Disclaimer: Hallo, my beloved readers and reviewers! Welcome to Watership Down; Tales from the New World, a collection of deleted scenes from New World. As always, the characters are the creations and property of Richard Adams. I only own the human characters and certain elements of the future world; everything else in this universe is borrowed, no profit is intended from this work and it isn't based on any real-life people or events.
Notice to all readers: This is a collection of several chapter-length deleted scenes and a final epilogue from Watership Down; The New World, my first WD story. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT STORY FIRST, YOU WILL BE VERY CONFUSED!
After Alan, Hazel and Fiver left to go and find Bigwig and Robbins, the others, accompanied by Strawberry, went to round up the rest of their companions. With Silverweed now dealt with, the rest of their group had also awoken from their trance and realised something was wrong. Their reaction was one of shock and outrage, as Holly told them what had happened. Many of them were tempted to go find Cowslip and kill him right there and then for attempting to lure them under Silverweed's control with false pretences of hospitality; it was only that they realised Cowslip was nowhere to be seen.
Many had serious doubts of allowing Strawberry to come along with them; as far as they were concerned, like Fiver had said, they ought to have nothing to do with this foul place – and that included any of Cowslip's rabbits.
"He can't be trusted, Holly," snapped Hawkbit, "None of them can. We have no need for sly little weasels who'd try and deceive us!"
"No, you can't leave me!" begged Strawberry desperately, looking as if he was about to cry, "Please!" Fortunately, Holly came to his rescue. Casting Hawkbit a glare to shut his trap, he turned to Strawberry.
"It's all right, son, you can come with us. Go get your friends."
While Holly and Silver made sure everyone was accounted for, an overjoyed Strawberry hurried back to the warren, to see if he could persuade any of his other friends to join them. Unfortunately, Cowslip's influence, as well as their natural fear of humans, was too firmly rooted to be undone in a heartbeat.
"Cowslip will lead you all to your deaths if you stay!" the chubby buck protested to the group of frightened and confused rabbits huddled together in the Hall of Bones, "This might be your only chance to truly be free...!" Unfortunately, his friends, too scared, or too confused, would hear none of it.
"They are ithel!" retorted a doe called Betony, "We'd rather take our chances here than follow an ithe!"
"I don't want to live out the rest of my life as a banished hlessil," said a buck called Kingcup, "Those strangers are lunatics, who will only lead us to starvation in some wilderness!" It was clear nobody could be persuaded into coming – with one exception.
"I'll go with you, Strawberry," said Nildrohein, sounding a tad bit half-heartedly. Although, she, like her friends, was anything but confident with the idea of tagging along with these talking ithel, she couldn't live under the cloud of her father's sinister control any longer, waiting her turn for sacrifice. Strawberry nuzzled her happily; this might just be a chance for a fresh start for the both of them. Casting one last look at their former friends, bidding them farewell, they rejoined Hazel's group outside, preparing to leave.
They were almost ready for departure when suddenly, Derek came running, looking alarmed. McEwen grabbed hold of him, "Easy, man! What is it?"
"Alan just radioed in; there's been some trouble. They've found Bigwig strangled – and they think Robbins did it! I knew that guy would double-cross us soon or later!"
There was utmost shock and uproar from the rabbits at the news that one of their own group had betrayed them, "WHAT? BIGWIG HAS BEEN KILLED?" Sensing an imminent panic, McEwen had to yell to make himself heard, to restore order, "Everybody calm down! We have to pull ourselves together and wait till we know what's going on…"
Before anyone could argue however, they were all caught off-guard by the thunder-like sound of a firing gun, coming from the direction of the graveyard, sending flocks of panicked birds flying. The rabbits, utterly terrified by the terrifying alien sound, seemed about to scatter in panic, but somehow managed to hold their ground, petrified with fear.
"What in Frith's name was that?!" Derek and McEwen, however, knew all too well what they had just heard.
"Good Lord, a gunshot! They're in trouble! Come on, Major!" Derek yelled, as he turned and ran in the direction from where the shot had been heard. McEwen hesitated, cursing the engineer. Going up against an armed and potentially dangerous enemy like that was reckless and foolish in the extreme; but he couldn't just let Dr Shaw go after his friend alone. After all, he had been sent on this rescue mission to bring these people back safely; although he obviously couldn't bring them home anymore – or get himself home for that matter -, as an officer in Her Majesty's Royal Air Corps, it was still his duty to watch out for their safety.
Making up his mind, he turned to Holly, "I need four volunteers to come with me and cover my back." The Owsla veteran realising their friends might be in serious trouble, wasted no time.
"You heard him, chaps; all Owsla rabbits with me; the rest of you stay here and don't move until we come back."
"Wait, I want to come too," pleaded Pipkin, stepping forward, "I want to help Alan..." Ever since the man had saved him from the water, the little buck had been secretly hoping for a chance to return the favour, to prove his worth. Holly, however, would not have it.
"Absolutely not, Hlao-roo," he said softly, yet firmly, "This is strictly a job for Owsla only. The same goes for you, Strawberry," he added to the chubby ginger buck, who had also volunteered without hesitation, eager to prove his own worth to his new friends. "All right, let's move!"
With McEwen in the lead, Holly and his squad of Owsla scouts, consisting of Speedwell, Buckthorn, Acorn and Silver, made their way through the forest, hoping they weren't too late...
Meanwhile, back at the graveyard, Bigwig stood towering above Robbins' unconscious form. After regaining consciousness, finding himself miraculously alive and free of the noose, where Robbins and Cowslip had left him to die to silence him, he had hurried back to the graveyard, intent on dealing with those two troublemakers before they could hurt any of his friends. He had stepped into the clearing, only to see Hazel and Fiver tied to a tree and Robbins pointing some sort of shinny gadget in Alan's face, as if about to kill him.
Realising he only had a second before Robbins would turn around and see him, Bigwig had lunged at his would-be killer, cuffing the unsuspecting Robbins over the head with all the strength he could muster. But the effect was more than what he had expected; the second he had struck, a deafening, thunder-like sound had come from the thing clutched in Robbins' hand, unleashing, what seemed to be from Bigwig's point of view, a bolt of lightning, which had found Alan square in the chest. The man uttered a yell of pain and sunk to his knees, before falling backwards into the open grave behind him.
Horrified by what had just happened, Bigwig stepped over Robbins' limp form, to check on Alan; the man lay spread-eagle at the bottom of the pit. He was not moving. Although horrified by what he had just done – unintentionally or not -, Bigwig quickly got his grip back together, to think straight.
Quickly making sure the enemy was out cold and wouldn't be sneaking up on him again, he hurried over to Hazel and Fiver and, with some effort, managed to gnaw through the cords, freeing them. The two brothers stared back at their friend, whom they'd left for dead back there, utterly dumbstruck to see him alive.
"Thlayli? By Frith, we thought you were…"
"Dead?" supplied Bigwig, "That's what I thought too when I found myself being strangled alive. I could almost see the eyes of the Black Rabbit of Inle staring back at me… How did you find me?"
"We saw you missing and came looking for you, only to find you hanging by the neck; Alan got you down and tried to revive you but you wouldn't wake. We thought you were dead and went after Robbins, who was waiting for us..."
Bigwig cut him off, "You went after Robbins by yourselves, when you knew he was dangerous? What were you duffers thinking? What was I thinking?" he added, remembering how he had scorned Fiver's warning that Cowslip's warren, although safe at first glance, was indeed a death trap. His face drooped in shame.
Meanwhile, Fiver had run up to Alan, confirming his worst fears. Just like he had seen in his vision, the unseen enemy, which they now knew had been Robbins, had done his job, "I don't think he's breathing!" But Hazel, not about to swallow the loss of one of their companions yet, turned to Bigwig, "Go get the others, hurry!"
"No, you need me here," replied the mighty veteran sternly, gesturing in the direction of the unconscious Robbins, who was groaning, as if about to stir, "I'm not leaving you here alone with this bastard; and I've got a bone to pick with him when he awakes…!" Without bothering to argue, Hazel turned to Fiver instead.
"Go get some help, Fiver. Be quick, he'll die!" Without another word, Fiver bolted for the warren, praying with all his might to Almighty Frith that Alan wasn't already beyond help...
Meanwhile, Cowslip was making his way back to his warren, feeling rather nervous. While Robbins and Alan had been fighting, he had wisely slipped away, just in case things went downhill – and indeed they had. From afar, he had seen Robbins getting overpowered by that oaf-returned-for-the-dead Thlayli. Cowslip was not naive; he knew his accomplice had chosen a far more dangerous opponent than he had bargained for and he was not the one to put his neck out for a reckless fool. Fortunately, he had his own backup plan.
Tonight was full moon, time for another raid by his humanoid custodians - something which his guests hadn't the faintest idea about. With Silverweed keeping everyone's minds idle, he was still in control. All he had to do was lie low and wait until nightfall; those hlessil who thought they could turn his own people against him that easily, would soon be getting their comeuppance, just as they deserved. In fact, he was so lost in his happy thoughts for revenge that he wasn't watching where he was going, until he ran straight into Derek, McEwen and Holly's group, who came running from the opposite direction, towards the graveyard.
"It's Cowslip! Get him!"
But Cowslip didn't wait until they had him pinned; getting to his feet, he turned and bolted for his life, moving astonishingly fast for an overweight rabbit. But he didn't get far; just as he thought he'd lost his pursuers, another rabbit came out of nowhere, blocking his way. It was Strawberry, who had followed against Holly's orders, along with Pipkin.
Believing his son-in-law was still under Silverweed's control, Cowslip tried to hide behind Strawberry, hoping to use the larger buck as a bodyguard against the hlessil coming after him; to his utmost shock, Strawberry, his eyes glaring with hate and rage, only responded with a painful cuff across the face, which sent Cowslip crumpling to the ground, "Strawberry, what…what are you doing? Strike your own Chief and guardian?"
"You never were my Chief, no more than you were my guardian," spat Strawberry in disgust, giving his former master a cold glare. Cowslip couldn't believe it; Silverweed's control had somehow lifted, no doubt the work of those wretched hlessil. He was ruined! His shock at the realisation of Strawberry's betrayal soon gave way to fury.
"You insolent fool! You dare betray me? You're banished, just like I should have done seasons ago!" Strawberry only sneered in reply, as he pinned Cowslip to the ground, "Good, because I have no intention of staying on, you pathetic waste of a rabbit!"
Before he knew what was happening, Cowslip found himself confronted Holly's group, who appeared on the scene, finding him pinned by Strawberry. Not bothering to reprimand him or Pipkin for following them, Holly rounded on the now trembling Cowslip, furiously demanding explanations, "What have you done with our friends? Well?"
"I don't understand, my dear friends," replied Cowslip, trying to keep a straight face, freighting innocence, "It's surely just a simple misunderstanding…" But Holly only pinned him down by the throat, nearly chocking him in the process, "Any more of your lies and I'll rip your throat out! We know just what kind of a game you've been playing with us! Now, I am asking you for the last time, where are our friends?"
Before Cowslip could formulate some sort of reply however, Fiver suddenly came running from the bushes, looking in a state of semi-panic. "You've got to come! He hit him and I think he's dying…!"
"Calm down! Who's dying?" asked McEwen sternly, gently grabbing Fiver by the shoulders. Finally, Fiver had calmed down enough to explain, "It's Alan! Robbins ambushed us back there; he said he was the murderer of Alan's family. He had some sort of…fire-stick and got Alan with it…!" McEwen paled. Derek bellowed, "ALAN GOT SHOT?"
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and bolted in the direction of the graveyard, intent on helping his friend. McEwen shook his head, That bloody Irishman has a lot to learn about staying safe, he thought. He turned to the rest of the group, "Let's go! And make sure you bring him along," he said, nudging Cowslip, still pinned beneath Holly, with the tip of his boot, "I don't want this fellow on the loose, causing more mischief."
With Silver and Holly holding Cowslip securely between them so he couldn't escape, the group hurried to the graveyard. McEwen gave a gasp as he spotted the three exhumed nuclear cores sitting armed in their cases, their timers ticking. It was of some relief, however, to see Robbins lying unconscious on the ground, under the guard of the watchful Bigwig. Derek had jumped into the grave, and was bending over Alan's body, shaking him to awake.
"Alan come on, man, breathe! You can't die on me now…!"
"Out of the way, Shaw!" McEwen barked, shoving Derek aside and opening the first aid kit he had brought with him, "I understand your concern for your friend, but you must follow my instructions if we're going to sort this mess out. Right now, I need you do something about those," he said, gesturing at the cores, which Derek hadn't even noticed in his anxiety to find out if Alan was alive or dead.
With Robbins and Cowslip securely bound with duct-tape, and under the rabbits' guard, Derek turned his attention to the cores, his engineering mind working furiously to figure out how to diffuse the detonators by the seat of his pants. Although he could have kicked himself for leaving his closest friend in the care of a complete stranger, he knew McEwen was right; with these fusion cores set on a countdown to self-destruct, as an engineer, it was clear his attention was required here instead. If he couldn't stop them, they would all be doomed.
He studied the control panel on the first warhead; all that was visible was the tiny touch-screen keypad, bearing markings in illegible Cyrillic, and the digital timer, counting down from just under 48 hours. As for controls, all he could see was the empty cylindrical key slot beside the timer, keeping the arming device locked in armed mode. At first glance, it seemed disarming these things would be tricky, if not impossible; but Derek's excellent knowledge of engineering and electronics was quickly kicking in, as he calmly got to work.
During the war, Derek had been drafted in the Royal Engineers on the home front, and had had the advantage of working with similar prototype EMP weapons, mostly UXBs recovered on British soil. Rather than causing a customary atomic blast, these EMP weapons used the energy created by their unobtainium cores, letting it build to critical levels, eventually resulting in a high-frequency microwave and plasma blast, similar to an unfiltered solar wind, which, travelling at the speed of light, incinerated everything in its path. A favourite weapon of insurgents, who'd plant smaller models in booby-trapped cars in metropolitan areas and then set them off, killing hundreds.
His first thought was to unscrew the panel, to reach the lead wires inside and bypass the arming system manually. But he knew better than to try; these things were undoubtedly fitted with fail-safe, anti-tampering systems, which could set them off. Without a diagram to follow, the chances of getting the sequencing right by the seat of his pants were slim to none. What he needed was the 12-digit override code. Robbins apparently had the code for the arming sequence; maybe he had for the override too? Only one way to find out...
Satisfied that Derek had diverted his full attention to the cores, McEwen turned to tend to his own task. He turned to Bigwig and Silver, who were helping him, "Help me lift him out of there; I'll take his head and you take his legs. We need to do it nice and gently and coordinated, in case he has a spinal injury." The rabbits obeyed and got into position, grabbing Alan by his clothing, following McEwen's instructions. They lifted him out of the grave and onto the grass. Ushering the two rabbits away, McEwen bend over his patient, beginning a methodical search for injuries.
The second he had laid eyes on the unconscious professor, the pilot had been looking for signs of the alleged bullet wound; but since there was no bleeding visible on the front, McEwen had assumed the professor had been shot in the back, possibly sustaining a spinal injury in the process. Yet as they turned him over into a recovery position, to get a better look, they still couldn't find any traces of a puncture wound. But that was of little consolation, as McEwen realised Alan indeed wasn't breathing.
Quickly tearing open Alan's shirt, causing two buttons to be ripped off in the process, he saw a large purple bruise on the man's chest, directly above his heart. He had found the point of impact all right; but how come the bullet, fired at point-blank range, not penetrated? Then, he spotted something oozing from Alan's shirt pocket - something other than blood...
Reaching into the pocket, McEwen fished out the hip-flask he knew Johnson drank his booze from. Wedged into its battered front, from where brandy was leaking, was the lead pellet a bullet; the flask had miraculously intercepted the bullet, preventing it from penetrating Alan's body. However, the violent force of the impact had still been enough to cause the professor's heart to stall. McEwen felt his blood run cold; if they couldn't restart it soon, the lack of oxygen in the brain would kill the man in minutes.
He wasted no time. Since he had no defibrillator, which had been lost in the crash, McEwen proceeded to perform manual CPR on Alan, giving him rescue breaths and heart massage in timed intervals. But the rabbits, unfamiliar with McEwen's techniques and thinking he was trying to hurt Alan, were instantly upon him.
"What in Frith's name do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to kill him faster?!" Holly barked, as the three furious rabbits forcibly pulled him away.
McEwen struggled furiously to shake them off, "Unhand me you cretins! I am trying to save his bloody life!"
"By beating him to death?" retorted Silver with a snarl, "What kind of healing to you call that, huh?" Before McEwen could try and explain however, Hazel stepped in, "Do what he says; that's what brought Bigwig back!" At that moment, Derek, who had just finished disarming the last warhead, rejoined them, looking scandalised, "Bloody hell, what are you waiting for, Major? Get back to work! Now!"
The rabbits hesitantly released McEwen, who instantly sprang back to work, praying the interruption hadn't sealed Dr Johnson's doom. As if on queue, an oily voice sneered from behind them, "You morons are wasting your time; he's a dead dog already…" Turning, they saw Robbins had regained consciousness; although bound and unarmed, his plans ruined, he couldn't miss the opportunity to jeer at Alan's fate and the pain it was bound to bring upon the others. Derek saw red.
"YOU! YOU DID THIS TO HIM, YOU MISERABLE SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!" he growled, as he walked up to Robbins, cracking his knuckles, Bigwig in tow, "You tried to kill me! Well, you've made the worst mistake of your life chum!" the mighty veteran growled as they both fell upon their prisoner in a fit of rage. Not taking into consideration the moral fact that Robbins was bound and helpless, the pair began punching and pummelling him mercilessly. Although not a martial artist like Alan, Derek was a big man and could hit pretty hard, which, combined with Bigwig's own strength, Robbins was soon bleeding, bruised and panting with pain.
"S…stop…please stop…"
"What's that?" sneered Derek as he kicked Robbins in the shin again, "You want me to stop? You really want me to stop? Because I bet you wouldn't even consider granting that request to Alan had he been in your shoes!" he shouted as they continued to beat Robbins soundly and then added more blows on Cowslip too in retaliation. Before they could do any real damage however, McEwen's angry voice interrupted them.
"Will you two idiots cut that crap out and bloody well help me here?!" Giving Cowslip and Robbins one final punch each, they hurried back to the rest of the group, who were gathered around the still unresponsive Alan.
"Were you able to do anything about those damn bombs?" asked McEwen in a gruff voice, without taking his eyes off his work. Derek nodded as he knelt beside Alan, "Yes, I found this paper in the bastard's wallet, with the arming codes scribbled down. It was only a simple matter of punching in the code and twisting the arming key," he said, showing them the cylindrical key he had found in Robbins' pocket, without which the cores were now useless, "Those things aren't exactly bombs; they seem to have been modified to power something larger, possibly a weapon system of some description... Anyway, screw that, what about Alan?"
McEwen didn't answer as he restlessly continued performing CPR but it didn't seem to be working; aside from the rising of the chest cavity caused by McEwen's breathing down Alan's throat and the faint jolts caused by the pounding on the man's heart in a desperate attempt to revive it, Alan lay still and pale, without showing any signs of life.
Pipkin lay silently sobbing by his friend's side; even before the man had saved him from the river, Pipkin had seen something of a fatherly figure in this friendly ithe from the forgotten past, someone he could look up to and trust. Now, just when it seemed that his dream of finally having a family again had come true, it was all being shattered before his very eyes.
"It's no use, McEwen. He's gone," Hazel finally said sadly, when Alan still didn't show any signs of regaining consciousness. Derek was pacing back and forth, almost ripping out his hair and nails in desperation, giving Robbins deadly looks. If Alan died, then he would make sure that bastard would die too for this… But McEwen, always a determined soldier, still wasn't giving up.
"Wait, I'll try an intracardiac; it still might not be too late." He pulled out a syringe from the medical kit and removed the cap, preparing the shot. Then, suddenly, as if by a miracle, Alan gave a painful cough and blinked his bloodshot eyes, mouthing in a raspy voice, "Wait, don't! I'm all right…" Joy and relief instantly blossomed in the hearts of everyone present; by an amazing stroke of luck, Alan was still alive.
Author's note: This is an extended scene, set between chapters 13 and 14, showing what happened when Alan was shot and knocked unconscious, with McEwen in a lead role. However, I decided to cut it for pacing reasons. Enjoy and please review! Even deleted scenes require effort to write!