"The Danger Zone:" A Cautionary Tail


        “Sara, you’re so weird,” Felan laughed, giving his white she-wolf friend a playful push to the side as he did so. She quickly retaliated with a retort of her own, giving the gray wolf a boop on the nose. It was a gorgeous summer afternoon in the city of Furborough, of which a variety of anthropomorphic creatures populated, as the two canines walked casually side-by-side. 


Although heavily commercialized, the suburb still had a welcoming feel, making it a popular location for furs living both near and far alike. The two friends were currently located near the center of the metropolis, not far from the city park, which was surrounded by various shops and also some apartments. 
        
        As the two were both walking along the concrete path, Sara’s nose suddenly perked up, seemingly sniffing a mile a minute. “Do you smell that? There’s no way you can miss it!” 

        “Uh, Sara?” Felan began to stutter, but it was already too late. Sara was already off on a mission, as she often would engage with when she got distracted. With a chuckle and a shake of the head, Felan sniffed the air himself, quickly catching onto Sara’s scent so he could easily follow her path from behind.


        The wolf quickly weaved through passerby and began cutting through an alleyway, before stumbling into a couple of furs, only to keep going - much to their disdain.


“Hey, will you mind your manners next time?” Felan heard a gruff voice shout from behind, too focused on catching up with Sara to pay much attention to the matter in question.


“Sorry, in a rush!” was his only response, right before he finally bumped into his target - and was shocked to see what she was ordering. “Really, Sara? Street tacos? C’mon, now, we have better things to do.”


        “What do you have against tacos?” She scoffed, continuing to finish paying for her food, handing the cashier her bills and change. “Jeez, what could be better than this,” she jeered before taking an emphatic bite, clearly to annoy Felan, rolling her blue eyes upward towards the back of her skull.


        Before he could spout back, Felan’s jaws - and ears - quickly dropped. “Uh… Sara?”
        
        “What is it now, Felan?” she responded, clearly beyond the state of being annoyed, continuously flicking her tail. “Can’t you just - I don’t know - perhaps, enjoy the moment for once? How difficult would that truly be?”


        “It’s not that… it’s, um…” her friend stuttered, giving a big gulp with his tail between his legs. “Do your paws seem… larger than before?”
        
        Confused by what he meant, Sara dropped the sassy comments and glanced down at her paws. “Wait, what’s going on…” Her voice trailed off, eyes growing larger as realization flooded over her, chills running down her spine. She dropped her taco in disbelief, having gotten only two bites in. 


Her paws were becoming twice, than triple, than quadruple their normal size, continuing to grow larger and yet even larger - than the same happened to her muzzle, and than the rest of her body also began to follow suit as Felan watched, muzzle wide open in disbelief. 


“What’s happening to me?!” Sara asked, quickly covering her mouth upon hearing her strangely deep and distorted voice, clearly frightened by whatever was going on with her body. 


The two stared back at each other in shock, speechless, as Felan seemed to grow smaller and Sara continued to grow ginormous - quickly reaching the tops of trees, then skyscrapers, then continuing to stretch all the way to what seemed to be the clouds! From this height Felan seemed to be only a speck, any furs below being but mere ants in comparison to Sara’s mass. Eventually, Sara’s body evened out to it’s proper proportions, that being of a humongous Sara!


About a quarter through this transformation Felan quickly realized he needed to move out of the way, or he would be crushed underneath his own friend - so he began running, faster than he ever had before. Dodging debris caused by the weight of Sara’s massive form, he leaned down, running and leaping partially on all fours to gain more speed and flexibility - Felan didn’t have to think, he just did what he knew he needed to do to stay alive, heart pounding and clothes beginning to tear. Despite this, he continued to run, not minding his partially exposed body - right now, he needed to focus on staying safe and escaping the city.


From way up above, it was obvious Sara was reveling in this twisted game of cat and mouse, delighted by the torture she was causing to those below - including her closest friend. Felan had somehow managed to stay relatively unscathed - for now. Thankfully, he had been just fast enough to escape harm, although panting heavily and quite tired by the time Sara had finally stopped growing.


“Felan? You down there?” Her voice echoed and boomed, roaring through the air and traveling into Felan’s eardrums all the way below. Felan could hear her clearly, but recognized that her voice was admittedly much deeper than before - he assumed due to the sudden size change, obviously.


“Yes! I can hear you! Don’t step on me!” He screamed desperately in response, waving his arms about despite knowing it was likely futile. Surprisingly, Sara could hear her friend just fine despite the immense distance currently between them.


“Don’t step on you?” Sara replied, pouting playfully and leaning onto her hip, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Oh, but that is just so convenient…” 


‘She’s not actually going to… she wouldn’t… would she?’ Felan’s thoughts raced desperately from within his mind, as he began to realize that Sara may - for real - not be messing around this time. His heart skipped a beat. All the furs around him were screaming and quickly attempting to evacuate the city, and here he was, just standing there - being completely useless and acting stunned. 


Felan was finally coming to a full realization of the dangerous reality before him, causing his stomach to lurch forward. ‘Oh God, had she already hurt people while she was growing? Was she aware of this, and did she even care?’ He knew the truth, but he didn’t want to accept it.


His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he realized Sara had begun lifting one of her looming paws, her black beans hovering directly over Felan’s head - and, instinctively, he once again began to run for his life. There was no time to think, only act - this area would now be designated the “Danger Zone.”


“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” she roared, locking in on her prey - Felan - and excitedly beginning to chase him. As Sara continued to run, she felt her body make a tickling sensation, and began to ascertain she wasn’t finished growing yet. She smiled to herself at the realization. Although she felt as if she was moving at normal speed, to those below Sara - thankfully - it seemed as if she began to move at a slightly slower pace the larger she became.


“Yes, I feel so powerful… I’m unstoppable!” She cried out, her mass crushing buildings below, destroying trees, obliterating cars, and causing countless amounts of dollars in damages throughout the city - not to mention the casualties. 


Debris flung through the air, a threat to everything in its path, and various explosions could be seen from machinery succumbing to Sara’s massive pressure. When Sara stepped into lakes and broke water towers, it caused the water to tsunami throughout the area, sweeping furs and other objects away in the massive waves. 


Sara was becoming so large, planes were beginning to crash into her, unable to avoid her immense form - surprisingly, the explosions didn’t seem to hurt Sara in the slightest. She continued to smash into skyscrapers, the sounds of glass shattering all around, as innocent civilians below made desperate attempts to dodge their demise. 


In fact, Sara was growing so large, it was as if she was merely knocking over building blocks and playing with toys – and she loved it. She just kept going, locked onto Felan, with seemingly nothing able to stop her. Sara wasn’t thinking about any of the consequences as the thought of power surged through her, her wildest fantasies now brought into reality. “Those tacos were so worth it!”


As Felan’s heart raced, he frantically wondered what had gotten into Sara. ‘Did those tacos alter her mind, too?!’ He didn’t have much time to ponder, however, considering the fact that he was constantly being threatened to be crushed at any moment. If he wasn’t squashed to a pulp, or drowned in the massive amounts of water pooling about, he would be taken out by the debris caused by Sara’s growth, which he had - up until this point - miraculously been able to dodge. 


However, all this debris was also making it even harder for Felan to attempt to escape the city - of which he was thankful to be rather familiar with Furborough’s delineation, so he initially knew where he needed to advance. Nonetheless, it was rapidly getting harder for Felan to recognize the current location due to its ever-changing landscape, quickly placing him at a great disadvantage.


Lifting his head, Felan wracked his brain for any semblance of knowledge that could help him in this moment. He didn’t have time to think, he only had time to do. He realized that he could see the outer city limits in the very far distance - maybe he did have a chance, yet! 


He felt his legs pick his paws up and began running once more, just in time too, before Sara’s massive form came crashing down precisely where he had just been standing. Her chortles echoed throughout the air, as Felan desperately attempted to dodge the debris being flung from seemingly all directions. 


Suddenly, a massive wave of water came crashing over Felan, and he found himself underneath the waves for a moment - everything became a blur, and he could feel his brain lack the oxygen it needed, causing his heart rate to quicken with fear. Was this how he would die? Drowning while trying to escape a giant wolf lady? 


Miraculously, he was then thrust upon a floating piece of debris, which helped to keep him afloat and headed towards the outskirts of the city. Felan had never been more happy to see a road sign in his entire life! Maybe he was actually going to be able to survive this, perhaps everything was going to be okay.


His thoughts were - once again - quickly interrupted, when he noticed some strange furs standing on the outskirts of the city. It was almost as if they had been waiting for him to arrive, which was odd. They gave Felan a funny feeling.


Suddenly, everything faded to black.


—
Jarringly, Felan’s eyes began to flutter open. Across from him was Sara’s massive form, her eyes closed, still knocked out or asleep it seemed. Looking around, Felan noticed they were located in some kind of underground shelter, crude yet functional. 


To be able to comfortably hold them both, Felan observed that it was a large - yet empty - space. He had never seen this place in his life, and it made him feel strange. He curled himself up into a makeshift ball, feeling confused and flustered, not sure what was going on. There was nothing around them to see except dirt and steel - no food, no toilet, no objects, nothing. 


There was a door, Felan noticed, gathering the courage to check if it was locked. As suspected, it was. With a sigh, he went back to his curled up position on the floor.


Thankfully, Felan didn’t have to sit alone with his thoughts too long, when the door suddenly flung open. Into the room aggressively marched a black wolf with silver blemishes (likely due to age) wearing a soldier-esque outfit, alongside an orange tabby - with a scruffy appearance and a pair of glasses - also wearing a lab coat. Behind them was a whole group of various furs, mainly wolves with a few outliers. In fact, Felan recognized this soldier and scientist - they were the two civilians he had bumped into earlier, when chasing after Sara in the city!


“What’s going on here?!” He spouted, his voice both adamant yet shaky, displaying his obvious fear. He couldn’t help but put his tail between his legs, and display submissive traits, nervous of what was yet to come of the current situation.


“Calm down, Felan,” The black wolf put his right paw up and responded in a calm, cool tone, surprising his prisoner in response. “I see that you recognize us,” he looked back at his tabby assistant with a sly smile, “you really must learn to respect your elders, you know.”


“How do you know my name?” Felan’s eyes narrowed, not knowing whether to trust these strange furs. Right now, his gut was saying no, he shouldn’t. The fur along his back bristled as he also flattened his ears, staying on high alert, ready for whatever was about to happen. He didn’t have a good feeling about all of this.


“There’s a lot of things I know,” the black wolf began, clasping his front paws together and turning his back to the group, in an almost condescending manner.


“...and there’s a lot of things we don’t know, either,” the tabby cat finished in a matter-of-fact way, adjusting his glasses as he did so. “Hence, why you’re here,” he pointed at both Felan and Sara.


“Stop with the guessing games and riddles, please,” Felan replied, quite annoyed at this point. “Do you guys know why my friend is freaking huge?! Why have you captured us? What’s going on, I demand to know! You can’t just hold us capt-”


“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, kid,” the soldier cut the younger wolf rudely off, obviously lacking the patience to deal with such antics. “Yes, we will get to it.”


Felan’s instincts kicked in, and he had had enough. With a snarl, he leaped towards the black wolf, bearing his teeth and directly aiming for his neck - when one of the lesser furs stepped in for the soldier’s protection, injecting the aggressor with a mysterious liquid. 


“What - you can’t do this!” Felan growled, falling to the ground with a thud, his body twitching and instantly out of his control. “This is illegal!”


“Yeah, and who’s stopping us?” Responded the tabby, with what could only be described as an evil smile plastered onto his face, tilting his head and placing his pencil to his lip with a fake pout. 


“That, my dear one, is a muscle relaxer,” the black wolf said to Felan, not helping but to resist sharing a grin of his own. “By the way, call me Yelp. The tabby over here is my lead assistant, Crafty. You’re gonna be here a while,” he smirked, “get used to it. We don’t want any more… accidents.” He hesitated before continuing, “or there WILL be further punishments.”


From behind, a sound stirred - Sara was finally beginning to awaken. Yelp muttered a quiet expletive, realizing the sleeping agent (multiple doses of elephant tranquilizer) must have finally worn off.


“What’s going on here… where are we?” Sara asked, seemingly acting more like herself despite her large size, but it was too soon to tell. She tried to stand up, bumping her massive head on the ceiling, causing large amounts of debris to fall from above. “Ow! Damn it, you couldn’t make this place large enough for me to actually fit? Jeez…”


“Quit complaining, will ya?” Yelp barked back, clearly annoyed with his prisoner’s awakening. “Be happy we are feeding and taking care of ya at all!”


“You still haven’t told us why, you know,” Felan piped up, “we really just want to go home.”


“Go home, with her looking like a huge freak? Good luck with that!” Yelp scoffed, slapping his knee with a laugh, which was not amusing to Sara in the slightest. “Let me know how you do it!” He continued bellowing, truly getting a kick out of the thought.


“Cut it out and tell us what’s going on already!” Sara bellowed loudly, so much so that it slightly pushed back Yelp and the crew’s entire bodies due to the intensity. 


“Fine, fine! Yes, the taco cart was baited. We had to trial our recently developed macro product somehow! What better way than to lace, bait, than kidnap, eh? It’s just a bit… complicated… that your friend got caught up in this situation… perhaps they will even be our next experiment,” Yelp grinned, looking at Crafty with a glint in his eye, placing his paws together with a smug expression across his muzzle.


“We haven’t fully figured that out yet, that’s what we’re working on next,” the tabby continued to explain, pushing his glasses up his nose before taking some more mysterious notes on the pad in front of him. “Not that I should be telling you this, you’re just the test subjects after all…”


The final comment warranted a glare from Yelp, making Crafty realize he had already said too much, beginning to partially hide behind his notepad.


“Who are you furs? You can’t be with the government, there’s no way this is legal…!” Felan wracked his brain, still extremely confused with the madness going on around them.


“With money, you can accomplish anything,” Yelp responded with so much as a shrug, “surprised you haven’t realized that by now. And before you ask where I got my riches - that’s none of your damn business!” He snapped, giving a terrifying glare with his yellow eyes, backed up by a nervous gulp and nod from Crafty.


“Well, obviously it wasn’t that much cash, otherwise you would have been able to afford a higher quality place…” Sara muttered, which was rather loud considering her size. This off-hand comment from the she-wolf annoyed Yelp greatly, causing him to huff and grunt in protest.


“Shut up! That’s enough questions from both of you maggots!” The soldier barked, “today you did well, but there are still many variables to observe and other factors to consider. This is only the beginning of a groundbreaking examination unlike any other, with effects that will indefinitely change our world…” Yelp grinned cunningly to himself, and it was evident this had been a phenomenon he had been planning for a very long time. 


Felan and Sara found it concerning how Yelp hadn’t said they were changing the world for the better - were they planning on changing it for the worse? “Maybe next time we will even observe the effects of our new creation upon you, my dear wolf…” Yelp continued, looking directly at Felan, who only glared back. “I can only imagine what fun you two would have together, both with equal power to play around with…”


Felan and Sara both furrowed their brows, unsure what to make of that comment.


“Anyways, enough yapping. I need to figure out what we’re doing next with you, future steps shall we say - we will be back shortly, don’t get any funny ideas,” Yelp motioned to Crafty and the others to follow him through the door, locking it behind them - with a loud thud - before continuing to shuffle down the inner corridor of the shelter. Sara and Felan listened until the voices finally faded away into the distance, leaving them in silence once more.


“I’m scared,” Sara said, looking at Felan with her bright blue eyes, curled up into a ball of her own and lying on her side - the only position she could fit in semi-comfortably from within this room.


“You, scared, at that size?” Felan began with a chuckle, “you realize you almost took me out back there, right? Not to mention, the rest of the entire city…” his smile began to fade as the reality of everything sunk in, and Sara glanced away, her furred white cheeks becoming red with embarrassment. 


“Yeah, about that…” she began, “I’m truly sorry, I don’t know what came over me… those street tacos… there was something in them that, like, compelled me…” she trailed off, before looking back into her friend’s blue eyes. “Am I going to be like this forever?” She asked, both worry and confusion clouding her voice.


“I know, and… I don’t know,” Felan said contradictingly with a sigh, “this isn’t good, I’m aware of that…”


“I hurt a lot of people, didn’t I?” Sara whispered quietly, which was still rather loud due to her large size. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she gave a small sniffle, which she tried to dismiss unsuccessfully. 


Felan looked back at her warmly, “if I could move I’d put my paw on you to let you know we all make mistakes…”


“Furs don’t make mistakes like this, though,” Sara sighed, “they don’t hurt others by being a giant bully…”


Felan thought for a moment before continuing, “perhaps not, perhaps each fur’s situation isn’t the exact same as yours, but we all fight our unique battles.” The gray wolf gave a smile, “and I assure you, I will always be here to assist you with yours - regardless of what comes next.”

“Even if I try to kill you in the process?” Sara winced, giving a weak nervous chuckle before hitting her head on the ceiling again. “Ow! Damn it, I keep forgetting I can’t sit up in this stupid pit.”


“Especially then, I’m here for you,” Felan assured, when suddenly he had an idea. “Oh, that reminds me - remember how you were able to create a crack in the ceiling when you hit your head? Some debris fell… Do you see where I’m going with this?”
        
        Sara thought for a moment, before her eyes widened with a grin. “I like your style - Felan, come here, I’ll keep you safe with me.” She offered her left paw, picking her friend up carefully with her right, and then gently placing him into her shirt pocket. “There, now you won’t get hurt by any falling debris.”


She then rolled onto her back, placing back and front paws against the makeshift ceiling above, pushing against with all the strength she had - the immense pressure obviously straining the integrity of the structure, causing steel to begin popping, and dirt and debris to begin falling. This was when Yelp and the others flung the door open, having heard the commotion from further within the bunker, gasping and screaming in an angry yet inefficient protest.


        “Stop, what do you think you’re doing!” Yelp screeched, waving his paws around in a useless protest to Sara’s antics. “Do you know how long this took to put together? You’ll ruin my project!”


        “Yeah, and what about our jobs!” A random outlier called out in a weak attempt to fix the situation, which only fell on deaf ears.


        “What about my job?” Crafty weakly piped up in a last ditch effort to contribute. “I’m important too, you know…”


        “You guys are the ones who experimented on and captured US non-consensually, and you want ME to stop? I don’t think so!” Sara snickered, finally beginning to break through to the surface, sunlight beginning to peer through the immense darkness of the surrounding dirt and steel fortress. Finally, with a giant kick of her legs, the rooftop was flung from the ground completely - revealing the outer world around them! 


In unison, Felan and Sara shouted “we’re breaking free from this joint!”


        Despite the protests of Yelp and the others, who had begun to incessantly bicker, Sara’s full she-wolf form was finally able to stand once more. She smiled with a contented sigh, looking down at Felan in her pocket (who could thankfully move once again due to the worn-off tranquilizer effects.) The two of them weren’t sure where they would be going from here, but they knew they would be doing it together.


        They were once again free.