It had been storming pretty good, and a crack of thunder awoke Stone. Eyesight blurry, she got up and walked throughout the Hollow, heading towards the opening so she could see the rain for herself, but upon exiting the Hollow, she found Kevin already standing outside, soaked to the bone. Stone stopped, still under the overhang of the Hollow and cleared her throat so he'd turn and notice her, which he did.
"What're you doing?" she asked. "Look," Kevin said, lifting a paw and pointing at a tree in the distance that had been caught on fire by the lightning. Stone stepped forward and, together, they stood there in the cool rain and watched the fire burn bright in the distance. "That's what you want," Stone said. "Yes." "I don't know how you expect to figure out how to make fire," Stone said, "And if you do that, if you actually were to succeed, the consequences could be-" "If I don't, the consequences of THEIR actions will continue forever," Kevin said, somewhat snapping at her, "THEY have left me no choice. THEY have to be stopped, and I'll do whatever it takes to achieve that. No other rabbits will be hurt because of THEM, or because I laid down and allowed it to happen. In the lab, they had these little metal sticks with a round piece on the end, I think they called them Flints, and they used them to light stuff on fire. If someone could get in there and get one, then-" "You cannot be serious," Stone said, "After what happened the last time, you still want to-" "I never said it'd be me," Kevin said, "No, it'd have to be someone small. Someone virtually undetectable. Someone like a mouse. Someone like Salt." *** Kevin knew her hangouts. He knew where to find her. The following morning, he and Stone headed out together before anyone else was awake, to check each of Salt's places of being. Walking along through the woods, dew on everything from the rain the night before, Stone couldn't help but feel that Kevin was hellbent on a suicide mission, and the only way to keep him from destroying himself was to be with him. She knew that losing Number Four was hard on him, and she knew that he wanted to see the ones who'd done that to her pay for their crimes, but she still worried. "Do you think she'd actually agree to help you?" Stone asked. "Yes, with no hesitation," Kevin replied, "Salt is the reason we're out here in the first place. She helped us find Steve's other feet to bury in the lab garden, and she's why we were even able to escape. She's everything Dodger promised but failed to be." "That's good that you trust her that much," Stone said. "It would be hard to be worse than Dodger," a voice said suddenly, scaring the both of them, as they glanced around until finally hearing the sound of wingflaps and a crow landed on the forest floor before them. It took Kevin a moment, but then he realized it. "Lorna?" he asked, as she ruffled her feathers and nodded. "Hello Kevin," she said, "I hear you're looking to attack the lab. A noble crusade, if I may say so myself. Are you willing to be as low as him though? Committing the mass murder of a species simply for personal gain?" "We can all agree that THEY are not worthy of living," Kevin said, walking up to her and standing on his hind legs, bringing them up to eye level, "Morality is bullshit when the people you're going after don't believe in it to begin with. And I'm not doing this for my own gain. I'm doing this so THEY can't hurt others. I'm doing the thing Dodger LIED about doing." Kevin and Lorna looked at one another before Kevin finally glanced back at Stone and jerked his head in a 'let's move' motion. As the two continued past him, they heard her call after them a few seconds later. "He killed my eggs," Lorna said. "Wh...what?" Kevin asked, looking back at Lorna now, "He what?" "When I told him I couldn't protect him anymore, from other birds and whatnot, because I had laid eggs and would need to be a mother...he pushed them out of the nest," Lorna said, "He killed my unborn children. I'm not saying you're Dodger, Kevin, I just want you to acknowledge where this sort of road leads and what the consequences are." "THEY need to be stopped," Kevin said, "But he needs to be stopped first. Number Two and the rest are planning a way to catch him and kill him, finish all of this once and for all, and I'm sure they'd appreciate any help you could give them. We just had a pair of foxes arrive who lost their cubs to him as well. He's a monster. He's a manipulator. Go to the Hollow, meet with Number Two and Gerry, and they'll bring you into their plan." "That would be wise," Lorna said, "And Kevin, if you are given the chance to burn that place to nothing but ashes, then you take that chance. I want to see their charred remains on the ground, and eat from their corpses." "Damn," Stone muttered. After a moment passed, Lorna took flight into the trees again, as Kevin and Stone continued. After a bit more traipsing through the woods, they eventually came to a certain clearing that Kevin knew Salt preferred, thanks to its amount of shrubbery for hiding from birds and snakes. The two stopped and waited, as Kevin called out Salts name, but to no answer. He did it a few more times, also to no answer, before finally looking at Stone and shrugging. "Now what do we do?" Stone asked. "We wait," Kevin replied, "She'll come." *** Gerry was sitting outside in the shade, relaxing, when he felt the presence of someone else beside him. He opened one eye and spotted Number Two sitting beside him, exhaling. Gerry smiled and shut his eye again, continuing his rest as Number Two glanced around at the nature and beauty around them. "It's still a weird feeling, isn't it?" Number Two asked, "Being out of the lab?" "It really is. I never thought we'd actually get here, but we're here, and I'm gonna do what I can to make sure everyone stays out." "Gerald," Number Two said, looking down at his paws digging into the dirt ever so slightly, "I'm sorry for yelling at you in the meeting. I just...it's been a rough few weeks for me, you have to understand. I worried I wouldn't make it to you all in time and then I nearly died making sure you guys made it past Dodger, then he left Minerva and I to fall off a waterfall, and somehow we survived. Then we spent days in the wilderness, trying to find her home, and when we finally did find it...her cubs were gone. I had to deal with her breakdown on the way back to the Hollow and-" "You don't have to explain anything to me," Gerry said, "You have every right to be angry at me." "I'm not...I'm not angry at you, Gerald, I was scared. I thought emotionally for the first time in my life and it terrified me, especially once I thought I might die, because there was so much I still didn't get to say or do or see. When I was in the woods with Minerva, she had to convince me that it wasn't bad to care about others, and consider you all family, and that thought absolutely terrified me. I never wanted to think of any of you as family, because if I allowed myself to become emotionally involved, it'd also mean allowing myself to be in tremendous pain if anything ever happened to anyone." "That's the risk you take," Gerry said, smiling, "But it's worth it, trust me. I believed in Kevin, I told him he do all these great things and look at what he's managed to accomplish, and without me even being there to help him. You're the same way. But really, you're to me what I was to Kevin. I'm alive because you're logical and you kept me on task, on track, so thank you. I am happy to call you-" "You're the bravest rabbit I've ever known. You and Kevin, but especially you. I think I got the courage to help Minerva and attack Dodger because of everything I've seen you and him do. That's what pissed me off back in the lab, was watching you get all dour and think things were impossible, because I knew nothing was impossible to you. That wasn't the Gerald I knew. The Gerald I knew could, and would, do anything," Number Two said. Gerry and Number Two looked at one another, Gerry finally opened his eyes fully and turning his head to see him. The two sat there, staring at one another for a moment, with Number Twos whiskers twitching nervously in the cool breeze. Gerry understood, and he nodded. Just then, Lorna landed in front of them, and they both glanced up to see her. "Holy shit," Gerry said, "It's you." "I hear you are itching to kill the mouse," Lorna said softly, "I am itching to help you." Right. Dodger...the plan to kill him. Gerry sadly had this reality crash back down on him. He hadn't told anyone that he'd met with Dodger a few times, that they'd made plans to leave together...but he ignored his guilt and shame, and instead he smiled and nodded back. "Come with us into the Hollow, we'll talk in there," he said, leading Lorna behind him, leaving Number Two sitting under the tree, so very pleased with himself. *** Stone sighed and looked at a nearby tree with initials carved into it, before glancing back at Kevin, who was seated patiently on a nearby log stump. Stone rolled her eyes and approached him. "How long are we gonna wait for this mouse?" she asked. "She'll come," Kevin said. "Kevin...I know you want to hurt these people, and I know they for certain deserve it, and I know that losing Ellen...that it decimated you deeply, but doing this isn't really going to get rid of that pain. I just want you to-" "This is no longer about me and my pain," Kevin said, "This is about helping rabbits who don't deserve to be exposed to what we were exposed to. You know what it's like in there. You know the shit THEY do to you. Nobody helped us. Dodger lied, and Salt only came to help out of guilt of him lying, and, much as I appreciate it, that's the truth. These rabbits will have even less help. They might not get along like we did. This is about doing the right thing, the thing nobody would do for us." Stone lowered her head and drooped her ears. "You know," Kevin said, clearing his throat, sounding on the verge of tears, "Before I was in the lab I had a family. That family was ripped away from me because I failed to protect them, and there's nothing I can do about that. But I have a new family, and I cannot let myself fail twice. Nobody protected me, but I can assure you that I'm going to protect everyone else." Just then, the bushes cleared, and Salt came running through, stopping in shock at the sight of them, only because she hadn't been expecting anyone. "Holy god!" she shouted, starting to laugh, "Oh man, I...I didn't think anyone would be here! Don't do that to me!" "It's good to see you," Kevin said, smiling, as she hugged his leg. "It's good to see you too, Kevin," Salt replied, "What're you doing here?" "I need your help. I need you to go into the lab and get me a device called a flint," Kevin said, "It's what they use to start fires. I know they have some, and I need you to bring that device back to me as quickly as you can." "Why do you want to start a fire?" Salt asked, looking confused, her head darting back between the two rabbits, who glanced at one another and smiled. "Because I'm gonna burn that fucking place to the ground," Kevin said. Salt looked at them both for a moment, and then grinned. "Alright, so how do we do this?" she asked happily.
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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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