"Larry, get 19-JG over to the testing room. We need to test that new spray out and make sure it's safe for the market."
"Right you are, boss. Shall I take 42-DA as well?"
"Might as well. There's a gel that needs testing also, we can let 42-DA handle that."
"Certainly, boss. That's the two new arrivals, over to the testing room. But what happened to the third?"
"They sent him to a different part of the lab. Organ and bone modification, as I understand it."
"Ah. Okay, boss. Two animals coming right up. I'll get Bill to help bring them over."
RJ's head swam. He could barely hear the dialogue going on around him. His eyes opened, but it didn't do much good: All he could see was a blur of colors and light. He tried to raise his head and was struck with another bout of dizziness, so he lay back down again.
Something was coming his way. A large shape was approaching him. RJ didn't much care right now, but he couldn't help but wondering what was going on all the same. Who was 19-JG? Who was 42-DA? What was organ modification?
"Okay, little fellow. Come on, over to the testing room." The large blur that RJ had seen had opened his cage. A pair of strong hands reached in and grabbed him. RJ tried to resist, but his body remained limp. The dizziness still maintained its hold on him.
The human's hands were friendlier than the ones that had captured him. They held him gently, the human putting RJ's paws on his shoulder and holding the raccoon's waist. RJ felt the human bobbing under him and knew they were moving. RJ saw a door behind them close, and suddenly they were back in the hallway, the human striding down it in great, large steps.
RJ wondered hazily where he was going. They had said something about an animal testing room? RJ didn't like the sound of that. But truth be told, he was more concerned about Hammy. Where was he? Had anything happened to him? And what about the rest of the Hedgies? Had they heard anything? And if so, what were they doing?
And what about that mysterious shadow in the van? It had looked like it had needed help. Why hadn't RJ seen it before? What was it?
"Here we are, little guy." The human had stopped in front of another door. Blearily RJ blinked and turned around, his eyes coming to rest on the sign on the door's window.
ANIMAL TESTING ROOM
No screaming allowed during lunch
Church & Dwight
Clairol
Clorox
Colgate
Johnson & Johnson
L'Oréal U.S.A.
Mead
Proctor & Gamble
S.C. Johnson
Unilever
Assorted cosmetics
RJ's eyes widened slightly. His mind somewhat clearer, he wondered what the sign meant. But before he could speculate too much, the human had pushed the door open and gone through it.
The inside of the room was, like the rest of the building, cold and gray. It was a large room: there were humans all around it, bustling and working. Lampshades hung from the ceiling, the bulbs inside of them a bright, intense white. There were more tables with beakers and other equipment on them, but there were also empty tables with straps and harnesses and, in a few cases, shackles. There were needles everywhere, but there were also strange, clear masks, thin plastic tubes with peculiar liquids in them, more tables with wheels, and scary-looking tools like scissors and scalpels.
RJ was the only animal in the room so far: Walking forward, the human handed him over to another, a different human that was dressed in what looked like a long green gown that went down to his knees. He had a strange hat and mask on as well, and RJ saw his eyes narrow as he looked down at the raccoon.
The other human withdrew his hands and began to walk away. RJ could have sworn he had heard him whisper, "Sorry, little fella," before he'd left, but he wasn't sure. Right now he was more concerned with what was happening: The new human carried him roughly over to one of the tables with shackles on it. RJ's eyes widened and he resisted, but the human simply forced him down and fastened shackles around his legs. RJ's arms were positioned so that his elbow was bent, his paws next to his ears, and his wrists were fastened too.
He couldn't move.
The human stopped and looked down, satisfied, then strode away. RJ couldn't see what he was doing, but he heard the humans talking, and then a sound of liquid being poured and sprayed. His mind was much clearer by now, but he still had no idea what was going on, or what he should do.
RJ had never felt so lost in his life. He had no idea where he was. He didn't know what this place was, or what it was going to do to him. He didn't know where any of his friends were. And he didn't know what had happened to them. It hardly seemed possible that just a few hours ago he had been sitting in a tree munching on some Spuddies and discussing cookies with Hammy. Would the two of them ever get home again? Would they ever get to see the log again?
Another human, dressed in the same strange outfit, approached him. He had a small, furry orange bundle in his arms. The human bent down to the table next to RJ, and the raccoon heard the same shackles being fastened. Then the human straightened up again, satisfied, and disappeared.
"Hammy?" RJ whispered, having recognized the orange bundle. "Is that you, buddy? You feeling alright?"
"F-f-f-fine," came the nervous reply. Hammy was still as jittery as ever. RJ was thankful for that, as it meant the humans hadn't gotten to him. "RJ, what — what're they gonna do?"
"I — I don't know," RJ replied, faltering. "Hammy, don't — don't worry," he said, trying to reassure himself as much as the squirrel. "We'll be fine."
Hammy fell silent, and RJ felt a twang of guilt. How could he be telling Hammy that they would be fine? As far as he was concerned, he was the least fine he had ever been in his life. What was going to happen to them?
RJ heard the voices of two humans rising, and strained his ears to listen, to gain any clue what the scientists would do. "— should be simple," one of them was saying. "Nothing to worry about."
"How does the procedure go again?" another voice, this one sounding younger, asked tentatively.
"It's easy, my young intern," came the chuckled reply. "All you have to do is hold their eyes open and squirt in the spray and gel. They're shackled down so they can't resist. Once that's done, you clip their eyelids open and lock them in stocks to keep them from clawing their eyeballs out. After a couple of hours we study the effects of the spray and gel on their eyes, and determine whether the new products are safe for customers."
RJ gasped. He could — not — believe what he was hearing. This was what the humans were planning? What kind of monsters were these? What kind of sick, twisted being would torture animals like this just to study a cosmetic product?
"All right," came the voice of the intern, "I'll go get the hairspray. You wanted to use the raccoon first, is that right?"
"Correct," was the reply, and RJ suddenly recognized the voice: it was one of the humans that had captured him. There was no mistaking that cold, icy tone. Or the laugh that came immediately afterward. "He's given us a lot of trouble. Time to return the favor."
RJ struggled madly with the shackles around his wrists and legs. The humans were going to torture him — they were going to squirt gel in Hammy's eyes — this couldn't be happening — couldn't — couldn't — couldn't —
RJ's chest heaved as he wrestled with the shackles, but they were still firm around his wrists. He heard footsteps. Approaching him. The humans were coming back. The scientist that had caught him came into view, that evil grin of his back on his face. In his hand he held a large spray pump, and it was aimed straight at RJ. Behind the scientist, a young-looking man was pouring a bottle marked SPARE SPRAY HAIRSPRAY into the pump, looking anxious.
"RJ," came Hammy's whisper. "RJ! What's going on?"
RJ couldn't move. He was paralyzed. The scientist checked the sinister-looking spray gun in his hands, determined it was in fine working order, and strode forward quickly. RJ gasped as the human bent down — and his fingers went for the raccoon's eyes. RJ shut them instinctively, but the human's rough fingers simply pried them open again. His vision blurring, RJ saw the scientist shove the spray gun into the young man's hands. "Do it," he said.
The young man gripped the spray pump nervously, but when he hoisted it up and pointed it at RJ, his hand was quite steady.
Sick with fear, RJ prepared to be blinded.
Then the pump went flying.
Something had knocked the spray pump out of the man's hands. RJ couldn't see what it was, but he heard a low growl and the young man fell, disappearing from view. RJ heard him hit the floor hard, and guessed that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
"What?" roared the scientist, releasing his grip on RJ's eyes and turning around. "What's —" Suddenly the scientist was knocked down too. RJ heard wrestling underneath the table, then a smack and a crunch. Another human, down for the count.
Panting, RJ raised his head to try and see what was going on. What he saw shocked him: the entire room was full of unconscious humans. The door leading back to the hallway was locked, and equipment was strewn everywhere. Tables were overturned, chemicals and toxins were leaking all over the floor, and the humans were covered with scratches and bites. The light bulbs hanging from the ceiling were swinging, casting crazy shadows all over the room, making things look more chaotic than they already were.
RJ heard something below him. Whoever had done this was underneath the table right now, having finished off with the scientist. He heard soft footsteps, the click of claws on the tiled floor — and suddenly something reared up in front of him, placing its front paws on RJ's table.
RJ gasped. Standing in front of him was a large, fully-grown wolf.
Verne sat in the car's driver's seat, his legs propped up on the steering wheel and the map open in front of him, as Stella drove at a quiet, steady pace. Verne was following their route on the map, not taking any chances. They'd just passed number 11, "Sue's Scarves", which meant that they were about halfway there. The little car was winding through the grass just alongside the highway, following the gray road that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance. The way ahead was illuminated only by the car's small headlights; anything beyond was indecipherable.
Verne heard yawning behind him, and saw the porcupine kids struggling to stay awake, leaning against their parents. "I'm tired," Bucky said sleepily, "what time is it?"
"I don't know, honey," Penny said as she stroked her child gently, "but it's late."
"Well, it's certainly late enough," Lou replied, looking around. "Not many cars have passed us. We must be all alone on the road."
"Yeah, well, I hope that doesn't change," Verne muttered as he turned back to the map.
Tiger was stargazing. "Look," he said, pointing a paw upward, "there is ze Big Dipper."
"You know, the North Star is part of that constellation," Snowy said thoughtfully. "And we're heading toward it, which must mean that we're going north too."
Verne checked the map again and sure enough, she was right. According to the little compass in the map's key, at any rate. Verne's heart lifted slightly: at least now he knew that they were on the right track.
"Lights fading ..." came Ozzie's sleepy voice. "Limbs growing cold..."
"Oh, Dad," Heather sighed in exasperation, "do we have to go through this every time you get a little tired? Just be quiet and get some rest." She yawned. "I could use some too right about now..."
"Are we there yet?" came Quillo's voice, which also sounded sleepy.
"We get there when we get there," Stella replied, as she adjusted the car's controls to make a slight turn.
"Why do I suddenly feel like I've heard everything?" Verne muttered to himself as he started to fold up the map. His attempt was disastrous, however: no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the map to fold up properly. Frustrated, he finally crunched it into a ball and tossed it under the backseat. Verne sighed: he was tired too. He let his elbows rest on the fake steering wheel and watched the road as Stella drove on.
But wait a minute: the car was slowing. Verne heard the little engine inside it start to wind down. Stella pushed on the controls, but instead of going faster, the car slowed even further, finally coming to rest at the top of a small hill.
Without the car's engine running, the night seemed eerily quiet to Verne. The headlights had flickered off; all of their surroundings were dark. Crickets chirped softly, cars — real cars — rumbled from far away, and somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.
Finally Verne broke the silence. "What's —" He turned to see Stella pushing the remote control in frustration. "Why've we stopped?"
"Batteries probably ran out," said Spike matter-of-factly; he was the only one of his family who seemed fully awake. "Don't worry, I packed some more."
The little porcupine dove under the seat in front of him, and emerged with a little plastic bag. Inside it were four AA batteries.
"Two of these go inside the car," Spike said, and he gestured backward. "The compartment's back there." He handed two of the batteries to Verne, and two to Stella. "The others go inside the remote."
"Wow. Thanks, Spike," Verne said, as he looked at the batteries with wonder. "You know a lot about this."
Spike shrugged. "RJ taught us most of it."
Verne climbed out of the car and shut the front door, walking to the back. Sure enough, there was a compartment built into the car's fender. Verne popped the lid and found two batteries inside. Gingerly he took them out and replaced them with the new batteries, getting a little electric shock in the process. "Ow," he said, sticking his finger in his mouth. With his other hand he shut the compartment, then wandered back to the front seat.
He climbed in again, and saw that Stella had already changed the batteries to the remote. She pulled one of the controls back, and the car moved backward a little bit. Stella whistled. "That was easy," she said as she tossed the four dead batteries back to Spike.
"Don't get comfortable," Verne said cautiously, "it's probably the easiest thing that we'll do on this trip."
"Could you be any more pessimistic?" Stella said sarcastically as she pushed the controls forward, and the car rolled down the hill, quickly gaining speed.
"I don't think I'm pessimistic," Verne shot back as he clutched the steering wheel again. "I prefer the term realistic."
Stella rolled her eyes and again pushed on the controls. The car rolled on, the headlights flickering back to life and illuminating the road before them once more. Trees and shrubbery zipped by as Stella adjusted the remote so the car would go faster.
"Are we there now?" came Quillo's voice.
Verne sighed. This was going to be a long trip.
RJ opened his mouth to scream, and the wolf quickly placed a paw over it. "Sssh," he whispered, "they'll hear."
The humans looked plenty knocked out to RJ, but he couldn't exactly argue with the wolf's paw over his mouth. "I've locked the door," the wolf explained quietly, "but it won't be long before someone figures out what happened and sends in more people. Now if you'll just stay quiet, I can get you out of here."
He removed his paw, and RJ inhaled deeply. The wolf checked over his shoulder, then bent down toward the shackle on RJ's left wrist. Slipping his teeth through it delicately, the wolf wrestled with it for a minute — and the shackle broke. He did the same with the one around RJ's other wrist. RJ stretched, enjoying the freedom after being locked up for so long, then bent down to undo the shackles around his feet, while the wolf moved on to Hammy. Soon the squirrel was free too, and RJ and Hammy jumped from the table down to the floor.
"Um, excuse me — now what?" Hammy whispered, looking around. Some of the humans were starting to stir.
"Come on," said the wolf, "follow me."
The three of them strode quickly across the room, ignoring the groans of the waking humans. The wolf reared up on his hind legs again and unlocked the door. He looked through the window to make sure the coast was clear, and then slipped the door open, gesturing for RJ and Hammy to go through it.
The three of them were back in the hallway, the wolf closing the door behind them and locking it again. "Let's go," he said, "we've got to get out of here. Hop on."
He beckoned RJ and Hammy forward, and they leaped onto his shoulders. RJ grabbed Hammy around the waist as the wolf leaped forward, running down the hallway in long, powerful strides. Doors and windows zipped by them as they moved throughout the building. RJ caught glimpses of more signs that said things like CLOROX EXAMINATION ROOM and Please don't litter: Throw carcasses in trash and shivered.
Finally the wolf stopped: They had reached a section of the hallway that branched off three ways. The wolf looked down the three of them, and looked to be deciding which direction to take.
"Where are we going?" Hammy asked him apprehensively.
The wolf looked over his shoulders at the squirrel. "We're looking for the loading area. That's where the van dropped you off. You can escape out that way ..." his voice trailed off as he looked down the hallways again. "...if we find it," he muttered.
"Where — where exactly are we?" RJ asked him.
"You," the wolf said, now striding down the center hallway, "are trapped in an animal-testing lab with about twenty other critters. The people here do testing for cosmetic companies in addition to experiments of their own. They make products that are made from animals, and tested on animals, while on the other side scientists inject animals with new chemicals and mixtures, all in the name of 'discovery'."
He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at RJ again. "You," he said simply, "are in hell."
RJ swallowed hard. "Oh. Um..." He couldn't think of anything to say. Fortunately, he didn't have to: the wolf began walking forward again, looking around cautiously. "Name's Rob," he said conversationally, and RJ was glad for the change of subject. "And you guys?"
"Oh," RJ said, "uh — this is Hammy," he gestured to the squirrel, who grinned reluctantly, "and I'm RJ."
"Nice to meet you," Rob said, looking back at them.
"You, too," RJ said, almost automatically, but then a thought struck him. "Hey," he said, looking at the wolf's intent face, "why did you —"
"Wait," Rob said suddenly, and he stopped walking. His ears swiveled as he looked down the hallway. "Someone's coming," he said, and indeed, RJ heard footsteps some distance away, getting louder by the second.
"Wh-what're we gonna do?" Hammy squeaked, nibbling on his paws nervously.
"In here," the wolf replied, and headed toward another door, this one unmarked. He tried the handle and found it unlocked, then swung the door open and stepped inside cautiously, closing it behind him with a rear paw.
RJ held his breath as he looked through the door's window. He could hear the footsteps coming closer. The human was walking toward them ... he was right next to the room ... his shadow was right in front of the door... and then the footsteps faded, and RJ sighed with relief. Turning from the door, he got his first good look at the room and gasped.
They were standing inside a small, dark room with an incredibly tall ceiling. Shelves lined three of the walls and were stacked with endless bottles and vials, all of them full to the brim with various liquids. RJ and Hammy jumped off of Rob's back and climbed up some of the shelves together. Looking closely at a few of the bottles, RJ saw labels like "ANTIDERMAL" and "TOXICITY REDUCTION". He had no idea what any of them meant, but apparently Rob did.
"They're antidotes," he said in wonderment, looking around the room, "all antidotes ... there must be something in here for every chemical they've got."
He looked at a few of the bottles. "I could use some of them right now," he muttered, almost to himself.
RJ looked at him. "What do you mean?"
Rob hadn't been looking at him, and for a moment appeared not to have heard — but then he sighed, lowering his head. His tail drooped forlornly, and RJ wondered if he'd said something wrong. But then, almost abruptly, Rob asked: "Do you know why I saved you two?"
RJ looked at Hammy, puzzled, and shook his head.
"I felt responsible," Rob said, pacing across the floor, not looking at RJ and Hammy. "Because, I suppose, it's my fault that the two of you were captured in the first place. I saw what they did to you in the van. It wasn't easy watching."
A realization suddenly struck RJ. "You were the other person in there," he said suddenly, and Hammy gasped. "You were the one I saw trying to get out. Before we were carried off."
Rob finally looked up at him. "Yes — and no."
"What — what are you talking about?"
Rob was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth to respond — and suddenly a violent blaring filled the room. The lights shut off, and were replaced by a glaring red beacon that circled round the room as a violent buzzer sounded off again and again. RJ and Hammy quickly jumped off the shelves and back to the floor, and Rob shouted, "It's an alarm! They must have discovered what happened in the testing room. Come on!"
"Why can't we just hide out in here?" RJ shouted, leaping back onto Rob's shoulders anyway, with Hammy following close behind.
"Because there's no telling what might happen if any of this stuff got smashed," Rob explained calmly, and started to open the door. Groups of humans were rushing past, down toward the testing room, and no one was looking round, else they might have seen an unmarked door open slightly, a wolf's eye peering through it. Rob waited until the group of humans had gone and looked down the hallway. "No one else is coming — good!" Rob burst out of the door and bolted, running faster than RJ and Hammy would have thought possible. The raccoon and the squirrel just managed to cling on to Rob's shoulders as the world zipped by in a blur.
The blaring alarm intensified, the red lights flashing quicker and the buzzing increasing in volume, and RJ wondered if it was because the humans had discovered he and Hammy were missing. He didn't have much time to speculate, though: As Rob flew down the hallway, door after door burst open, and more humans poured out of every single one. Cries of "There they are!" and "Get them!" soon filled RJ's ears, and Rob began running even faster, a group of humans hot on his tail.
"If we can just get to the loading area," he shouted, "we should be fine! There's a lot of places to hide. You guys should be able to make off in the van!"
"Wait — aren't you coming with us?" Hammy yelled.
Rob didn't answer, and for good reason: A human had appeared in front of him, holding a queer-looking gun that was aimed at the three animals. RJ recognized it as a gun that trapped animals in nets, having seen one from his experiences with the Verminator. He gasped and grabbed Hammy, preparing to get captured ... but Rob jumped just as the human fired, and the net passed under them. Rob, on the other hand, barreled into the human, striking him in the head and causing him to fall to the floor. Rob jumped again and was immediately back on the hallway floor, racing down a path that only he apparently knew.
"We're almost there!" the wolf shouted, "Look!"
RJ looked ahead of them, and his eyes widened: Directly in front of them, growing larger by the minute, were the double doors that he remembered. The sight seemed to give Rob new strength, too, and he ran still faster. RJ heard the cries of the humans behind them start to fade, and his heart lifted. "We're almost there, Hammy!" he shouted joyfully to the squirrel, who was looking forward apprehensively. "We're going to make it!"
Suddenly a large shadow stepped in front of the two doors, holding an all-too-familiar-looking device in his hands. Rob didn't stop, though, and kept running forward. The human came into better view and RJ recognized him as the other man that had captured he and Hammy. In the human's hand was another needle, just like the one that had caused RJ so much pain.
"You're not going anywhere —" the scientist started to scream at them.
"Get out of the way!" Rob growled, and he leaped forward. Thinking quickly, RJ reached over Rob's shoulders and knocked the needle out of the human's hands. Rob, meanwhile, went for the man's throat, sinking his teeth into his neck. The human's eyes widened slightly, and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Rob fell with the human and landed on all four feet, removing his teeth from the man's neck delicately. "You only have to hurt them a little," he smiled, and sprinted through the double doors. RJ and Hammy leaped from Rob's shoulders and closed the doors, dragging a large crate across them to keep the humans from following.
RJ turned around. There it was. "The van!" Hammy shouted, abandoning the crate and zipping forward. RJ followed him. "Can you drive this thing?" Hammy asked him as he opened the van's back doors to let RJ in. "Better than the porcupine kids could," RJ grinned.
RJ leaped forward, into the van, and Hammy followed suit. The pair turned around to see if Rob was following them — and then suddenly everything went black.
