A/N: Oddworld no mineys. D8
Chapter Seven: Friend
Gabby was able to rest now that she was out of the most difficult part of the river. The river was wide, slow, but still strong enough for her to relax and let it take its course. Still. Gabby did not float on the surface. She dove down near the bottom and held her breath until she could no longer do so. In her mind, she heard songs. Songs she herself had never made. They were old songs, songs with hidden meanings and songs she somehow felt a part of. They only served to increase her loneliness. She would whimper to herself as she floated along, determined to hide from her captors should they still be chasing her.
Food hadn't been something she'd thought prior to leaving. In fact, the fish in the spring were often lazy and used to her. But the fish in the Mongo were terrifying. Some had teeth nearly as big as she, sending her wicked, hungry looks as they swam by. Gabby would try her best to look big. At least the fish provided some company, but they still did nothing to ease the ache in her heart.
"I wonder when I'll find it," she said aloud, her voice still childlike. Her voice kept her company, but because of that she lost some air and hurried to recover it.
Day became night and overhead the moon was beginning to wane. Seeing no one, Gabby tried whistling. It was a long, high note that faded into silence. She listened, but nothing responded. Trembling, Gabby shivered and dove back under again.
Another night came and she dared to return to the surface. She hadn't eaten and her stomach was complaining miserably. For a moment, Gabby stopped caring. She let her body completely surface and she floated there, sighing miserably to herself in the darkness. For the time being, her survival instinct was just barely present, like a candle about to go out.
Near the shore, she spotted something that nearly made her dive under again. The pair of glowing spheres was trained directly on her. From where she was, they looked rather small, but larger than the eyes of an Outlaw. It squeaked. Gabby jumped, but curiosity overwhelmed her and she swam towards it. It did not run - but that didn't mean it couldn't be food.
But when she got to shore she merely looked at it, and it looked at her. Its body was smaller than hers, possibly two-thirds of her own height. In the dark it looked like a gray blob, with tiny ears and two far-set, glowing green eyes. Its tail, she noted as she saw it, was very long and slender. All in all, it didn't look like food.
It squeaked again, then hopped away on its single leg, only to turn around and face her again. Gabby blinked, tilting her head and watching it curiously. It squeeked a third time, and Gabby finally spoke.
"Do I ... go with you?" she asked it, searching for the words.
The creature squeeked yet again, and watched her unblinkingly. Gabby, terrified and curious, emerged from the water. She was so lonely that this creature would've made a better friend than a meal. It did not seem or sense hostile, and in fact drew closer to her for a moment and sniffed her. Then it hopped slowly away. Gabby followed it, still not the best at hopping on her single fin. But she grew used to it as she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
What Gabby did not know was that someone else had come upon these very shores some time before, on much the same journey she was.
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"Man," said Hal, wiping the sweat off his face. "Good thing we know where it's goin'. I can't smell a thing in all this wind."
The wind had indeed picked up. In fact, Hal himself was having trouble. The river had picked up and the wind was swirling the surface.
"Let's camp for the night," said Shorty over the howling wind. "We'll get going again when the wind stops."
Hal looked as though he wanted to disagree, but did not complain. The three of them made camp earlier than they had wanted.
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"Where are we goin'?" Gabby asked the creature. It merely led her on into the darkness of the forest. Here and there she spotted a handful of glowing orange lights, but every time she investigated the rat would jump in front of her, not letting her get near them.
She gave up and ignored the lights, following it through the tall grass. It was so tall, in fact, that she could hardly see over it. The blades tickled her body and she tried to ignore it. But the night itself was cold and the trees were beginning to rock with the increasing wind. It made her very nervous, especially as she looked up to see the tops swaying about. Lowering herself, she tried to focus on the creature leading her.
By the time they came out of the trees it was nearly sunrise. Gabby was exhausted, and the rat-like creature seemed to sense this. They stopped at the edge of the trees and the rat began sniffing about. Gabby could hardly see, but she did spot the black shadow of mountains ahead.
"I wish you c-could talk," stuttered Gabby. She yawned. Much of the speech she recalled from Zeke had also come from the Outlaws, whom she had often listened to. Still, her speech was limited.
The rat kept sniffing, and returned, some moments later, with a large beetle. It dropped it in front of her. Gabby was too hungry to resist it. She pounced on it, losing her balance in the process, but ate it guiltily. It didn't taste anything at all like the fish she was used to eating, but she was hungry. She smiled a little weakly at the rat and all but fell on her side.
The rat went back to scavenging, but by the time it had brought her anything, she'd already fallen asleep. The rat ate the bugs itself. Her exhausted body occasionally spazzed, waking her. She shivered in the breeze and curled up tighter, whimpering in her desire for water. Overhead, the clouds slid across the sky, and Gabby realized she wasn't about to sleep again. Nearby, the rat was dozing. As she moved, its ears twitched and it opened its eyes, blinking at her, nose twitching.
It squeaked, then bounced away and Gabby had no choice but to follow it. She was certain now that it was taking her somewhere, possibly towards the mountains. Her single leg ached and she would've liked to rest, but that certainly wasn't about to happen. The open fields were occupied by half-destroyed buildings, and as the sun rose she could make out the individual shapes. There was distinct barking coming from them and Gabby felt an instinctive jolt of fear.
The rat halted, sniffing the air and turning to look back at her. It rose up to its full height, and on its single leg it could now see over the grass. It looked left, then right, then dropped down a bit and squeaked quietly. It hopped away and Gabby quickly followed. The barks were far in the distance, and Gabby only hoped whatever made that noise wouldn't come any closer. She couldn't move very fast - especially in the tall, itchy grass.
The day wore on and Gabby was beginning to feel weak. She might've been fine, had she been sitting still in the water. But with constant moving, stress, her rapidly developing body, and a lack of food she was beginning to give out. It took much more energy to hop than it did to swim, and Gabby felt rather sick to her stomach. The rat seemed to sense this, and their pace was slowed slightly.
The mountains were all-consuming, eventually covering the horizon. She could spot the green texture of spruce trees that blanketed them, and the occasional patch of orange-brown where there were none. It was this that she tried to focus on. The barking had completely faded.
By nightfall, Gabby was nearly at her end. Panting, she struggled to follow the rat.
"P-please," she hissed. "I can't... pl-please."
Finally, Gabby collapsed. The rat, too, was tired, and attempted to console her by browsing for more beetles. It came up empty-clawed, however, and returned to her side, sleeping close to her. Gabby wanted so desperately to get up, but her muscles were seized with pain and exhaustion, and the young Gabbit couldn't summon the energy. So she lay there, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
It was nightfall when she awakened again. The drifting clouds had built up and then emptied themselves in buckets of rain over the land. Gabby was slightly relieved by it, and perked up. Her jaws parted and she tasted the rain, shivering in delight at its caress. Soon the rain began to pour relentlessly, whipping the trees about and sending needles flying everywhere. The rain was almost pile-driving the earth, stinging Gabby and the rat, who were forced to their feet.
Through the rain, the rat halted, sniffing and listening. Gabby thought she had heard it too. It was a single, solitary bark. Drenched and exhausted, it was only the rat's glowing eyes that created any form of light. The thunder was a near-constant grumble, so the bark went ignored. Now and again, lighting struck in the distance, nearly terrifying Gabby, who had never seen it.
They kept moving again, hoping perhaps they wouldn't be hit by anything.
It wasn't the lightning that was the enemy that night. Whatever had been plaguing them made itself known in the form of a small, hungry, carnivorous beast. The trio of young slogs parted the grass, growling and drooling hungrily as they approached the Gabbit and rat. Gabby whirled to face the predators, growling defensively. The slogs were undaunted, just as desperate as they were. There was a staredown, although the slogs' eyes were nowhere to be seen. The rat's green eyes cast twin lurid spots upon the slogs and it rose to its full height, snarling ferociously.
It was instinct that snapped rat and Gabbit into action. The pair of them spun and hopped away as fast as they could. The slogs gave chase.
Gabby and the rat were so terrified that they managed to remain a single stride away from the slogs. The slogs were so hungry and terrifying they were a single leap behind. Gabby could feel her energy sapping fast, and the hot breath of slog on her back was nearly overwhelming.
I'm not going to make it, she thought. What about the rat? The rat had led her this far and now it, too, was fleeing in sheer terror. It was then that she slipped, hitting the earth. Behind her, the world happened in slow-motion. The slogs leaped, jaws closing on her. Gabby felt her life flash before her eyes and in her mind, she imagined the Big Pond.
But there was no pain, no death, and Gabby saw something strike the small slog, knocking it away with a yelp. Then her world widened and the field was alight with green. Ratz poured in from all around, snarling and hissing and squeaking violently, pressing in on the slogs. The slogs snarled, backs pressed together as they found themselves overwhelmed. The Ratz lunged as a single unit, moving around the fallen Gabbit, and the slogs turned tail and fled. They might've been able to take on a single rat with the Gabbit, but they were young, and the wave of Ratz were too much for them.
Gabby couldn't summon the strength to move. She no longer cared about anything. Her body simply refused to obey. The Ratz surrounded her, and as one unit, as they had done many times before, lifted Gabby and the rat carefully onto their backs and disappeared into the mountains.
