Chapter 2: Matters of Size and Mortality
Judy walked along the beach as Nick went off to catch his breakfast, heading to the edge of the jungle. She thought it best to not try and go into the dense thicket and kept to picking up small twigs and branches along the border where dirt and sand met. A pile had soon formed near the palm tree that her and Nick were supposed to meet back at. Judy looked thoughtfully at the pile, considering what else would be needed. She figured some stones to make a pit would be a good start, but the rabbit knew she was forgetting something important and thought carefully.
"Oh! Tinder, duh!" she exclaimed as she began looking for something dry to light up eventually.
Judy examined the palm tree, noting the way the bark was peeling. She tore out some of the twisting bark then took note of the tree itself. It hadn't occurred to her until she was in front of the tree that it was unusually tall for a palm tree and she certainly didn't expect it to be so wide around. She placed her paw on the dense trunk as she paced around it. Then she looked up to see the coconuts, curious as to what they would be like considering the strangeness of the tree.
Judy reared back before charging, giving the tree a solid kick towards its base. It barely rustled. She huffed but refused to be defeated. She reared back more delivering another, more powerful kick, this time with both feet. It shook but did not yield any of its fruit. The rabbit frowned up in annoyance, this time making a considerable amount of distance. With a mighty shout she ran at the tree, kicking off the ground and attempting to strike the tree a quarter of the way up from the base. Both of her feet connect and she kicks off of it, landing not-so gracefully as her arm forced her off balance. Still she landed on her feet while teetering backwards. Looking up the shaken tree, she finally sees a single fruit come down. Victory was hers as she smiled triumphantly.
"Alright, come to-"
THOOM!
The rabbit shielded her eyes at the sand that flew up from the landing of the coconut. Slowly she brought herself to see what had fallen as the dust settled. Her eyes grew wide. She approached the fallen fruit slowly, her mouth slightly agape.
"…Sweet cheese and crackers…"
She knew coconuts were supposed to be rather large while in its husk…but even she knew that it wasn't supposed to be this large. The fruit was as large as she was and easily twice her mass. Hesitantly, Judy brought herself to grab the stocky stem of the oversized monster of a coconut and pulled it from its crater. She could hear the liquid sloshing around in the hollow cavity in its center.
Judy dragged the massive coconut next to the pile of firewood she had gathered and then sat in front of it. She was still trying to make sense of the thing she was looking at. She even pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. No, it was real, it was definitely real. She was definitely sitting in front of a giant coconut.
"Ok!" she exclaims again to no one particular. "This island has…giant…coconuts…that's not a bad thing, I mean, look at you! You're huge! That means more food for us!" she adds on with a nervous laugh.
It took her a moment to realize that she was starting to talk to the coconut. She slaps her forehead.
"Ugh, Nick…please come back soon before I lose any more of my sanity…"
Nick kept his focus on the crab ahead as it skittered off at full speed. It surprised him just how fast it was despite how small the creature is. Probably no bigger than a cell phone. As he continued his pursuit, he contemplated on how it would even taste. If anything he would've liked it to be a soft-shell, something that had only recently molted, then at least he could eat the whole thing. The fox licked his lips, driven by the incessant rumbling in his stomach.
Nick leapt at the fleeing crab, trying his best to ignore his soreness in his chase. The sand made for a somewhat soft landing having missed the crab. It didn't help that the sand made getting any speed difficult. Not only that, but the uneven terrain also allowed the crab to easily outmaneuver him.
Frustration reigned as Nick got up growling from both his throat and empty stomach. His soon to be breakfast was making a fool of him and he wouldn't stand for it. His anger only grew as the crab dug back into the sand.
"Oh no you don't!" Nick shouts as he dives into the spot the crab retreated to. He dug furiously, panting as sand flew in all directions. He soon felt his paw grip something smooth and hard. "Ha! Gotcha you little-"
Pffssh
Nick looked to the sudden noise, seeing two oddly shaped black lumps poking out from the sand before him. He looked at the lumps quizzically, observing them carefully. His ears drew back to his head, eyes widening when the two black lumps moved. He realized what they were…they were eye stalks.
The sand shifted abruptly, causing Nick to let go of whatever it was he was holding and to back away quickly. Dust kicked up, the sound of sand falling and loud clicking emanated from the spot. The cloud settled and Nick stared in disbelief at what had surfaced.
It was a crab…a crab nearly three times his size.
Silence fell and both Nick and the crab stared at each other as the smaller crab that the fox chased earlier surfaced as well, fleeing from the stand-off. He stared down at the beastly crustacean before him while backing away. The crab clicked its massive claws it held close to its body, each one of its pincers being as large as the fox. It raised its claws holding them outward and raising its body.
Nick had angered the beast.
He screamed turning tail just as the crab began chasing him. The smaller crab must've been the larger crab's child or perhaps sibling. Either way the tables had turned on Nick and he frantically fled while holding a steady scream.
Snap!
Nick felt a pincer just barely graze the tip of his tail, making him yelp and clutch his tail as he continued his escape. He dared not look back and focused on the length of beach ahead.
Snap!
This time he could feel the pincer missing his shirt. It was gaining on him. His body screamed with him, his sore muscles wanting him to slow down. Adrenaline alone was keeping him going. His mind raced in a futile attempt at devising some way out of the mess he was in. Each time the death vice of the crab missed him only caused him to forget any plan he could've made. One idea finally pushed through, and with all his might he screamed.
"CARROOOOOTS!"
"CARROOOOOTS!"
Judy snapped out of her trance, having fixated herself to ponder on how the coconut was so massive. Her ears shot up as she looked to the direction of the scream.
'That sounded like Nick!' she thought, darting off from the ground and towards the screaming.
It didn't take her long to find him, stopping as she saw the panicked fox running towards her.
"Nick?! W-what's-"
"Don't talk, RUN!" Nick interrupted her, as he ran by her.
A split second was all Judy had to see her partner's pursuer; a large shelled creature practically galloping sideways towards them. With her own scream she turned and ran alongside Nick. "Nick! What is that?!" she asked frantically, peeking back every few seconds.
"It's a fucking crab, what does it look like?!" Nick shouted his tone full of irritation.
"Why is it huge?!" She had only recently accepted the mysterious giant coconut, now completely baffled by the beast chasing them. "Crabs can't be that big!" She shouted.
"Tell that to the crab!" Nick retorted feeling a pincer miss him again.
The two continued their running and screaming, the crab keeping either of them from separating as it attempted to catch them. Soon they found themselves approaching the palm tree. Judy looked ahead, her eyes widening as she formed a plan.
"Nick! We need to make it to that tree!"
"Wha-Why?!" Nick asked with a shout.
"Just do it!" she shouted back, looking up at the palm tree.
Judy looked back briefly as Nick ran past the tree. She stopped abruptly, turning to face the oncoming guillotine as she held her ground. Nick stopped to look back once he realized his partner was no longer next to him. He looked on with horror upon seeing Judy face down the colossal crab. He screamed out in protest.
"Judy, NO!"
Time seemed to slow down for the rabbit as she saw the massive claw come down on her. In the last second, she launched herself upwards while holding her legs close to her body. The pincer came up short on crushing down on the rabbit and lodging itself to the tree instead. Judy brought down her legs, both of her feet coming down to crush the joint along the massive clawed arm. Kicking off, she rolled directly under the crab, tumbling forward until she was on its other side. She winced at the stinging sensation in her shoulder. The crab looked to the rabbit and attempted to chase after her only to be stopped due to its claw still being stuck to the tree. The sudden jerking allowed the chain reaction the clever rabbit had planned to come into effect as a massive coconut came down on the crab.
Clonk!
Judy and Nick winced at the sound, peeking to see the aftermath. At first it seemed as though nothing had happened, the tenacious crab merely standing there.
Crack!
A hairline fissure formed on the carapace, starting from the edge of its shell in between its eye stalks down to its rear. Again it stood still, the pair watching in anticipation. The crab began to foam at its mouth, signaling that it was suffocating on something. It occurred to them soon after what it was suffocating on as the white bubbles turned to an inky dark blue. Its blood. Grim as it was, it was choking on its own blood. The crab shook and hissed while spurting blue blood from its foaming mouth, the hissing breaking up as though it were coughing. Judy looked on, horrified as she watched it die. Finally, the large crab collapsed, toppling forward with a mighty thud. It ceased its movement soon after.
They stared at the crab in horrified silence. Nick slowly walked around the crab, not once looking away from it, his body facing it the whole time. He stood by Judy, who looked at the creature with pity in her eyes. Even despite the fact it had tried to kill them mere seconds ago she still couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature. Nick looked to her, seeing the expression in her eyes.
"C-carrots?"
She turned to her partner who looked back at her with worry. "I…I-I killed it," she stated as she began to shake, the adrenaline dying down.
Nick looked back at the fallen beast, putting an arm around her. "Well, i-it might not be dead…it could just be-"
Crack!
The pair jumped at the sudden noise. Another coconut had fallen, this time caving in the shell from the crack that had formed earlier. They stared wide eyed at the scene before looking at each other. Judy began to tear up; her plan had worked, but a little too well. "I d-didn't mean for it to die, I just-I thought it might stun it!" she tried to reason as she placed her free paw over her mouth.
Nick did his best to console her, holding her gently and letting his partner bury her face into the fur on his chest. "Carrots…Judy…you did nothing wrong, that thing would've killed us at any given chance…" he explained to her in the most comforting tone he could offer. He held her tightly while being careful not to touch her shoulder. "You saved us," he added.
Judy sniffled in the embrace, wiping her eyes and looking up. "It was just protecting that smaller crab you were chasing…wasn't it?" she asked but not so much out of accusation.
Nick winced knowing she was probably right about that. "…Yeah…that's more than likely it." He replied hesitantly, turning to look at the large crab. "I'm sorry…I made you have to do something you were never meant to do," he apologized while sitting down, burying his face into his paws. Being a prey, especially a rabbit like her, meant she had no instinct in killing for her food and he regretted having brought her into the mess of dealing with the monster crab.
Judy sat beside Nick, biting her lip and placing her paw on his shoulder. "No…you need to eat something…I can't honestly expect you to survive off of just fruits and vegetables," she stated while looking at the crab. "If…if this is something I have to do to make sure you get some kind of protein then…I'll accept it," she added, wiping her eyes once more.
"You won't have to do this, I promise you, I'll do it myself next time…I don't want you to have to do anything you don't want to, that you're not…meant to do," Nick replied as he took her paw in his.
"Nick…I want you to live…that's what I want and if helping you get some kind of meat does just that, then it is what I'm meant to do," she returned, squeezing his paw lightly.
Nick smiled warmly at her, appreciating her concern. "Sly bunny…"
"Dumb fox…don't go thinking for a second that I'm not willing to do whatever it takes to help you survive," she finished, resting her head on his shoulder.
The two look at the corpse of the crab for a few more minutes, still bewildered before deciding that it wasn't wise to waste any further daylight. Nick approached the body, lifting the coconut from the crater and setting it aside with the other two. He carefully worked each of the joints, dismantling the crab's arms and legs.
Judy watched at first and then turned her attention to the coconuts. Finding a sharp rock she began the task of removing the husk. As expected, the drupes underneath were still relatively large, being half her size.
They began processing the food for their meals. Judy started a fire while Nick prepared a claw to be spit roasted. They found a creative use for the other claw, working as a team to split one of the coconuts within the pincer. By the time they had accomplished their mission of preparing a meal, judging the position of the sun, Nick assumed it was already lunch time.
"Well, so much for not wanting to miss breakfast," he remarked, sighing as he turned the massive claw on the spit.
Judy placed a few large coconut pieces at the edge of the fire, hoping to roast them to bring out the flavor. "Yeah, well at least we'll be eating something…and besides, we have plenty of food here, I'm sure we'll have more than enough left over for a proper breakfast tomorrow morning," she replied cheerfully, her optimism returning with full force. That optimism was just one of the many reasons Nick came to love Judy. He chuckled and nodded in agreement.
When the food was finally ready they dug in enthusiastically. Nick pulled out large chunks of crab meat with his teeth, chewing with his mouth open to keep from burning his tongue. Judy bit down on the lightly browned coconut flesh, giving an approving nod of the sweet treat. They ate loudly, forgoing any and all manners, too hungry to really care.
Both let out a satisfactory sigh, having gorged themselves on the oversized food. Nick couldn't even finish the whole claw, tying some leaves to the gaping hole of where the joints would meet to preserve the flesh still inside. In the end, only half of just one of the coconuts was used. The other half still had coconut meat and juices, to which they shared when they realized they had no source of clean drinkable water yet.
They poked at each other's jutting bellies, laughing and joking to various fat and pregnant jokes.
"Huh…I bet Clawhauser would think this was paradise," Nick remarked, setting down the large claw on top of some leaves where he had stacked the other bits of food.
"Yeah, no kidding, I bet he would've finished that whole crab by himself," Judy replied with a giggle.
"And the coconuts," Nick added.
"All in one sitting," Judy topped off, the pair laughing at the thought of Clawhauser's face to all the food he would've had for basically free.
They rested against the palm tree, sitting carefully to avoid being near any possible landing points. Half the day was already gone, and it was time for them to figure out where to go from where they were.
"…Shall we do the classic 'make a giant S.O.S out of stones' routine first?" Judy suggested while turning a stone she picked up.
Nick nodded, adding to it, "and we can put up some torches, make it visible in the dark."
The two passed suggestions and ideas to each other, getting up and gathering stones while they spoke to each other. Making a raft came up should the initial 'be rescued' plan flopped. Nick joked about Macgrrver-ing a flying machine, which earned him a playful punch to his arm. While in the final stages of making their giant S.O.S marker, the subject of shelter and resting for the night came up.
"What are we going to do about resting for the night? I mean…we've seen that this island has a lot of, y'know, 'giant things'," Judy pointed out. "We were lucky that we weren't attacked by anything last night, and we have all this food here now, I'm pretty sure something is going to want to come for it and probably us too," she continued while setting down the last of her stones.
Nick rubbed at his chin, contemplating the situation as he turned to Judy. "There's nothing we would be able to do really, we would just have to take turns sleeping and keep a lookout," he suggested. "And that would just leave the question of who would take first shift, and I know who," he says, the pair opening their mouths to answer.
"Me."
The response was in unison, and they looked at each other with conflicted expressions.
"Carrots, come on, let me have the first shift, you're hurt." Nick pointed out.
"Nick, it's because I'm hurt that I should take first shift, if you get exhausted taking it and then I take my turn, it would leave you too tired to help me if something should happen," she argued, continuing her explanation, "Think about it, if I'm well rested, what good is that?" she added while gesturing to her shoulder.
Nick thought about it carefully and there was little to deny that logic, if he was rested enough he would be able to do more. Still he was adamant, "you managed to take out that crab despite your shoulder."
No argument there, she did take it head on and succeeded. "I had that tree, if that wasn't there I wouldn't have been able to take it."
The argument went on with both sides giving solid reasons to let them take the first watch. Eventually Nick relented, seeing that arguing with Judy was an impossible feat. He sighs, nodding with a knowing smile. "Alright Carrots, you win, you can have first shift." He says in a mock defeated tone, ruffling her head.
She swatted his paw playfully, giggling. "I always win, dumb fox," she says triumphantly.
The sun was setting now and the two hurried back to their camp site. They hadn't managed to get torches ready and they decided to leave it be for now. Judy started another fire while Nick gathered large palm leaves to lay out as make shift beds. Using a few branches and some vines, he put together a small shelter and set the leaves under it.
The night crept in slowly as the two enjoyed another meal, the strange day finally ending. They sat there, side by side, gazing up to the clear night sky and into the ocean of stars. To Judy it felt nostalgic to her days back home in Bunnyburrow, sitting out in the fields with some of her siblings and watching for shooting stars. Nick, having never left the city, stared in amazement as a single word left his lips.
"Wow."
He never knew how beautiful the night sky was, the light pollution in the city making it impossible to see anything other than the lights from planes overhead. It was humbling to know that he had so much of the world yet to see and there was still a whole other frontier out there.
As they stargazed, Judy looked out at the darkened waters. "Do you…do you think anyone knows what happened out here yet?" she asked while curling up, resting her chin on her knees.
Nick looked back down with her, sighing. "I'm certain that the coast guard was at least notified."
Judy nodded, her ears drooping at her next thought. "…Do you think…all those other passengers...made it out alright?"
The fox wrapped an arm around his bundled rabbit, looking at her. "I won't lie to you and say they did…but hey, if we managed to survive without a boat, I'm sure they did too…" he said to her, again using his best comforting tone.
She nodded, placing a paw onto Nick's back. "You should get a head start on some sleep, I'll wake you up later," she suggested to him, standing up to get more firewood.
With a sigh Nick reclined onto the bed of leaves, resuming his gaze upon the starry night. Sleep came to him slowly, listening to the soft crackling of the fire. The first day had come and gone. Though seemingly undeterred by it, they knew that there were stranger things to come given they hadn't even explored the jungles yet. Nick shuddered at the thought of what could be there, hiding amidst the dense canopy.
They didn't know it yet, but they were going to find out, soon enough…as a pair of gleaming eyes in the trees watched them unnoticed.
A/N: I warned you all that strange things were to come. Also, I am in need of editors, if anyone is willing to work with me, please PM me.