Dodger watched from the vents; he watched these rabbits laugh and talk together, and he felt angry. He didn't have that. Not with his community. He wanted the same thing, but he knew he didn't fit in. He wasn't even supposed to be here. And yet...the sound of their laughter filled the vents and warmed him like a fire on a brisk winter evening, curling around him like a blanket. He wanted comfort. He wanted friendship. But more than anything, he wanted to get out of this place, and he knew using these rabbits was the only way to do so.
He'd lost his family. Nobody had cared. He hated this group for thinking they were something even remotely resembling a family, and yet...yet something about their closeness irked him to the point of wanting it for himself. But it was Gerry specifically that caught his attention. He noticed that Gerald was empathetic to a fault, and yet not likely to allow his emotions get in the way of his actions. In that regard, he reminded Dodger of his mate, Skeeter. She was a brown mouse, with large blue eyes and black ears, but she was so smart. When THEY had first brought his family here, and Dodger had come to seek them out, he thought that she'd be able to handle the tests no problem until he could find a way to free her. But he could tell fairly quickly that she was cracking, and that underneath that easy going calm exterior was something darker. That her outside was a facade, and that under pressure...under pressure she was like a porcelin doll, almost breakable just by touch. He came and he tried to comfort her every single day and night, but he knew that he'd eventually be unable to fix what THEY had done to her. The morning he found her dead in the corner of the cage, the remains of their children nearby after she'd eaten them, he learned a fundamental truth about living creatures... ...no matter how they appear, they can only be pushed so far before they break. And he could use that to his advantage. And he did. He did it with The Collective, he did it with Lorna, he did it with Minerva. Every single animal Dodger had encountered since his families death he'd done this, and now they were surrounding him, and he realized something else in that moment. He realized he'd done the exact thing he'd been proud of Gerry for not doing. Not letting his emotions get in the way. He'd actually come to genuinely appreciate him, because he reminded him so much of Skeeter, that he'd truly come to be attached, and now it was going to cost him everything. He'd let himself fall right into this trap. And this time there was no way out. *** "Gerald," Dodger said, "Gerald, what're you talking about? We're gonna...we're gonna rescue the rabbits and then we're gonna leave, right?" "What is going on?!" Kevin screamed, with Number Two finally stepping forward. "That note Gerald left us, it wasn't him saying goodbye. It was just telling me it's time to carry this thing out. Stone, Minerva, Gerry and I planned this," Number Two said, "We only didn't tell you or the rest of the Collective for fear of it getting out somehow. Minerva woke everyone else once we were gone and lead them here. I'm sorry Kevin, we just had to be certain things would work and look, they did, and now we can put an end to all of this and-" "Nobody says it's over until I say it's over," Gerry said sternly, taking Number Two by surprise, as he turned to look at Dodger, "Every single night since The Incident I have asked myself why you did what you did, and the only logical answer I could keep coming back to was that you just didn't care. But I know that's not true. You HAVE to care. You care about ME. That much I can tell for certain. So what was the reason then? You asked me in the vents if I would leave any of these rabbits behind, without them knowing, and go with you, and I said no. You told me that my quest for reverence would be my downfall, but look at what's going on right now." "Gerry, I-" "And then...I started to actually question if I was really needed here, and I realized when you showed me that THEY were bringing in new rabbits that yes, I was, and that you were only going to use me to use them like you used me to use us." "We can work together! All of us! We can rescue the rabbits and get out of this wood once and for all!" Dodger said, trying to grasp any reason they would take to allow him to live, "We...we can work together, and I can go in and come back out virtually unnoticed and give you detailed information and-" "And with nobody going with you, how would we know it was true? How would we know you weren't just sending us in to die?" Gerry asked, his eyes tearing up, "If we sent Salt in with you, she wouldn't come back out. You'd kill her in there and then blame THEM. No. No more lies, Dodger. No more false plans or bullshit. I know what you're capable of, as does Kevin and Number Two and Minerva. You're the only one who seemed to think you were untouchable. The only reason I let you live this long is because I didn't want to BE YOU. I could've stopped you ages ago if I wanted to, if I tried hard enough, but I didn't WANT to become you. But now...now you've given me no choice." "Gerald, listen to me," Dodger said, grabbing at his fur but Gerry pulled his leg back and shook his head. "No, Dodger. I am DONE listening to you," he said, "You are a bad bad animal. What we are doing is not just for the good of us, but for the good of everyone out here. How can we claim to be free of villainy if we allow it to live in our home? THEY are just like you. One and the same. Except you...you we can put a stop to." Gerry turned and walked back to the treeline, glancing back out at the lab as Number Two snickered, and Dodger whipped his head around, snapping at him. "What's so goddamned funny?!" he shouted. "Just...the fact that the one of us who came up with this is Mipsy," Number Two said, "She went to Gerry and she gave him this idea and just...you got outsmarted by her. Gerald played a game of chess with you for so long, and in the end it was Mipsy who took you down. Who put all of this into motion." "She did?" Kevin asked, looking at her, and Mipsy nodded. "I ask Gerry why not do what he done to you? Lie. Use attachment to him to cover lie, and finish him finally?" Mipsy said, "Gerry already knew he could do this, but did not want to, but I pushed him." Dodger backed himself up against the tree as he looked to his right and saw Minerva walking towards him. "You left me to fall off a waterfall, presumably to die, and when I didn't and I got home...my cubs were slaughtered on the ground of my house. The place I'd worked so hard to make safe for them. You have done unspeakable things, and I don't think there's anyone here who would say otherwise," Minerva said, "Number Two and I spoke a lot on that walk back about what constitutes a family, and I think, in the end, what really constitutes a family is that a family would not do this sort of thing to one another. You are never going to be capable of being a part of something except the fear that you have created for and of yourself." "That isn't true!" Dodger said, crying, "That....my wife and children were taken by THEM, just like so many of you! I saw her go mad from THEIR tests, and she...she cracked and she ate my children! I've lost what you've all lost!" "And yet you continue to work hard to make us lose more," Gerry said, still looking out at the lab, "Despite all that pain, despite our similarities, you work so damn hard to make us lose more. Fern, Doug, Ellen, Minervas cubs, Lornas eggs...everyone that you have wronged, intentionally, and used for your own gain...and why? To make yourself feel better for what you've had to lose? That's ridiculous. You don't recover from pain by causing more on those around you." "We could've all escaped and worked together to take them out ages ago," Number Two said, "But you killed that option when you first tried to kill us, and it's since then been pulled from the table. First we're going to kill you and then we're going to deal with THEM, and then we're going to leave this place." "If you kill me then you're no better than me, or THEM!" Dodger said, thinking he'd found a loophole, grinning, but this joy was short lived. "This might be true, but at a certain point you have to ask 'so what'. You have to recognize that only evil can defeat another varying degree of evil. There's no pure good. That's only in bedtime stories and fantasy tales. In this world it's just evil vs worse evil, and that's fact," Gerry said, finally turning to face Dodger again, tears rolling down his face, "So, sure, call us evil. But at least we're working to extinguish even worse evil, and I think that says something." Dodger felt his heartbeat intensifying, his pulse quickening, his fur a wet mix of rain and sweat. He looked around to all the other rabbits, to Minerva and Dice, and then above to Lorna, and he thought of their conversation they'd had right after they'd left the lab. Something she'd said to him, "Seems the ones who cling to the survival of the fittest mindset are often the ones who find themselves surviving." How this was so funny to him now, considering she'd wound up being right. While the Collective had spent their time and energy on simply surviving, Dodger had felt he'd become untouchable. He'd considered himself smarter than them, and that was his ultimate downfall. He'd let himself get too relaxed. He looked at Number Two and he walked towards him. "You realize this has no happy ending, right?" he asked, looking directly at Number Two before looking around at all the rabbits, "There's no ending to this entire situation, even after I'm gone, where you all wind up happy and safe. You do know that, right? You are rabbits. THEY are humans. You're never going to stop them. You really think that you can change anything? That anything you do will make the world a better place? The only place you could've done some good from was the place you left behind! You, and myself, are nothing out here, we are worthless! You think getting rid of one tiny, little mouse will stop all the cruelty and pain and unfairness?!" He turned and looked back at Gerald, crying but still his eyes lit with fire. "There's still hunters, predators, other labs! Even if you manage to stop THEM, you burn it down, THEY will just rebuild it and send more people! Getting rid of me won't do a damn thing, and you know it! In actuality, I am the least of your problems, so what can you really do?!" Gerald and Dodger glared at one another, and Gerald couldn't help but feel an ounce of sympathy for what had happened to his family, and for the friendship he'd thought they'd once had and for the respect he knew Dodger genuinely held for him and him alone...but he shook his head and lowered his ears, turning and walking past the rest of The Collective. "Do it," he said. "Gerald, Gerald wait! We can-" Dodger started, as Lorna flew down from the tree branch overhead and landed in front of him. Dodger stumbled back and crawled up against the tree trunk, visibly shaking from fear as Lorna approached him. He stammered, looking around to everyone else, to anyone, for help, all while knowing full well that he'd never get it. Lorna approached him, her eyes growing angrier with each approaching step, her beak opening up. Dodger tried to grab onto the tree bark and climb, but the rain had made it hard to grab firmly, and he kept sliding down. Gerry, from a bit away from the clearing, could hear Dodger screaming his name, and he just sat in the mud, in the rain, and sobbed, knowing that Lorna was at that moment swallowing Dodger whole. After she'd finished swallowing, she turned back and looked at Number Two, approaching him and flapping her wings. She nodded at him, and he nodded back at him, before she took flight into the night sky. Number Two walked into the clearing and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry that we had to keep so many of you in the dark regarding this plan, but it had to be done in order to be done right," Number Two said, "I can only hope that you can forgive us and know that we did it so that we could finally rid ourselves of the mouse that ruined so much of our lives. With him gone, we can have some sort of closure, and we can now focus on THEM and rescuing the new rabbits that THEY have brought into the lab, knowing full well that nobody will betray us or mess up our plans. Follow Minerva and go back to the Hollow, I will be right behind you." Number Two tried to pass Kevin, who stood in shock at what he'd just witnessed, but after a moment, Kevin turned and bounded up beside him. "Wait, where are you-" Kevin started to asked, but Number Two kept walking faster. "Don't ask questions. I have to do something," Number Two said, "Just go home Kevin." Kevin shrugged and, along with Mipsy, headed with the rest of The Collective towards the Hollow. Number Two, meanwhile, was walking into the area Gerry had walked off to, only to find him lying in the mud and muck, soaking wet from the rain and crying. Number Two stood in front of him, before sitting in the mud as well. Number Two looked up at the rain coming down, before he looked back at Gerry, and laid his head on top of his. "I was his friend," Gerry managed to say between sobs, "I was...his friend...and I did the same thing to him that he did to us, and-" "No friend would've ever done what he did to begin with," Number Two said softly, placing one paw of Gerry's, "You did the right thing. You're a goddamned hero. You accomplished what we all thought was incapable of being done. Between you and Mipsy, god, he would've just kept making our lives miserable. You know that." "I know," Gerry said, his voice softening as Number Two shut his eyes and buried his face against Geralds. "It's okay," Number Two said quietly, "I've got you. It's over. You're safe now." They stayed that way for a while, Number Two just letting Gerald cry while he comforted him, before they finally headed back to the Hollow. Gerald never knew that his real friend would be right in front of him the entire time. As they started walking back towards him, Gerry thought for a moment before finally asking Number Two something he'd been thinking of for a bit. "Do you think he'd be proud of me?" Gerry asked. Number Two smirked, nodding, "Yeah, I think he'd be proud as hell of you. That was conniving." Gerald wasn't really sure why he needed Dodger's approval, even after he was gone, but it made him feel just a tiny bit better. *** The vent opened and Dodger scurried out, quickly rushing up to Gerry's cage and rattling it gently to wake him. Gerald opened his eyes and looked at Dodger, happy his new friend was back. Gerry yawned and sat up, putting his face against the cage so they could whisper. "What're you doing back?" Gerry asked. "I know, it's late, but I just wanted to thank you for showing me where your food was kept. Myself and my friends were starving. It really means a lot to meet someone in here who's nice; who still has even the bare minimum of compassion." "Well then, you're welcome," Gerry said, smiling, "I do my best." "I have to get going, but I just wanted to stop in and say thanks," Dodger said, scurrying back to the vent and climbing in, looking back at Gerry before leaving, grinning, "You're a real friend!" And with that, the mouse was gone. Gerald smiled to himself and laid back down, shutting his eyes. A real friend? Yes. They would be real friends. As he drifted off into sleep once more, Gerry wondered when he'd see Dodger again.
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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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