(So it’s been a hot-minute since I wrote about Travis so if things feel a little off it’s because I may not have remembered 100% of what’s been done, but I’ll do my best to get back into the swing of things.)*
Chapter 33: I Can’t Stand The Rain
Travis looked outside the guard-house, for the third day in a row it was raining, and raining hard.
The cold chill that permeated through the old, abandoned structure had only gotten colder, and the holes in the roof was letting more rain in than any of the Fluffies were comfortable with. The rotted floorboards were getting damp and weak, some small parts of the floor were already soaked through, including the spot where Ramsey had hidden his stash of food, the entire top portion of the dirt had collapsed in on itself rendering the hidden spot impossible to get into.
Thankfully the herd had gathered most of the food out – what little of it was still edible – beforehand, but with the rain being as torrential as it was, none of them had been able to go out to find more food. Breaker and Crusher tried once the day before, Crusher came back shortly afterwards after being unable to tell where the lake began and the sodden earth ended, Breaker returned long not afterwards, the darkened skies making it impossible to see the road in front of him, let along find anything worth eating. With no resupply coming, the herd had to make do with sharing out their food carefully.
Unfortunately, they would soon have more mouths to worry about.
“HNNNGGGHHH! Tummeh-babbehs nu mobe, nu am gud time fow babbehs.”
Through the thundering rain battering against the building and cascading across the reservoir lake, all Travis could hear was Lilypad’s strains as she fought to keep her foals from being born in a time of rain and hunger. It was a fight she was going to lose, everyone could already tell that much, the question was when.
As Travis stood by the doorway, he felt someone walk up next to him, he turned and saw Raisin, a soft smile on her face.
“Am Speciaw-fwiend ok?”
Travis returned the smile upon hearing that, it still felt strange to hear a mare cal him that, but Raisin made him happy and that was all he could ask for. It had been a week since their little… incident and Raisin’s tummy had a slight but noticeable bulge to it, at any other time Travis would’ve been overjoyed to see his babbehs growing healthily, instead it just reminded him of the situation they were in.
“Fwuffy gud.” He lied to her again, finding it easier every time to not tell her the truth about his worries. “Jus waitin fow sky-wawa tu stop.”
“Yu fink it eba wiww?” Raisin asked, peeking her head out of the doorframe. “Waisin neba see sky-wawa dis bad befowe.”
“Mummah teww Twavis bout sumfing cawwed a ‘stowm’. Say dat the sky-wawa am su meanie dat it feew wike wowstesh sowwy-hoofies, an dewe am scawy wight-fwashes in da sky, wiv meanie woud noises afta.”
“Sound scawy, Waisin nu wan see stowm.”
Travis smiled and softly licked his mate’s head. “It ok, Twavis nu fink dis stowm, fink it jus meanie sky-wawa.”
A loud grunt from behind them caught their attention, Lilypad was still struggling as her babbehs tried to force their way out into the world. Shitbrick was licking the sweat off her face to try and keep her cool, while Soot and Crusher gathered leaves and discarded plastic to give the foals something soft to land on.
“Wiwypad hab babbehs soon.” Travis spoke, more at Raisin than to her.
Raisin nodded. “If nu dis bwite-time den neks, nu can keep dem in tummeh fow wong.”
Travis turned away, not wanting to admit that he was questioning his decision to let Lilypad keep her foals, or worse, his decision to give Raisin tummeh-babbehs this close to the cold-times.
Unaware of his internal dilemma, Raisin tried to appeal to her mate’s kind heart. “Speciaw-fwiend, hewd need mowe nummies, nu gun be enuff fow Waisin tu feed babbehs, maybe nu enuff fow Waisin tu wook afta tummeh-babbehs.”
For a brief moment, Travis felt something inside him boil up, it was small, barely noticeable, but he felt it, a tiny piece of anger that wanted to yell out that he was trying his best. Then just as quick as it had arrived, it was gone, leaving Travis confused as to why he would feel such a thing.
“Twavis knyo speciaw-fwiend, wiww find mowe nummies wen sky-wawa gu way.”
Raisin opened her mouth but was quickly interrupted by Breaker’s voice behind her. “Waisin, gu hewp Wiwypad, Bweaka need tawkies tu Twavis.”
Reluctantly Raisin turned away from the doorway and went to join Lilypad, she knew whenever Breaker had to speak to Travis it was usually something important, something Smarty related.
Why Travis never told her about what they talked about, she had no idea.
Travis and Breaker took a moment of silence together as they both looked out into the downpour, they could both just barely tell it was daytime, but the landscape might as well have been night for all they could see, Travis could just about see the treeline that surrounded the reservoir but no further, even then the familiar green leave had been replaced almost entirely with orange and red and browns.
“Weaves am fawwin.” Breaker spoke after a minute. “Make it hawda find nummies, nu can feew gwound, nu can see unda aww da weaves. Can num wed weaves, bu dey nu taste gud, an nu stop tummeh-huwties.”
“Fink Bweaka an Cwusha can find nummies?”
Breaker shook his head. “Nu tiww sky-wawas gu way, an dat maybe wong time.”
“Wha Bweaka mean?”
“Wots of sky-wawa mean dat we am between hot-times an cowd-times, ousside onwy gun git cowda, an dat sky-wawa am gun tuwn tun… wha did Cwassus caww it gain, snuw? Snuw am wowstesh fing fow Fwuffy, it wike wowstesh cowd-wawa dat stik tu Fwuffy wike bad bwankie.”
Travis let out a long sigh. “Den wha am Fwuffies tu du, need nummies bu nu can find anee. Nu hab enuff nummies fow hewd nyo an hab babbehs comin soon an…”
Travis groaned and slumped to the ground, his nose peeked out of the open door-frame and got hit by several of the heavy raindrops but Travis seemed not to notice.
“Twavis nu wan be smawty nu mowe.”
“Bweaka hab finkie-pwace pwan if Twavis wan heaw.”
Travis didn’t stand up, but his eyes did look up towards Breaker, curious about his idea.
“Twavis wistenin.”
“Bweaka fink need take Soot tu hewp find nummies.”
“Soot? Bu she babbeh.”
Breaker smiled and shook his head. “Nu, she mawe nyo, gib off mawe smeww, it onwy wittew bit, bu it dewe.”
“Wai Bweaka wan Soot tu hewp?”
“Cos mowe Fwuffies findin nummies am awways a gud fing, an cos Soot am stiww smawwa dan stawwions, she can wook in pwaces dat udda Fwuffies nu can see.”
Travis stood up and looked back towards Soot, the little filly… little mare now he should say, had been so adamant about helping, maybe as a way of atoning for Ramsey being her father, maybe to make her mummah proud wherever she was now. Whatever her reasons, Travis knew Soot would jump at the chance to help them find food, and he could see no argument against Breaker’s points.
Except one of course.
“Nu, Soot stiww am tuu wittew, findin nummies am hawd fing for Fwuffy tu du, tuu many meanies an munstahs. Twavis neba fowgib sewf if Soot git huwties cos Twavis teww hew tu find nummies.”
Breaker let out a disappointed sigh. “Twavis… it nu am ee-see bein Smawty, mean yu hab tu make hawd choosies, choosies yu nu agwee wiv bu am betta fow aww hewd. Soot make gud nummie finder, she nu wittew babbeh nu mowe, she can hewp hewd…”
“Whu am Smawty hewe!?”
Travis’ snap at Breaker was so sudden that both stallions were caught off-guard, they stood in silence, staring at each other as they tried to comprehend what just happened. When suddenly, their moment was interrupted by a loud groan from across the room.
“NNNNNNNGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
Soot placed own a final leaf and looked up at Lilypad, the green mare trembling as her body lost its fight. Soot jumped out of the way just as a spurt of shit fired out of Lilypad’s poopie-place, followed by a small dribble of blood out of her special-place.
Lilypad’s eyes shot open, it was time.
“BIGGESH POOPIES!”
Elsewhere in the forest, two feral dogs hid away from the rain, both growling at each other as their stomachs rumbled over their lost prey.
Then they heard it, a high-pitched noise in the distance that sounded like a wounded animal, and the faintest whiff of blood in the air. Not usually enough to go on, but for two starving animals, it would have to do.
Too hungry to waste time, the two dogs ignored the rain and set off towards the noise, their jaws drooling at the idea of what could be waiting for them at the end of their journey.
Just a short chapter as I get back into the swing of things, hopefully I should have more of Before The Storm out sooner rather than later, but we’ll see what happens.
