Gerry was taken by surprise in the early morning, while still asleep.
A hand opened his cage, reached inside and grabbed him, startling him awake, pulling him out and taking him to another room where they laid him on a steel table and waited for their partner to show up. Gerry had no idea what was happening, and tried his best to listen for anything he could hear that made sense to him. First they rubbed his right hip down with a wet napkin type object, then he felt a sharp prick, and that was that. He was out like a light again. When Gerry awoke, he was back in a cage, but this time not his own cage, and not in the same place as everyone else. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around; everything was a bit fuzzy, and only a few minutes after did he realize he wasn't the only one in the cage. There was another rabbit in here with him. She was smaller than him, possibly a dwarf rabbit, and a deep, muddy brown with a black ring around one eye. One of her ears flopped over in front of her face, while the other stood perfectly up, and she was staring at him, not saying a word. Gerry tried to stand up, but quickly found that he wasn't able to, and fell right back down onto the hay. "Stay," the other rabbit said, and Gerry looked back from down from his legs up to her. "What?" Gerry asked, and she wiggled her whiskers at him. "Stay," she repeated, "You can't walk. You can never walk after it. It's the number one side effect," she said, "You'll be okay in a bit, but until then, just stay. You'll only hurt yourself if you try to move around." "What did they do to me?" Gerry asked, still a bit groggy, "I...I remember waking up in my cage and someone was taking me somewhere and..." "It's a test. Some kind of...medicine or something," she said, "They've tried it on dozens of other rabbits, myself included." "Who are you?" Gerry asked. "Jasmine," she replied. "I've never seen you in our room before," he said, nearly slurring his words. "I've never been in your room before," she replied, "This is the only place I've ever been, outside of the lab. This is the only place I've ever seen." Gerry laid on his side and exhaled deeply, accepting that she was right and he should just relax. He looked at her again, and thought about how pretty she was. How sad it was that she'd never seen anywhere beyond here. Even he had once been in a house, been outside of this lab. But to be bred here? Born here? Live and eventually die here? Never to experience anything beyond these steel walls and hushed voices? It saddened him to no end. "You didn't come from the outside?" Gerry asked, as Jasmine snuggled down into her hay hole. "No," she said, "My parents had me in here, and this is the only home I've ever known. This was back when they were still breeding us. Because of what they tested on my parents while they had me, I can't see." "You're blind?" Gerry asked, surprised. "Yes," she said, "That's why they don't feel bad about testing some of the harsher things on me. They know it can only do so much damage. They wouldn't want to hurt their regular crew to the point where they become unuseable so they use me, because they know I won't go blind." "So...so you end up taking a lot of what we would..." Gerry said, "That's terrible. I'm so sorry." "Don't be. I don't mind," Jasmine said, "This has been my life. I'm used to it. To me, this is normal." "Well, Jasmine, trust me...as someone who's been on the outside, this isn't normal. This as far from normal as possible," Gerry said, "What did they even test on me?" "From what I can smell, it's a skin irritant," she replied, "They're testing it to see if it's ready for humans. If you respond negatively, then they'll know it wasn't ready, and they'll try it again." "Is that why I can't walk?" "That's from the shot." "Oh," Gerry said, "Will they test it again on me?" "Probably not. Probably on me," she said, "Generally if something does have a negative effect on their regular crew, that's when they test it on me, so they don't hurt you guys. But please, don't pretend it's not working just on my behalf." Gerry lowered his ears and sighed. This poor rabbit. He wanted to help her. He wanted her to be brought back to his little area of the lab, and be with his friends. It wasn't fair that she was here all alone, taking the brunt of stuff they should all be sharing equally. Gerry suddenly realized that he would need to start being extra brave about what they were doing to him. If this rabbit had to be, then it was only fair he'd have to be too. "I've been thinking about trying to leave," Gerry said, finally regaining feeling in one of his feet. "I could never leave," Jasmine replied. "You couldn't?" "I'm blind and I was born here. Where would I go? Everything would scare or confuse me...." "I guess so," Gerry said. Just then the door opened, and a scientist walked in, with Fern padding along behind them. She spotted Gerry and went to the cage, while the scientist grabbed a few things and just as quickly exited the room, leaving Fern there. "Hello Gerry," she said. "Fern," he replied. "Jasmine, how're you today?" she asked. "It's nice to have company," Jasmine said, thumping her foot a little from excitement. "I imagine," Fern said, "Gerry must be the only other rabbit to have ever met you. At least from the current batch." "Yeah, I guess so," Gerry said, "Nobody has ever mentioned you or anything, so they probably don't know you exist." "It's understandable," Jasine said, "A lot of the rabbits they do bring into my cage...they don't leave alive." Gerry shuddered. That...that was upsetting. He knew he was safe at least, since he was starting to regain his feeling and could still see. Jasmine didn't seem too particularly worried about him either, so he figured he was relatively safe as far as his health went, but still...to live in a cage where so many others died? And poor Jasmine, to have that be her entire life... "You'll be fine in a few hours," Fern said, "Don't be too concerned." "Fern, if you could just tell Six and Douglas that I'm ok...I'd appreciate that. At least they won't worry about me then," Gerry said. "I shall," Fern said, wagging her tail a bit, "What about Kevin?" "Who?" "The...the other rabbit across from you?" "Oh, right, Kevin. Yeah I guess. He's okay." "Better not to feed his paranoia anyway," Fern said, just as the scientist reopened the door and called for her. She nodded goodbye to the rabbits and then trotted out quickly behind the scientist. Gerry sighed. "It was nice seeing her," he said, "She seemed spry and happy." "She has good days and bad days," Jasmine said, "But..." "But what?" Gerry asked. "I don't want to alarm you. Just be aware that when the time comes, it's not her fault. Don't blame her what what they make her do," Jasmine said, "That's all." She nestled her face into her paws and shut her eyes. Gerry looked around the room, and back down to the spot where Fern had been standing. He knew they tried things on other animals. He knew the rabbits weren't the only ones in this compound. But Fern? What had they done to Fern? And what had they done that would make him need to forgive her? Jasmines statement echoed in his mind throughout the rest of the day, and when he was finally taken back to his own cage and saw Six again, he told her all about Jasmine and what they had done to him, but said nothing about Jasmines warning. "It's not her fault," she'd said, "It's not. her. fault."
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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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