\n The previous chapter can be found here for those who don't know: http://www.sofurry.com/page/219821/watchlist
\n :iconErythWolf: and I both Greatly appreciate your comments and ratings. Have fun! -Kerg
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\n\n I was sick of walking. It was hot, I was thirsty, and honestly, I wasn't sure if I could keep going. That's not to sound like I was a wuss, but when you have more than 15 pounds of fur and are walking through the desert in the middle of the day... It takes its toll on you, both physically and emotionally. But I was smart enough not to complain. If Isaac heard me bitching and moaning, he probably would have killed me right there. I'm not so sure if I would have stopped him.
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\n\n The sad thing is, even though I knew I wouldn't have a chance with him, especially not here; I couldn't stop thinking of him. My mind kept rolling back to his tongue on my muzzle. Even though it stung, damn, I wanted to be with him -- not even sexually -- I just wanted to hold him in my arms and kiss him... I just wanted to be forgiven.
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\n\n Not that I deserved it.
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\n "I'm sweating pretty badly," I said, trying to lighten up the mood if only a little. I did though. It was a potent mix of teenage sweat and wet dog that got in your nose and tainted all other smells into nothingness. Which sucks because Isaac always had the nicest smell to him. I don't know if it was cologne or what, but I liked it.
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\n "I know. I can smell you from here." His voice was mixed with humor and bite. Truthfully, it hurt. But it hurt more hearing the humor there. I could tell he was fighting himself over me. His love for me was probably long gone, but he might have missed me as a friend for all I knew.
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\n I hoped he did.
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\n\n
\n As the sun began to lessen its beating upon our heads, a new stench became more apparent. One that far outweighed my own smell. It was one of familiarity to me. I'd seen rotting animals before, I knew their smell. Isaac looked about, confused as to the origin of the smell. I just kept going, walking past him as his pace slowed.
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\n "Wait up," he said once his brain had come back down to reality.
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\n "Relax, it's not like we're going to stumble into anythi-" As usual, I had managed to say the worst possible thing at the worst possible time. There it was, a rotting feline. The sand around was stained in darker colors, obvious blood stains. The swollen face was battered and bloody. A small laceration ran from one eye to the other. Its stomach was bloated and the arms were both broken at such ungodly angles that I had to avert my eyes. Isaac's face began to drain of all color and I started to pull on his wrist, risking another attack from him to lead him away. His legs finally started working and he followed me away from the corpse.
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\n "What did that?" he asked.
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\n "No idea," I admitted.
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\n "His arms were broken..."
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\n "I know, Isaac," I sighed and looked back at the corpse. "Look, stay here I need to see if there's anything useful on him."
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\n Isaac turned and grabbed me, claws digging in just enough to make a point. "You are not going loot a corpse."
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\n "Look, if he has food or water, I'm taking it. I need to make sure is all."
Isaac looked at me with green eyes, gears working behind them before he released his grip on me and turned his back on me, crossing his arms.
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\nIsaac looked at me with green eyes, gears working behind them before he released his grip on me and turned his back on me, crossing his arms.
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\n The task of looting isn't an easy one. For one thing, touching a smelly body isn't exactly fun. Second, you need to give a good pat down and search everything. I started on the pants, patting up, feeling for any foreign object not belonging on a felid body. His pockets were empty and nothing was on his chest. But I still had a few more places to check.
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\n The worst part of looting a corpse is turning it over. All the dead weight to move, careful not to rupture the stomach and have the smell intensify tenfold. Because the way the sand dune was, I chose to roll him towards me to check the back pockets. In one pocket I found small flask and in the other, a crudely made knife. Taking both, I placed the knife and placed it in my own back pocket, glad to have some form of protection. The flask, I put to my ear and shook it, trying to judge how much was in there. From the sound, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
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\n "Jason, you almost done?" Isaac said, his voice quaking somewhat.
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\n "Yeah, why?" I stood and went to him.
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\n "I think we're being watched." He said, almost at a whisper. I rolled my eyes and patted him on the back.
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\n "You're seeing things, bud."
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\n He slapped my hand away and glared at me. "I'm not crazy. I'm telling you someone or something is looking at us right now."
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\n "What makes you say that?"
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\n "Just... a feeling."
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\n "Right," I said, nodding my head. Isaac just muttered something vile-sounding.
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\n "Did you find anything good?" he changed the subject.
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\n "I got a knife and this," I produced the flask and showed it to him.
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\n "Any idea what's in there?"
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\n "No, but you shouldn't be picky," I said.
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\n He was hesitant to take the metal container. "What about you, did you already have some?" he asked.
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\n "Yeah, of course," I lied. It was reckless and stupid of me to lie, but I could handle not having anything to drink for a little while, I wasn't sure if he could.
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\n He took a swig and made a disgusted face. "That's strong."
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\n I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, but it's better than nothing." He gave me the flask and started off as the sun began to reach its dusk.
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\n "Hey, Isaac, I think you were right. I think we are being watched..." I muttered, as I looked to my
\n\n right. I could have sworn that I saw a shadow move.
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\n Isaac shivered and looked back at me. "What makes you say that, Jason?"
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\n "Just this feeling. A cold feeling in the back of my head. I dunno, maybe I'm going crazy because
\n\n of the heat... But maybe not."
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\n He stopped for a second to look at me. "Are you just saying that to try to get on my good side? It won't work you know..."
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\n I sighed and rubbed my burning face. "No, I just... I'm worried. This place just gives me a bad feeling."
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\n "I know what you mean...at least we have that small knife to protect us now." He shivered, his fur poofing up a little in fear. "I'm still creeped out by that poor feline. Who would beat someone up like that?"
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\n "I don't know. At least you didn't have to touch him." I bit my lip and scratched away a piece of sand from my face. "His arms though... Why would you break both arms?"
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\n Isaac shook his head in disbelief. "You'd have to be a sadistic bastard to break both arms of someone like that..." We continued walking for a few moments before he spoke again. "Hey, wait a sec! I was against touching him from the beginning. I still don't even know what was in the flask. Why didn't you warn me it tasted so bad?" He laughed at the situation, which gave me time to think of a lie.
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\n "Umm, I didn't think it was uh... that bad." I never said it was a good lie.
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\n "You must not have taste buds, then." He shivered yet again and held his arms close to himself.
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\n\n "Are you cold by any chance?" he asked.
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\n I held out my big, fluffy arms and said, "I'm fine."
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\n He groaned loudly. "Maybe I'm just nervous. Let's take a break, yeah? I need to calm down." We sat down in the sand, giving weary feet a rest.
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\n "Yeah, I didn't want to say anything, but my feet are killing me." I looked at my own hind paws. They were red and swollen. Not quite cute, but they had lost their smooth yet rough texture as the sand tore layer after layer away.
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\n "What happened to your shoes anyways? Mine are starting to look worse for wear, but I haven't ended up barefoot."
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\n I smirked and looked at him, knowing my friend wouldn't like what I said. "I don't think I had them when I came here, actually."
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\n "Weird. It must get unbearable with all the hot sand." He began to draw figures in the sand, absent-mindedly.
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\n "Yeah, but there's not much I can do about that. I think I might have lost feeling on the pads of my feet actually." I winced in advance.
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\n "That's awful, Jason! We might not be in the best of circumstances, but you can tell me these things you know!"
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\n "Well, I didn't want to complain, dude."
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\n "Jason, it's stupid to act macho here. We're in the desert. Be smart! Jeeze! It's like you enjoy making me worry." He wasn't shouting, but you couldn't deny that his voice had definitely raised several octaves.
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\n "I thought you said you didn't care about me..." I did, in fact, recall him saying something like that.
\n\n He recoiled away before hastily saying, "Don't be s-stupid. I said I didn't trust you. We're in a desert. If you don't want me to care at all about you, then fine."
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\n I bit my lip in silence, hurt by my own jackassery. "I never meant that... I'm sorry. Thank you, for caring, I mean. I don't deserve that..."
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\n He glared at me with cold eyes. "You're right. You don't deserve my kindness, but we're stuck together. So stop making such a big fuss about it. I'll choose who to worry about and when." The sting from that blow was deep but I didn't respond. I didn't want to fuck things up anymore so I sighed and fell back into the sand.
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\n "What now, Jason?"
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\n I closed my eyes, fatigue finally catching up to me. "I just want to lay here a while..."
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\n Isaac nodded. "Fine, let's rest." He moved over and placed his head on my chest. I prayed his feline ears didn't hear my heartbeat increase, but I already knew they did.
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\n "This doesn't mean anything, okay? I'm just cold."
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\n I carefully wrapped my arm around him so he was in the crook of my chest. "Then you might as well let me warm you up."
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\n He said nothing for a few moments before muttering, "So warm..."
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\n "You're welcome," I said with a smile.
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\n Isaac said nothing, but scooted further into me, our body heat mixing and combining to help each other. I couldn't help but breathe his scent in. The sweetness of his scent was in my nose and tantalizing my olfactory gland.
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\n "You smell nice." I whispered in his ear.
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\n I could tell he was smiling even though I couldn't see his face. "And you smell sweaty... We need to find some water soon."
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\n "Yeah, my fur is getting all grimey with this sand." I ran my other hand through the one underneath Isaac to brush some of the grime out. Isaac wasn't happy about that though.
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\n He flinched when he saw how close I was to hugging him and I felt his body tense underneath me. "Let me go!" He started to lash out against my arms, and I instinctively pulled my arms away and he bolted upright in his panic.
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\n "Hey, I wasn't trying to-"
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\n "It's fine." He interrupted. "I just freaked out. Just don't make sudden movements like that." He shivered again and held his arms close. "You'd think it would be warmer for a desert."
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\n "I thought you were the survival person. Did you completely fall asleep during the class on deserts?"
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\n "Shut up! I know it gets cold! Jeez. For such a warm person, you sure like being cold to me..."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Isaac, it was a joke. You know that."
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\nI couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Isaac, it was a joke. You know that."
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\n " Yeah, well...I'm not exactly a joker anymore. I stopped being able to laugh freely because of you." That stung more than I should have let it.
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\n I put my arm around him again. "I'm sorry. But I'm not going to let you freeze out here, so just let things go for the night so we can get some sleep, okay?"
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\n He pulled my large white arm closer to him, absorbing my heat. "But no hugging! I'll scratch your face of if you do."
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\n I nodded with understanding. "Of course, Isaac. I know better than that."
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\n "Alright. Good to have things clear." He sighed loudly. "I still have the feeling we're being watched."
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\n "I have the knife. I won't let them hurt you." That was true. After harming him so much, I owed it to him not to let anyone else harm him again.
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\n "It's not like they could ever beat a big puffy doof like you." He said with a smile.
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\n With those words, my mind wandered, inevitably ending up in my life right after I came out. I had expected a lot of the reactions. Hell, I expected most of it. But my oldest friend, he jumped me on the way out the door from school.
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\n "What the hell?" I screamed. He didn't answer. Didn't acknowledge anything. Didn't even look me in the eyes. He just hit me. Fists, elbows, knees, everything he could use to harm me. He kicked my ass and I didn't even fight back. I guess... seeing Isaac's broken frame walking away from me broke something deep inside of me. The wolf finally got sick of beating my sorry ass and walked away leaving me to lie on the floor with at least one chipped tooth if not far more damaging dental problems. I just picked up my stuff and went to my car. Some jackass cut the tires but I didn't really care.
I just wanted to undo what I said before. I wanted him back.
Take me instead.
"Y-Yeah, can't hurt me..." I said, fighting the quaver in my voice. "Let's get some sleep."
He yawned and nodded his head in agreement. "Alright. Tomorrow, if we can't get any water, you're drinking the rest of the flask." I felt his facial muscles tighten in a smile. "I know you didn't drink any..." His head became dead weight on my arm and I knew he was asleep. I dreamed of a moment like it for so long, but I never imagined that it would take place where we were. I stared up at the stars and let the rhythm of the universe lull me to sleep.
Next chapter: http://www.sofurry.com/index.php?pid=223709
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I just wanted to undo what I said before. I wanted him back.
Take me instead.
"Y-Yeah, can't hurt me..." I said, fighting the quaver in my voice. "Let's get some sleep."
He yawned and nodded his head in agreement. "Alright. Tomorrow, if we can't get any water, you're drinking the rest of the flask." I felt his facial muscles tighten in a smile. "I know you didn't drink any..." His head became dead weight on my arm and I knew he was asleep. I dreamed of a moment like it for so long, but I never imagined that it would take place where we were. I stared up at the stars and let the rhythm of the universe lull me to sleep.
Next chapter: http://www.sofurry.com/index.php?pid=223709
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