Chapter 7: Taz' plan

Taz, Molly, and Jake went down the river going farther and farther away from Acme. "Hahaha!" Taz laughed, feeling like they made an accomplishment, "Taz and siblings escape! Acme no capture!" However, their luck began to turn when rocks could be seen in the water ahead. "Gosh darn it!" said Molly. They attempted to get out of the river, but the current was too strong. Needless to say, the 3 of them sure got a feel of what those rocks were like, hitting into a good majority of them. Eventually, they were clear of the rocks, but it was about to get worse.

"Taz glad we through the rocks," said Taz. "Me too," said Jake. "Wait a minute, do you hear that?" asked Molly. A sound of something heavy pouring could be heard. The devil's could already guess what it was and they were right. "WATERFALL!" the 3 of them shouted. They swam to one of the edges where the surface was. Taz grabbed on, but Molly and Jake were unsuccessful. "Taz! Help us!" called Jake, as he and his sister were getting closer and closer to the edge of the waterfall. Taz quickly went to them, hoping he'd make it in time. Molly barely held onto one of the ledges, while holding onto Jake's hand with her own. Right as she let go and felt like all hope was lost, Taz grabbed her hand. "Taz says hold on tightly," he said as he used his unoccupied hand to grab the ledge. They were so close to the edge of the waterfall without them knowing. Taz then helped his siblings up to land, before they helped him up.

"Taz hate water," Taz grumbled. The 3 shook off the wetness, in an attempt to dry themselves off. They could hear the special units coming down. The devil's looked around to see if there was anywhere they could hide. "Hey look! There's somewhere we can hide!" said Jake, pointing to a motel in the distance. They quickly ran for it and ended up stopping outside of one of the doors on the first floor, away from where they once were. Good thing too, because the units had surveyed the area. Taz, Molly, and Jake watched them while also trying to hide. "So they'll go back to that Dingo guy and tell him that we fell down the waterfall," assumed Molly, "I mean, I don't see why he'd have these guy's come here, right?" Unfortunately, Molly's assumption would not be the case.

Alpha 3 radioed whoever was on the other line. "We lost em Mr. Townly," he explained, "Went down the river, only to have likely fallen to their deaths. I didn't see it for myself, I only saw them go down the river." "Don't worry Alpha 3," said Townly on the other line, "You tried. All you can do now is head ho-" "Give me that you numbskull!" Dingo interrupted in the background, before taking control of the other line, "I don't believe that for a second! I've seen Taz survive many things before, so there is more or less likely of a chance he and his little siblings survived the fall! Go searching! Search the entirety of Tazmania if you have to!" "Rodger that chairman," replied Alpha 3. The special units spread out, some of which going for the motel.

"Okay, now what do we do?" asked Molly. Before anyone could say anything, Taz was slammed by one of the room doors they had been standing by. A man in a business suit rushed out with a briefcase. "Can't believe I slept in 2 hours! I'm gonna be late for my flight!" he exclaimed, then noticed Molly and Jake to the right of him, but not Taz since he was squished by the door swinging open, "Here, take the keys if you and your parents need a room tonight. If you find any food or drinks still inside, you can thank me later!" The business man ran off. The door slowly went the opposite way, revealing Taz who was flat as a pancake. He soon went back to normal. "Welp, I guess it's settled," said Molly. She, Taz, and Jake went inside which looked decent at best, but nothing too special. Regardless though, they shut the shades and locked the door.

The special units made their way to ask people who were at the motel if they had seen 3 Tasmanian Devils, going from door to door in pairs. Soon making their way to the door where Taz, Molly, and Jake had been staying. Molly and Jake hid, except for Taz. In a matter of minutes, knocking could be heard. None of the devils answered the knocking, but Taz did take a look through the peep hole. He saw some of the units outside waiting for an answer. He himself then hid, hoping they wouldn't break down the door. The units though soon left believing no one was in the room. The 3 devils sighed in relief.

The thoughts of what happened to Hugh and Jean were back in their minds again. Not to say it wasn't, but all that mattered to them at the time of when they were running was to get away from Acme. The realization of them being on their own was hard to believe and something they didn't want to. Jake sat on the bed and hung his head down in sadness. Molly could feel it hit her like a ton of bricks, but tried to keep it together. Taz felt lost and unsure with how they could manage on their own. Then, he remembered something.

Taz spoke in his usual gibberish which got both of his siblings attention. Molly looked at her brother funny. "What?" she asked. Taz spoke again, which Jake's face brightened up. "You have a plan? What is it?" the little devil asked. "Let's not get our hopes up too high," said Molly, "I don't know about whatever plan this is. First of all Taz, what are you talking about you have had this plan in mind for a while? You never told us up until now." Taz knew he had some explaining to do, so he cleared his voice, before explaining and somewhat pacing. "I've always had a plan in case there was to be a scenario where things would go bad for us," Taz explained, speaking completely normally, "It was a fear I always had in the back of my mind but never said anything, out of fear that I might be made fun of for thinking this." "I haven't heard Taz talk like this before," whispered Jake. "He's done this before, but only during speeches during class assemblies when he was still in high school," Molly whispered back. "I have somewhere where we can live that is filled with promise," Taz continued, "It's a place to have a fresh start in life! And that place is right in here!" Taz took out his wallet. "Eh, nope," he said as he took out an ace card. "Nope," he said again taking out a card with a Bug's Bunny signature. "Definitely nope," he said once again taking out a picture of him running after Bull and Axl. Taz shrieked as he took out a picture of Constance kissing him on the cheek while he had a big grin while blushing in the picture. He quickly hid it and said, "You saw nothing."

Finally though, he took out something folded, which turned out to be a poster that showed a coastal like area with a little map on the right corner. "Woah!" Jake grinned. "California?" Molly said in surprise, "All the way out in the states? Why California?" "California because of the opportunities out that way," Taz explained, "Not to mention, they got the finest restaurants, hotels, and movie stars! But the point is, I feel that would be somewhere to start a new life, if we wanna stay away from Dingo. The transition may not be easy, but I'm sure we'll find ourselves enjoying the lifestyle. It's not just that, but I need you guys in order for me myself to start a new life. I don't think I could start one on my own." Molly and Jake had very unsure and hesitant looks on their faces. At the same time though, did they really have a choice? "You sure about this?" asked Jake, "I don't see this working out Taz. And, don't we need a lot of stuff to do that?" Taz cleared his voiced and replied with saying, "Jake and Molly trust Taz. Taz got it covered." Taz took out money from his wallet. He then went back to speaking gibberish. "I guess your payday was at the right time then," said Molly.

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 7 published 7/22/22)