I hazard tiny steps closer, keeping on my toes ready to- to do what, exactly? I didn't know.

"He was always with his thugs, though. There was no way I'd be able to do something about all three of them. When you said Becky was hurt, though, I knew I had to do something to stop these monsters."

"So you decided to take things into your own hands?" I said defiantly. My tears had stopped but my heart was quaking.

"They can't be allowed to hurt anyone again."

"But you aren't the police," I countered.

"The police failed Bo!" Aaron yelled, "I tried to get them to talk about the case but they refused to do anything. I'm not related to him. They said there wasn't any evidence as to who killed him. I see faces when I sleep, though. I have nightmares that I'm back in the warehouse watching him die but the faces are always gone when I wake up."

"Aaron you can't-"

He interrupted me, on a roll with his own justification, "You said that Infinitá had a tunnel under it. You mentioned that Kat only let Remy use it - I figured that part out on my own - and I knew that was my chance." Aaron smiled at me, proud of his deduction. "I waited in the storage room until the other two left and Remy came back through. Then I brought him up here."

"And you went out and bought a gun to do all this?" I gestured to Remy.

"No," Aaron shook his head slowly, "I've had this for a while."

"How long?" it was something I didn't want to know but knew I had to.

"About a week after Bo was buried."

I forced my brain through that phrase. I wanted nothing more than to be with him in my room with Becky in her room planning her next escapade and Dad with Mom watching t.v. in the den. Instead I was in a warehouse owned by the father of the guy Aaron was holding a gun to trying to keep everyone alive. "If you killed yourself, I wouldn't have met you had gone to the zoo with you, danced with you, laid next to you on the picnic table in the park."

"If you didn't know me, Becky never would have gotten hurt."

"Even Homer nods," I reasoned.

"What are you talking about?" Aaron had become much more tame than the wild-eyed creature I stumbled upon minutes ago.

"I don't know," I sighed in defeat. "I don't know what I'm trying to say anymore." Everything felt wrong. I didn't have the right words flowing from me and certainly I wasn't doing the right thing if this was where we were. Where did everything go so wrong?

"Please, Aaron, give me the gun."

He looked at me with disobedience and caution. He tensed up.

"I said before that I can't imagine the pain that you're going through. And I hope you won't put me through that. I wanted to give you the time to heal. I gave you your space."

"You were so busy giving me what I said I wanted but not giving me what I need," Aaron alleged, "Just for once couldn't you have said to me, 'I don't care what you say you want, I'm going to do this-one-thing because I believe that it will help you.' ?"

It was a punch but I knew it was true. But it was too late to change anything that was past. "I am doing that right now. I don't care how you think justice should be given, this isn't any way for anyone to be treated. I'm not letting you become that kind of creature. Now please," I stepped forward with arm's reach of Aaron, "give me the gun."

Aaron looked at the pistol he was holding. He switched hands and held it by the barrel and extended it to me.

I reached and took the gun from Aaron. It was heavy and warm where his hand was. I took a step back in case he decided to change his mind. Aaron remained next to Remy.

"Um... where's the safety?" I asked. It seemed so ridiculous of a question, so trite compared to the gravity of what was happening.

"The button on the side, up here," Aaron pointed to a small knob sticking out of the side of the gun.

"Okay, thanks," I pressed it, "Is it locked?"

"Yeah."

Moonlight had moved upwards since I walked out of the storage closet. The last time I looked at a clock was, when? In the car? In the club? The world had stopped and it was just us three.

"When I met your family that morning, I saw what a family was like," Aaron spoke. "My parents never got along, they were constantly fighting. But with you I saw," he paused and took a breath, "I saw what it means to have people who love you and love each other enough to be with each other through anything. When I found out this animal hurt Becky, I just wanted to make sure he couldn't hurt any more families."

"And that's not your job," I repeated.

"I'm supposed to be happy with that?"

"No. I'm not happy with it, but it's the moral conclusion. I don't want to be the person who oversteps my lawful boundaries. And I'm so fucking afraid that you're going to fall down that rabbit hole and I'm never going to see you again. Please, Aaron."

"I'm fighting myself," Aaron looked and sounded like a small puppy that was caught peeing on the carpet. "I was lost in my thoughts without you. Look, over there," He pointed to the corner of a freight conveyor. There was a dark stain on the concrete partially sticking out from under it. "That's where I was thrown when this guy and his goons attacked Bo and me. I don't remember much about that."

Remy moaned again. There were similar dark smears on the concrete floor off to one side of Remy like comet tails.

"I told you before," I tried to reassure Aaron and myself, "I'm not going anywhere."

Remy coughed from the floor but otherwise remained motionless. He croaked, "Faggot."

Aaron looked down at Remy, examinate and quiet, then succinctly kicked Remy in the face. There was a wet sound on contact and Remy's neck snapped backwards. Drops of blood flew.

"Aaron!" I yelled at him.

Aaron looked at me with dull eyes, "I didn't kill him. He doesn't deserve to die."

Somewhere on the other side of the warehouse something rattled. We both snapped to attention and turned towards the sound.

"Someone's here?" I said stupidly. The frames of the windows above us pulsed almost imperceptibly. Lights. "Police."

"Cade," Aaron's voice was firm and he looked at me, "Get out of here."

"No," I shook my head. "I'm not going to leave you here. You're coming with me!"

"No I'm not and yes you are. This is my cross to bear, not yours. I'm not going to allow you to throw away your life. Becky's going to need you to protect her."

There were soft footsteps in the warehouse.

"And you? Who's going to protect you?"

Aaron smiled at me, "You worry too much. Did you close the doors to the tunnel?"

"No." Crap.

"When you leave, make sure to close everything behind you. I don't want Bruise, Marc, Tiffany, and Kat to get in trouble."

I stood there, looking at him. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to smell him. I wanted him.

"Go!"

I turned, listening to the footsteps getting closer. They weren't anywhere near the storage closets so I could make it to them safely. And so I did, closing those doors, returning the false metal shelf, and closing the wooden doors of the tunnel behind me. I ran back to Infinitá with gun in hand.