Moving through brush while making almost zero noise was an art Alex mastered long before he could buy his own guns. Growing up around tall stalks of wheat and other crops proved ideal practise; once Alex could move through the fields with little sign, stalking in the forest was child’s play. As a matter of fact, it was an area where Alex had his brothers and cousins beaten hands down; Dimitri especially, though he was always quick to point out his “handicap.”
‘It’s not like I asked to have the size and shape of a damn fridge box!’
Taking in a slow, quiet breath, Alex pushed the stray thoughts aside and stepped around a fallen log, careful to avoid the sticks and leaf litter scattered nearby. At the same time, Alex paid close attention to what he heard; the breeze was light, meaning minimal noise under the canopy. Every so often a bird would call out but the forest was mostly quiet. Under those conditions, it wouldn’t be difficult to hear near-by fluffies.
Ferals, at least the ones who searched for food and scouted the forest, did a decent job of staying hidden. For the most part, they knew when to keep quiet and how to move without attracting attention. The average Joe would struggle to locate ferals in the forest, but Alex and his crew had hunted things far slipperier than fluffies for years. If they couldn’t find fluffies in a particular part of the forest, the colourful little bastards weren’t there.
Alex scanned the forest around him as he went, holding his rifle across his chest for safety sake. He could bring it up in a heartbeat if need be, though. Paul and the rest of Alex’s crew followed in his path, each hunter keeping five to six meters apart. The exceptions were Steve and Manny, roughly ten or fifteen minutes behind with the cart. No matter what they tried, there was just no way to move the thing through the forest without making a racket. No one was willing to go without the extra carrying capacity, though, so the cart followed far behind.
Ahead, a large tangled mass of bushes emerged through the trees; Alex held up a hand and everyone came to a halt. For the next couple of minutes he observed the thicket, watching and listening for any out-of-place movement and sound. Satisfied no fluffies were taking shelter or observing them, Alex signalled to walk around and picked his way around the obstacle.
Part of him worried weather Steve and Manny would have problems getting around the patch, but they’d never had problems following behind them before. First time for everything… Past the thicket, Alex paused again, carefully slipping a GPS unit out of his pocket. The readout on screen indicated the team were mostly on track, despite the necessary detours. Still, some concerns niggled at the back of Alex’s mind.
Near as he could tell, they hadn’t passed the unfriendly area Dimitri warned about. Alex had programmed an alert to warn the team if they strayed too close, but that wouldn’t do much if the nut-jobs were fond of hiking. Whatever their political leanings, in Alex’s experience commune types tended to act the same when strangers with guns appeared on their turf. That was something he desperately wanted to avoid.
Putting the GPS away, Alex signalled to carry on and the hunters continued moving through the forest. Alex did his best to ignore the little scratching sensation at the back of his mind, trusting the GPS to give him enough warning and their quiet, deliberate movement to keep them hidden. That was another thing the cart guys needed to worry about, and Alex told them to cut wider when they approached the area. Alex was so keyed in for the GPS alarm, a twig snapping near-by sent a shiver up his spine.
Signalling halt, Alex turned in the direction of the noise. By then he’d calmed himself, figuring the noise was too quiet to be made by a human foot. That left plenty of options, but those narrowed when he spied movement close to the ground, and the briefest flash of colour. Locking his full attention on the area, Alex shouldered his rifle. Something dark yellow with a touch of dark grey appeared in a gap between the trees; Alex lined up the target and squeezed the trigger within a second.
Pop
The yellow fluffy recoiled slightly and the bullet kicked up a few bits of leaf litter and dirt. Alex waited a few seconds, listening for any sign he’d have to finish off the poor bastard. Hearing nothing of the sort, he turned back and resumed walking. For the next few of hours of deliberate, quiet movement, Alex didn’t notice any other fluffies, nor did any reveal themselves. That struck him as odd; usually you could count on seeing about half a dozen fluffies in a single run. Was it another behaviour change? An attempt to keep hidden? If so, it wasn’t a bad strategy; pity about the drones, though.
A new sound joined the background ambience; running water. Soon after, Alex arrived near the bank of a small, rocky stream. He slung his rifle and pulled his tablet out of its slim chest pouch. Second later, he had a map of the forest on screen; two tracks showed his planned and actual route. Relief and not a little pride washed over Alex, seeing they’d kept within four to five meters of the planned path.
‘We good boss?’ Paul muttered as he stepped close.
Alex nodded. ‘Almost dead on.’ Pointing up the stream, he added ‘There’s two search zones in that direction; we’ll find the first a few miles up-stream, luck permitting.’
Paul nodded; ‘Notice there’s not many fluffies, boss?’
Alex shrugged. ‘Might be staying home, who knows?’ Even if the fluffies were figuring out when hunters were due and kept to their homes in response, it wouldn’t make them any harder to find. ‘Either way-’
Paul suddenly signalled for quiet and Alex switched back to search mode, though there was always a part of him that felt stupid for taking out loud. Noticing Paul pointing up stream, Alex turned in the direction and scanned the forest. There was more ground cover and low bushes than average, so it took Alex a few moments to pick out the movement. Together with Paul, he raised his gun and looked through the sight.
Life has gotten very boring since the Smarty made the call to keep the herd in the safe place. Sure, boring usually means safe since most things that happen in the forest aren’t good. After a while, though, the boredom really turns into a problem; the brighttimes seem longer than they are and you’ve been dealing with a strange, almost itchy feeling under your fluff. Other toughies you speak to feel the same and while you’re all coping so far, you can tell it’s getting to everyone.
Daddeh’s figured that out too; he and the Next bestest toughies have done what they can to deal with the problem. Part of that, a big part, is swapping which toughies keep watch in the forest as often as possible. It helps, but it’s not quite enough. You and the others would feel better if you could have practise fights, but Daddeh says it’ll make too much noise. The whole point of staying in the safe place, after all, is staying hidden. Well, at least it’s your brighttime to sit watch in the forest.
After brighttime nummies, you meet up with Big Red near the old safe baby place; neither of you say anything, just nod at one another and get going. You don’t feel there’s not much point saying hello right now. Together you head into the forest, following the paths which lead to the spot where you’ll keep watch. A long while ago when the safe place was still new, some of the toughies complained about the paths forming.
They said it was dangerous, but you’ve never figured out how to avoid it; after all, everyone has to walk the same ways to get to the same places. Daddeh and the Next bestest toughies have never figured out how to fix the problem, and neither did the old Smarty. So, you figure it’s just something you need to cope with. Not long after leaving the safe place, you and Big Red arrive at the lookout area. A few moments after later one of the lookie fluffies, yellow with a grey mane passes by.
You and Big Red nod to him as he leaves, and in your thinkie place add “Be careful.” Once the lookie fluffy is gone, quiet returns to this little part of the forest. The two of you settle down for a long brighttime. Still, at least you’re not stuck in the safe place. As the brighttime passes though, you start feeling about the same as if you were.
It’s taking longer to set in but you can tell you’ll be very, very bored soon enough. That’s not strange for this job, but before the Smarty decided to keep the herd in the safe place, there’d be things to break up the boredom. Nummie finders as well as lookie fluffies coming and going, plus talking to Big Red and other toughies. Not now though. The lookie fluffy who left earlier won’t be back for a long time, and everyone’s taking the “no talking in the forest” rule very seriously. And since you’re toughies, the herd can’t see you or Big Red breaking any rules, let alone “no talking in the forest.”
The brighttime passes by slowly, with only small breezie monsters moving the trees and some birdies flying between them. You use your see and hear places hard, searching for anything strange between the trees and bushies. Nothing turns up, which is good and bad. You do your best not to focus on the boredom, though, since boring means safe. The other thing you try not to focus on is your tummy hurties. They’re small at the moment, but they’ll be big by the time you can head back. You’re not looking forward to dealing with that.
‘Sigh’ It’s not long until next brighttime nummies; or, it would be, if you were still having those. Its been hard to cope with, but that’s what it takes to make sure the herd’s nummie will last through the cold times. Come to think of it, the one good thing about not moving around much is your tummy hurties take longer to get big. Though, not long enough to make it to the darktime without them getting uncomfortable.
The time when next brighttime nummies would be comes and goes, the brighttime passing with it. As more times passes your tummy hurties grow bigger and bigger, and get get harder to ignore. It’d be easier to ignore them if there was more happening other than breezie monsters and small birdies, neither of which you have to pay much attention to. Almost nothing worth taking notice of happens, so it’s a relief when you hear someone approach from behind.
‘Twee, Big Wed’
Both of you turn around and face the toughie. ‘Wat?’
‘Twee an Big Wed knu dah yewwow wookie fwuffy?’
‘Yes,’ you tell him.
‘Twee an Big Wed see him cum back?’
‘Nu,’
‘Twee nu see him,’ you say after thinking a moment, thought you’d definitely remember any fluffy coming back, what with how boring this brighttime has been. What isn’t boring is the worried look that goes over the toughie’s face. ‘Wat am wong?’
‘Aww dah oda wookie fwuffies am back nao, bud nu oda tuffies ow fwuffies see dah yewwo wookie fwuffy,’ the toughie explains.
‘Maybe he am takin wong way tu get back,’ Big Red suggests; its hard to catch, you can tell he doesn’t really think that’s what happened. Just as your thought he would, the toughie shakes his head;
‘He nu du dat. Nu wookie fwuffies ewa du dat’ he says, looking at Big Red. Before he can continue,
‘Wat happenin? Wai yu tuffies tawkin?’
Looking past the toughie, you see Leaf walking up the path. He’s not mad but he doesn’t seem very happy about the talking either. ‘Wai yu tuffies makin tawkies fow?’
‘Dah yewwo wookie fwuffie nu am back,’ the young toughie tells him. ‘Tuffy ask if Twee an Big Wed see him.’
‘Did day see him?’
‘Nu,’ You tell Leaf before the toughie has a chance to speak.
‘Nu, Nex Bestest tuffy,’ Big Red adds.
Leaf looks at you, Big Red and the toughie. ‘Wat boud oda fwuffies; day see him?’
‘Nu. Nu fwuffy dat Tuffy ask see him.’
Leaf’s really good at hiding what he’s feeling; so much so, you only see the smallest hint of scardies in his face. Nodding, he turns back to you and Big Red. ‘Tuffies am suwe dat yu nu see dah yewwow wookie fwuffy?’
‘Yes,’
‘Nu see ow heaw anyting?’
‘Nu, Twee an Big Wed nu see ow heaw anyting,’ you tell him. ‘Dewe nu am anyting in dah fowest,’ As the wordies leave your nummie place, a strange feeling comes over you. You’re not sure how to describe it, but, it almost feels like you shouldn’t have said that…
‘Hmm,’ Leaf steps to one side, peering into the forest. You turn and look too, trying to figuring out if Leaf’s seen something you and Big Red missed. That’s not a good feeling by itself, even worse when you’re getting ready to fight at the same time, just in case.
‘Weaf,’ Big Red asks, ‘Wat am wong?’ If Leaf is bothered Big Red used his name instead of calling him “next bestest toughie,” he’s not showing it.
‘Weaf nu knu. Bud…’ he trails off, still gazing deep into the forest. Scardies and other strange prickles work their way up your leggies and along your back, nestling somewhere just behind your head. The feeling that there’s something just out of sight watching, and waiting, settles over you.
‘W… N-nex bestest tuffy, wat am wong?’
Leaf says nothing, and just keeps staring into the forest. Time seems to slow and more scardies crawl around under your fluff. With no word from Leaf and nothing else to do you turn to the forest and get ready to fight whatever’s out there, digging your hoofies into the ground and pushing the scardies aside as best you can. When Leaf finally speaks, you almost lead forward.
‘Yu, Tuffy,’
The young toughie, dealing with scardies of his own, turns to Leaf; ‘Y-yes, Nex bestest tuffy?’
‘Go back tu safe pwace. Find wookie fwuffy an teww dem tu cum hewe. Nao.’
‘Y-yes, Nex bestest tuffy!’ The young toughie turns and trots, almost runs back to the safe place. You nearly follow him with your see places but Leaf keeps talking.
‘Twee, Big Wed,’
‘Yes,’
Without taking his see places off the forest Leaf says ‘Weaf nu knu wat, bud sumtin am wong.’ The wordies send a fresh burst of scardies through you, but you’re too good a toughie to let them break your focus. ‘Nu knu wat am wong ow wat gun happen, bud Big Wed an Twee nee wisten nao. Nee du wat Weaf say when Weaf say.’
You push your scardies aside and say ‘Yes, Nex bestest tuffy.’
‘Big Wed undewstan.’
Leaf nods and takes a few steps forward. Neither you or Big Red move but you stay behind Leaf and get ready to fight, if that’s what you need. Watching carefully and much, much harder than before, you search the forest for absolutely anything that might be dangerous. Nothing turns up, but now you can’t escape the feeling something’s staring back from behind every tree and rock.
More scardies crawl up your leggies but you manage to keep them under control by focusing your attention on the forest, staying ready for anything. Every so often you glance at Leaf, looking for any change in how he’s standing which could mean its time to fight; so far, there’s no change. You glance at Big Red too, but there’s no change with him either.
A noise from behind sends a chill up you back before you remember it’s the young toughie returning with a lookie fluffy. The sound of hoof-steps stops a little bit behind and the lookie fluffy speaks up; ‘Wookie fwuffy am hewe, Nex bestest tuffy. Wat am wong?’
‘Wookie fwuffy,’ Leaf says with out turning to face him, ‘sumtin am wong in dah fowest. Weaf nu knu wat, bud hewd nee know.’ He tilts his head from side to side. ‘Go intu wif Twee an Big Wed; see if anyting am wong.’
‘Yes, Nex Bestest tuffy,’ You can hear the scardies in the lookie fluffy’s voice but steps forward and heads toward the forest. ‘Dis way; fowwow wookie fwuffy.’
‘Wait,’ Leaf says, and all of you pause. ‘If fwuffies find sumtin bad, nu wet id see yu an nu twy fight.’ He says, turning to look at each of you. ‘Wun. Get back tu safe pwace and teww tuffies an Smawty’s wat am wong. Undewstan?’
‘Yes, Nex Bestest tuffy,’
‘Twee du dat.’
‘Big Wed undewstan,’
None one says it out loud, but you know “something bad” means “humans.” With a last nod from Leaf the three of you head into the forest, the lookie fluffy leading the way. Another strange feeling, this one like you’re walking into somewhere really dark, crawls up from your tummy. But, you shake your head to force it back down. Whatever’s out there, if there’s something out there, you’ll find it and deal with it. If you can deal with it, that is. Even if you can’t, though, you’ll make it back to the safe place and warn the herd. After that…
‘Nngh’
Focus. Don’t worry about what might happen; focus on keeping the lookie fluffy, Big Red and yourself safe, finding the missing lookie fluffy and figuring out what’s wrong out there. As you travel further from the safe place things start to feel odd, and more than a little scary. The feeling that you’re walking into a dark place gets stronger and time seems to go slower the further you walk.
You do your best to breathe and focus, using all good tricks you’ve learned to keep your scardies under control. It helps quite a bit, but the scardies don’t go away. Not that scardies every fully go away but normally, they’re a lot easier to ignore. Maybe that shouldn’t surprise you as much, with how dangerous the forest is at the moment. And now, you’re walking right into it. ‘Gulp’ Suddenly, the boredom of being stuck in the safe place all brighttime doesn’t seem so bad.
You glance at the lookie fluffy and Big Red; both them are tense, you can see it in how they’re walking. They must be feeling the same kind of scardies you are, and that makes you feel a little better for some reason. At least it means you’re not losing your touch as a toughie or doing any of the tricks wrong. It’s not good for much else, but right now you’ll take what you can get.
Turning your head back forward, something appears in the corner of your see place. How exactly you stop yourself from yelling out a warning you don’t know, but you mange to keep calm enough to see its a couple of rocks. They’re one of the things fluffies coming back from the forest use to tell they’re close to the safe place. It feels like you should have passed them a while ago…
‘Am just wockies,’ The lookie fluffy says quietly. ‘Keep goin.’ To be safe neither you or Big Red answer, nodding instead even though you realised what the rocks are without the lookie fluffy. While you walk further into the forest, you pass the time by calming yourself down. True, the forest is more dangerous right now but Daddeh and the other toughies have spent ages teaching you how to keep safe out here. You’ve fought plenty of bad fluffies and even made it out of a fight with a kitty monster, just like Daddeh.
Reminding yourself of that and focusing on the forest helps; bit by bit the scardies and strange feelings fade until they’re not interfering. After a while you start to feel like you’re on any other forest trip, and really, it doesn’t seem so different out here. No sounds that stand out as strange or more dangerous than normal; there’s some breezie monsters and birdies, but not much other than that. After a while you come to one of the long waters.
Everything looks normal this brighttime, but you can’t shake the feeling you’ve missed something. It still feels like there’s something out there…
‘Fwend say he was gun go dis way,’ the lookie fluffy says. ‘Fowwow Wookie fwuffy,’ He makes a turn, leading you and Big Red over the long water. This part of the forest feels just the same and nothing stands out to you. But, there’s also no sign of the missing yellow lookie fluffy. You wouldn’t have expected to run into him coming back before the long water, especially if he went out further than usual or had to hide from something. But if you travel much further and still can’t find him…
Lookie fluffies tend to leave and come back to the safe place in about the same spots. They almost never come back to the safe place from the other side they left, which means you should run into him eventually. If not, it’s not good news; the only explanation would be the lookie fluffy searching a really long way out, which makes no sense right now, or something getting him. Like the scardies though, you push the thoughts to the side and keep following the lookie fluffy, scanning the forest you around for danger.
The lookie fluffy leads you and Big Red further into the forest, past more spots you recognise. After a while you start hearing the long water again in the distance. The lookie fluffy turns away from it slightly; being near long waters makes it harder to hear the rest of the forest, and you can’t afford to miss anything. Still, there’s no sign of the missing lookie fluffy; he should have turned up by now, what’s going on? Despite your focus and the tricks the scardies grow stronger, and harder to push back down. You trying harder, focusing your attention back on the forest and try breathing slower. Then,
‘Stahp,’
You and Big Red come to halt right away, looking at the lookie fluffy, the forest and behind you. But, there’s-
‘Wisten, sumtin am oud dewe,’ the lookie fluffy points with his leggie.
‘Wat?’
‘Nu knu.’ There’s a silence between the three of you that starts to feel like it’s pressing down from the sky. ‘Ulp F-fowwow, Wookie fwuffy. Bud, if Wookie fwuffy say…’ He trails off, but you don’t need to hear the rest. Running as hard and fast as you can back to the safe place is the only chance you have if there’s something really bad ahead of you. Slowly, the lookie fluffy leads you and Big Red forward.
For the first few steps you can almost, almost trick yourself into thinking the lookie fluffy didn’t actually hear anything. After all, you’re not picking up on anything. Wait, you aren’t picking up on anything, aside from the few small breezie monsters. Why can’t you hear the birdies any-
Snap
It was quiet and small but you heard it, the sound of something snapping a twig under it’s hoofie. Or, something bigger than a hoofie. You, Big Red and the lookie fluffy freeze in place before you realise it.
Snap
Again, but, maybe a little closer this time?
‘Id cumin fwom ovah dewe,’ the lookie fluffy whispers, pointing at a wall of bushies in your path. ‘Fwuffies, n-nee go an…’ He trails off, the scardies in his voice clear. You can tell he wants to turn and head away; you do and you’re sure Big Red does as well, but the herd has to know. Taking a deep breath, the three of you step forward, carefully moving through the bushies to get a better look. Stopping short of the other side with plenty of cover, you each strain your see places to find what made the noise. But, it’s nearly impossible to see through the rest of the bushie.
‘Twee see anyting?’
‘Nu,’ you tell the lookie fluffy.
‘Wat boud Big Wed?’
‘Nu see anyting,’ he says. ‘Tink, nee get cwosah so can see.’
‘O-otay,’ the lookie fluffy says. ‘Gulp’ C-cawefuw…’ He moves forward slowly and carefully but only takes a few steps before he stops, perfectly still. A chill runs down your back and you feel your nummie place start moving to ask what’s wrong until Big Red gasps; he almost never does that. You shift your gaze to him, see he’s staring at something out in front. Turning your head in the same direction you see, see…
‘Ulp’
Daddeh and the others told you plenty of stories once they thought you were old enough, and they’ve told you those stories plenty of times. Then, there’s the stories from other fluffies in the herd who’ve come close to humans. Those have given you a picture in your thinkie place but, here and now, you realise nothing you’ve heard could prepare you to see, them, for the first time. Daddeh and the others said humans were tall but you never understood how tall was tall. Until now, when you’ve see a human standing close to a tree. The human’s not as tall, but does that really matter? Its leggies alone are taller than some bushies! Add the rest, and they must be able to see the whole forest from up there!!
The human’s size would be bad enough, but then there’s the way the it moves; even being as big as it is, the human’s hardly making any noise!! Never mind it’s moving slow, something that big should make lots and lots of noise!! How’s it nearly as quiet as a fluffy being really sneaky?! ‘Ulp’ If, if the lookie fluffy hadn’t… You could have walked right up to that human and wouldn’t have-
‘Nee wun way, nao,’ Even if he’s whispering, you’ve never heard a fluffy with so many scardies as the lookie fluffy has right now. ‘Nee get back tu safe pwace! Dat hoomin hav… H-hav…’ The lookie fluffy can’t get the wordies out, but anyone could tell what he’s talking about. You can see it, held in the human’s not hooves, and somehow you know it’s a forever sleepies stick. The thing that can give fluffies forever sleepies from a long way away no matter what you do, and it’s just over ther**e!
In between all the scardies, a tiny part of you is really happy you did poopies a while ago; otherwise you’d be doing them right now.
‘Get way,’ the lookie fluffy says, backing away as quickly and quietly as he can manage. ‘Nee get way, nee be sneakies, o-ow…’ He trails off again, but you don’t need him know what it means if the humans hear. You follow the lookie fluffy’s lead, backing away quietly and carefully, while also keeping your see place on the human. It’s still moving slowly, looking from side to like it’s searching. No, it is searching, searching for you and the others. What other possible reason could it be here?
Your heart pounds in your chest with each step backward, so hard the sound fills your hear places. At any moment, you’re sure you’ll step on a small twig or something else loud enough to make the humans look in your direction, and… But, you just can’t take your see places away from them, even when it becomes impossible to see through the bushies. Nothing, nothing you’ve every encountered has scared you more than you are right now; not even close.
Somehow, despite everything, you manage to step back behind a cluster of bushies with Big Red and the lookie fluffy. No wordies pass between you, but you don’t need them to know what you have to do. Following the lookie fluffy’s lead, you slowly move away from the bushies in the direction of the safe place. Every single part of you, from thinkie place to tail, screams to run as fast as your leggies can possibly take you. If it hadn’t been for Daddeh and the others teaching you so much, you would. You’ll have to thank them when you get back. If you get back…
‘Ulp’
A hot, stingy feeling like your standing right under the skyball springs up in the back of your head. The humans are searching for you, you know they are! They have to be looking right at you, and… No, no they couldn’t be; if the humans could see you, you wouldn’t be, well, doing anything! Daddeh and the others all say the same thing about the human’s forever sleepies sticks; there’s a loud noise and fluffies fall down right away. Most of the time there’s no screams, so it must happen really fast.
Well, whatever happens, you won’t let it happen to you; you’ll make it back, all of you. Just be slow, and quiet. Slow and quiet, careful not to-
Pop
You go stiff and crouch. What was that noise? What could make a noise like that and, where did that mark on the tree come-
‘Wun! Wun nao!!’ The lookie fluffy takes off, running as fast as he can. So are you and Big Red before you even know it.
Pop. Pop pop. Pop
More of the strange sounds come from behind you! From behind!! Those sounds, they’re the human’s forever sleepies sticks!! Scardies of a kind you’ve never felt flood through your body; they feel horrible, but something about them makes you run just a little bit faster. If it helps, you’ll take it! Big Red and the lookie fluffy are running just as hard; the lookie fluffy leads, ducking around every tree rock and bushie in your path.
Pop. Pop
Two more of the sounds that mean forever sleepies!! You tense, waiting for more, but there aren’t any! Somehow, you’ve done it; you escaped the humans! Not for long though, they’ll be coming for you and the herd!! As much as you want to think otherwise, those humans are coming for the safe place!! This is it, it’s happening! Part of you wants to panic even more than you already are! But there’s no time, you have to warn the herd!
‘Dammit,’ Alex breathed, lowering the rifle.
‘Get any?’
‘Nah, too much clutter.’ Alex turned to Paul. ‘We gotta move; those fuckers are running back to their home, and We’ve got to get there before too many run away.’
Paul nodded, turned and signalled for the others to follow at a jog. Alex led the way, abandoning stealth in favour of speed, if a cross between power-walking and jogging counted as speed. The last thing he wanted was to catch up with the fluffies in case they scattered, or tried to lead him away from their home. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened. Sure, they were liable to do so anyway, but with any luck they’d be in enough of a panic not to think that far ahead.
Hopefully, they’d be on their way with news humans with guns were in the forest, and their herd needed to get the fuck out of dodge. If Alex got the timing right, they’d arrive as the fluffies were running about in a panic, trying to evacuate with as much food as they could carry. As he moved, Alex kept track of the path the fluffies had made. Moving fast and in a panic, they were easy to follow.
It wouldn’t be long until he and his team could add another herd and safe place to their tally.
‘Quick! Aww fwuffies go tu nummie dens an get wots of nummies!! Den go tu dah fowest an fowwow dah wookie fwuffies an tuffies!!’
‘Huwwy dummehs!! Hewd nu hav wong!!’
‘Scree! Mummah, Fwuffy am scawdies!!’
‘Nu dummeh! Nu go dat way!! Onwy go intu fowest whewe tuffies say nee go!!’
Fluffies rush all over the safe place; from their dens and bushies they’d been lying under to the nummie dens then on to the forest like the toughies say. Most of the herd is doing what they’re told and they’re helping, or pushing, the ones who aren’t. None of that can hide their scardies, though. Screams, shouts and cries come from everywhere at once, and there’s not a single fluffy who doesn’t look terrified. A family crosses your path, forcing you to stop. The mummah walks with her babbies in front of her, pushing them along.
‘J-jus, keep goin babbehs. E-ewyting, gun be otay!’
‘Scawdies! Scawdies!!’
‘Wat happenin?! Wai nee wun way!?!’
‘Eee!! Sabe Babbeh!!’
Behind the Mummah and her babbies comes a second fluffy who must be the Daddeh; part of your thinkie place is free of scardies enough to notice him carrying a baby in his nummie place.
‘Peep peep!! Scawdies! Babbeh scawdies!! Peeep!!’ He, she’s quite big, definitely big enough to walk like her brothers and sissies. From the looks of it though, the scardies must be too much. As the Daddeh passes, you notice how hard he’s working to carry the baby, and can’t help think it’d be easier if he could carry the baby on his back. Why exactly are you so focused on that instead of what’s happening? Maybe it’s the scardies making your thinkie place go silly.
The thought of what it would mean for you, the Smarty, to get thinkie place sillies at a time like this sends a sharp, cold spike through your tummy, but it snaps you back to what’s happening. Shaking your head you get going, trotting instead of running to so you don’t look too scardies. Moments later you come to one of the nummie dens; like the others, there’s a huge crowd of scared fluffies waiting to take as much as they can.
The toughies do their best to keep things going, letting in enough fluffies to grab nummies without crowding the inside. No one could miss the scardies in the crowd, though. Fluffies waiting for their turn keep looking around, especially in the direction Tree, Big Red and the lookie fluffy came from. Any moment, those humans will come from there with their forever sorry sticks. What happened when the bad fluffies came will be nothing compared to when the humans arrive! Especially if they get here with so many crowds around! Pictures of what it could look like flash through your thinkie place, making your shiver.
As you watch, things get too much for some young fluffies. First one then some more shove their way out of the crowd and make a run for the forest. The toughies by the nummie den yell but don’t try to stop them; there just isn’t time. Other toughies walking around the safe place do, though; they step into the path of the fluffies and tackle them.
‘Go back an get nummies! Nao!!’
‘Bud hoomins cumin!!’ One of the young fluffies yells back.
‘Tuffies knu dat dummeh!!’ The toughies screams, hitting the young fluffy for good measure. ‘Go back an get nummies, ow hewd get tummeh huwties an fowewa sweepies in dah fowest!!’
Reluctantly, the young fluffies get up and go back to the crowd, followed by the toughies. They set up around the crowd, ready to stop any others.
‘Smawty! Smawty!!’
You snap your attention away from the crowd and turn to face Leaf. ‘Wat happenin?! Teww Smawty wat happenin!!’ A new flash of scardies wash over you; what could have-
‘Wots of fwuffies am in dah fowest nao!’ Leaf tells you. ‘Dah wookie fwuffies am takin dem!’
Some of the new scardies go away; finally, good news! ‘Whewe day takin dem?’
‘Day takin dem wittwe way fwom safe pwace!!’ Leaf says. ‘When aww hewd am dewe, gun go wong way intu fowest!’ A mad look flashes over Leaf’s face before it changes to something sadder. Now, both of you realise how handy a spare safe place would have been. Shaking your head so the thoughts can’t distract you, you ask
‘How many nummies hewd take?’
‘Tink aww nummies fwom one nummie den! Fwuffies am goin fast as can!’ Leaf says, nodding at the nummie den and the crowd around it. ‘Bud, nu tink can get aww dem!’
‘Nu can get aww dem!? Hewd nee does nummies!!’
‘Weaf knu dat!!’ He yells, more maddies crossing his face. ‘Knu hewd nee nummies!! Bud hoomins be hewe soon, an nee wun way when dat happen!!!’
You feel an urge to argue but you manage to stamp down on it quickly. The urge to call yourself a dummy for wanting to argue in the first place, though, sticks around. Yes nummies are important, and the herd worked hard to get what it has. But once the humans are here, running away is all you can do, and that a moment is getting closer and closer!! What you wouldn’t give to know exactly how far behind Big Red, Tree and the lookie fluffy they were!
‘Weaf, keep hewpin fwuffies wun way!’ You tell him. ‘Smawty gun find Bestest tuffy!’
Leaf nods. ‘He am neaw dah won wawa!’ He says before running off. You head in the direction of the long water and hear the Bestest toughie before you see him. His yelling is easy to hear, even with the rest of the noise.
‘WAT YU DUMMEHS TINK GUN DO!? WAI NU HEWPIN HEWD?!’
‘T-tuffies gun twy an-’
‘TWY DU WAT DUMMEH!?’
You pass by a large group heading for the forest and see the Bestest toughie standing in front of, and pretty much over a group of young toughies. By the looks of them, they could be the only fluffies in the herd scared of something more than the humans.
‘DUMMEHS TINK CAN FIGHT HOOMINS?! TINK CAN FIGHT TING DAT GIV FOWEWA SWEEPIES FWOM WONG WAY WAY?!!’
One of the young toughies tries to explain, ‘T-tuffies jus, w-wan-’
but the Bestest toughie turns his full focus on him; ‘IF DUMMEHS WAN HEWP HEWD, HEWP DEM GET NUMMIES TU DAH FOWEST!!’ he yells. ‘HEWP MUMMAHS GET DEWE BABBEHS AN SCAPE!! NAO!! NAO DUMMEHS!!!’ The toughies turn and run, scattering in different directions. You’re not worried about them running to the forest instead of helping; if they do, the Bestest toughie will make them wish the humans got them.
Not wasting another moment, you run over; ‘Bestest tuffy!’ He turns to face you, intense maddies still covering his face. At least they’re not meant for you.
‘Tuffies am duin ewyting dat can, Smawty!’ He says loudly, but not the same angry scream. ‘Bud dewe stiww wots of nummies an fwuffies dat nu wun way yet!’ Looking in the direction the young toughies ran, fresh maddies cross his face. ‘If does dummehs nu-’
‘Bestest tuffy!’ You yell, grabbing his attention. ‘Dat am dun! Nee du oda tings nao!!’
More maddies flash over the Bestest toughie’s face, which makes a shiver runs down your back. But, he clams downs and nods. ‘Wat Smawty gun du?’
‘Am gun keep goin!’ You say, looking to the next spot you mean to go. ‘Nee make suwe dat-’
‘Nu!’ The Bestest toughie yells. ‘Smawty nee go tu whewe hewd wunnin tu fowest!’
What? ‘Smawty jus say nee-’
‘Tuffies can du dat!’ The Bestest toughie yells, cutting you off. ‘Smawty nu nee be hewe! Nee go be weady tu wun way wif hewd!’ He edges closer. ‘Hewd nu can wose Smawty gain, an Gwed nu can be smawty yet!’ Through the maddies, you can see the scardies underneath.
Many different feelings rush through you, maddies among them. After thinking about what the Bestest toughie said, a cold, heavy wave washes almost everything else away. If what he says happened, if the herd lost you and found themselves deep in the forest without a Smarty, safe place or even a plan… You can’t even bare thinking about what would happen. ‘Yes, Bestest tuffy.’ You turn and trot away, leaving the Bestest toughie to handle things as best he can.
Since the long water is almost on the opposite side from where the herd’s running away, you have to take one last walk through the safe place. Everywhere you pass by sends a flood of old thinkie place picture through your head, and different feelings to go with each. There’s the spot where Daddeh, then you, talked to the herd about important things; the place where the young toughies played the toughie and monster game, protecting a pretend baby safe place; and, the safe baby place itself.
‘Gasp…’ Even with all the hurties from the branchie, there’s no mistaking it for anything else. The tunnel going inside is still there and big enough to walk through. The bushies aren’t the same shape as they were, but you can see them slowly coming back. If there was enough time, it might go back to the way it was.
The way it was.
A fresh flood of old thinkie place pictures from those brighttimes, so long ago now, come flooding back; being a little baby and playing different games with your friends, like huggie tag and the toughie game; taking turns with Snow to keep Little safe when he couldn’t stay with Mummah; and, how could you forget, meeting Flower for the first time.
Those thinkie place pictures lead you to other ones, lots and lots of them. Not all of them good, like when that wingie baby was taken by the birdy monster and when you ran away, after Flower went forever sleepies. But, the sad moments can’t drown out all the good and fun things that have happened here in the safe place. The herd’s safe place, the everyone worked so hard to build and some went forever sleepies to protect. Now you all have to leave, and it’ll all be gone. The realisation sends a rush of heart hurties through your body and the shock nearly stops you in your tracks. It takes shaking your head very, very hard to snap out of it.
Sure, these heart hurties are terrible, some of the worst ever. But, they aren’t anything speical; everyone in herd will be feeling heart hurties like yours. A lot of them are like you, only ever knowing this safe place and having to leave everything behind. It’s horrible, it hurts, and it won’t even begin to compares to what it means if the herd doesn’t escape in time. Speeding up your trot, you join the rest of the herd heading for safety. Most are in groups, families walking together or a bunch of different fluffies. Other than toughies, almost no one is travelling alone.
Everyone you see is scared, more scared than you’ve seen most of them before. Older fluffies deal with it better than the younger ones, and especially the babbies. Even the big ones are crying, asking their mummahs and daddehs over and over what’s happening, and if things will be okay. Despite everything, though, the herd makes their way through the safe place to the spot you’re leaving from without many problems. It might have made you feel a little better, but there’s just no room for good feelings.
A Next bestest toughie stands near the spot; ‘Huwwy, go into fowest! Nu wait!’ says to fluffies as they pass. ‘Keep goin! Wookie fwuffies an tuffies show yu whewe nee go!’
‘Bud whewe hewd gun go?!’ A young fluffy asks, coming to a stop, not caring about those following behind him. ‘Whewe-’
‘Jus fowwow oda fwuffies!!’ The toughie yells. ‘Fowwow fwuffies an wisten tu tuffies! Nao go!’ With some pushing from behind, the young fluffy walks forward and disappears into the forest. Stepping to the side out of everyone’s way, you sit next to the Next bestest toughie and wait; so far, it’s the hardest thing you’ve done. So much of you wants to head back into the safe place and help; even if the toughies are handling things, this is your herd! Can you really just sit and wait here? What must they be thinking as they walk past?
Then again, looking at the faces of the fluffies going past, their scardies aren’t going away but you can sense a change in a lot of them. A look in their see places that things seems a little less terrible. Maybe, If that can help even a little, it’s probably best you stay and let the herd see you. If the herd knows their Smarty is okay it might help; maybe only a little, but everything counts this brighttime.
Putting on the bravest face you can manage, you look at every fluffy passing by and give them the most reassuring nod and smile you can manage. Families, fluffies by themselves, older ones and younger ones, most with nummies on their backs and all of them scared, but also headed away from danger. At least, you hope so.
Not long after you arrive some of the fluffies you’re most worried about, your family, come into view. Mummah and Gred leading the way, with Little keeping your other babbies calm. Wait! ‘Whewe bwue babbeh?’ You ask as they come close. ‘Mummah, whewe am Bwue babbeh? Whewe am Snu?’
‘Snu sissie am stiww in safe pwace tuu!’ Little adds.
‘Sissie was with Mummah mummah,’ Gred says. ‘Gwed twied find hew, bud tuffies say nee get nummies fiwst! Twied find Sissie den, b-bud…’ The scardies and saddies on his normally brave face gives you horrible heart hurties.
‘Id am otay Gwed, yuw sissie an Snu am gun be otay.’ Knowing they’re both still in the safe place twists your tummy into all kinds of shapes, but it’s not all bad news. If your Blue baby is with Kerry, she’ll also be with Big Red, and so will Snow; there’s almost no fluffy they’d be safer with than him. And besides, Kerry’s a housie fluffy who managed to make it through the forest and find this safe place before the herd did, while she had tummy babbies! Snow and your blue bay will be safe with them, surely…
‘Am, am gun wait fow Sissie an Snu?’ Gred asks, snapping you out of it before your thinkie place can, show you something that won’t help.
You open your nummie place to speak but force it closed before the “yes” can get out. ‘N-nu, Gwed,’ it’s one of the hardest things you’ve had to say. ‘Famiwy go tu fowest, nao. Fowwow dah oda tuffies an fwuffies; yu be safe.’
‘Bud-’
‘W-wisten tu yuw Daddeh,’ Mummah says. ‘He am Smawty; he an tuffies knu wat nee du.’ Mummah looks at you then; there are scardies all over her face, but also a sense she really means what she’s saying. Mummah trusts you and the toughies to get everyone through this. That makes you feel a bit more strength, which is exactly what you need. But you also feel more pressure to get the herd to safety. And there’s still so many left…
‘D-dat am wight, Gwed,’ you tell him, pushing past the feelings. ‘Daddeh nee stay hewe an, hewp hewd. Go wif famiwy intu fowest with dah odas, an Daddeh wait fow Sissie an Snu. Ewyting gun be otay.’
Gred looks at you for a while, scardies all over his face. Pushin them aside as best he can, Gred nods at you; ‘O-otay, Daddeh,’ he says, then follows Mummah into the forest. He and your other babbies look back at you one last time before disappearing. Pushing aside the cold, slimy feeling that this could be the last time you see them, you focus back on the safe place.
Hurry.
The first time humans found the herd, there was hardly any warning. One moment it was a normal bwighttime; the next, there was screaming, loud scary noises and fluffies falling to the ground. After that it was a mad rush to the forest. Some tried to help the soon mummahs and new mummahs; hardly any of them made it. The old Smarty and his toughies didn’t have time to tell fluffies what to do or where to go; all anyone could do was run as fast as possible, and hope.
You remember running for the trees with a few others, and the babbies you managed to get on you back before it was too late. All of you ran until your leggies felt like they’d explode, then, when you’d stopped crying over the saddies and scardies, set about finding what was left of the herd. It took three and three brighttimes to find them; those were some of the worst brighttimes of your life. Almost completely alone in a big scary forest, trying your best to take of babbies who could only just have big fluffies nummies and wanted their mummahs and daddehs. And on top of that, you had to deal with the heart hurties from losing your brother, the last family you had.
It was horrible, all of it. You don’t know how, but this time feels much worse.
Maybe it’s having a family of your own spread all over the safe place, and not in the forest yet. Maybe it’s knowing that Big Red was very close to getting forever sleepies. Standing here with Skyball and the others waiting to grab nummies before you can run away, though, you think its the waiting which makes it worse. Last time you hardly had time to be scared, only barely enough time to run.
Now you have to wait patiently to grab as many nummies as possible, while humans who want to give you and your family forever sleepies get closer and closer. You have no idea how you’re not making scardie poopies and pee pees everywhere or how everyone else is managing the same. especially with how scared they are.
All around the nummie den, fluffies stand and wait their turn; young ones, old ones, most nummie finders like you but also some of the mares who look after the babbies and one or two lookie fluffies. All of them, even the toughies trying to keep control, have lots of terrible scardies. Everyone’s talking and whispering at the same time, so much you can’t tell what anyone is saying.
Most of the young fluffies have wet spots under their see places, and the older fluffies look like they’ll make sad water at any moment. The young fluffies’ scardies are the worst because they have no idea what happening, and because they can see how scared older fluffies are. They know exactly what’s going on, and what will happen if the humans catch you out here by surprise.
‘Daddeh! Daddeh!!’
Snapping out of your thinkie place for the moment, you turn and look at Skyball. His scardies are just as bad as any fluffy’s and he’s been making lots of sad water. By the look on his face, too, you can tell he’s been trying to get your attention for a while. ‘Wat am wong, Skybaww?’ A small part of you manages to feel silly over that; what isn’t wrong right now?
‘Wai am fwuffies hewe? Wai nu wunnin way?!’ He asks, scardies seeming to get worse. ‘Wai fwuffies nu wunnin way?! Wai?’
‘Cause nee take nummies, tuu,’ you tell him, keeping as many scardies out of your voice as you can manage. ‘Dewe nu am wots of nummies in fowest nao, an hewd gun nee nummies!’
‘Bud day say ho-hoomins am cumin!’ Skyball goes on. ‘Day say nee wun way! Nee Wun way!! Nee find Mummah an Sissie and Big Wed and Wunnie an wun way an-’
‘Babbeh,’ You lean down to give him a quick hug and stop him panicking. ‘Famiwy am, gun be otay. Big Wed am tuffy, an Mummah an Wunnie knu wat nee du.’ The toughies will tell them what to do and where to go; no one in the herd couldn’t know by now. They’ll be okay, they have to be! But, what about Darktime? That sends an extra spike of scardies through you. Darktime was being a good fluffy for a while, then went back to her usual self.
Whatever her reason, the point is you’re not sure were Darktime went to hide this brighttime! Where would she go and what would she do when Big Red and the others came back with the news no-one wanted to hear? What if she panicked and ran into the forest, not even waiting to find out which direction to go? She could have run in the same direction Big Red and the others came from without knowing, right into the…
No, stop. That kind of thinking won’t help, and you can’t afford to let your thinkie place get carried away like that now. You’ll get the nummies, find your family and escape to the forest. But to do that, you’ll have to stay calm, for them.
‘Hey, yu fwuffies!’
You look up and see one of the toughies near the nummie den.
‘Keep movin!’
Looking again, you notice the crowd of fluffies has moved closer to the nummie den. ‘Dis way Babbeh,’ you say, hurrying skyball along. ‘Nee keep moving.’ Skyball cries but stumbles along after you, managing to stay calm enough to do what he’s told. The toughies work fast, moving as many fluffies down to the nummie den and back out as they can. It looks like they’re doing a good job, all things considered. But you guess it’s not fast enough.
‘Dat am tuu many nummies!!’ One of the Next bestest toughies yells from near by. ‘Fwuffies am taking tuu wong!! Nee huwwy!!!’
‘Y-yes Nex bestest tuffy!’
‘Yu heaw him! Nu take tuu many nummies!’ One of the other toughies tells all of you. That gives you mixed feelings; it feels like only a little bit of all the nummies the herd’s found is being taken; who knows if it’ll be enough to last the cold times?! But if you try taking too much and wait around too long, no one will have a chance to even get to the cold times! Either way, you’ll have to worry about that later. For now, it takes almost everything you have to not push forwards!
No matter how quickly this would move, it wouldn’t be fast enough for you; all you want is to be with your family getting as far away from here as possible! Come on, just move faster! You don’t even want to think about what will happen if the humans catch you in the open like this! So bad are your scardies, you don’t notice at first when you and Skyball get to the nummie den.
‘Quick! Quick!!’ One of the tuffies yells. ‘Get nummies and wun way! Get tu dah fowest!!’
‘Y-yes tuffy! Dis way, Skybaww!’ You lead him down the tunnel and head to the nearest pile. Quick as you can you grab nummies off the pile, much more than if this was a normal brighttime, and put them on your back. You feel an urge to keep piling, but knowing what’s still coming, you force yourself to stop and after checking skyball, head outside. ‘Quick Skybaww, fowwow Daddeh!’ you say, trotting away from the nummie den. ‘Famiwy am dis way!’
Even if no one wanted to talk about it, you made sure your family would meet in one place if you had to run away from the safe place. The small rocks and trees, not far from the den; its easy to find and has a clear run to the forest. You and Skyball get there quickly after leaving the nummie den. ‘W-whwew am Mummah? Whwew Sissie an Bwuddas?’ he asks. ‘Whewe famiwy!? Wai day nu am-’
‘Day gun be hewe,’ you tell him. ‘Famiwy knu whew nee go.’
Skyball looks at you, his face full of scardies and wet with sad water. ‘Sniff O-otay, Daddeh.’ He steps close and looks all over for the rest of your family. And, probably the first sign of humans. That reminds you, as much as you wish it didn’t, what you have to do if the humans arrive before you’ve managed to meet up. The plan everyone agreed to was run for the forest as fast as possible, then meet up later.
If your honest, it’s not much of a plan, and you’re sure you could force yourself and Skyball to do so if that’s what it comes to. Really, it’s the only thing any of you could possible do. Every single part of you hopes it won’t come to that, but it took so long time to take care of things at the nummie dens. And your family still isn’t here yet.
‘Huu, Skybaww nu can see dem!!’
‘I-id am otay, Babbeh. Famiwy be hewe soon.’ You try as hard as you can to sound sure of yourself, but your scardies are close to getting the better of you. Groups of fluffies walk and trot by, headed for the forest and, hopefully, safety. Every family you see ratchets your scardies up a little more. Where are they? The humans will be here any moment; you can almost feel them, and your heart’s beating so hard and loud you’re sure they’ll hear it!
Special friend, Big Red, Runny, Hurry!!!
‘Daddeh! Skybaww!!’ You turn to the voice and see Big Red trotting over, with Darktime in front and Snow beside him. A few happies rush through you; it’ll be good to have Big Red in the forest, who knows long you’ll be out there this time? And for as much trouble as Darktime’s been, you couldn’t bare anything happening to her! It’s good to see Snow too, you don’t know why she isn’t with her family, but there’ll be time to worry about that later.
‘Am Big Wed otay?’ You ask as he comes close. ‘Was-’
‘Big Wed am otay!’ He says quickly. ‘Whewe am Mummah an Wunnie?!’
‘Day be hewe soon!’ You tell him. ‘Day-’
‘Den wait hewe! Big Wed am gun-’
‘Nu!’ You yell out before he can turn.
‘Daddeh, nee find famiwy!!’
‘Day knu whewe nee go!’ You yell over him, talking to him in a way you haven’t for a very long time. ‘Big Wed am tuffy, bud nee stay hewe! Wisten tu Daddeh!!’
His see places go wide, probably a bit shocked you’re talking to him like this. ‘B-bud-’
‘Big Wed nee stay hewe!’ You say again. ‘Nee stay hewe cause Daddeh say so!!’ You look at him a moment to make sure he’s listening. ‘Fwuffies gun wait hewe tiww Mummah an Wunnie get hewe, ow if…’ You have the wordies in your thinkie place, but they won’t come out. ‘If… N-nee du wat Daddeh say nao!’ Big Red keeps looking at you, shocked, confused and maybe a little angry. But, he’s smart enough to know this isn’t’ the time to fight.
‘Yes, Daddeh, Big Wed du dat.’
‘Gud.’ Still, Big Red has a point; where are Kerry and Runny? The humans will be here any moment, you’re running out of time!!’
‘Speciaw fwend!’
Finally! ‘Special fwend!!’ You turn to Kerry, only just resisting the urge to run over. Next to her Is Flower’s Blue baby. They must have come from taking care of the babbies.
‘Mummah!!’ Skyball, not having as much control, rushes over to Kerry and nearly give her a hug, only remembering it’ll spill the nummies on his back at the last moment.
‘Whewe am Wunnie, Special fwend!?’ Kerry asks, close to panic. ‘Nu see him an famiwy!’
‘Id am otay Special fwend!’ You tell her. ‘Wunnie knu whewe nee go, an he nu be wong time!’ You take a breath, ready to say something else to calm Kerry and Flower’s blue baby. But, your time runs out.
‘Hoomins!! HOOMINS!!!’
‘DAH HOOMINS AM HEWE!!! WUUUN!!’
All at once, every fluffy still in the safe place runs for the forest, yelling and screaming as they go. Before you can stop yourself, you turn and look in the direction the humans are supposed to come from and freeze. You can only just make them out between the trees and bushies, but you’d know that shape anywhere! One of the humans, no, all of them lift what can only be forever sleepies sticks, and-
Pop pop. Pop. Pop pop pop.
It’s not the same loud sharp noise those sticks made last time, but the effect is the same; fluffies making a run from the nummie dens and other places drop and tumble, one after another. There’s hardly any screaming, and none of them get back up.
‘Screeeee!!!’
Kerry’s scream snaps you out of it, and you feel like kicking yourself for even needing that! But there’ll be time for that later; now, you all have to run!! ‘Dis way!!’ You turn and make a break for the forest. ‘Fowwow Fwuffy! Nu wet hoomins see yu!!’ Kerry run beside you, forcing Skyball and Darktime to run in front. Flower’s blue baby is on your other side and just behind. You can’t see where Big Red is but he must be following close behind with Snow.
‘Whewe goin?! Whewe goin!?!’
‘Tu fowest!!’ You yell to Flower’s blue bay. ‘Nee go dis way so hoomins nu see!!’ If they see you, they can give your forever sleepies; if there’s only one thing to know about humans, that’s it.
‘Special fwend! Special fwend!!!’ Kerry screams.
‘Wat?!’
‘Whewe Wunnie?! Nu waited fow-’
‘Nu can find dem nao!!’ You yell. ‘Nee wun way nao!! Nee get way fwom hoomins!!’
‘Bud-’
‘Jus wun!! WUN!!!’ You scream at her. It hurts, both yelling at Kerry and leaving without knowing for sure where Runny and his family are. You want to find Runny as much as Kerry does, but heading back now means forever sleepies; escape is all that matters now. The constant noise of fluffies screaming and the humans’ forever sleepies sticks going reminds you of that, as if you needed it.
You guide your family between some bushies and small trees, your funny leggie not being a problem for once. You make good progress, but soon find yourself ruining toward an open space. As if to show why you need to turn back, you watch two fluffies knocked to the ground by the humans’ strange powers.
‘Screee!!’
‘Nu wan!!!’
You and your family skid to stop, only just managing to keep from heading into the open area. You take a moment to check everyone; no one’s missing or hurt, but you’re scared Skyball and Darktime might collapse on their tummies, and-
‘Dis way nao!!’ Big Red calls, turning to lead the other way. ‘Famiwy can get tu fowest dis way!! Fowwow big wed!’ You wait for Darktime and Skyball to run past you and follow close behind, there being no time to or point in arguing. Big Red knows what he’s doing, leading you closer to the forest without putting you in danger. He avoids the open spaces and keeps to bushies and other things which hide fluffies. Times’ running out, though.
‘Forward, forward dammit! Don’t let these bastards get away!’
‘I’m going as fast as I can asshole!’
Pop pop pop
They’re getting closer, and soon it won’t matter what you’re running behind! ‘Big Wed!’
‘Big Wed heaw dem!!’ He yells back. ‘Jus keep wunnin!! Big Wed knu whewe nee go!!’ With not better option, you and the rest of your family follow close behind. The sounds of the humans forever sleepies sticks and the screams of fluffies follow you every step of the way. Each scream and yell sends sharp heart hurties through you; you recognise some of those voices, and you know sure as grassies are green you’ll never see some of them again. But just isn’t time to think about that.
‘Stahp!’
You and the rest of your family come to a skidding halt. ‘Wat am wong?!’
‘Wai dummeh Bwudda stahp hewe?!’
‘Nu can go dis way!!’ Big Red yells. ‘Hoomins gun see famiwy,’ he says turning to point another way. ‘Day am ovah dewe nao!!’
He’s right, from what you can hear, the humans will see you for sure if you go that way, and then-
‘Quick, dis way!’ Big Red turns and leads you back the way you came, changing direction after a short time. Each turn so far has lead you further from where everyone else was running, but getting into the forest at all is the only things that matters now. Big Red does his job well, keeping you away from open areas and moving closer to the edge of the forest all the time. But the humans are still getting closer, and you can hear less and less yells from other fluffies by the moment. They’re looking for you, and it won’t take long until they find you!
‘Big Wed!! Big Wed!!!’
The yell brings Big Red and the rest of you to a halt right away. Looking in the direction of the shout, you see a group of fluffies by some bushes near the edge of the forest. The Bestest toughie, Tree, All Mummah and some others.
‘Dis Way Big Wed! Huwwy!!’ Tree yells.
There’s open space between where you and the others are; open spaces are trouble, big trouble, but it’s not far to the others. At a full gallop you could make it in no time at all! But is that enough to outrun the humans and their powers?
‘Wisten,’ Big Red says, turning to the rest of you. ‘Am gun wun dewe when Big Wed say!’
‘Bud wat if hoomins see!?’
‘Nee get tu fowest nao, Mummah!’ Big Red yells. ‘An am gun be safe wif Bestest tuffy an Twee!’ Before Kerry can say another word, Big Red turns back. ‘Wun when Big Wed du!! Wun as fast as can!!’ As you watch, Big Red tenses up ready to make the dash. Just before he can start,
‘Voices over here! I’m checking it out!’
The sound of the human’s wordies make your insides turn cold. Turning around you peak through the bushies, and see the shape of a human moving through the safe place, closer to where you’re hiding. He can’t see you clearly, but that won’t last for long! And if you all run out…
‘Hoomins am cumin!’ Skyball cries!’
‘Nee wun nao!’
‘Nu, nee find pwace tu hide!!’
Your family panics even more than they were, all of them wanting to do different things. You glance at the approaching human then to the open space between your family and safety, and something horrible occurs to you. There’s no way you can make it across that space before the human will see you clearly! Unless, unless…
Time slows and you look back at your family; Kerry, Big Red, Skyball and Darktime, and Flower’s blue baby. A flood of old thinkie place pictures come crashing down, so many and so quickly you don’t know how you’re seeing them all. The good and the bad; the happy, and the really sad. The first time you met Kerry looking for that trash can, and when her human daddeh chased you away. The next time you met her when the herd found the safe place, after thinking for ages you’d never see her again.
Meeting your babbies and making up for lost time, seeing Big Red become a toughie and Runny a nummie finder, waiting for Flower to have her babbies. Helping each of them find and build their dens, and so much else. All those moments, the ones that would have happened, and it’s all about to end. But, not if you can do anything about it.
Without really trying, you come to another realisation; your family only has one way out of this, one way to escape and keep going. To find the herd, a new safe place and make new moments like the ones you’ve had until now. You’re the only one who can give them that chance, and with that comes a new feeling that seems to make your scardies go quite, and everything else clearer somehow.
Turning to Big Red, you lock see places with him and share one last look. Neither of you speak, there’s no time and saying this out loud would ruin the chance. By the look on his face, though, it seems like Big Red knows what you’re planning and why it has to happen. You nod once, and Big Red nods back. ‘Wun when Big Wed say tu wun!!’ He says as you turn away from your family, take a deep breath, ‘Wun nao!!!’ and charge.
Surprise was a constant in the business of culling fluffy herds and one learnt to react quickly. It was especially true in the relatively confined area of a herd’s safe place, with the added pressure of not putting a bullet through one of your team by mistake. Still, even Alex wasn’t prepared for the red fluffy to dash out from behind the bushes as he walked up on them.
‘Screeee!!’ The fluffy yelled, running past barely a few meters in front of Alex; in the few moments he had to look, Alex noticed the fluffy seemed to be limping slightly. Despite that, Alex didn’t have time to acquire the target before the screaming red fluffy dashed past. Alex turned with the fluffy but didn’t raise his rifle until he had a guaranteed clear and safe shot at on the little bastard. When the opportunity presented itself, Alex raised his rifle and lined up the fluffy, setting his cross hairs on the creature’s head and neck area.
Pop
The shot was good, the round flying true before penetrating the base of the fluffy’s head, blowing out the front of his neck in a gout of blood an instant later. The red stallion collapsed limply to the ground, tumbling once and spilling what remained of the load of food on his back. It was a fine shot no question; quick, clean and professional, damn near industry standard. But, the red stallion wasn’t even on the ground before Alex realised he’d been had.
‘Wun nao!! HUWWY!!’
Alex spun back to the spot where the red fluffy emerged from and swore; a half dozen fluffies led by a large red and black stallion galloped for the tree line. He moved as fast as he could, but the last fluffy disappeared into the trees before he had target. ‘Shit,’ Alex breathed, but even as he cursed himself for getting played by a shitrat, Alex noticed something. There’d be a window for one, maybe two shots in the next few seconds, if he was quick.
Alex adjusted his aim; it wasn’t the smartest move in the world, some would call it dumb and not without good reason. Alex felt safe enough though, and besides, he wouldn’t let these little jerks get off so easily. No one takes me for a fool. Lining up on the gap Alex waited for the first flash of colour, anticipation toying with his trigger finger.
Pop
Alex sent the round at the first sign of movement. A shrill scream from the forest told him he’d hit home, but probably not with an instant kill. ‘Damn,’ Quickly, Alex checked on his team and the area around him. It seemed like that group was the last to make it out, and all that was left was to trap any that had gone to the dens. ‘You guys start netting and flushing,’ he called to the others. ‘I’ve got something to take care of.’ Alex ignored the one or two questions as he walked in the direction of the felled fluffy.
For as much damage as fluffies had done to his family’s farm and the landscape in general, Alex couldn’t bring himself to leave one suffering. No matter his feelings, the ideas of “a clean kill” and “never let an animal suffer” were rooted too deeply for him to ignore. Stepping into the forest, Alex zeroed in on the noises.
You were so close to getting away, escaping from the humans to the safety of the forest. It really felt like Daddeh’s last plan worked, that you’d made it. Then, somehow, they got the Bestest Toughie.
‘Screeee!!!’
It happened so fast you can hardly tell the how of it; one moment he was running with you and Tree, the next he tripped and rolled, screaming. You though, hopped, he’d just tripped even if the scream was too loud for that, and would get back up again. But he didn’t, and when he rolled over you saw why. You’ve seen fluffies who’ve hurt their leggies before, you saw Daddeh’s hurt leggie plenty of times!
None of looked as bad as the Bestest toughie’s.
There’s boo boo juice going everywhere, running out onto the group like a tiny, red long water!! And, you can see something poking out of the leggie, or what’s left of it. These are the worst owwies you’ve ever seen on a fluffy who wasn’t already forever sleepies, and if you had any doubt how much they hurt,
‘Haff-haff O-owwues! Owwies!! Nnghh!!’ The Bestest toughie is breathing hard and fast, his good see place is screwed shut and there’s… He’s making sad water, enough to wet the fluff under his see place. A wave of ice-cold scardies move from your head to your tail; to see the Bestest toughie, the strongest, scariest and toughest fluffy in the herd, and maybe the forest with these many hurties and making sad water, it’s scary. Even when the bad fluffies got the better of him, even when Rock nearly gave him forever sleepies, he was never like this…
‘Daddeh! Daddeh!!’ Tree immediately rushes to the Bestest toughies side and tries to help him up. ‘Daddeh, nee get up! Nee keep wunnin!!’ Tree yells. ‘Quick, Twee hewp Daddeh-’
‘Screee!’ The Bestest toughie cries out and pulls away from Tree, who jumps away himself; who wouldn’t, hearing the strongest fluffy in the herd scream like that. Glancing at Tree’s fluff though, it’s obvious why; you can just make out the stain where Tree would have touched the Bestest toughie’s leggie, and-
‘Wat happen tu Bestest tuffy!?’
‘Dat was hoomin fowewa sowwie stick! Dat am wat day du!!’
‘Speciaw fwend? Speciaw fwend?!’ Oh no…
‘Daddeh!! Daddeh!!!’ Skyball calls out as he looks around, getting more and more scardies. ‘DADDEH!!’
‘SPECIAW FWEND!!’ Mummah screams, only now realising Daddeh, isn’t here anymore. You turn to head over, but before you can take a few steps Mummah tries to run back to the safe place.
‘Mummah, nu!!!’ You leap forward, knowing you’re too far away to reach her before she slips past. All Mummah doesn’t have that problem though. She slams into Mummah, pushing to the ground and pinning her.
‘Fwend nu can go back!’ All Mummah yells. ‘Hoomins get yu!! Nee keep-’
‘Nee hewp find Speciaw fwend!!’ Mummah struggles to break away from All Mummah, digging her hoofies into the ground and kicking out wildly. ‘Wet Kewwy go!! WET GO NAO!!!’
‘Hewp Aww Mummah!’ A couple of fluffies move forward and you go to join, but crying from behind distracts you.
‘Scawies!!’
‘Daddeh!! Wan Daddeh!!!’
Another thing you never thought you’d see, Skyball and Darktime holding on to one another tightly as they can. Part of you is surprised neither tried to run with Mummah, but all you care about is the new problem. Who do you help now?! Mummah? Tree and the Bestest toughie? Your Brother and Sissie? This, this is too much! They taught you how to protect the herd from bad fluffies and monsters, not how to deal with this!!
‘I’ve got something to take care of quickly.’
‘Dat am hoomin! Hoomin am cumin!!’
More cold washes over you, poking at all parts of your body and insides. They’re coming after you? Of course they are!! They walked who knows how far through the forest to get here, would they really let you go now?! That does it; if you don’t do something, you’re all finished!!!
‘Yu Fwuffies!!’ You yell to those few still near by. ‘Take dem tu fowest!!’ You point at Darktime and Skyball. The fluffies nod and manage to push them further into the forest and, hopefully, to safety. Then you look at Snow and Flower’s blue baby. ‘Hewp dem!!’ You tell them, pointing at Mummah and the other fluffies. ‘Nee make Mummah wun way!!’ Both of them nod, rush forwards and help the fluffies push Mummah away from the safe place.
‘NU!! NEE HEWP SPECIAW FWEND!! SPECIAW FWEENDD!!’
You’re scared she’ll get away from them; it’s a risk, but you’ll have to deal with it if it happens; You have to help Tree, or drag him away from the Bestest toughie. You’re the only one who can even try, and you can’t afford to lose both of them! Rushing over, you find Tree trying another way to get the Bestest toughie back on his hoofies. ‘Big Wed!! Hewp!!!’ He yells as you come close. He looks at you and another shock rattles thought you. ‘Pwease!! Nee hewp Daddeh!!’ If seeing the Bestest toughie make sad waters was scary, seeing Tree making far more shakes you from head to tail. Tree’s never been like this, not once in all the time you’ve known him! ‘Pwease!!!’ He begs again, snapping you out of it.
‘O-otay! Otay!’ You step close to the Bestest toughie, who’s rolled a little onto his side and still breathing hard. ‘U-uh…’ What now? How do you get him up with out hurting him more? Ok, maybe, maybe you could-
‘S-stahp, dummehs…’ The Bestest toughie says between breaths. ‘Wun, way. Nao! Gnghh!’ Hurties rush thorough his body, but he manages to open his see place and look at you. ‘Jus wun! Wun!!’
‘Nu!!’ Tree yells. ‘Twee nu gun weave Daddeh!!’ he moves closer, trying desperately to get him back on his hoofies.
‘Stahp!’
‘Jus nee get Daddeh back up!’
‘S-stahp!!’
‘Den can-’
‘Stahp, nao!!!’ The last yell somehow gets through; Tree pauses and looks at the Bestest toughie for the first time since the human got him. ‘Wun, nao.’ The Bestest toughie repeats. ‘Babbeh, nee wun way. Daddeh, nu can move, an hoomins cumin.’ He looks at Tree with his good see place. ‘Wun!’
‘N-nu! Nu!!’ Tree yells. ‘Nu can!! Twee nu can weave Daddeh!!’ He says, fresh sad water coming from his see places. ‘Pwease!! Pwease get up Daddeh!!! Twee an Big Wed hewp Daddeh wun way!! Pwease!!’
The Bestest toughie looks at Tree. ‘Daddeh nu can wun,’ he says, softly. ‘Pwease Babbeh, wun. Hewd nee yu. Gun nee, stwong tuffies.’
You can hear the human moving closer, and you want to smack Tree and force him to run away. But something keeps you from moving.
‘Babbeh,’ The Bestest toughie says, ‘Daddeh wub yu. Daddeh, awways wub yu.’ The hurties are getting to him, going by his wordies. ‘Pwease, wun way nao. Pwease.’ You see a look on the Bestest toughies face you’ve never seen before, and never thought you would. If your honest, you didn’t think it was a look he could make. Tree looks at his Daddeh a moment longer, sad water running down his face. The snap of a twinge close by sends cold shivers up your back, but you still feel rooted to the spot.
Finally, Tree leans forward and hugs his Daddeh one last time before pulling back. ‘Sob T-twee, wub yu Daddeh!’ With that, finally turns and runs as fast as he can after the rest of the fluffies. Before you follow, you look to the Bestest toughie.
‘Big Wed pwomise wook aftah Twee!’ You tell him, then ‘B-bai, Bestest tuffy.’ Finally, you turn and run away from the approaching human, sad water starting to run leak from your see places.
‘Haff… Haff… Haff…’
It, had to happen sometime; forever sleepies catch-up to every fluffy in the end, no matter how smart or fast, or strong. You did expect them to get you much sooner, before you became part of the herd. But even though life was safer, it couldn’t last forever. Sure, you got through the first human attack, the bad fluffies and Rock’s dumb, horrible plan. But one way or another, the forever sleepies would get you; now, it looks like they have.
‘A-ahhhh…’
The hurties, they’re like nothing you’ve ever felt before; you don’t know if you or any fluffy for that matter has wordies to describe them. But even you can’t describe them, you know your leggie is ruined and you’re not going anywhere.
Snap. Crunch
The human’s coming, he must want to make sure you’re forever sleepies; of course they would At least you don’t have to deal with these hurties much longer…
‘Ngh…’
A bolt of hurties makes your see place slam shut. When you manage to force it open, you stare at the place where Tree and the others ran deeper into the forest. They’re not headed in the same direction the herd went, not even close. You didn’t mean for that to happen, but when the humans arrived you had to act. At least they’ll have a chance, and so will the rest of the herd. Maybe.
Most of the Next bestest toughies got away in time, so at least the Smarty will have some idea of what he needs to do. He’ll also have Tree and Big Red, eventually, so they’ll be safer. The herd will have to find a new safe place before the cold times though, and enough nummies to, to…
‘Sigh…’
That’s not for you to worry about now; the Smarty, Big Red, Tree, everyone else who made it out, it’s up to them now. You just wish you could have taught Tree and Big Red more things, told them more about what you know. Just a little more…
Crunch
That human’s close, you don’t have much time. Gathering what strength is left in you, you take a breath and, carefully as you can, roll on to your good side. ‘Gngh…’ Slowly, very slowly, you get on your good front leggie and push yourself up. ‘*Haff, haff, haff’ That hurt, and left you with thinkie place sillies. But if this is your time, you won’t let it happen while you’re lying down. You can’t beat the humans, but you’re not giving them that. Despite the pain and the fear you’ll fall onto your bad leggie, you turn and face what’s coming.
The humans emerges from behind the bushies. It’s tall, not quite as tall as the trees but still enough you have to crane your head up to see properly. You’ve, never seen a human from this close before. You’re not sure what you expected them to look like, but what does that matter? The human look at you a moment, then points his forever sleepies stick at you.
‘Haff D… Dummeh, hoomin…’
Pop
You ran, all of you ran as hard and fast as your leggies could manage. No one knew where to, and didn’t know how far you you were going; all that mattered was escape. You were sure the humans were following behind, waiting for you to slow or look behind to give you forever sleepies with those horrible, horrible sticks. Your leggies started to hurt, started to feel like they were burning, but you didn’t stop; not one of you stopped.
Gradually you slowed from a run to a trot, then walking when trotting became too hard. Then, when you had absolutely nothing left you stopped in a small clear area, with only a few bushies and rocks. You, Tree and a few others managed to stay up-right, but everyone else dropped to the ground on their tummies or sides, breathing hard. You had no idea where you were or how far you’d gone, and weren’t in any shape to figure it out.
After the run, your thinkie place barely worked. Hurties from running so far and fast for that long drowned out everything, except a strange buzzing throb, which itself turned into hurties after a short while. Truthfully, all the hurties and strange feelings were in a funny way, good; for just a moment you couldn’t think about what brought you here, and who you’d lost.
It couldn’t last.
‘Haff, haff, haff… S-sniff, sob H-huu hu huuu…’
You’re not sure who started crying first, your hear places buzzed from the run and didn’t work properly. Whoever was the first, they weren’t the only one crying for long.
‘S-sob F-fwend, fwend am, sob’
‘Wai, wai dis happen huhuhuuu!’
‘Scawdies!! Sob W-wostest Scawdies!!!’
You cried about the hurties from running away, and from being so close to getting forever sleepies. But far, far more than that, you cried over the fluffies, family and friends you lost. It seems like no one among you got away without losing someone.
‘Fwend was dewe! Sob W-was dewe!! Huu wai?!’
‘Huuu Mummah!! Wai hoomins du dis?!?’
‘Speciaw fwend!! Speciaw fweeend huuuhuhuhuhuuuu!!!’
‘Whewe Daddeh?! Wai Daddeh nu am hewe?!!’
‘S-sob H-huhuuu!’
Hearing your family cry sends an ice-cold wave of saddies and heart hurties through your body, and the horrible truth of what’s happened finally hits you for real.
Daddeh’s gone; he’s just gone. You want it not to be true, with every part of your body you want it not to be true! But there’s no way you can believe otherwise; he ran into the open in full view of the humans, the same humans who got the Bestest toughie when you were already in the forest. You, didn’t see what happened, but there’s no way he could have reached another tree or bushie or rock in time.
Knowing that, knowing you’ll never see him again, it feels like something sharp is ripping into your chest. Heart hurties you haven’t felt since Flower went forever sleepie come back full force. Daddeh drew the humans’ attention, knowing full well what would happen so the rest of you could escape. He gave up everything for his family.
Mummah, Skyball, Darktime and Flower’s Blue baby hug one another and cry into each others fluff. It’s not just over Daddeh, though. Runny and his family aren’t here, and none of you have any idea know what happened to them. No one else who came with this group saw them either, so all you can do is hope they’re with the rest of the herd. But, there’s no way to know, and in a way that’s worse than if they were all, all…
‘Waaahhuhuhuuu!’
Mummah’s cry sends a jolt through your body. Before you can even think, you find yourself walk towards her and the rest of your family. What’s left of your family. Before you’ve taken even a few steps though, ‘Sob, sob! Uhhuhuhuuu!!’ Turning your head, you see Snow lying on her side hugging her own tail. Of course, she doesn’t know where her family is either, or if they escaped! You need to go to her too, let her know everything is-
‘Sob D-daddeh huhuhu!! Sob!’
Tree, he’s not in much better shape than Snow. Hard as it is to say, his saddies are the bigger problem. You need every toughie you can possibly get right now; if even one of you can’t fight… The point is, you have to help Tree! But, you have to help Snow as well, and your family most of all! ‘Huu…’ What do you do? No one else is coming to help either Tree or Snow, they have saddies of their own to deal with. You look to your family, your Special friend and Tree, feeling saddies and scardies bubble and crawl through your body. There’s only one thing you can do.
Slowly, and with a lot of effort, you get Snow and Tree to get up and wander over to join your family. Snow grabs hold of Flower’s blue baby, while Tree just curls up close by. Skyball notices and, despite his own terrible saddies, goes over and hugs Tree as best he can. With that done, your leggies finally go out from under your, from the long run and the weight of your saddies. You cry, harder and for longer than you have in your entire life.
Like the run, you have no idea how long you spent there, crying over what happened and who was lost. All you know for sure is eventually everyone cried themselves out, and when to sleep one by one. You think you were the last, holding on because it seemed like the right thing to do. It didn’t feel like you’d closed your see places for long, when you felt someone gently nudge you awake.
‘Big Wed?’ One of the few toughies who came with your group says. ‘Tuffy am sowwies, bud, Aww Mummah wan tawkies.’ For a moment, you can’t figure out why All Mummah would want to talk about anything. The toughie, though, explains. ‘Aww Mummah say Fwuffies nee knu wat du. Say, she nee aww tuffies dewe.’
‘Otay,’ you say quietly, then slowly drag yourself to your hoofies so you don’t wake your family, and from the hurties. After you manage to get Tree up, you both follow the toughie over to All Mummah and the others. It looks like the darktime has just started, and it’s quiet dark indeed. You know your should scared about monsters jumping out, but you just don’t have enough left for that.
It doesn’t really change much; you’re all in danger, lost in the forest, far from the herd with no nummies other than what didn’t fall off while you were running, which isn’t much at all. If you don’t have at least some idea of what to do, none of you will make it.
All Mummah and the others, just three other toughies including you, Tree and the toughie leading you over wait by a rock and some bushies. All of them have saddies on their faces and you can tell, even in the dark, that they’ve been crying a lot. You can also tell how much they don’t want to be talking, certainly not now. But, what choice do any of you have? All Mummah seems to notice, and gets right to the point as soon as your arrive.
‘Fwuffies nee tawkies boud wat du nao,’ she says quietly. ‘Nu hav wots of nummies, nu knu whewe hewd am.’ After pausing for a deep breath, getting her saddies back under control, All Mummah goes on. ‘Tink, nee go wookin fow hewd in dah bwighttime, den-’
‘Wai yu sayin wat fwuffies shud du?’ Everyone looks to the fluffy who spoke up; he’s older than you but still quite young. ‘Yu am jus fwuffy dat wook aftah wittwe babbehs an soon mummahs. Yu nu can-’
Before you can stop yourself, though you’re pretty sure you wouldn’t have tired, you walk over and smack and toughie across the face. He drops to the ground without much noise, and it looks like he has bad thinkie place sillies. Good, he won’t move while you talk.
‘Wisten dummeh,’ you hiss into his hear place. ‘Aww Mummah nu am tuffy, bud she nu am dummeh. Yu dummeh fow twyin fight nao.’ You make sure to look into his see place as you say what you have to say next; ‘Dummeh wisten an du wat nee du, ow Big Wed giv yu fowewa sweepies.’ You didn’t lose Daddeh and the Bestest toughie just to let a dummy ruin everything.
Steeping away from the toughie, you nod for All Mummah to go on. She’s a little shocked, but keeps going. ‘W-when dah Bwighttime cum, aww fwuffies shud go wookin fow hewd.’
‘Wai aww fwuffies nee go?’ A much older toughie asks. ‘Dewe am, am…’ He trails off, glancing at you before looking to the ground. You have an idea what he might have said, and wonder if he was worried you’d get mad. ‘Id nu am safe tu weave fwuffies heaw.’ The toughie says. ‘Fowest am scawy pwace, an dewe stiww am munstahs hewe. Fwuffies be safe if aww go wookin.’
All Mummah nods at the toughie then loos around. ‘Wat oda tuffies tink?’
‘Am gud idea,’ the toughie you lead you over says. ‘Hewd gun be wookin fow fwuffies. If aww fwuffies go, be easy fow hewd tu find gain.’
All Mummah looks at Tree, but he just nods once. Next it’s your turn; ‘Big Wed tink same ting. Fwuffies nu can be awone.’
All Mummah nods. ‘Den, dat am wat fwuffies gun du. Gun wook fow hewd in dah bwighttime.’ With that the meeting ends, and everyone walks back to where they’ve been lying.
‘Big Wed,’ Tree says quietly. You turn to look at him but before you have a chance to talk he says ‘Twee gun watch fow munstahs,’ then trots off to a spot not far from everyone else. Your first thought is to join him or even just ask if he’ll be fine, but something in you says Tree just needs to be alone. Sure, you’re scared he’ll run off during the darktime, but not as scared as you are of driving him off. A little reluctantly, you turn back and return to your family.
They’re still asleep when you get back, lying close and hugging each other tight as they can manage. You stand there staring a few moments; Mummah, Skyball, Darktime, Snow and Flower’s blue baby; you can almost feel their saddies from here. Careful not to wake anyone up, you lie down and shuffle as close as you can. Being close to, as far as you know, what’s left of your family makes you feel a little better, but it’s barely enough to even feel.
You don’t know what will happen in the next feww brighttimes, and thinking about it fills your body with cold scardies. The brighttime after the bad fluffies attacked was bad enough, but what you wouldn’t give for things to be only that bad now; at least you still had the safe place and most of the herd. They’re out there somewhere, but where? If you can’t find them before the cold times, ‘Gulp…’ you don’t even want to think about what that would mean.
As your sleepies get stronger and your see places start to close, you can’t help but remember who, so long ago, it was only you, Mummah, Runny and Flower in the old safe baby place. You still remember the darktime when the sky monsters were shouting and yelling. You weren’t scared, all you cared about was how to fight them if you needed to.
When the Bestest toughie walked in to your home and started yelling at Mummah, asking all those questions in such a mean way, you weren’t scared either. You didn’t care if he was bigger than even Mummah; you were ready to fight him to keep Mummah, Runny and Flower safe. No matter what, you were sure you could keep your family and everyone else you loved safe.
Now though, you’re scared; scared because you don’t know if you can keep your family, or anyone for that matter, safe. Right now, even with how big and strong you are, and how good at fighting you’ve become, you’ve never felt smaller and more in danger.
‘Sniff…’
