"Kevin," Gerry said, his fur rife with sweat and blood, "You have to do this, you have to do it now or it's all for nothing. Just please, do it for me. I believe in you. You can do this."
"Gerry," Kevin said, Number Two behind him, the tip of his right ear missing as he looked back and forth between the exit, Kevin and Gerry, "I can't...I can't just..." Kevin continued. "Do it for me, Kevin. Be. a. hero," Gerry said, out of breath, on the verge of tears, "You have to do this now, because...because we're out of time, Kevin. We're out of time." -2 DAYS EARLIER- Kevin had never thought of himself as a hero, so the fact that someone who'd shown such tactfulness at leadership would call him such, well, it only made him confused as to what anyone saw in him. Kevin had always seen himself as rather timid, angry, unhappy. Definitely not leadership material, and certainly not hero material. Yet, Gerry had called him just that during The Incident, and now here he was once more, telling The Collective that Kevin was right. Now they should still leave. "I'm sure most of you are aware, but Number Four has been taken to The Sick. Kevin has made a decision to break her out and leave the lab, and frankly...I think he's right. I've learned some things that have proven to me that it is not okay to take this existence sitting down any longer," Gerry said to The Collective as they sat and watched him in the corral on the floor, "I think it's time we finally do what we should've succeeded at a while ago, and this time, there's no Dodger here to stop us from achieving it." "Is that mouse going to help?" another rabbit asked. "Yes, her name is Salt, and she is going to help us, but she's nothing like Dodger. This is one we can trust. I give you my full belief in that," Gerry replied. "You said that about Dodger too," another rabbit chimed in. "...yes, I...I did, and I greatly overestimated his friendship. His loyalty. But not this time, trust me on that, alright? I am doing what is best for us all, so, with that in mind, I'd like Salt to take some time to discuss what our plan of action is and how we will achieve it. Salt?" Gerry stepped back as Salt came forward, touching her ears nervously. "Hello, everyone, my name is Salt. I'm aware the uneasiness you all understandably have when it comes to mice, but as Gerry assured you already, I am nothing like Dodger. When I ran into him last, I told him he didn't deserve you all as friends. That...that what he did was despicable, and that he is nothing but a cowardly monster. Now it's your time to be free. I have a plan. We will not be splitting into teams this time, or crawling through vents. This will be direct....it will be action and it will be dangerous, but it will lead to your freedom." "What's the plan then?" Six asked. Salt smiled, her eyes brimming with excitement, "We're going to do to THEM what THEY have done to you. Testing." *** Kevin was sitting in the corner of the corral afterwards, not saying a thing to anyone and just thinking about everything Salt and Gerry had said to The Collective when he felt some fur brush up beside his. Kevin looked to his right and noticed Number Two settling down next to him. "You okay?" Two asked. "Depends," Kevin said, "Are you taking me to get Four out of The Sick?" "Yes, and we're going to meet back up with them in another section of lab," Two replied; he took a deep sigh and shut his eyes, lowering his voice as he said, "Kevin, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Four was taken, I'm sorry that this is happening again. I tried to show Gerry that we didn't need to leave, that...that things weren't great here, but that we could stay anyway, and that-" "Why're we sacrificing ourselves for unhappiness and pain?" Kevin asked, "Ya know, the entire argument anyone has ever had against leaving this place has boiled down essentially to 'well, it's not that bad here', but you shouldn't ever have to say something is bad to begin with in order to make you feel like you should stay living somewhere." "I get what you're saying, and you're right, but-" "No, Two, I am done, man. I am so tired of this. I am so tired of accepting abuse because it's simply too much work to escape it. Because the alternative, the pure concept of the possibility of failing at escaping it, is somehow worse than the abuse itself," Kevin said, anger rising up in his voice, "I am taking Number Four...Ellen...and we are leaving this place because I am not letting them do anything else to her. I am not...she is not going to be another Steve." Two backed down, his ears lowering as he curled his paws underneath him for warmth. He sighed and slowly shook his head. "Kevin," he started, "...I will help you get Four out, and help you all leave, but...but I'm not going." "...what?" "I can't. This life...this I understand. Anything out there would be too hard to adjust to. In here I'm warm, I'm fed, I'm taken care of a good percentage of the time. I'm a hostage, yes, but...I don't deserve to be happy," Two said, "But I will help you all escape." "I hope one day you feel like you deserve to be happy, Two," Kevin said. "Paul," Two said, "My name is Paul." Kevin smirked, "I hope one day you feel like you deserve to be happy, Paul." *** Gerry and Salt were sitting in Gerrys cage, as they'd left the corral. They knew THEY would be back soon enough this evening to put everyone away, and that Gerry would have to go back to the corral before then, but he wanted some time alone with Salt first. Sitting in his cage, in the warm hay chips, looking down at The Collective and his friends...he sighed and rubbed his paws together. "You really think this'll work?" he asked, shooting a side eye glance at Salt, who merely smirked in response. "I can guarantee it'll work," she said, "I've watched THEM. I know how THEY do things." "I can't thank you enough, for...everything. For coming into our lives, my life, and proving that I could trust again and was capable of attaining the unattainable. For believing in me when all anyone else told me was to not feel bad about it, you told me it was okay to feel bad about it. Thank you, Salt, for everything." "Hey, it's my pleasure," she said, waving a paw at him, "Now, to make this work, I will need to meet with you and Kevin tomorrow because Kevin is going to be taken by Number Two to The Sick to get Number Four back, so I need to let him know where to meet me, so I can then take him to you. I need you talk to you with him so you guys know where to be so we can find you, so I can lead you all out of here. That sound okay?" "Sure. If I know THEIR schedule at all, THEY'LL likely be doing tests in the other lab tomorrow, so we'll have all the time in the world to plan this to go flawlessly," Gerry said, "So just swing on by in the morning, I'll get Kevin and we'll make it happen." "Sounds good enough to me," Salt said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning." She leaned in and kissed his nose, then scurried out of the cage and into the vents. Gerry looked back at The Collective and smiled. It was happening. It was really happening. They were leaving, once and for all. -2 DAYS LATER- "I'm not going without you!" Kevin screamed, his face not even an inch from Gerrys, "Where is she?!" "It doesn't matter anymore, Kevin, just go!" Gerry shouted back, his eyes, like Kevins, brimming with tears, "Just go, man, get them out of here! They're counting on you!" "Gerry," Kevin said, looking in his eyes, "Gerry, you don't have to do this, you don't...it doesn't have to be this way..." "...Goodbye Kevin," Gerry said, shutting the hatch, and turning the water on full blast.
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The Rabbit Collective follows a group of lab rabbits struggling with their purpose, and hopeful eventual escape. Archives
October 2020
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