Doc keeps telling me I should title this The Chronicles of DeathBunny, and write more about Henry. But I haven't been able to think of anything. So if you wanna see more, give me ideas!
Henry waddled his butt, shaking his tail. She hadn’t seen him yet: he could make a break for it if he was fast. And boy was he fast – faster than even his litter-mates, the slowest of whom could outrun squirrels. Humans were no contest. “Mindy”, the big humans called her, but the rabbits knew her as the Yellow-Haired Babbler. Henry had witnessed her cruelty first-hand. His littlest sister had been stuffed bodily into a tiny wire cage only moments after her eyes opened. Mindy warbled nonsense as she tore brothers and sisters away from their mother, squeezing and smothering. The truly unlucky were even forced into miniature versions of human dress.
So Henry had decided to get out while the getting was good.
The next time Mindy opened the wood-and-wire box caging the family, his waddling butt was ready. Off like a shot, he made it past her ankles and across the lawn – wonderful cool, green grass under his paws! – before he heard her screech in alarm. Henry smelled his brethren close behind; they must have taken advantage of his escape. Ecstatic for them, Henry pushed himself to his top speed, enjoying the wind in his grey fur.
He stopped only when the grass was no longer. He had smelled this foul black rock before, but hadn’t seen it spread out to this extent. It covered the grass and dirt, and was hot to the touch – too hot to cross. Never mind the roaring metal monsters that traveled the black rock day and night. Their smell was just as bad, and the noise was unbearable. So Henry turned and ran along the slightly less foul beige rock that marked the border of the grass, loping off into the grass when his paws became sore.
Before long though, even the grass betrayed him. The lawns became dead and tasteless, unlike Mindy’s. The usual animal scents were overwhelmed by nothing but DOG, and even the trees smelled diseased. The human warrens were odd enough to Henry – why would anybody locate their home above-ground by choice? The homes here, though, seemed to be worse off than Mindy’s. They smelled of things worse than dirt and were in a state of general disrepair. Slowing to a nervous jog, Henry ranged closer to the large warrens, hoping to find a friendly squirrel to talk to, or a gopher... at this point he’d welcome even a cat, so long as it didn’t try to eat him.
He approached a strange-smelling home colored in soft blues and whites. One of the roaring metal monsters sat in front of the building, but it was inert, and smelled cleaner than most. It was a dazzling-bright blue that reminded Henry of the sky on a clear day, and had shiny black feet. It seemed friendly enough, but was unwilling to reciprocate when Henry gave its foot a curious sniff. Shrugging, he turned and ran around the squat dwelling. In the back was the only green grass for miles. Henry settled down over a large patch of tasty clover for a snack, wiggling his tail happily.
Voices inside the home interrupted his meal. Henry’s nose sniffed the air briefly, searching for the best hidey-hole. He took off like a shot as the humans exited, but not before he glimpsed them pointing him out. Drat – now he had to hope they wouldn’t pursue him. All he needed now was to be captured by another Mindy.
Henry skidded to a stop under a dark green bush, nose quivering nervously. Peering out, he saw three or four humans gathered closely to each other. They were talking quietly and completely ignoring him. Henry relaxed a bit and glanced again at the clover patch. It had been so tasty, unlike anything he’d tasted in his short life. The humans had their backs to him. Henry’s eyes darted between the clover and the humans. Did he dare?
Keeping a close watch on the humans’ backs, Henry stuck a trembling paw out from under the bush. No reaction. He stuck his other paw out – nothing. He ventured out a few steps, and still nothing – the humans were huddled together. Emboldened, Henry jogged out a few more steps before looking up again. Still no movement from the humans. From his new angle, Henry could see that they were deep in conversation over some white bags. One of the light-skinned humans kept picking up one of the long, stiff bags and waving it at the others. They were smiling and laughing. Henry stared at them for a few moments longer before convincing himself that they were no threat. They were a good ten yards away, he told himself. Before they even thought of moving towards him, he could be at least a lawn away. Henry’s chest puffed out a little, and he sauntered to the clover patch to eat.
* * *
Carlos counted the wad of bills before handing over the key brick. “Pleasure doing business with you, Dick,” he said smoothly, grinning. Dick took his bag and left with his friend. Carlos sat down at the iron table and picked up his drink. “Gonna be a be-you-tiful day, huh guys?” His friends laughed and sat down with him. They had just profited enough to knock off for at least a week. Not that they ever would, but the thought was nice.
“So what do we do for the rest of the day?” Steve asked, putting his foot up on the table.
“Not much – hey look, there’s the bunny again!” Carlos whispered, pointing. The grey rabbit was intent on its meal and hadn’t noticed the men. “Shoot it, Jake,” Carlos hissed, “we’re gonna have rabbit stew for dinner!”
“Ah no way man,” Jake whispered back, staring at the quivering grey mound. “You ain’t wastin’ my bullets on some dumb rabbit! You wanna kill it, do it yourself.” Jake leaned back in his chair and defiantly crossed his arms.
Carlos waved Jake off. “Screw you man. You ain’t got no balls, no balls at all.” Jake scoffed as Carlos went back into the house and reached into the refrigerator. He came back out holding up his prize. “It’ll go for this, you watch.” He grinned and sat back down. “Give me that bag, Steve.” Steve tossed over a light-brown plastic bag. Carlos carefully opened it one-handed, and sprinkled heroin down the length of a damp carrot. It stuck fast, sparkling like spun gold. “Hey bunny,” he called softly.
Surprisingly, the rabbit looked up. It froze and stared back at them.
Carlos lightly tossed the carrot into the grass a few feet from the rabbit. “Chew on that, you furry sucker!” He cackled to himself and settled back to his drink.
* * *
Henry jumped when the bright-orange cylinder landed in the grass. In his entire life, he had never actually seen a carrot, but his mother had described them in loving detail. She was right: the smell was like nothing else. Saliva promptly dribbled down Henry’s chin. But a
human had thrown it, and his mother had warned them never to trust humans. But the
smell – he found himself inching towards the treat. In moments, he was close enough to touch his teeth to it. The taste was even better than he’d dreamed. Within a flash, he seized his prize and ran off under the bushes. Never trust a human, even ones who gave you presents.
Once he was comfortably hidden, Henry set to devouring the delicacy. It had a bitter, plastic aftertaste, but his senses still reeled in ecstasy. When the carrot was half-eaten, he forced himself to slow down. No telling when he’d score a treat like this again; better make it last as long as possible. So by mid-afternoon, he had just finished the meat and started on the leafy top. It too tasted slightly bitter, but no matter – it was a CARROT!
Once done, Henry peeked back out from under the bush. His benefactor still sat on his chair, but the others had long since left. The human had a small stick he kept sucking on, after which he would blow foul white smoke out of his mouth. A small black box sitting on the table next to the human was making noise in strange rhythms. Henry thumped a foot furiously, unsure whether he should try for another carrot. The thought made his mouth water again, but he remained under the bush, watching the man.
The sky was darkening by the time Henry decided to move. The noises on the box were starting to resolve themselves into understandable words, and the human (Henry heard him call himself Carlos) was also speaking intelligently now. Carlos talked to a small piece of plastic that he held up to his face now and then, before he would go back to his little stick. He was an important person, if his conversations were any indication. Henry sat back on his hind legs and realized he had grown enough to see over the top of the bush. Any minute now, he would be too big to remain hidden. His teeth had grown longer and sharper. If he could see himself, he would see reddish black in his eyes where chocolate brown had been. And he had developed a taste for odd things, meaty things... namely, Carlos.
Henry was a bright bunny and knew this wasn’t normal. But while he marveled at himself, the rapid changes did not alarm him the slightest bit. He remembered rumors floating around the cages that Mindy liked to experiment on her pets. Usually those taken into the house for experimentation didn’t return to their families... rumor had it, his mother was one of the few who had. If that was true, there was no telling how her children would grow. Besides, it didn’t hurt, so it must be a good thing.
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Henry Visits Carlos (Read 1159 times)
