Two weeks. I’ve been stuck out here in the middle of god only knows where for two…fucking…weeks. Two weeks since I was illegally evicted from my apartment so my overweight landlord could try and get some nookie by giving a college girl a free place to live at my expense. Two weeks since I dragged two boxes and a duffel bags filled with my few remaining possessions and two fucking weeks since the universe decided I hadn’t suffered enough and got me jumped by a fucking gang!
I don’t really know much of the details after they started kicking my ass but eventually I’d woken up by a tree that looked like it had gone ten rounds with lightning and didn’t have the good sense to quit. It had been raining, so I dragged my beaten body and my crap to a cave that was inside the hill I woke on top of. I thought I had gotten lucky for a bit, thinking maybe somebody had saved me but whoever had dragged me here also took my phone. I had no way to contact anybody, no way to figure out where I was and no choice but to wait where I was and hoping somebody was sent to find me.
Thankfully, one of the boxes had all my old books in it. Including that wilderness survival book my dad got me during the camping and hiking phase of his midlife crisis. I taught myself how to build fires, do some sewing to repair any tears in my clothes and even how to craft some tools so I could chop wood and collect safe drinking water. I ended up even putting my unfinished college education to work, making myself a few pieces of furniture like a bed and a bookshelf. Certainly not how I imagined I would be designing homes and furniture, but it did make me oddly happy to be using what I learned in a practical way.
My little victories didn’t really last all that long though. There was only so much food that my landlord had put into one of the boxes, and even with rationing I was bound to run out sooner or later. I’d had my last meal of a granola bar and a tiny bag of chips four days ago, and nothing more than a couple of nuts I’d managed to forage from some woods that were about half a day’s walk north of me. At least I think it was north. I haven’t been able to make a compass and I can’t find any of the stars mentioned in the book to navigate by. The whole night sky just seems…off, somehow.
The oddest thing of all has been the complete lack of animals. I’d seen a few bugs here and there, but nothing else. No birds or mice or anything. It’s like I’m the only living thing for as far as the eye can see, so hunting’s off the table until I finally start starving enough to force myself to try and eat the bugs but I’m not even sure there’s enough of those to keep myself alive for much longer. I wasn’t built to be able to survive like this, in a world like this, and I feel my mind slipping farther every day. I keep waking up every morning scared that one day there won’t be a conscious thought left in my head. Just a mass of instincts that are gonna die before I can find my way back.
I shake my head vigorously to clear my head of that nonsense. Falling into pessimism won’t do me any good at this point. I’ve just got to keep going for as long as I can. After all, something has to change. I can only hope that that change will be a good thing. For now though, I’m just tired. Too tired to do anything else as I stand at the entrance of the cave I’ve had to call home, so I watch the night chase the day away and walk myself over to my bed to plop unceremoniously on it. I’m still hungry, but my physical exhaustion outweighs even that as my eyes droop shut and I feel sleep pulling me into peaceful oblivion.
Hungry. Too hungry. Open my eyes, see light pouring into cave. Light enough to go look for food. I roll out of bed and breathe deep. Something feels new. I am so hungry, yet I feel strong. I walk out of cave and breathe deep again. There is power now. Power somewhere deep inside me. I breathe again and feel the power. I tug at it, feel it fill my whole body.
I can move now. I am strong now. Use strength, go find food. I crouch, and feel the power spark in my legs. I try to think of where food could be. Not woods, not enough food there. Pick another direction. I choose the opposite direction of woods and start running. Legs feel powerful and steps become bounds. My feet don’t touch the ground, longer than they should but I don’t care. I keep running and feel the wind.
Wind stings a little, but it is not windy. I am fast. Too fast, but that is good. I will find food fast and not sleep hungry again. I look back a moment and can barely see my hill and the tree on top of it. I have run very far, very fast. This is good too. Soon, I will find something new. That should lead me to food. I do not want to be hungry anymore.
My mind empties as I run. I feel happy and free. Hunger reminds me I cannot run forever so I try to run faster. The wind stings more and it is hard to keep my eyes open. If I were not so hungry, I would not run quite so fast. The wind hurts now, but I can see something new of in the distance. Looks like little rocks, but I know they will look bigger. I run towards them, slowing down only enough that the wind no longer hurts.
The rocks are bigger now, but I know that they aren’t rocks. I see smoke rising from the group of not-rocks. Smoke means fire, but the fire is not big. This means people and people means food. I get even closer and see that many shapes are moving quickly around the not-rocks. I can hear screaming. The people are afraid but it can’t be of me. I’m not close enough yet.
I stop running, ending up in the middle of the not-rocks. I know what these not-rocks are now. They are homes. There are people, but the people are not like me. They scream, but they do not speak my language. They don’t have skin like mine, but are furrier. Some of them have things on top of their heads, things that are part of their heads and not clothes. My mind wants to remember what they look like but I am too hungry.
I see other people, also furry but they look nothing like the ones with horns. They are like dog people, with teeth that gnash and tails that wag. They look happy, but the other furry people looked scared. One of the dog people raises his hand and hurts a small horn-person, making them scream in pain. I know that pain. People like the dog people made me hurt like that and took me from my home. I won’t let them do that.
Rage fills my body, but my words are gone. I roar, like an animal, and everyone turns to look at me. The horn people are scared, the dog people are curious. I know who to hurt. I feel the power fill my body and I jump at the dog person who hurt the small horn-person, crashing with them right through one of the homes. I feel no pain but the dog person I tackled isn’t moving anymore. I hear more screams and move through the homes to find more dog people.
They are always surprised to see me, but they never expect my power. I make fists with my hands and strike the dog people, either sending them flying or making their heads fly away without the rest of them. The horn-people are scared of me but I don’t pay attention to them. Only dog people find themselves fighting me. None of them win. The power fills me, and I cannot lose. I am too strong for them, and soon I see fear in the dog people.
They start making noises I don’t recognize at each other, then they begin to run. I chase some of them, but there are lots. I keep hitting dog people, but now there aren’t as many to hit. I have to start looking hard for them and I only find two left. They are chasing a horn-person, but the horn person is clever. They keep making turns and leaving things in the way of the dog people. I decide that I like this horn person and crash through one of the homes and into the two dog people chasing them. They try to run, but I grab them by their fur and throw them.
I never see them land, just soar through the air until they were out of sight. There is no more screaming now and the rage starts leaving my body, reminding me once again of the hunger that had driven me from my home in the first place. I look around and see the horn-person that I saved looking at me with wide eyes. I look at them too.
They are obviously a woman, with breasts and legs. She is not wearing clothes either, so her womanhood is easily visible to me. The way she looks at me is not the way that the other horn-people looked at me. She is afraid, but she seems curious too. I feel her reach out and touch me, so I reach out and pat her head. She flinches at the first contact, but I am not using the power now so I cannot hurt her. She makes noises at me, but I cannot understand them. I cannot remember how to use words either, so I cannot tell her this.
My stomach grumbles loudly with hunger, solving my problem for me and I see the horn-person woman giggle. She grabs one of my hands with both of hers and starts pulling me. I don’t feel any danger, so I decide to follow this woman. I hope she is taking me to food. I am so hungry.
She leads me through the village and I realize that I cannot see other horn-people. She does not seem to care though, so all must be well. Before long, she brings me into one of the homes and the smells of it pour into my nose. There is the scent of earth and sweat in here but more than that, there is the scent of food. The horn woman pulls something away from the wall and opens it up, before pulling out some food. I know only that it is something that is grown in the ground, but the hunger makes everything else about the food unimportant.
I quickly grab the food and start eating it. There’s a taste of earth to it still, but I do not care. It feels so good to finally fill my stomach. The horn-person woman watches me eat with a look of fascination on her face. It should disturb me or upset me, but it amuses me instead. She grabs one of the food for herself and starts to eat with me, but slower than I am. I do not slow down.
Soon, I have run out of food but that is fine. My belly is full now. I give a happy sigh and pat my stomach. I feel better now, but something else strange begins to happen to me. There’s a new need, just as strong as my hunger was. My body burns with a fire that makes my skin tingle. I see the horn-person woman watching me while I eat and the fire burns hotter. I can smell her, and the scent is as wonderful as the food she gave me.
I pull myself closer to her and the smell gets stronger. She freezes as I draw near and I feel the fire burn into my loins. I’m erect. So much that it aches. She seems to know that. Her eyes dart between my face and my loins, but she does not pull away. I move even closer and wrap my arm around her waist, then I press my lips to her neck. Still she does not pull away. I feel her tense up against me but I keep pressing my lips to her furred skin.
Her taste excites me as much as her smell and my clothes have become too much. I take my shirt off first and she gasps at me. Odd, but my fire is more important. I press my chest against hers, and feel her breasts squish against me. I kiss her lips. It is awkward, uncomfortable, but not unpleasant. She seems unsure of what to do. I am unsure if she is afraid, but I saw her flee the dog people. She is not weak, body or mind. She will push me away if she needs to.
I break the kiss and roughly pull my pants off. They will be hard to put back on later but that does not matter. The fire still burns hot under my skin. I see her eyes wander my body now that my clothes are off. She seems surprised until she sees me erect, then her eyes go wide and her breathing gets faster. Still she does not push me away. That makes me happy.
I reach out and grab a breast as I continue softly pressing my lips to her. She seems…fascinated by my actions, even as her breathing gets louder. My other hand runs softly down her stomach until I feel what I seek. There is fur down there, but it is smooth enough to be almost mistaken for bare skin. I enjoy the way it feels on my fingers and get carried away. Her breath hitches and I see her body shaking just a little bit, yet still she does not push me away.
The fire grows even hotter and the ache of my erection is impossible to ignore. I cannot wait any longer. I rub her in circles as I position myself against her, feeling a slickness coating the tips of my fingers before I pull them away. I spread her legs gently and she makes noises, grabbing my shoulder with her hand right as I begin to push myself in. There is resistance, but I keep going. My hips rocking gently as I do, easing me into her. I lean down over her and my teeth find her shoulder. I do not press hard with them, but I feel her shudder as I bite.
I press myself even deeper into her and her body welcomes me. She is warm and wet and finally, the fire starts to ease. It still burns, but the further I push into her the more it is eased. Soon, I can push myself in no further. The flesh of our loins has joined together entirely and she places a hand on my chest, speaking more noise at me. I think she is trying to say something, but my own words left me back in my cave. I will try to speak with her later, but the fire still burns me even as I am pressed all the way in.
Instinct drives me, and I begin rocking my hips steadily. My erection is squeezed inside of her and my body tingles as the fire begins to ease. I know that I need this. That I have needed this for so long. No more denying myself. I will yield to my body’s need and suffer no longer. I take my teeth away and press my lips softly to the chest of the woman I am laying with. I feel her body relax underneath me as I gently rock myself inside of her.
I feel the fire of my skin crawling away, gathering entirely towards my loins as I rock. Her breathing has become harder but steady as I have gently thrust into her. Her hands have left my body and lie on the ground above her head. The hand I used to rub her entrance earlier seeks out her breast, while my other hand seeks out one of hers like a lost companion. My fingers entwine with hers and I feel her grip my hand tightly as her eyes close. The fire in my loins starts to burn ever hotter and I become desperate to cool it.
I begin to thrust myself faster and harder into her, allowing the fire to ease once more. She cries something out softly as I move faster, her hand squeezing mine tightly. I know I am close to finally quelling the flame as my whole body tingles, making my toes curl. The sound of my loins slapping into hers growing loud enough to match her own vocal cries, and I know my need is about to be fulfilled. My whole body begins to shake until my loins tighten, forcing my hips to bury me in her as deep as I can go.
I cry out as I spill into her, my erection unwavering as it shoots my seed. Her grip almost hurts my hand as I spill into her without abandon, until finally the flame has been extinguished. I come to a still, my erection slowly softening within her. Both of us are breathing loudly. Our chests heave up and down, pressed together. I watch her face and she seems tired. I let her rest and roll off. I need to get my clothes on, go home. My needs are fulfilled. I do not need to be here anymore.
She watches me as I dress and grabs my wrist as I try to stand away. We cannot talk. We do not need to. I help her to her feet, but she can’t stay standing. I pick her up this time and carry her. She seems a little afraid but does not fight me. I leave where she brought me and feel the power fill me up again. It is like lightning in my bones. I crouch down and leap.
I do not need to understand her words to know she screams from fear. We are high in the air and will soon fall. I know it will be fine. I will jump-run as I did coming here. We are going home.
I start to slowly stir, finding myself much more warm than I usually am but not uncomfortably so. I start to shift around, intending to roll myself off the bed like I usually do only to feel something blocking my way before I even get close to the edge of my self-made bed. I start opening my eyes, and realize that I actually feel great for a change. I’m not groggy or hungry and even that weird pent-up feeling I’ve been having over the past couple of weeks seems to be gone. My eyes take no effort to get all the way open, but the sight I behold makes me question whether or not I’m actually awake.
Laying right in front of me, just as asleep as I had been a moment ago, is someone…or something possibly, completely covered head to toe in fur and nothing but fur. A precursory glance would make me think that I had somehow had an antelope sneak into my bed but the body…her body, was almost human. The face and the little hooves on the ends of her feet were the only thing that didn’t seem like a human wearing a skin-tight fur suit.
I actually thought she was gazelle at first, until I noticed the lack of horns, but everything else was there just…softer than it probably should be. Ears twitching ever so slightly on top of her head, a rounded black nose and barely visible lips. The fur covering her body was tan with the exception of a couple of white spots on her head, neck and a very large spot that covered her stomach all the way down to…
It finally occurs to me that she’s naked, and for that matter so am I. When the hell did I take off my clothes? I definitely don’t remember doing that before I fell asleep. I mean I can chalk up being on my side to turning in my sleep, and maybe this strange antelope woman simply let herself in here and decided to sleep on my bed with me but… wait, why aren’t I hungry anymore? That’s impossible. I’ve been starving for days.
I have to be going crazy, or this is just a dream within a dream situation. It has to be. I must have finally snapped from the lack of food and the isolation. My heart starts thumping in my chest and I feel my breathing quicken to the point of nearing hyperventilation. I feel my whole body tense and shake, only to suddenly freeze when the antelope woman’s eyes open and look straight at me with shiny, brown eyes.
“Uh…hello there.” I say softly, unsure of what else to do given the impossible situation I find myself in. Oddly enough, the woman looks at me with what seems to be utter shock and starts speaking in some language I don’t quite recognize. At least I think it’s a language. It’s built like a language, but it’s not like I can understand it.
She reaches out quickly and grabs me, looking me over thoroughly as though I were made of gold. I suppose it makes sense, I’m probably as strange to her as she is to me. I have to fight from freaking out a little when her hands start rubbing and squeezing nearly every part of my body, gently pushing her away when I notice something shattering. With some distance between us, I can see between her legs…and more specifically what’s slowly coming out from between them. My eyes go wide as the possibilities race through my mind and I back away right into the wall that I pressed my bed up against.
“What… what the fuck is going on here?!” I yell out, my breathing quickening once again. The woman in my bed jumps slightly at my increase in volume but cautiously approaches me after a moment. She pokes me in the head with that soft, fuzzy finger of hers and says only one thing…
“Jo-a.”