Greetings fellow readers who might be interested again! A bit of mojo has come back into reviving my interest into this story.
Now back, today's chapter is thankfully a little shorter from that big character bio of Holly previously but this time, 2 familiar characters will be having a run in with Bigwig as it's time for:
FTF Chapter 16
It's The Night Prowlers
In the week following Holly's accident, the Sandleford group began to truly feel settled in their new life on the Hopps farm. By now everyone knew their way around the farmland and Hopps house and everyone had a good handle on their day-to-day chores. Nine hours of work a day, five days a week, plus another hour every day to work on the care package project. The pay wasn't great, but with their room and board covered everyone was saving money, and with Hazel's leg healed and Holly's homosexuality finally out in the open every rabbit was now in good spirits, except for one.
As predicted, since the great wave had happened refugees had begun migrating from the city of Zootopia to Bunnyburrow and some had tried to sneak onto farms to steal food, and the Hopps farm was no exception. And Bigwig was right in the thick of things, for patrolling the farm was his job. He was working nights now, walking through the dark fields and rows of crops with a flashlight listening for intruders, encountering four a week on average. Suffering, starving mammals who had lost their homes and were seeking food and shelter, just like he and his friends had done only a month before; the familiarity ached at him. Most of these intruders he had been able to turn away and redirect to the newly opened refugee shelter in town, but a few, including a pair of buck sheep and a black bear, had actually put up a fight and Bigwig might have lost had he not been armed with a tranquilizer gun. Bigwig was an excellent fighter who could hold his own against larger opponents, but he knew that these were just desperate animals and he did not want to hurt them, and it was all starting to wear on his nerves. Fear for his friends was also adding to his paranoia, for they were out in the fields all day without guns and without him to protect them, and sooner or later a not-so-friendly intruder was bound to attack during the day.
He checked his watch: 3 AM, just an hour and a half left and then he could go home and start waking everybody up for their shifts. He was in the berry patch now, near one of the barns. He reached into a bush, plucked some berries and popped them into his mouth when his rabbit ears picked up a sound.
A car motor, coming down the road towards the farm, but he couldn't see any headlights. Bigwig quickly turned off his flashlight and looked towards the driveway. His night vision wasn't as good as a nocturnal animal's, but he could still make out what was coming as it turned off the road into the driveway: it was a military jeep, old and clunky, its engine rattling and popping as it pulled over by the barn. Whoever this was, he wasn't being discreet. Bigwig squinted some more, and could make out two passengers, one large and one small, and they both had snouts, suggesting predator. Then from above the clouds parted, and Bigwig saw their faces illuminated by moonlight: the driver was a fox, large and portly, with the fur on his head combed and parted in some odd style. And sitting next to him was a ferret, with dark fur around his eyes that made him look like he was wearing a burglar's mask. There was also something white and fluffy between them that Bigwig could not identify.
His whole body on alert now Bigwig crept closer, and watched the fox get out of the driver's seat and walk over to the barn door; Bigwig knew that this particular barn housed a large refrigerator containing the previous day's berry pickings, and that it was secured by a combination lock. Judging from the fox's body language he looked strangely at ease, as if he didn't care that he could be caught stealing, and Bigwig's paranoia increased as he realized that he could be dealing with an actual seasoned thief. Bigwig had never seen him around the farm before, and he had no idea what business this fox and this weasel could have with the Hopps family otherwise.
Bigwig held his breath as the fox grasped the combination lock and pulled and fiddled with it for almost a minute. And then it clicked, the lock was off, he was pulling the door open-
"HYAAAGH!" Bigwig charged out of his hiding place and tackled the intruder. With a little judo he tripped the fox, flipped him onto his stomach, and pinned his arm behind his back. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Bigwig growled.
"Ah – Ah'm sorry!" The fox answered, "Ah didn' expect company – ya new here?"
Bigwig was taken aback; the fox not only sounded like he was allowed to be here, but he also spoke in a thick country drawl that made Bigwig realize that he might not be from the city after all. "I'll ask the questions here," He retorted, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He twisted the fox's arm a little more, making him yelp in pain.
"Let him go!" the ferret got of the jeep and approached the two, "That's mah husband!"
"Your…?" Bigwig's ears shot up in confusion at those words before another sound suddenly interrupted them: "WAH-H-H-H! BAH-H-H-H!"
It was coming from the jeep.
"Aww, ya woke up the baby!" the ferret ran back to the jeep, reached in, and picked up a tiny little baby sheep dressed in a onesie patterned with stars and moons. He gently bounced the thing up and down, trying to get it to stop crying.
Bigwig wondered if he was in a dream as he surveyed the scene around him. The fox and the ferret before him were not from the city, seemed to know this farm, claimed to be married, and somehow had a baby lamb with them. It was all too ridiculous to be some kind of ruse. "Alright, I'll bite," he let the fox go and stepped off of him, but kept his paw on the tranquilizer gun on his hip. "I'll ask one more time: who are you guys?"
"Mah name's Gideon Grey," the fox answered as he got up, rubbing his arm. "That's mah husband Travis, we run a bakery in town. Maybe yah heard of it – Gideon Grey's Real Good Baked Stuff."
"Nice title, but no," Bigwig replied bluntly, "What does that have to do with the Hopps farm?"
"We work with 'em – they supply all the fruits we use in our pies," Gideon answered, "An' tonight Ah knocked over mah last bucket o' berries by accident, and we had to come out here ta get more right away."
"And you brought the whole family along, does the baby bake too?" Bigwig asked sarcastically.
"No, his mother's still at home, we wanted ta let her get some sleep," Travis answered this time, "And Levi's been cryin' all night these days, but ridin' in the jeep gets him to sleep." He held the little lamb, who had now stopped crying, up to show Bigwig.
Bigwig was dumbfounded as he eyed the baby, and processed the ferret's first sentence. "His… mother?"
"Yeah, Sharla Grey, our wife, the new mayor o' Bunnyburrow," Gideon answered proudly. "Election was just last week, ya didn' hear?"
Bigwig shook his head, feeling his mental state shift from dumbfounded to outright flabbergasted, and simply answered: "No. I'm not from around here, I only moved here recently."
He took a step back, still keeping a paw on his tranquilizer gun, "And I'm the new security here, and I never met you before, so I gotta ask: how did you know how to get in the barn?"
"Ah told you, we work with the Hopps family," Gideon answered, "Have for over 15 years – they tol' me the combination."
"You rattled the lock for almost a minute."
"Ah forgot the combo, it's been a while-"
"Why were your lights off?"
"We didn' wanna disturb anyone, we can drive by night vision," Gideon replied, starting to look flustered, "We were gonna leave money an' a note, honest!" He reached into his pocket and held up a handful of cash and a little notepad.
Bigwig sighed. He believed them, or at least he wanted to, but he had to be sure. "Alright…" he pulled a walkie-talkie off his belt, "If I get one of the Hopps rabbits on here, will they vouch for you?"
"Yeah, yeah, o'course!" Gideon answered, "But hurry – we're already late startin' the day's pies!"
Bigwig pressed the button on his walkie-talkie and spoke: "Connor? Connor, are you up?"
No answer. "Connor? Are you awake?"
There were a few more seconds of silence, and then: *Kxxxt*, "Errgh… now I am," came Connor's drowsy voice, clearly having been woken up. "What's goin' on? You catch another intruder?"
"Yeah, two, but they say they work with you. You know a fox named Gideon Grey, and a weasel named Travis?"
"Gideon?" Bigwig heard a yawn on the other end, "Yawwnn… yeah, put 'em on."
Bigwig passed the walkie-talkie to Gideon, who looked relieved as he spoke into it: "Mornin' Connor, sorry to get ya up like this."
"S'okay… sorry I forget to tell you about our new security, you usually come by durin' the day."
"Yeah, ah spilled my last bucket o' berries an' tried ta get more from the barn, when this buck pounced on me," Gideon started to sound a little amused now, "Ya sure picked a good guard – he's half mah size and he pinned me good!"
"Yeah, he's ex-military, had some kind of special rabbit training," Connor replied, "Bigwig, let these guys in, they are who they say they are. Hiya Travis, kiss the baby for me, willya? I'm going back to sleep, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Connor." Gideon passed the walkie-talkie back to Bigwig, and then stood looking at him, as if waiting for something. Bigwig frowned in confusion before he realized he was standing between the fox and the door, and stepped aside. "Sorry," he muttered.
"S'okay," Gideon shrugged as he let himself into the barn and Bigwig followed him in, "You ain't the first rabbit ta jump me an' ya won't be the last – part of being a fox in Bunnyburrow."
"I was just doing my job," Bigwig reminded him as they made their way to the refrigerator.
"Yeah, ya were, no hard feelings," Gideon answered politely. Bigwig then helped the fox load the truck with some trays of berries, watched him write a note and leave it with some cash, and then bade the fox and weasel goodbye as they turned out of the driveway and down the road they had come from.
Bigwig checked his watch: 3:30, an hour left to go. As he started off on his patrol again his mind began to race. Gideon and Travis had turned out to be friendly, but they still added to his already-frayed nerves. He knew this wave of refugees wouldn't last forever, but after this week of catching intruders on this farm and fighting off drug smugglers at Cowslip's, this was the last straw. His friends needed more protection.
Starting this evening, he was going to teach them to fight.
Oh dear, Seems Bigwig didn't expect to see these two men tonight but yes, Gideon Grey the fox baker of Bunnyburrow and friend of the Hopps is now married to his childhood friend Travis with an adopted baby lamb and the 2 predators both have a marriage with their new prey wife Sharla the new bunnyburrow mayor!
For those newcomers confused as to this trio marriage, please read Star Of Ceartais and this detail gets brought up in the latter half of the story around the mid 40's chapters.
Coming soon to the story, Bigwig teaches self defense to his friends and feels puzzled still on the idea of a trio marriage.
Song Of The Day: Night Prowler by AC DC
