Part One
Dusk lay in darkness on a repurposed pile of assorted cloth and padding. While he would’ve preferred to sleep in daddeh’s bed, he didn’t have any way to get up or down, so that idea had been veto’d. Still, the nest was far more comfortable than anything he’d been able to sleep in the past few weeks. Ever since…
He cut off that train of thought. Dwelling on it would only hurt more. Better to think about the present, about how much better his life had gotten. He had a nest of his own, plenty of nummies, and a daddeh that cared for him. What else could he wish for?
Well, to sleep, for one. For all his tired muscles and weary mind, he couldn’t drift off to sleep. Not with the mun-not with mummah in the other room. He knew she wouldn’t hurt him, but he was still terrified. Who wouldn’t be? She was a buggy-munstah almost as big as a human! And how easily she’d torn apart the tuffy and smarty…
He felt, rather than heard, a presence pass by him, gently disturbing the air but moving in complete silence. Mummah? Why wasn’t she asleep? Or could it be…another munstah? Maybe it was-NO! That wasn’t real, no matter what the other fluffies said. No matter what had happened to that herd in the woods.
“Ian,” mummah’s voice said softly, and Dusk relaxed a little. But not too much. “We need to talk. Now.”
“What is it?” came Ian’s drowsy voice.
“He needs to go.”
“What?!” Ian’s voice came in a half-whispered hiss.
“We can’t keep him here. We never should have brought him back with us.”
“Sunset…I don’t understand. He would’ve died if we’d left him.”
“I know.”
“I don’t understand. Why? Aren’t you being too cold? Were you like this before?”
“If I was I never would’ve-” mummah cut off mid-sentence. “No, this isn’t the time for that. He needs to go. I’m sorry, I really tried, and at first it wasn’t so bad, but right now…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Everything about him. His voice, his smell, the way his heart beats. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t be around him, not for this long.”
“I know it’ll take some getting used to having another fluffy around, but-”
“You aren’t listening to me!” mummah shouted, causing Dusk to jump slightly in spite of himself. Neither of them seemed to notice he was awake.
“Shh. You’ll wake him up.”
“There’s more of the monster in me than just looks, Ian. If it wasn’t for how much they weakened my emotions…I feel it screaming, Ian. I want to, I need to kill him, I need to tear him apart, cover the walls in his blood. It can’t rest, not until they’re all dead, Ian! Even after all it’s done, even after what mother made me do, it still won’t stop screaming! I don’t know how much longer I can keep this bottled up!”
“Sunset, it’s okay. I trust you.”
“This isn’t me! This is something else, something mother couldn’t quite kill. I don’t know what it’ll do if I sleep. I don’t know if it’ll stop at just him! I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to hurt you, too! Please, mother already made me kill so many people…please don’t let it make me kill you, too.”
“You can fight it. I’m sure of it. You’re strong.”
“Ian. I’m not asking you this. I’m telling you. He needs to go, it’s the only option we have. I can’t risk our mission…I can’t risk you for his sake! I can’t lose you, too!”
Dusk moved over to mummah as silently as he could. His legs trembled, but he kept walking. He had to do something, had to help her however he could.
“It am otay, mummah,” he said, hugging one of her legs. “Dusk nyo heart-huwties wan ‘ou tu huwt Dusk. It am otay. Dusk awweady wose ebewyting, nu min’ guin’ fowebah-sweepies if nu wose nyu famiwy tuu.”
“Dusk, go into the other room.”
“Nu. Mummah nee’ huggies. Hab heawt-huwties.”
“Dusk, go now!”
“Dusk, you need to run. I’ll…I’ll try to hold back as long as I can, but you need to run!”
“Nu! Nu wan weabe mummah!”
“Ian, I’m sorry. I just can’t do this.”
“Sunset! No!”
Dusk rolled across the floor, slamming into the wall, feeling something break in his side. He would’ve cried out, but he had no breath. He just lay there as mummah drew closer, and raised one of her razor limbs. He cowered as she started to bring it down…
Then she took off with a scream of frustration, leaving the room as a dark blur against the dim light of the room. He flinched at the scraping sounds her legs made as she gouged the concrete floor, and flinched again as she crashed into the outer door. Then she was gone.
“Am mummah otay?” he croaked, when he could finally breathe again.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”
…
It was early morning, and the daylight awoke the little family of fluffies that lived in the hollow of the roots of the tree. Having lived there since long before the great dying, their lives hadn’t been greatly effected by the event. They still gathered food, and slept, and played as they always had.
“Waek up, it am bwight-time. Daddeh am gu fin’ nummies. Babbehs be gud fow mummah.”
“Otay, speciaw-fwiend. Mummah gib babbehs bestest miwkies an’ huggies. Be saef!”
The orange stallion climbed his way out of the burrow, then the mare and the babbehs were all startled by a brief shriek of horror. “Wut happen? Am speciaw-fwiend otay?” the mare quavered as the foals burst into a fit of cheeping.
She sighed in relief as he rushed back down into the burrow. He was okay, whatever had scared him hadn’t hurt him. Wait, didn’t he look smaller than normal?
Her screech was interrupted by a geyser of vomit as her special-friend’s back half rolled to a stop in front of her. The foals, smelling blood and terror, began frantically wriggling around, trying to find escape. The mare was frozen in horror. Nu. Nu can be speciaw-fwiend. Nu am! Nu! Nu am-
Her thoughts cut off as something looked in the burrow. While it had probably once been a dark gray or black, now it was a deep, shining red. Liquid dripped off it, and the reek of blood and fear intensified. No! This monster couldn’t have killed her special-friend!
“Run.”
She took off, past the creature, expecting any moment to feel something pierce her back, expecting to die at any moment. But nothing happened. Then she heard it…the chirping. She’d left her foals!
Against her better judgement she turned, running back through the thick underbrush towards the nest. Then she saw it…the monster, both of her babbehs held gently in its insect-like jaws. They were okay! She just had to give the monster sorry-hoofsies and take them back!
She’d do it right now! Okay, right now! Right NOW! RIGHT NOW!
As she stood wavering, the creature emitted a sound, something she could’ve sworn was a mix of a laugh and a sob. Then it crushed her babbehs in its awful mandibles. “NUUUUUUU! NU HUWT BABBEHS!” she cried, finally mustering the willpower to charge the monster.
She didn’t even have time to be surprised as it effortlessly sidestepped and bisected her laterally.
…
“She’ll be fine…she’s just going to cool off. She wouldn’t do anything rash. She’s going to be fine,” Ian muttered, although it didn’t sound very convincing to Dusk.
He hated himself. Because he was a bad fluffy, Dusk had given mummah heart-hurties, and now she was gone! Now daddeh was scared! He’d ruined everything! All because he was greedy, all because he’d wanted a family despite being the worst special-friend ever!
Daddeh didn’t seem to notice as he moved to the exit, still hanging ajar on one reinforced hinge. He walked outside of the compound, trying to catch mummah’s distinct, yet subtle, scent. There wasn’t much of it, and it was sporadic, as if she’d been making huge leaping bounds instead of running along the ground.
He had to find her! Had to bring her back, tell her he was sorry for being such a bad fluffy! Tell her he’d leave so she could be happy with daddeh. As much as it hurt, he had to tell them goodbye.
Her scent was growing stronger. She had to be close. But now he was smelling other things. Blood, and death, and fear. Surely she couldn’t have. She was a munstah, but she was a good munstah, right?
Her smell lead across a clearing. Normally he’d be reluctant to cross it alone, since birdy-munstahs liked to attack lone fluffies, but right now getting to mummah as quickly as possible was more important. Without thinking, he dashed across the clearing, as fast as he could.
He was halfway across when he heard the call of the hawk.
“Dusk am dummeh. Dusk am gon’ gu fowebah-sweepies,” he thought resignedly as he looked up and saw the bird turning towards him.
A fitting end for a bad fluffy like him.
…
No, that idiot! He wouldn’t have followed me! He couldn’t be that stupid! I’m going to gon’ KIWW!
Half in spite of herself, she launched herself at him as he stared into the sky.
…
Dusk closed his eye, waiting for the end. Oh well, at least he’d gotten a few days happiness before he died. Better than being a nummie-fluffy for the smarty. At least he’d gotten to meet mummah and daddeh.
No! This time he wouldn’t just accept his fate! He’d do whatever he had to do to survive! He was going to bring mummah back! He wouldn’t give up like a bad fluffy!
His eye snapped open, and he braced himself. He just had to dodge the dive and run for the undergrowth. The hawk couldn’t follow him there. If he was lucky it’d only catch one of his legs. He could still find mummah with three legs. If he did this right, he’d only lose a leg.
Then he realized just how fast a diving hawk is, as it closed the distance faster than he could even process. His pitiful attempt at a dodge barely moved a few centimeters before there was a blur of motion and a spray of blood. He flinched, waiting for the inevitable pain, hoping that it’d be over quickly.
“Are you trying to die?”
…
Ian was shocked when Sunset came back through the door just as he was leaving. There was a pile of gray fluff on her back, and she was drenched in blood. It dripped off her, leaving a dotted trail. Scraps of fluff, and fluffy for that matter, clung to her.
“Sunset…I’m sorry. I was stupid.”
“Shut up and get the hose. And get him something to calm down. I think he nearly had a heart attack.”
“Is he…?”
“He’s fine, no thanks to either of you. Look, I don’t want to spend another second smelling like fluffy innards, so can you hurry up?”
“Yeah, I’ll…just…do that now. Are you okay?”
“Better now. Listen, I think I know of a way we can keep him. But you aren’t going to like this at all…”
Part Three
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