Hello Happy Tree Fans, welcome to my first story with a new co-author by the penname of Sacredheart99. These chapters will be shorter than my other stories because of our schedule issues but the chapters will hopefully still be good quality wise but that's yours to judge. Also, the next chapter might be a while because Sacred will be gone for the next two weeks.
Disclaimer: We do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters... well, besides Cheep I guess but you'll see. Anyways, all rights go to Mondo Media.
No one had reason to suspect anything. It was an ordinary day in an ordinary small town as an ordinary porcupine walked over to her ordinary best friend's house to find an ordinary way to fill the day. This ordinary porcupine's name was Flaky, and she was, by anybody's standards, normal. She had scarlet fur and quills and lived by the edge of town, coming in to get groceries and things like that. Today of coarse was a normal day for them, nothing out of the ordinary happened and that was the way they liked it.
Arriving at her destination, she gave three good raps on the door before her. "Cuddles, are you home?" she called, Pac-man eyes never straying from the wood finish as she waiting for her best friend. After all, what was there to worry about?
"Hang on, I'll just be a second!" a voice called out. The door opened not a few minutes later, a yellow rabbit standing there. He seemingly was normal, yellow fur, pink cheeks and a fluffy tail. He was practically the word normal, by the town's standards at least. "Oh, hey Flaky. What's up?" he asked her.
"I was wondering if we could hang out today" she replied. He bit his lip, then she noticed he was holding his hand behind his back protectively. "Cuddles... is something wrong?"
"No, why do you ask?" he asked, not fooling the porcupine.
She reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling it into view. "Oh my god..." she said in horror, gazing at the bandaged arm. "What happened?" she asked demandingly.
"It's nothing. I was cleaning out my mouse's cage and he wasn't very happy about it." Cuddles explained, bashful at being shown up by the rodent.
The porcupine instantly knew something was up. Cuddles' mouse never did things like this; it was usually such a peaceful creature. "I'm not buying this," she said, letting go of his arm "that rodent would never hurt anybody, let alone you. What's going on?"
"Look, Flaky, I'm telling the truth." Cuddles adjusted the bandages on his arm showing MANY small bites and scratches. "I'm just as surprised as you are; I don't know what's gotten into him."
Flaky began to think, and had an idea. "We could always go ask Giggles if her cat's acting the same way," she suggested.
Cuddles flushed "Y-yeah, let's go ask her..."
"Ok, Romeo, let's go" she said, grabbing his good arm and dragging him off in the direction of the chipmunk's house.
They got to Giggles' house and Flaky knocked on the door sending a glance over at Cuddles' bandaged arm. There was no answer though, they figured she was at Petunia's or something and were about to leave was Cuddles saw something red in the backyard.
"Hey isn't that... that... oh my god! Giggles!" Cuddles cried, jumping the fence and running over to his girlfriend's mutilated corpse, bites and scratches all over her body. She was barely recognizable except for the red bow on her head, almost blending in with the rest of her bloody body.
"What happened to her?" the porcupine asked the rabbit.
He looked to her with tears in his eyes, ears back "She... she's dead... I never... I never even got to kiss her..." Flaky hesitated but went over the fence only to freeze in her own shock and grief at the sight of the body. Meanwhile, Cuddles lip only trembled as he fell to his knees in front of his girlfriends' corpse, crying heavily into his paws with no signs of stopping anytime soon.
"How did this happen?" Flaky asked, trying not to unhave her lunch as she stared in shock at her dead friend's body.
Cuddles raised his head, still sobbing uncontrollably "I... I don't know... but whoever did this will... pay?" he said in a shaky voice, looking over to Giggles' doorstep where a honey colored cat slept, fur soaked in deep red liquid.
Flaky followed his fgaze seeing the blood soaked cat as well, her eyes darkening when she did. "You don't think Mittens could have done this?"
The rabbit seemed hysteric "O-of course not... that's impossible... that cat is so tame... but that's HER blood on the cat's paws! Get it DNA tested, I'm positive it is! It's the most likely since she's been mauled to death!" he cried.
Flaky just watched him having no idea what to even say much less do, she has no experience in this kind of thing and was having a hard time somehow staying out of a mental break down herself. Though not as close as her and Cuddles, Giggles was always a great friend and always nice to everyone but now she's… she's… her thoughts refused to form the word.
"C'mon, do you think we should go check on everybody else? What about Toothy? He has a tortoise right?"
Cuddles stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes "T-Toothy? Yeah... let's go see him. I just hope he's okay. What damage could a tortoise do?"
They came to the purple beaver's house and Flaky knocked on the door. No answer. They turned to leave, but a loud bloodcurdling scream echoed from Toothy's backyard. The duo both looked at each other, gulped and ran to the fence, Cuddles screaming upon seeing what was left of the purple beaver. "Why is this happening?!" Cuddles wailed, crying even harder than before. First his girlfriend, now his best friend besides the girl next to him. What? Is she next? Was he gonna lose everyone he cared about in less than an hour.
The porcupine stifled tears "Maybe we should just go home, stay there and be safe."
Cuddles' eyes were red and his nose was dripping "Safe?! SAFE?!" he yelled, fists balled. She stepped back as he advanced, looking angrier than she had ever seen him. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember a time when he was EVER angry. Until now. "Don't you see it Flaky? Isn't it clear to you?" he asked, teeth gritted.
She held her ground "Isn't WHAT clear? What are you going on about?" He squeezed his eyes shut, fell to his knees and let out a wail, crying uncontrollably. She didn't know what to do anymore. For the first time ever, she was really, truly scared.
Flaky closed her own eyes tightly. What could he be talking about, nothing was clear but that two of their friends were now DEAD… and… and… She peels open her eyes realizing when she did that she started crying herself but even through the blur of tears, she saw what she forgot about through the stress and grief, the bandages around his arm "thanks" to his usually ever loyal pet mouse. Then she realized what he meant, they wouldn't be safe at home, they might not be safe anywhere.
A morbid thought floated into her mind, and she spoke out loud without thinking. "How long until... until WE die?" she said, voice beginning to crack.
He opened his eyes and stood up, all cried out "To be honest, it feels as if we already have" he said in a monotonous voice, sounding unlike the Cuddles she knew.
Flaky tried to swallow a lump of cotton attempting to wipe away more tears to at least try to seem convincing. "Cuddles, don't say that. We'll get through this."
"How?" Cuddles asked looking her directly in the eye and pointed to Toothy's corpse. "You, look at that and tell me we're going to be okay."
"I... I can't" she admitted sadly, looking the red-eyed rabbit in the face.
"Exactly!" He suddenly shouted. "Because we're clearly NOT gonna be okay!"
"D-don't shout at me, I'm freaking out too... w-what if we go and check if-"
"NO!" Cuddles said "I don't wanna see any more of my friends... they're always dead when we turn up anyway, what if... what if we're the ones with the killing mojo?"
She paled at the thought. "Y-you're just being paranoid. So, we can't go home, we can't check on anyone. Are we just supposed to stay here by his corpse until we die, too?"
Cuddles looked back to his best friend's dead body and then back to Flaky "How about I get the shovel from the shed over there and we... we..." the rabbit never thought he'd have to admit his best friend, besides Flaky, was dead.
"Bury him? I'll go get some flowers," the porcupine said, running off to get flowers from the beaver's garden. As she reached for a third rose she scratched her hand on a thorn, fell back and just avoided cracking her head on a protruding stone. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Flaky! Are you okay?" Cuddles asked, rushing over relieved to find her okay besides some cuts on her hand. He certainly didn't want to lose her, too.
The porcupine began to wonder that herself. "I'm ok, I just went to grab a rose, cut my hand and fell. I was lucky, that stone there could have k-"
"DON'T YOU SAY IT!" Cuddles yelled, stomping his foot down harder than he meant to. He heart a snap and felt red hot searing pain in his leg. Flaky screamed.
Cuddles screamed as well in pain, then horror when he saw the bone sticking out. "Oh god! I'll call the ambulance! Just stay CALM!" Flak screeched, running to the door and yanking it open.
Cuddles began to hyperventilate, the red blood pooling at around his broken leg. 'Are we just supposed to stay here by his corpse until we die too?'
Flaky dialed the hospital as fast as the stupid rotary dial will let her and to make matters worse. It felt like forever until Nurse Petunia picked up the phone and compared to her, Flaky and Cuddles were the picture of serenity. "Hello? Oh Flaky, I'm so busy with all these accidents right now. I hate to disapoint you but all the ambulances have either broken down or are already being used to collect other Tree Friends for similar 'accidents'... I'm sorry, but we'll try and get someone out to see you... if we survive that long..." the skunk said in an eerily sad voice Flaky had never heard before. The line went dead HOPEFULLY because she had to be pulled away to help deal with the mass chaos and not the alternative.
Flaky was absolutely petrified by what she heard. Though she called him paranoid, part of her must have actually believed they were the ones with the killing mojo because it hadn't even crossed her mind what might be going on in other parts of town.
She tried to figure out what to do. She could try to get him to the hospital herself but by the sounds of things from the line, it wouldn't do any good they'll barely have any resources and she doesn't know much about open fractures but she knows they require extensive surgery. Most likely, her best friend's gonna die here on Toothy's lawn from infection or blood loss and there won't be anything she could do about it. And for what? Stomping his foot?
She put down the phone and ran back outside to see Cuddles being pecked at by birds. She shooed them away, checked the rabbit's pulse and felt her blood run cold. There was no pulse. He stared widely up at the sky, wounds opened up all over him by the birds, mouth frozen in a silent scream. The blood pooled under him and she felt herself tear up.
This time, she finally just opening let them fall dropping down to her knees on the blood soaked grass. "No! No! You can't leave me alone like this!" His corpse yielded no reply or sign of life, and she felt empty, a sense of nothing was right. Something was going on. She picked herself up off the grass, clutching her forearms tightly and ran back to her house tears streaming off her face.
She threw herself onto her bed and cried harder than she ever had before. She opened her eyes and saw her pet chick, staring her in the eyes. "Cheep? NO! First it was Mittens, then Toothy's tortoise and now you! No! You're going!" She said, grabbing the tiny yellow chick and opening the window, throwing the creature outside onto the road where it was run over by a passing car.
She felt sick to her stomach and lied back on her bed, hoping to sleep peacefully but now, would that ever be possible?
She laid there on her stomach like always for obvious reasons but just glared at her pillow as if it's its fault everything suddenly went to hell. From what Petunia said, she wondered if they'll be anyone left in the morning.
And that is why Flaky is afraid of chicks. It's all Cheep's fault. This is the last we will see of Cheep but not the last we'll hear of him so don't forget. Please review, constructive criticism is not only accepted but greatly appreciated and even preferred so give us your honest opinions.