The Fire Triangle, A Zootopia Fanfiction -- Part One: Fuel - 35

Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.

-----------------------------------------------------

The Fire Triangle-A Zootopia Fanfiction

-----------------------------------------------------

Part One:

Fuel

-----------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4 - The Wizard of Chaos

(Continued...Pt. 4)

"I thought you said you had a big breakfast, Nick."

Judy eyed the fox curiously with her nose twitching. She had forgotten all about that-until he'd gone back to snag his basket of blueberries.

"Nervous eater I guess," he shrugged, flicking another one into his mouth. Judy couldn't argue; she was a little nervous herself right now. But then the fox's expression turned slyly sardonic, "If your folks find out we went skydiving, guess whose idea they'll think it was?"

Twenty yards away, unnoticed by either one of them, Jack La Peigne's ears-and his lower jaws-were slowly dropping earthwards.

Skydiving? They'd been talking about skydiving? B-But he'd thought...but she'd said...but the fox had sounded like...

Ohhhh, Sweet Cheez n' Crackers!

Judy's ears went back and she punched Nick in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Now just you stop right there Nicholas P. Wilde," she told him, right foot thumping like a war drum, "You know my parents better than that. No matter how crazy they might get if they find out we jumped out of a plane, they'd never blame it on you."

Nick's tail curled upwards between his legs.

"Yeah...yeah, you're right. Sorry, Carrots."

He tried to meet her eyes, but couldn't quite manage it, so instead he settled for another blueberry.

Jack La Peigne could have kicked himself into a coma. Great Burrows of the Bunny Gods, what had he DONE? But it was too late now; the genie was out of the lamp and all he could do was...Ohhhh, NO!

"Here, can I have a couple of those berries?" Judy was asking, holding out her paw. And as Jack watched in helpless horror, Nick offered her the basket and she scooped out two fingers worth of fruit. The big bunny wanted to rush out and knock them out of her paw, but his feet felt as if they were bonded to the ground with iron glue; ditto for his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

"Anyway Nick, I don't think we have to worry about them figuring it out." She gave him a quick appraisal, adding, "I think we look presentable enough."

She was just about to pop a couple of the blueberries into her mouth when the fox abruptly grabbed her by the arm, causing her to drop them.

Jack's head became an instant whirlwind. Could one of those 'berries' have been the pellet-dart? If so, lucky for Judy, but if either one had been the winning lottery ball-and then if anybody but a hoofed species stepped on it....

"Well we're about to find out, Carrots." Nick was saying, "Heads up, we've got company. "

Thoroughly annoyed, she followed his gaze anyway; so did Jack. She groaned, and he raised an ear over a twitching nose.

That was because he didn't know the bunny coming Judy's way from B'rer Rabbit, but yikes who was this loser? Uncombed fur, unwashed overalls, and a cap he'd likely found in a dumpster; he looked like he should be standing at the head of a freeway ramp somewhere, holding up a sign saying, 'Bet You Can't Hit Me With A Quarter!' (Jack would have pegged him with an entire roll of quarters-right between the eyes.)

"Hello, Uncle Terry." Judy greeted him in the same flat monotone she'd employed during their first encounter...while at the same time crossing her fingers behind her back.

"Hello Judy, Hello Mick," the plump bunny answered in the same jolly-good-fellow voice HE had used the day before. He looked around for a second and then nodded conspiratorially.

Nick was the first to see it coming; his eyes narrowed and he whispered to Judy out the side of his mouth.

"Listen I hate to ask..."

"Listen, I hate to ask," Uncle Terry said to her, "But you know, they got that car raffle drawing at the dance tonight, right?"

Judy tried not to roll her eyes; as IF she didn't know that. But she kept her thoughts to herself and simply nodded yes.

"Well the tickets are almost sold out." The older bunny was saying, "So do you think maybe you could... maybe lend me...?"

Nick muttered under his breath again. "And he'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a carrot fritter today."

"Sssst!" Judy hissed, but if her uncle had heard what the fox just said, he gave no sign of it. She nodded quickly and answered him, "Oh sure Uncle," then did a fast draw into her back pocket. "How much are those tickets again?"

"Ten dollars," the older bunny answered. (They were actually five.)

"Oh dear," Judy said opening her wallet. "I don't have anything smaller than a twenty, but you're welcome to it."

She pulled the bill from her wallet; Uncle Terry snatched it quickly, as if she might suddenly change her mind.

"Heyyy, thanks Judy, you're all right," he said...while she stiffened, praying to whoever that he wouldn't try to hug her.

He didn't; instead he shifted his attention to Nick...or more specifically, to the basket of blueberries held in his paw.

"Oooo, those look good; mind if I get a few?" he asked, and reached once again without waiting for an answer. This time however Nick was ready and managed to cover the basket before Judy's uncle could make his move. He might have left it like that if his partner hadn't nudged him in the elbow and made an earnest face.

"Okay, a few," he said, and moved his paw away. As anyone could have predicted, Terry Haredigg scooped up nearly all the berries. But once again Nick was a step ahead of Judy's uncle; he winked at her and then added casually, "That is....if you're sure you don't mind eating after a fox."

A cascade of blue tumbled instantly back into the carton, (and also onto the ground in a few, isolated cases.)

"I-I guess I'm not that hungry after all." The plump rabbit told him, hurriedly putting his paws inside his pockets.

"Uhhh, better get going if you want to get one of those raffle tickets, Unk," Judy suggested in a slightly strained voice; (she hadn't called him Unk since she was five,) "They're likely to sell out any second."

"Yeah right, good thought, Judy." Her uncle nodded and then turned and walked away, wiping his paws on his overalls and staining them an even darker blue.

-----------------------------------------------------

While all of this was going on, a quarter of a mile away, on the other side of the Carrot Days Festival, a seemingly unconnected event was taking place. Inside the campground, an Amur leopard had just emerged from his motor home with a near-to-bursting trash bag ...and was finding the refuse container in front of his space was already stuffed to the gunwales-with someone else's garbage.

"Not again!" he growled, dropping the bag and stalking over to the overfilled trash receptacle

It took only a quick examination to identify the culprit; there were at least a half dozen empty Ewe-Hew bottles jammed inside the can, The only folks in the campground who drank that stuff were the Gaur Bison occupying the second space over from his own...and dangit they had their OWN trash receptacle. Just then two other animals arrived, also with full trash bags, a wild boar and a giant Panda. A brief consultation followed; yes their trash cans had hijacked too...and yes, there had been several empty Ewe-Hew bottles in the mix. At once the three of them set off as a delegation, headed in the direction of the Guars' travel trailer.

When they arrived they found the big bison were all still asleep. They awoke in a foul mood and angry words were exchanged, the words became threats; the threats became shoving...and the Burrows County Sheriff's department never did find out exactly what happened next.

But what happened after that was a low-grade riot. No one was injured thank heaven, and there was only minor damage to two of the RVs. But it would require the presence every single deputy working the Festival to eventually restore order...along with nearly every single one of the extra security mammals as well.

-----------------------------------------------------

Judy of course knew nothing of this as she watched her Uncle Terry disappearing into the crowd; she was only aware that Nick Wilde was studying her with a raised eyebrow.

She sighed and turned in his direction.

"Yes I know; 20 bucks...but it was worth it to get him out my face for the rest of today."

(Like any good mooch, Terry Haredigg knew better than to go to the same well once too often.)

"Well yes," the fox said to her, "But what I was going to say was, an extra 20 and he still had to try and cop some of my blueberries?"

"That's my Uncle Terry for you." Judy sighed and shook her head, "He may not have come up with the phrase, 'the best things in life are free,' but he sure as heck lives by it." Her face turned unexpectedly impish; "Uhhh, mind if I get a few more of those blueberries? Some of us don't mind eating after a fox."

"Help yourself." Nick sniggered and offered her the basket once again. "But hey I just realized something, Carrots. Your uncle didn't notice anything weird-about either one of us."

"Hallelujah, Unk." Judy proclaimed cynically. To celebrate, she popped a trio of blueberries into her mouth.

But then she suddenly grimaced. That wasn't a blueberry. It tasted like...Oh, no!

"Let me see that basket for a second Nick." She said. The red fox looked at her oddly for a second but then passed it over just the same.

"Uh huh," she said, and wave her paw over the contents, "Just like I thought, there's one or two huckleberries mixed in here...wonderful!"

"What's so bad about that?" Nick asked her, inspecting the basket with his head tilted sideways. It all looked the same to him.

"Huckleberries don't ripen until late July or August," Judy explained, "This time of year they're usually way too sour to..."

That was when they heard the scream,

It came from almost directly behind them. Instinctively they wheeled in that direction...just in time to see an irritated young she-wolf push her grinning boyfriend away from her.

"Dang you Johnny, that wasn't funny!"

"I wonder what he did," Nick started to say...but then they heard another scream.

This one was shrill and loud and fearful; no, not just fearful...

Terrified!

It was also very familiar.

"Oh my God, that sounded like Cotton." Judy gasped, and the next terrible shriek confirmed it.

She pulled out her badge; Nick threw away his basket and did the same, and then the two of them went tearing through the crowd in the directions of the screams, waving their badges and shouting. "Make way! Police Officers! Coming through!"

Some of the animals moved aside; most did not, they seemed to be rooted to wherever they were standing. Nick and Judy were obliged to duck and weave to make their way through the multitude. Then, just as it seemed they were about to break free from the crowd, they found their path blocked by the legs of an enormous giant eland. "Police! Move!" Judy shouted, but the animal refused to budge-at first.

Without warning he let out a bellow of alarm and turned to run...right over the fox and bunny standing behind him. Judy yanked her partner out of the way just as a big hoof came down, missing them both by scant centimeters.

There was another scream, but not from Cotton, and now more animals were turning and running, a LOT more; it was almost like a stampede. What the heck was going on here?

They heard Cotton scream again and jumped quickly to their feet; the crowd onlookers had melted away and now they could see what was happening.

The little bunny was cowering against a poster kiosk, nearly paralyzed with fright, shivering and whimpering, her face streaked with tears. Except for a rip in the sleeve of her sun-dress she appeared to be unharmed.

But she wasn't going to stay that way for long. Stalking around her was the specter of someone who might have once been her Uncle Terry.

Judy dropped her badge and her paws flew up to her face. "Oh God, NO!"

Terry Haredig was down on all fours lips pulled back to expose a pair of gnashing, yellow incisors. Spittle flew from the corners of his mouth as he moved back and forth in an ever tightening half circle before the petrified little bunny. All of his fur was standing on end as if he'd taken a massive jolt of static electricity.

But the worst thing was the eyes, those mindless, half-reddened eyes. Glazed and yet blazing, they seemed to crackle with rage and unbridled malevolence.

"A bunny can go savage." The words Judy had spoken two years before stabbed into her soul like the point of red-hot needle.

She known ever since that such a thing was possible, but never had it occurred to her that one day she might actually see it for herself-not until now.

Terry had stopped his pacing and was hunkering down on all fours, his mad eyes focusing on the little bunny girl like a pair of laser sights.

Cotton screamed again, so did Judy.

"Terry, NO!"

Nick Wilde also screamed, but his was the wild cry of a feral fox.

He dropped down on all fours and went tearing towards the kiosk

Cotton pressed herself up against it, as if trying to will herself safely inside.

Terry's nose was twitching furiously and his foot was thumping hard. In a blindingly swift movement, he tensed, pulled back slightly, and sprang forward with his jaws extended

Cotton sobbed and shut her eyes, throwing her arms around her head. She felt a hot breath on her face, jaws closing in around her.

...but instead of biting her, they picked her up. And then she was moving ...moving fast.

The little bunny opened her eyes again. It wasn't Uncle Terry that had her, it was Nick Wilde.

But the savage bunny was right behind them and gaining fast.

Nick felt something sharp grab hold of his tail, hauling him backwards; he cried out and nearly let go of Cotton, digging in with his claws and trying frantically to pull away from the crazed bunny. It was no use; fueled by the Nighthowler dart, Terry Haredigg's strength had become nothing short of incredible. He held the fox as easily as flypaper holds a mosquito.

That was when Judy came running out of nowhere, leaping into the air and aiming full force with both feet for...

"No, not the head," her inner voice shrieked, "he'll bite Nick's tail off!"

Judy made the adjustment in mid-air, but was only partially successful; she managed to shift the point of impact to her Uncle Terry's back rather than his head but that turned it into an awkward, almost glancing blow. The other bunny bucked violently with his hind legs, throwing his back upwards and forwards and flinging her away like a bad thought.

Judy came down in a liquid roll and whirled instantly onto her feet again.

The first thing she saw was Terry shaking himself...but there was no sign of Nick or Cotton. Partially effective had been effective enough; he had let them go. But now she could see where the fox was headed and...

"No, Nick...not in THERE!" she screamed. The red fox appeared not to hear her.

But Uncle Terry did; like the turret of a tank, his head rotated slowly in the direction of his new adversary, focusing upon her with those eyes of unthinking fury. An odd thought occurred to Judy just then, Nick had been right, what she'd seen in the alley behind Rafaj Brothers' Jeweler had not been an animal gone savage...not like this.

Terry lowered his head almost to the ground; she saw his feet begin to scuffle the earth, preparing to charge once again.

"Get away from her!" a sudden new voice commanded.

Judy looked and Terry turned towards the sound.

Just behind him and off to the left a female wolverine in an ASM uniform, was slapping a baton into her palm. Judy wanted to shout out a warning, you can't reason with an animal gone savage, but it was too late. Instantly pegging the predator as the greater threat, the crazed bunny turned and leaped to the attack.

The wolverine swung hard with the baton, aiming for the crest of Terry Haredigg's skull; it bounced off like a rubber ball. She raised it again and he leaped again, catching the stick nimbly between his jaws and yanking it out of her grasp like candy from a baby. Heaving it away he gnashed his teeth as if to inquire, 'Is that all you've got?'

It wasn't all the wolverine had; she bared her own teeth and swung a hard right.

What happened next took all of three seconds. The blow swished over Terry's head as he rolled over onto his back and kicked out with his hind legs catching his adversary right in the solar plexus...driving the air from her lungs and folding her double. With nearly blinding speed the crazed bunny rolled over and kicked out again, this time bracing his forepaws against the ground for added thrust.

The twin blows hit Laura Clawson right between the eyes, propelling her ten feet backwards and into the side of the Furizon truck; the sound was like a dumpster-lid being dropped. She seemed to hold like that for a second as if plastered to the side of the vehicle and then she slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Terry spun around and pulled into that stalking crouch again, shuffling his feet and making ready to finish what he'd started.

Stung by rapidity of her uncle's assault, Judy could only stare helplessly at the scene unfolding in front of her...but then her eyes fell on the wolverine's baton, lying marooned on the ground between her and the crazed rabbit. She rushed forward, snatched it on the run and leaped on Terry's back again, swinging with both paws and connecting with the base of his ear. Even a bunny gone savage can't take a blow to that part of the anatomy-as Judy herself knew well. That was where the 'Eee-normous criminal' had tagged her, during her first bout in the ZPD Academy training ring. "Like someone ringing a gong inside your head," was how she'd later described it to Nick.

Momentarily disoriented, Uncle Terry began to turn in a slow circle, like a wolf cub chasing its tail. Judy raised the club again, but he seemed to sense what was about to happen, and the circle became a blinding spin. Somehow she managed to avoid being thrown off, but the baton went clanking away across the ground once again.

"Where the heck are those Sheriff's Deputies?" Judy asked herself rhetorically, hanging on for dear life. (They were at that moment, converging on the Carrot Days Festival campground.)

"Where the heck ARE you, Gully?" Jack La Peigne was barely able to keep from screaming into his cell-phone. Those two bungling idiots should have been here five minutes ago!

"Sir," Gully's voice came back defensively, "you said you wanted us locked and loaded; our weapons are back inside Tac-Vehicle. We have to..."

"I don't want to hear it; you two get over here NOW!" The big bunny was ready to throttle him, wolverine or no wolverine. "We've got an operative down, do you hear me? Operative down, now MOVE!"

He disconnected without waiting for a reply. (At least Gully had been wise enough not to mention that they had stowed their weapons on HIS orders.)

Then Terry Haredigg stood up on his hind legs. For perhaps half a second Jack wondered if somehow the Nighthowler dart was starting wear off.

No it wasn't; the crazed rabbit was falling over backwards-on purpose and right on top of the smaller bunny clinging to his back.

But this time, Judy knew what was coming and sprang backwards and off of her uncle, only a split second before he made contact with mother earth. The impact barely seemed to faze him and he rolled angrily onto all fours again, ears raised and searching like antennae. WHERE was the bunny that was causing him so much misery? He found out when Judy jumped back onto her feet. Terry spun like a dervish in that direction, the wolverine he'd just cold-cocked completely forgotten.

"Carrots! Quick, over here!" Nick Wilde was beckoning from the open gate of the Cell-Phone tower yard.

"No Nick, get out of there!' Judy wanted to shout again, but Terry was already coming at her, and there was no place else to go.

She turned and bolted for the gate.

The savage bunny was coming up fast behind her; she could almost feel his breath on her back. She put on an extra measure of speed, felt the gap between them widening. Almost there, just a couple of more feet and....

"AHHHHHHYEEP!"

A sharp, silvery, electric pain shot up Judy's leg and into her thigh, making her cry out in agony; her Rabbithon run from the day before had just come home to roost-with a vengeance; pushed past the redline by the combination of heat, hard use, near dehydration, and finally stressed nerves, the muscles of her left leg were seizing up like an engine with no oil in the crankcase.

She cried out again and began to stumble. She shouldn't keep upright she was going to fall. And when she did, Uncle Terry would pounce on her. And then he would...!

Something grabbed her by the wrist; it was Nick Wilde's paw. Swinging his partner like a grain sack, he all but threw her through the gate and then darted in after, pulling it shut behind him.

He wasn't going to make it; the gate was only halfway closed when Judy's Uncle Terry collided with it, full force.

...and unwittingly slammed it shut; the gate opened outwards, not inwards. But in his mindless fury the crazed bunny hadn't realized it...or cared. Leaping up again, he began to tear fruitlessly at the cyclone wire with his teeth, seemingly unaware that all he had to do was flip a latch to gain access to the cell tower yard. Nick Wilde knew it though and hurriedly picked himself up off the ground. Terry saw him, saw where he was headed and immediately bolted in that direction. Judy saw what was happening too, but still half dazed from her unhappy landing, she didn't realize at first what the fox was up to. When did, she cried out, "No wait, don't!" But he had already reached the gate and was searching feverishly for the padlock.

Uncle Terry was there too, slavering and snapping, trying once again to bite him through the fence.

Nick forced himself to ignore the savage bunny, instead trying to focus on...

"Lock, lock; where's the dang...? Wait, there it is!"

The padlock was lying in the dust just underneath the gate. Nick grabbed for it, snatching it away just microseconds before Terry Haredig's jaws snapped shut where his paw had been.

He jumped up and lunged for the gate-latch; he'd have only one shot and he wasn't sure of that one. In the background, Judy was yelling something; what was she saying? Never mind, fix that gate! Jamming the padlock through the latch, Nick twisted and slapped it shut just as the savage bunny bit down again.

This time he wasn't fast enough; something hot and searing swiped across the back of his paw and he let out a fox scream of pain.

But when he looked, there was no blood, only swath of missing fur and some reddened skin.

"Nick!" Judy screamed again.

"I'm all right Carrots, I'm all right." He waved his paw to reassure her and then corked a thumb over his shoulder. "Gate's locked, we're okay now."

"No, we're not, Nick!" Judy clenched her fists in exasperation, "He's a RABBIT remember?"

One of the fox's ears went higher than the other.

"What? Seriously," He said, pointing towards the fence and three rows of razor-ribbon on top of it; his old self confidence was rapidly returning, "Come on Carrots, even a savage bunny couldn't jump that thing!"

Judy pointed over his shoulder, her voice a frustrated air-raid siren. "He doesn't have to Nick, LOOK!"

Nick turned, looked...and felt his heart fall into his gut.

On the other side of the fence, Judy's uncle had his head buried in the earth and was digging furiously, the dirt flying out behind him in an almost steady stream.

The red fox's mind began to race...that night at Tundratown Limo Service, when he'd jumped off the fence, only to find Judy already waiting for him on the other side; she had tunneled underneath it faster than he'd been able to climb. Granted, it had been only snow that time, and this was packed earth, but at the rate Judy's Uncle was going, it wouldn't be much longer before he was inside the cell-tower yard. And then he and the others would all be trapped inside, along with the savage bunny.

No, the red fox realized, he would have gotten them trapped; the whole thing was his fault...forget it Nick, and THINK!

He looked around anxiously for a weapon, any weapon; the best he could find was a four foot length of cable that drew a groan from Judy Hopps when she saw it. He could hardly blame her; the thing was no thicker than a licorice stick; that Furizon maintenance crew must have been working on one of the guy-lines...WAIT!

Nick looked up and then outside the tower-yard.

Yes, it could work but...Terry Haredig had already disappeared into the hole he was digging; how the foxtrot did bunnies burrow so quickly?

"Carrots quick, come on!" he said, and hurried in the direction of the tower. Judy started to say something, but then realized what he had in mind. She tried to run after him, but her leg muscles were still in a Gordian knot and she was forced to follow at a Jake-legged hobble.

Nick didn't notice; he was focusing on little Cotton, clinging to the base of the cell-phone tower like a shipwreck survivor, shivering and whimpering.

"Climb up on my back, honey," he said, dropping down on all fours, "we're getting out here."

The little bunny was shaking uncontrollably but managed to do as he said. Nick looped the length of cable around his neck, hoping it would stay put.

"Come on Carrots." He said again, this time with an edge of urgency to his voice.

Judy shook her head, looking up and over his shoulder at the ladder ascending the side of the rig; it seemed to stretch up into the heavens for miles on end.

"Nick, it's no good," she said, "take Cotton and get out of here; even if I was a squirrel instead of a bunny I couldn't climb that thing right now." As if to prove it, she attempted to flex her cramped leg, it refused bend more than halfway.

The fox responded with something he'd never done before, he grabbed Judy by the shoulders and shook her.

"Yes, you CAN Carrots; don't you quit on me now!"

Taking her by the wrist, he began to drag her towards the ladder, while ten feet behind them, a mound of dirt erupted from the earth growing rapidly.

Nick ascended the first few rungs with Cotton on his back, then stopped and turned slightly. Directly behind him Uncle Terry's muzzle was poking through the dirt.

"Carrots grab my tail with your teeth and hold on!"

"Nick, I don't..."

"DO IT!"

Judy took his tail in her mouth and stepped onto the ladder. At that instant, the mound of dirt behind her exploded upwards like an erupting volcano, and Judy's Uncle Terry burst upon the earth; a demon loosed from the underworld.

The only thing that saved her-and also Nick and Cotton-was that her uncle came out of the ground facing in the wrong direction, away from the cell-phone tower. With most animals, that might have been good for a second's delay at most, but maddened as he was by the Nighthowler serum. Terry Haredigg was literally beyond reason. Instead of focusing on his quarry's most obvious avenue of escape, he began searching crazily in all directions, first left and then right, hissing and snapping his jaws in frustration; where had all his enemies gone?

Wait, there they were...trying to escape up the side of that...thing.

He turned and went after them, this time dispensing with any thumping or shuffling preamble.

"Climb, Carrots!" Nick Wilde shouted, pulling upwards with his charges for all he was worth. They had only managed to get about about seven feet off the ground. Close, but not enough. His only hope, their only hope was that in his crazed state, Terry wouldn't think to climb up after them.

And they were about to find out; he had reached the base of the ladder.

Nick ignored him and pressed onwards; looking back would only slow them down.

Had he been able to, the fox would have seen the savage bunny putting his paws on the lowest rung of the ladder, as if he were testing the weight.

And then he dropped down into a crouch and leaped upwards with his jaws wide open.

Judy saw what was coming for her and knew she didn't have enough distance to avoid those slashing incisors. She hurriedly pulled her legs up; only the right one obeyed; the other remained at a half deployment.

But Terry had instinctively been aiming for her right leg and once again, his jaws snapped shut on nothing.

He dropped back down, tried again, but by now the others had reached minimum safe distance and the gap was slowly increasing.

Nick refused to slow the pace; if they could just make it to that guy line...

"Nick!'

He heard Judy's voice behind him, but still would not look back. But then little Cotton started to shiver-and then he heard her whimpering.

And so he dared a backwards glance.

It had taken Judy's Uncle a while to figure it out, but now he was on the ladder and moving up fast behind them.

(And he wasn't burdened by any extra weight.)

Nick looked up again; the guy line's turnbuckle was too far away; Judy's uncle would be on them before...

He felt the load on his back begin to shift; heard a stutter of faint sobs.

"No, Cotton, don't look!" He tried to shout a warning, but knew it was already too late; the little bunny had seen the thing closing fast behind them and now she began to panic.

Nick felt her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, fueled by fear and adrenaline, she was choking the be-cheezes out of him. He tried shout for her to let go, but all that came out was a wet gurgle. He attempted to reach up and grab her arm; the instant he slackened his grip on the ladder, he felt himself starting to slip. Behind him, the unmistakable, pungent aroma of an animal gone savage was rapidly increasing in strength. Terry Haredigg was aware of what was happening up above him and was closing in for the kill. Little Cotton began to scream again-right in the red fox's ear.

Then, miraculously, her arms began to release their grip...no wait, that wasn't Cotton, it was the length of steel cable, their only lifeline, sliding off his shoulders and falling away into oblivion.

And there was nothing Nick could do to stop it.

-----------------------------------------------------

Easter Eggs; A reference to Aladdin and another one to Popeye.