Fast Food Furries Book 1

Chapter 7b: The Pursuit

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Damien

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Mach groaned awake. "Damien," he wispered hoarsely.

"What?" I grumbled, not opening my eyes.

"Damien, they're here," said Mach.

I groaned in despair, forcing myself up. Flashlight beams danced around the far corner of the room. "Sweet Jesus, how long did we get?"

Mach shrugged. "A few hours. They passed right through here earlier, but I think they're onto us."

"But the floor is so comfortable," I argued, not wanting to leave.

Mach sighed. "Come on." We snuck out of the shelter and into the early morning sun. "We need to avoid main roads," Mach said, leading us down a side street.

"That's going to take so much longer," I said.

Mach just said, "Yeah."

We trudged along back streets for another hour or so. We could hardly even feel how sore we were because we were so exhausted. "Great Mike," Mach exclaimed. I looked up. It was the ERC again, waiting at the end of the street. Great Mike indeed.

We ran between houses and navigated out to another neighborhood, finding a house to take cover in for a while. It wasn't long before the ERC was knocking at the door, and we fled again. And so the cycle continued. We would trudge, slowly and borderline directionless, for some length of time before the ERC would cut us off. Then we would flee, find some way to lose them, and proceed once more. Over and over and over. It's like they were toying with us.

Before long, dusk was upon us, and we hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all day. "Hey," Mach said, mustering his energy to speak. He nodded forward to a lawn ahead of us.

"Bikes," I said, trying to sound excited but barely even able to breathe the word. Mach ran up and picked up one of the bikes from the ground, mounting it awkwardly and making a conscious effort to pedal which was obviously rejected by his body. He and the bike flopped to the ground without moving an inch.

"Not sure if we're in biking condition," I observed.

"Let's find a hole to crawl into and try to get some shuteye," Mach decided, barely able to get himself up off the ground. We snuck into a nearby backyard and found a forgotten shed to sneak into. Similar to the previous night, we got maybe a few hours before distant rustling from outside urged us on our way once again.

Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to multiple hours. Night turned to dawn turned to noon. We were moving at an abysmal pace, and the ERC was effortlessly keeping up.

"I can hear her," I said at some point.

"Hmm?" asked Mach, unwilling to form words.

"Ned," I said. "I can hear her voice."

"It's the sleep deprivation," Mach slurred.

"I know," I said, "but it makes me want to find her for real."

Around the evening, we both got an inexplicable burst of energy. I think we were actually losing it, but we were able to move at a normal pace for a brief stint, before being slammed with exhaustion once again.

The next night granted us no sleep at all, bar the intermittent minutes of dozing when hiding from the ERC.

The sight of another sunrise without sleep was soul crushing, but we weren't far from HH. The nightmare was going to be over. But as the sun crept towards the middle of the sky, Mach fell to his knees. "C'mon buddy," I groaned, raising him back up. "We're so close. Hell, let's take the main road the last couple blocks. Get it over with."