Chapter 10: Loss

Everything stopped, almost too quickly. In just a few seconds, havoc turned into peace. There was no sound, other than the wind and fire from the burning wood. Ven, still standing, continues to aim at the fallen appliance. He stares at it in angst for a few moments, trying to understand what just happened. After a few moments, his aggression subsides, and he holsters the pistol. Ven walks up to the motionless toaster, hesitating to get closer. In doubt, Ven kicks the machine to see if it will come back to life, nothing. He puts his arms around his waist and ponders. He looks around the village, eyes resting on his home. Suddenly, he realizes his mother was still in the house, struggling to sustain life. He rushes over to check on her. As he leaves the area, eyes are spotted in a house next to the toaster, looking at Ven as he passes by. As Ven passes more homes, more people peek out, wondering if the terror has ended. Ven approaches his house, half destroyed by the appliances, he walks in. Elliot is still against the wall, but unconscious. Ven slightly trembles, then goes to her aid, and checks for breathing. She's still breathing, subtlely; just unconscious. Ven sighs in relief. He sits down next to her, and recollects his thoughts on what happened.

Outside, the village was in almost total destruction. Of the almost thirty homes, only five of them stand untouched. Others were either on fire about to collapse, or just totally destroyed. Bodies of guinea pigs lay everywhere, some not even recognizable. The machines were included in the mix, dozens of appliances lay on the ground, motionless, scattered throughout the village, as well as the breeders neighborhood. The breeders home was suprisingly still intact. The interior was slighty ruffled, back door was knocked off its hinges, and the windows shattered. Other than that, the house remained livable.

Back inside the village, the guinea pigs slowly began to come out of hiding, one by one. Everyone looks around at the destruction, and some immediatly began searching for loved ones.

Behind the food shed, a guinea pig poked their head out, curious to see if it's all over. "Is it over?" asked a female voice. It was Julie, next to Tibbetts, sitting with her head face down in a upright fetal managed to avoid the machines by hiding out of sight.

"I-I don't know," responded Tibbetts. He was peaking around the corner, checking the area. "Everyone's coming out."

Julie looks up at Tibbetts, fearfully curious. She gets up, slowly coming up behind Tibbetts, and peaks around. Her expression changes, in almost instant regret. She looks upon the village, in awe from what happened. Her village destroyed, family destroyed, life destroyed.

"No.." said Julie softly, but desperately. She walks out aimlessly into the open.

Tibbetts reaches his arm out to her, "Julie wait.." She doesn't respond.

Tibbetts lowers his hand and looks around the village, trying to keep his cool. Suddenly he spots Ven, going into his home. Tibbetts sees half of it destroyed and wonders if he and his family are okay. Tibbetts looks back at Julie, who is still wandering almost drunkenly. He loses sight of her behind a burning house and re focuses his attention to Ven's home. Looking around to check if it's clear, Tibbetts quickly scurries along the sideline of the village making his way towards Ven's home.

Ven, still sitting next to his mother begins to hear noises nearby, he looks up out the window and sees most of the village members out and about. Uninterested, he sits back down with Elliot. Suddenly Tibbetts opens the front door to Ven's room and runs in. Ven quickly unholsters the pistol and aims at the guinea pig.

"Woah! Woah!" shouted Tibbetts. He puts his hands between him and the gun, cowarding back.

"Tibbetts?" responded Ven. Ven puts the gun away and gets up. "What are you doing here?"

Tibbetts slowly lowers his arms, "I-I wanted to check on you, a-and your family... Are they alright?"

"Well, you're looking at who's left."

Tibbetts peeks over Ven and spots Elliot, unconscious. "Just you two?" Tibbetts quickly steps around Ven towards Elliot, and kneels beside her. He checks for breathing.

"She's still alive," spoke Ven. "She's just resting."

"Well you're definately right about her being alive, but.." Tibbetts moves the body around, and hears a crackling from her back. "That's not good.."

"What?"

"Her back... It's broken." Ven doesn't respond, but moves closer interested. "Yeah, her back is broken in the lumbar vertebrae. The uh.. lower back, right here. Tibbetts points out to Ven the location of the bone. "That bone takes a long time to heal, if at all. It's in the spinal cord which carries the nerves from the brain to the lower part of the body." Ven re focuses his attention to Tibbetts, suprised to see the knowledge coming out. Tibbetts continues, "Her legs are also broken." He moves towards her upper body, "Her arms are fine.. But.." He feels a crick in her neck. "Her cervical vertabrae is sprained, but not broken."

"What does that mean?" asked Ven.

"Her neck is cracked... She's for the most part paralyzed from the waist down. Here, let's put her flat on the ground, and keep her head straight up." They both move her down on the wooden floor, lying face up.

Ven turns towards Tibbetts, "Where did you learn all of this?"

"Well, I used to sneak into the lady's home, and read books."

"Like medical books?"

"There was one of those, yeah... Is there anyone else here?"

"Alive? No.."

"Why'd you say alive?"

Ven turns his head to the room Lillie was in, Tibbetts follows. He curiously gets up and slowly walks to the room peeking around the corner. "Ughh.." He sees the bloody mess, and a dead corpse. He looks at her for a few moments then turns away, looking out the window. Almost everyone came out from hiding, Tibbetts sees an opportunity to help out everyone else.

"Hey," said Tibbetts. "I'll be right back." He rushes out the front door towards the main part of the village.

One of the untouched homes, was the doctors house. The doctor of the village was chosen by the community to care for everyone's health and well-being. They are chosen based on experience and knowledge of caretaking. They are also chosen to handle birth's, and usually have a good amount of medical supplies. These medical supplies are usually stored in the food shed, but the village decided that it would be better if it was readily accessable inside someone's home. It's a big responsibility that puts a lot of stress on the guinea pig, but a rewarding job.

As Tibbetts runs out the door, he sees the village's remaining guinea pig gather towards the doc's house, looking for help. There's almost thirty pigs near his front door, doing what looks like searching around. Tibbetts runs into the crowd and overhears a few pigs in the front near the door.

"Where is he?" said one pig.

"I just said, I don't know," answered another. Everyone was trying to talk over one another, and was causing a some sort of chaos.

"Well, has anyone seen Tyler!" shouted a pig from one corner.

"He's dead!" shouted another.

"What about Neal!?" Another guinea voice came out.

"I saw half of him next to one of the burning homes!" The whole village was asking for the doc.

Suddenly one shouted, "Here! Here! I found him." Tibbetts turned as well as everyone else. One guinea pig covered in dirt was seen dragging another pig.

Some went to his aid, "It is the doc!"

"Is he okay!?"

"He's dead!"

"Don't say that, maybe he's unconscious!" Everyone was squabbling in anarchy.

Tibbetts hurried himself towards the small crowd handling the doc and kneeled down beside him, "Lemme take a look!" shouted Tibbetts. They stop and look at Tibbetts, then at each other, in confusion. Tibbetts studies the body for a moment, then concludes, "Um.. Yeah, he's de-"

Without warning, Tibbetts gets shoved aside by another guinea pig. "Move kid, this is no time for games!"

It was an almost siamese guinea pig. Named Ellis, he has cream colored fur, with a touch of brown fading from the nose back. Ellis takes over diagnosing and shoves Tibbetts aside. Tibbetts gets up slowly and looks back at the small group, already forgetting him and paying no mind.

"Sorry guys, he's gone.." said Ellis.

Everyone looks down quietly. Tibbetts gets on his feet, and prepares to say something but stops himself, retreating back to the crowd.

"Now what?" asked one of the pigs next to Ellis.

"Well.. Let's gather the bodies, get a count and see if anyone needs help."

Tibbetts rolled his eyes thinking to himself, "As if that wasn't obvious enough."

Everyone began to scatter around the village, collecting bodies. Some couldn't handle the pressure of cleaning up their loved one's remains, so they stayed inside the doc's home. After a few minutes of laboring, one guinea pig was found trapped inside his home, under debris. Ellis and some others came by to help get him out. Tibbetts saw the trapped guinea pig, and decided to come help as well. The guinea pig was laying down trapped from the chest down surrounded by blood, and unable to move. Ellis comes up to the pig and points at one of the helpers to grab his arms.

"We'll pull together," said Ellis. The other pig nods in agreement and they prepare to pull.

Tibbetts watches from the side and notices something, "The wood is impaled into his stomach!" thought Tibbetts. "If they pull him out from the debris, it will rip his insides and kill him."

Tibbetts began to rush his position and shout saying stop, but it's too late. They pull the body out and the victim begins to bleed violently. Ellis and his helper attempt to control the gushing, but the victim bleeds out within seconds giving his last breath. Tibbetts stops short and looks down in failure. Afraid to say anything, he turns around and tries to help elsewhere.

Suddenly, a guinea pig shouts from the distance, "Can I get some help over here!?"

Tibbetts turns and rushes to their aid. He arrives with two other guinea pigs. They are at the edge of the village looking down into the valley, a body had fallen down it. Tibbetts was the first to come down the steep incline, followed by the two others. When he gets there, Tibbetts attempts to identify the body. It was an abyssinian guinea pig, sort of plump. Tibbetts is in shock when he turns to look at the face; It's Marlen!

"Marlen!?" shouted Tibbetts. "What was he doing down here?"

"Probably trying to run away but got caught," answered one of the pigs. The two others arrive and begin lifting him up, taking him up the hill.

Tibbetts stands aside and murmers to himself, "Aw man, what's Ven gonna think about this.. I have to tell him."

"Thanks for helping!" suddenly shouted one of the guinea pigs sarcastically towards Tibbetts.

Tibbetts realized he was just standing there the whole time and apologizes. As they get out of sight, Tibbetts turns to Ven's home and decides to check up on him, telling the news. He climbs back up the hill, and is stopped short by a conversation between the villagers. It was with Ellis and a couple of villagers.

"So, who's gonna take over the village?" asked a villager.

Ellis responds, "I think Julie should take over, she the last competent person alive in her family."

"Where is she?"

"In the doc's home, recovering from this mess."

"Speaking of the doc, what about him? Who's gonna take his position?"

"I can do it.." said Ellis. "I assisted Alec in multiple occasions."

Alec was the old doc of the village. He was an old guinea pig, but was one of the smartest. Everyone loved him as he was sweet and had a gentle personality. But not anymore.

"Are you sure you're up to it?" asked a villager. "There's uhh, a lot of people in that house right now."

"Well.. Now it's my house so..-"

"NO!" shouted Tibbetts from the distance. The others turn as he moves closer. "No, NO! You are not taking that house!"

"You don't have a say in this," responded Ellis.

"Yes I do. According to you, Julie is taking over right? Being her brother, I take second in charge."

"Sorry but it doesn't work that way, it's by popular vote."

"And everyone already voted her as leader? And you as doctor?"

"Pretty much."

"No! I will not stand for that bullshit. Prove it!"

"Why? Do you wanna be the leader of the village?"

"No, but-"

"Okay then, shut up and go away."

"I wanna be the doctor..."

Ellis stops short and chuckles, "You? Ha!"

"I'm serious."

"Do you even know anything about doctoring?"

"I know a lot about medical treatment, way more than you!"

"No you don't, you didn't even help one person today."

"Because everyone was shoving me aside."

"Oh, that's just because you suck."

"...Prove that you got voted as doctor."

"You really want me too?"

"Yes."

The doctor pauses, then waives his arms in the air. "Hey everyone! Attention!" The village pauses their work and listens in. "Tibbetts here wants to become the village doctor, as opposed to me!" Everyone gives a confused look, some giving dirty looks at Tibbetts. "Who here wants to vote for Tibbetts as doctor?" Absolutely no one raises their hand. "Anybody for me?"

Slowly hands begin to raise up, one by one. Each hand brought a bigger smile to Ellis's face.

He turns to Tibbetts, "You see?"

Tibbetts looks up knowing in the back of his mind, they made a bad decision. "That's not even fair," hollered Tibbetts. "You didn't even let me prove myself."

"You don't have to prove yourself, I already know what the people want."

"Yeah, but you don't know what they need."

"I do know, me."

"Okay motherfucker.." Tibbetts balls his fist in pure anger. "Screw y-"

All of a sudden, a siren is heard in the distance, it's sound echoing throughout the neighborhood and village. It spooks everyone, causing guinea pigs to pile up inside homes trying to take shelter. Bright flashing lights illuminate the neighborhood. Tibbetts scurries in the opposite direction, heading towards Ven's home. He rushes inside. Ven doesn't hesitate to invite Tibbetts inside, he slams the door shut.

Tibbetts walks up to Ven looking out the window. "What is it?" asked Tibbetts.

"It's a firetruck, or ambulance," answered Ven.

"I've heard of those, it's like human doctors right?"

"It's a vehicle, that carries.. human doctors.. just stay here."

The vehicles park in front of the breeders home. Large footsteps are heard in front of the home, then banging on the front door. After no answer, they bust the door down, searching for any survivors.

"We found one!" said one firefighter.

"Fire!" said another one. "In the backyard!"

They quickly gather a fire extinguisher from the truck, and put out the small fires in the backyard. Meanwhile, the ambulance personnel grab a stretcher and take the old lady, as well as her dog.

One of the firefighters stand near the shattered back door, looking at the village. "Why is there a bunch of model homes in the back?"

"Who knows," answered another firemen. "Maybe it was the lady's hobby. C'mon we have a job to do."

The firefighters quickly clear out the home and head into their vehicles moving house to house, checking if anyone needs help.

Back at Ven's home, he listens to the vehicles as they drive further away, lights getting dimmer and siren fading. Since the fires were extinguished, the village was now really dark, only being lit by the moon. Tibbetts was tending to Elliot, still resting from her incident earlier. And Ven was sitting up against the wall near the window, examining the makarov.

Tibbetts turns to Ven, "Hey, just wanted to let you know, I found your father."

"I'm assuming he's dead."

"Uh.. yes."

"I'm not even surprised anymore.." He continues to study the pistol and realizes what Alexei had said about it. He looks out the window into the distance towards Alexei's home. "I need to go."

"Where?" asked Tibbetts.

"Back to Alexei. Stay here if you want, I need to make sure he's okay."

"That's fine, rather stay away from other people anyway.." Ven holsters the pistol, and hops out the window, traveling towards Alexei.