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__________________________________ Lagomorphs Copyright © July, 2015, FurryWurry All rights reserved

Chapter 31 -- To Dream, Perchance to Sleep __________________________________

This version of tag was fun! "It" got to tickle the captive while the other players counted to five, chanting together. Then, of course, the erstwhile captive got to do the chasing. Jeff was completely out of breath. Still recovering from the tickling he'd been given by Cloudy, he couldn't get near any of the Rabs. They were much too fast. He kept trying to tag Sky, but he was even faster than the others, always dodging at the last instant, blowing raspberries at Jeff.

The columns holding up the large room's ceiling provided perfect hiding places, and it didn't help that the lights were gradually fading. Somehow the game had turned into hide and seek. Seeking in the dark! The Rabs had all disappeared, but he could hear someone giggling.

"Jeff, help!" It was Sky. His shout echoed through the room. What could be wrong? The dark room had gone completely silent. All Jeff could hear was his own breathing. Where had everyone gone?

Jeff ran out into the main passageway. All was quiet. The lights were even darker there and nobody was in sight. Gone. But wait... there was a dark opening he'd never seen before, right across the hall. Its darkness warned of an unpleasant destination. He really didn't want to go in, but he knew he had to. His friend needed him. He had to be rescued.

The passageway went down and down, twisting and turning. It finally opened into another dark chamber, deep in the bowels of the warren. The darkness was almost complete, but he could see glints off something metallic fastened to the walls. Structures he recognized. Horrible constructs. He didn't want to look at them, but he had to. They looked so simple, just horizontal U-shaped loops of heavy metal rods, but he knew they were used for terrible things. They would fit tightly around a Rab's neck, then....

"Jeff, help!" It was Sky! Something had him. Something so surrounded in murk that Jeff couldn't make out what it was. Who it was. It was carrying the Rab toward the wall. Toward those devices.

"Stop! Don't!" Jeff tried to scream, but his voice was mute. Sound wouldn't come out. Nobody could hear him. For all his straining, he was inaudible.

He tried to run toward the wall, to chase the abductor, but he could barely move. He struggled against whatever was holding him back, but it was no use. He was getting nowhere.

The darkness reached the wall and lifted Sky. Cradling him tightly, it lifted the Rab up to the U-shaped structure, up to that glint high above. The glint that Jeff could barely see. It pressed Sky's neck firmly into an inflexible loop of metal, pressed so Sky's head couldn't escape.

"Jeff! Please!" came Sky's feeble plaint, but Jeff could do nothing. He could only watch, watch as the darkness seized Sky tightly around his legs, watch as...

The darkness yanked.

***

"Jeff, what's wrong? Wake up!" Somebody was shaking him. Somebody warm. Somebody strong. He forced his eyes open. Sky! It was Sky! But where was Sunny?

Jeff was covered in cold sweat. He could feel his heart pounding, like it wanted to jump out of his chest. Like what Diver must have felt that morning. He cuddled with Sky, burying his nose in that soft, aromatic fur, welcoming the strong, reassuring hug as his heartbeat gradually slowed. Thank God it had only been a nightmare, but he'd never be able to sleep again. Never.

"It was just a dream. A bad dream. Where's Sunny?"

"She went to talk with Flower. Some girl thing, I bet."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Sky smirked. "They're probably comparing notes. Flower's gonna be jealous. I never fucked anybody like that before. That was fun." He rubbed Jeff's back. "We're gonna have to do that again. Soon. Like right after we get back from the hunt. Or maybe sooner. As soon as she comes back. Yeah, that sounds like a better idea."

The backrub was changing. Sky's strokes seemed to be getting gentler, more like caresses. He nuzzled Jeff's ear. "Or maybe we shouldn't wait for her. Wha'd'you think?" he asked quietly.

Now, that was tempting, life affirming. Not death. But he was sure it was getting late. Or early, depending on one's viewpoint.

"Sky, we do have to get up in the morning. We have to get some sleep don't we, if we're going to be alert while the Sun's up? We wouldn't want to get caught by Raptors. Or wolves. We'll have to have our wits about us, not be dozing off."

The Rab sobered, his anticipation visibly fading. "You're right. I hate it, but you're right." He stared at Jeff, his nose wiggling. "I hate this suggestion even more, but, well, would you mind sleeping in your own snug? If you stay here, I know I won't be able to sleep at all. It's bad enough that it's still night, when I'm usually up and around, but with you here, the way you smell, I wouldn't be thinking of anything but sex. Fun sex!" He grinned, then looked serious again. "Would that be OK?"

"Sure. I understand."

Jeff put on his loincloth before heading down to his snug. With all the other Rabs up and around, he didn't the idea of bumping into someone while he was fully naked. And smelling of sex.

His bed was soft and welcoming. Sleep came quickly.

***

"Jeff, help!" It wasn't Sky this time. It was Sunny, he was sure. But where was she? Where was her snug? He'd never seen it. He raced along the snugrow. He found many snugs, but none that were in use. Dark, dank and dusty, they'd all been unoccupied for a very long time. He kept searching, more and more desperate.

Finally! Bright and colorful, it smelled like her. It smelled like the mark she'd left on him, the mark he hadn't been able to smell before. But the room had a new exit, dark and foreboding. He didn't want to, but he knew what he had to do. He jumped in. Cold, slimy peristalsis carried him down. The passage twisted tightly, nauseatingly throwing him back and forth, until he suddenly slid out into another dark room.

He was too late.

The beautiful Rab was dancing. She was doing it upside down, but her grace was unmistakable, even in the dim lighting. Even hanging from the wooden frame. Even with nails through her hocks, fastened so she couldn't escape.

It didn't matter. None of it mattered. Sumny's loveliness was gone. She was dead. Her neck had been wrung. The dance was just post-traumatic muscle spasms. She felt nothing. Nothing at all.

Unlike Jeff. His grief was all-encompassing. Tears streamed down his face, but he could do nothing. Nothing at all. He couldn't move. He couldn't intervene. He hadn't saved her. Nobody would hear her sing ever again.

He could only watch. He couldn't not watch. He watched as sharp knives sliced through her silken pelt. Watched as her head, her feet, her hands, all were methodically severed. Watched as her blood drained into a bucket.

A few more cuts were all that were needed, down her inner legs to her crotch, to free the soft skin and its creamy fur so it could be grasped. So the darkness could yank it down. So it could be stripped off her body. So easily. So quickly. So smoothly. Turned inside-out, just like a sock. And like a dirty sock, taken away to be cleaned.

The intimate innermost parts of her body now were exposed to view: bladder and kidneys, liver and lights, heart and sweetbreads, uterus and pre-borns. A few quick swipes were enough to excise them, enough to sort them into ignominious pails.

Then she was taken down. Then her body was spread out on a table. Then her carcass was hacked apart: its joints separated, its meat peeled away, its long bones sawn in two. Ready to be broiled. Ready to be grilled. Ready to become stew, soup and stock.

It all happened so quickly, so easily. A thing of beauty, gone. Gone forever. It didn't matter, though. None of it mattered. She was dead. She didn't care. Nobody cared. Nobody wept. Nobody but Jeff. He could feel the tears pouring down his face, the sobs wracking his body.

It was all for a very good purpose, though: now she was food. Delicacies for gourmets. Delights for connoisseurs. Meals for gourmands. Offal for pets.

***

He'd tasted burger in those mushroom balls that sweet Gemma had led him to. Meat. Meat in the home of herbivores. Now he knew where that meat must have come from.

Jeff heaved into the toilet until only bile came up. No more sleep. None. He'd stay awake. He would. He wasn't that tired. Nobody could be that tired. Not with dreams like that waiting.