"The gun, man's only form of defense. Man is too pathetic to defend themselves with what nature gave them," Major tells Mr. Jones, as he stands above him, obviously dominant in this situation.
"W-what do you want from me, boar?"
"Justice, my friend… For the cruelty of animal treatment, I shall do to you what you have done to my family, and my comrades!" As Major approached Mr. Jones, a loud noise shot out behind him. Suddenly, he was squealing for dear life and is soaked in his own blood.
The shooter, Mrs. Jones repeated, "Major! Major! Major!" Major opened his eyes to see his faithful second in command, Monica the Parrot. "Major! Are you okay? You started squealing like a maniac out of nowhere. You had me worried."
"Fret not, my friend. I was only dreaming. I will be fine," Major admits to Monica.
"Well, last night, about two hours after the shot, Mr. Jones came into the barn." Monica's voice lowered. "Benjamin, he-he took Benjamin."
The expression on Major's face changed drastically. "Our elder?" he replied. "… send Pincher to see what is happening."
"Yes sir." The bird flew off to the porch of the barn where the three dogs were laying.
"What do you want?" Bluebell, the energetic but snippy boxer, says to Monica.
"Yeah," says Jessie, the lazy Basset Hound, "I don't feel like doing anything now. Why don't you talk to one of the others?"
Pincher was resting behind the other two canines. "Pincher, I have a mission for you from Major," Monica says. Pincher, however did not even move a muscle. "It's about Benjamin." Now, Pincher's eyes shot open like bullets.
"What happened to him?" Pincher replied.
"He was taken away by Mr. Jones." Pincher went silent. "Look, Pincher, I know you cared about him. That must be why Major chose you for this job, and we just want you to see what is going on with him. Can you do that for us?"
"Go on, git!" Mrs. Jones came running up to Monica, startling the poor parrot, causing her to squawk and fly away. "Dumb bird, tryna mess wit my dawgs. Now you three lazies! Go find Tommy and help him out." Bluebell sprang up and ran off to find Mrs. Jones' son. Jessie followed but with much less enthusiasm. "You there!" Mrs. Jones glared at Pincher. Pincher glared right back. "Well, you are a steupid dog! Can't even follow yer sisters." The old hag waddled away. Monica observed from afar, perched upon a tree. Pincher glanced over to her and nodded, confirming his acceptance of the task presented upon him earlier. He took off to the small stable behind the Jones' house.
"I'm comin' Ben." Pincher walked into the stable. The sound of a donkey's cry echoed through the unfiltered air. Pincher followed the cries to see what looked like a carcass. Pincher gasped upon sight of one of his comrades. The dog sniffed the air, attempting to pick up the scent of the animal. He found two, Mr. Jones and Benjamin. His blood then turned to a calm ocean of blue that no longer circulated. Suddenly, the ocean began to churn up and tidal waves began crashing all around. His lips curled up, showing his teeth, and next thing he knew, he was in front of Mr. Jones in his alpha position.
"Don't do it Pincher," said a voice on Pincher's shoulder. "Remember who has the gun." The voice was Moses the Raven.
"But it's Benjamin! Do you know what just happened!"
"Don't worry. He was old anyways, and Mr. Jones still has the gun in his hand. You've completed your mission, go report back to Major."
Pincher's eyes became blurry. "Fine," Pincher worked through the door towards the barn and Moses flew through the window, leaving a puzzled Mr. Jones with Benjamin's carcass. Pincher found it hard to do this, his legs were very heavy. As he left, he took one last glance at his old friend. "Good-bye Ben…"
"Hmm, I see…" Major tells Pincher after his report is presented. "Monica, gather everyone up. It is time."
"S-sir," Monica replies, "right away sir."
"Major, there is more." Pincher talks with a broken voice. "Did you tell Moses about my mission?"
"No. The only one that would have known would be you, myself, and Monica. What makes you ask such a thing?"
"He was there. He prevented me from attacking Mr. Jones and told me that my mission was completed, like he knew…"
"What are you getting at?" Major's benevolent face shifted to a serious rock.
"I don't really know, it's just so suspicious." Pincher turned and walked away to take his seat. Others started to arrive and take their seats as well. "If I were you, I'd watch out for the bird."
Once major took his place atop the highest stack of hay, Monica flew in through a window to accompany Major. "Sir, everyone is present now, except Moses. And Ben."
"I am not bothered by Moses' absence. He is hardly ever here." Monica nodded and flew down to the audience to take her place as well. Major is now ready to begin.
"My comrades, my friends, today is a dark day for the barn. We have lost one of our own." The animals in the barn began to start chatting and looking around to see who was missing. "Our elder was found to be put down by Mr. Jones." The room went silent.
"He's… dead?" asked one of the animals.
"He had a bad attitude," said Mollie, "but he didn't deserve to die…" Now the room was filled with tears and heartfelt chatter.
"I have no more words for all of you. All I must say is – it is time." They all started to look up at Major. Major, who was letting his comrades soak up the rarity of the situation, left his hay stack. As he walked past Monica, he told her to start planning with the Jones' cat, Marlin, who was curled up in the warmest place in the barn and trying not to show any emotion.
The entire barn cleared except for Monica and Marlin. Everyone else was waiting outside for the next bit of news.
"First thing's first, we need to figure out who will take part and who will stay behind," Monica tells Marlin, who was still curled up. "Marlin? Are you listening? This is an important matter, you must focus," Marlin began to stretch out and purr.
"I hear you loud and clear, Monica. Obviously the ducklings will not come, they're still sleeping in the corner. I don't know about Muriel, she-" Marlin was cut off by the doors of the barn flying open and powerful hooves stomping on the floor.
"Boxer, please, Marlin and I are discussing a very important matter. Can you please let us be?"
"I know what you two are planning," the powerful beast tells Monica. "I was the only one that Ben was devoted to. Please, when we raid the mansion, leave Mr. Jones to me!" Monica and Marlin looked at each other with a spark in each of their eyes.
After what seemed like weeks of planning, Major and the other animals emerged from outside into the barn. Following them was Mr. Jones, rifle handy, and Mrs. Jones with a muzzle in her hands. Mr. Jones shot a bullet into the ceiling, startling all of the animals and waking up the oblivious ducklings.
Mrs. Jones walked up to Mollie and forcefully put the muzzle on her. The other animals rushed to her aid, but were apprehended once again by a bullet. A chemical in the muzzle made Mollie relax as they led her out of the barn. They only calmed when Major climbed to the top of his hay stack and spoke.
"Comrades! Please calm down and listen to me!" Major called out. Within seconds, everyone went silent and attention turned to Major. "Do not look at this as a complication. Look at it as a reason. One more reason to retaliate! Let us waste no more time! Monica, I will leave the rest to you."
"Uh, yes sir!" Monica flew up to the top of Major's hay stack, with all of the animals eyes following her. "Okay, we have our teams split up to take out each problem in the mansion."
The teams were Major and Boxer, then Monica, Clover, and Muriel, and finally Pincher, Jessie, and Bluebell. Marlin will go into the house, as he is one of the Jones pets, and kick off the raid. The animals waited outside for the signal that Marlin would give.
"Now, I wait." Marlin has already left the door to Tommy's room wide open and is on his back playing dead as Tommy walked into the room.
"Oh no, Marlin," said Tommy as he saw Marlin laying there. "Too bad, He lived a short life I guess."
"Boo!" Marlin shot his eyes open, which made Tommy jump and yelp. Now was Marlin's chance. He pounced on the teenager, knocking him down and allowing the cat to close and lock the door, leaving both him and Tommy in the room. He went up to the window and gave the signal to his comrades, thus starting the raid.
At the same time, the three groups went on to apprehend their specific targets. Major and Boxer went off to Mr. Jones' room (which also leads to the stables), Monica, Muriel, and Clover went to Mr. and Mrs. Jones' bedroom, and the dog trio went off to the two pet's rooms.
"Here we are girls, Espi's room," Pincher tells his comrades. Espi is a spoiled chameleon who had an entire room to himself. The room looked like a jungle, with trees painted on the walls, a bed covered in leaves, and bugs all around the walls.
"Hey, why don't you two just go on ahead. I'll take care of Espi, "Jesse tells the others.
"Are you sure?" Bluebell asked. By that time, Pincher had already walked through the door to Murial's room. Jessie nodded towards Bluebell, "Good luck!" Bluebell ran off in Pincher's direction.
"Espi, I know how loyal you are to the Jones' so you will try to stop us." There is no response. Seconds later, a powerful unknown force smacked Jessie's face at incredible speeds. "Using your invisible tongue, eh?" More whacks were laid upon Jessie, causing her to whimper in pain. "I do not like to move much, but I will make this a special case."
Espi's voice echoed across the room, "What nonsense are you spewing from your mouth?"
"You silly chameleon!" Jessie replied. "I am a scent hound; I can smell your malodorous scent a mile away!"
Bluebell and Pincher were already talking with Mina, the pampered ferret.
"Do you fools really think you have a chance at defeating me?"
"Yeah, we do," Pincher says.
"Hmph, whatever." Pincher then charged at the ferret but she moved out of the way, using her agility. Bluebell followed up with a charge but once again Mina evaded it. She laughed and taunted the duo. "How can you two expect to defeat me if you cannot even keep up with me? I am much too swift for the likes of you two mutts!"
"What about me?" Jessie appeared behind the cocky Mina and stepped on her back, causing her to yelp. Jessie then bit her neck and gave her the same fate as the other house pet.
"Oh yeah, Sis!" Pincher calls out to Jessie.
"Great job, Jessie! You showed her!" called Bluebell. Mina was thrown in Espi's cage, as was Espi, and locked in there. They were both spared by Jessie.
Meanwhile, Major and Boxer already had Mr. Jones bleeding out in his personal room. Boxer was passionately telling the farmer off, but he could not understand the horse, nor can any other human. Major went on to release Mollie from the stables and went back to join Boxer.
"You, you blasted animals!" Mr. Jones bellowed out to the three. This was said as a distraction so that Mr. Jones could grab his gun, which was mere inches away. As his hand went on the rifle, a hoof crushed the farmer's hand and then bashed his head in. It was Benjamin the donkey.
"Ben, I don't believe this! I thought Mr. Jones killed you!"
"No, he did not kill me, it was staged."
"Staged?" Major asked, though terribly confused. "What do you mean?"
"Staged means set up, braniac. It was all a plan so I could murder you!" Before anyone could grasp what Ben just said, Moses flew in through a window and picked up Mr. Jones' gun. It was aimed at Major. Ben then put his tongue on the trigger and pulled, causing a bullet to fly into Major's head, killing the benevolent ruler of the barn. Boxer and Mollie could only watch in awe. Now the gun was aimed at them.
"I wish I didn't have to do this, but you two have seen way too much. Now I must say goodbye."
"But I don't understand," said a tearful Mollie, "why did you… kill Major?"
"Because he wants this family gone, which is not good for me. You see, these humans never wanted to put me down. I had my life set; everything would be handed to me on a silver platter. However, Major got in the way. That troublesome boar got in the way of my fabulous life. So, with the help of Moses, I came up with a convincing plan so I could murder Major once and for all! I may have arrived a little too late, and Mr. Jones was practically dead already, so I just finished him off."
"You heartless beast!" Boxer screamed, "You're no better than the humans!"
"Quiet you!" Moses said. "Ben let's just finish him off already. We've wasted enough time already."
"Okay," said Benjamin, "let's do it." Ben put his tongue on the trigger, but was stopped as Pincher ran up and halted the elderly donkey's actions. Moses fled out one of the windows. Ben has now died, this time, for real.
"He was a wicked beast," said Pincher, "but now it's all over." As he said this, the other two dogs, Monica, Muriel, and Clover have entered the room.
"It's all over…" Monica said. "No more oppression, no more withdrawal. Total freedom. I must report to Major, where is he?" Pincher, Mollie, and Boxer all cleared the way so that Monica could see the carcass. Major lays there, raw, lifeless, but still with the benevolent look on his face. It was almost as if he tried to put a strong face on before he died, to make his comrades feel better. Everyone was at a loss for words, except Monica.
"Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, beasts of every land and clime, hearken to my joyful tidings of the golden future time..." The lyrics of the song were no longer fast and full of energy, but filled all animals who heard it with hope.
For the rest of the day, the animals lived peacefully in the house, making themselves comfortable. It was all peaceful until the afternoon. The authorities ran in the door, knocking it down in the process. Mrs. Jones and Tommy led them in. First, they went into Espi's room where the three dogs were teasing Espi and Mina, who were still locked up. Five down. Next they went to Tommy's room, where Marlin was resting next to the window. Six down. They then proceeded to Mrs. Jones' bedroom, where Muriel and Mollie were gossiping. Eight down. No, seven down. The authorities then went to the backyard where Monica and Boxer were crying at Major's grave. Eight down. Monica fled through the air. Lastly, the men went to the barn to finish off any remaining animals. All but ten, down. The eight ducklings were allowed to be free, as they were orphans and had a low chance of survival. Monica fled and Mollie was spared and sold to a horse breeder, as she was too graceful and majestic to shoot.
Months later, Monica reunited with Mollie, who was now breeding with other horses. Suddenly, three ducks flew in to greet the two girls.
"My name is Amy!"
"I'm Miles."
"And I am Vector. We are the three surviving ducklings from the Jones farm. Mollie's and Monica's eyes lit up.
"We need to talk."