-SEVEN-

Aftermath

"Is...is he…alive?"

"Yes, you idiot. If he was dead, he couldn't pay up."

"Oh, right."

The weasel rolled his eyes as the portly raccoon timidly stretched out a paw and poked the smaller half-dead raccoon. "He twitched…that's a good sign, right?"

"I don't know. Why don't you kick him and see if he kicks back?"

The raccoon gave a puzzled look. "But if I-"

"Ugh, never mind. I forgot sarcasm only makes you stupider," Shane grumbled. "Just help me get this on him." The weasel held out a white nylon collar that had a strange box and a radio antenna protruding from one side.

"What's that?"

"Didn't you hear any of our conversation with Vincent?"

"Uh, well-"

"It's a tracking collar. People use it to keep tabs on certain animals. Vincent is going to use it to keep track of Skinny here and make sure he don't run away. Don't know if you got any of that, but I hope that it at least didn't make you any stupider."

Larry didn't understand, but Shane's sharp glare advised him that it was best to just keep quiet and help wrestle the strange device over RJ's head. Larry did so meekly, watching Shane's face as he became increasingly frustrated as they failed to fasten the collar.

"Aaagh!" Shane snarled, stomping his foot. "Ray, get over hear an' help!"

The black bird paused in his rounds and preened his wing thoughtfully. "Why should I? I'm quite content standing guard."

This did not improve the weasel's mood. "Cause if you don't, I'll wring your sorry little neck!"

"Hah, that wouldn't work, because I can just fly away! Hah!" The bird cackled, proving his point by flying circles around his cohort. "However, I may be inspired to help if I get control of the remote this week."

Shane opened his mouth in protest, but shut it again. Getting on Vincent's bad side was on his never-do list, and failure to complete this little task certainly wouldn't bode well for him. "A whole week?"

"Every blissful second of it!"

"Fine," Shane snapped.

"Oohoo hoo hoo!" Ray crooned, flying a circle in the air before landing next to RJ. "Cripes, what did ol' Vince do to him, stick him through a blender?"

"I dunno, that ain't any of our business. As long as he can walk, his health is no concern to us."

"Looks to me like he'll have trouble even doing that," the raven commented as he fidgeted with the collar. Using his beak as a tool, Ray tinkered with the collar until a small 'click' affirmed that the collar was fastened. Ray stepped back as Shane examined his work.

Shane was impressed; although Ray was usually nothing short of an airhead, sometimes he could prove himself quite indispensable. Outwardly, Shane's only sign of approval was a small nod. "Alright, phase one of our mission is complete. Next: phase two."

"I never would have guessed that," Ray chirped.

"Wait… what's phase two?" Larry asked, scratching his head.

Shane messaged his temples jadedly. "Just shut up and pull."

Everything was black, and RJ felt nothing. Silence cloaked his mind and stifled his thoughts. RJ was completely unaware of anything as he passed through different stages of unconsciousness.

Gradually, he could feel his chest rise and fall in breathing, and hear the steady beat of his heart pounding through his head. Light found it way through his eyelids, brightening the darkness. RJ began to sense the cold, flat ground beneath him.

All of the sudden, his mind was overloaded with messages of pain from his body. Memories of the night before flashed in front of his eyes, and RJ cried out as in if he had awakened from a nightmare; only, the nightmare didn't fade upon his awakening.

A lump rose in his throat as despair crept upon him. He had lost everything. Everything, it seemed, but the guilt and debt. RJ wanted to fade away into the state of unconsciousness again, where pain and sorrow couldn't follow; but the excruciating pain kept him firmly rooted in reality.

RJ slowly opened his eyes. One eye remained swollen shut, but the other opened just enough to observe his vaguely familiar surroundings. He had expected to see the sky, but instead he saw cavernous, scraggy walls around him. The atmosphere smelled very familiar, too. There was a light, salty smell that reminded him of a can of Spuddies when the lid first pops off, and a second distinct, musty odor that could only belong to-

"Vincent!" RJ gasped, his heart rate accelerating. He was in Vincent's cave, staring at the back wall in the spot the bear usually slept. RJ panicked- he had no idea how or when he got there, but he knew he was in the worst possible place on earth, and that he had to escape immediately.

RJ rolled on to his stomach, grimacing at his smarting injuries. His eyes widened as he raised his head, realizing that he wasn't alone. RJ hastily dodged behind a sizable rock, hoping Vincent hadn't noticed him. RJ barely dared to breathe as he crouched, the corners of his mouth drawn back tightly in agitation.

RJ gripped his neck impulsively and found, to his surprise, that something was fastened around his throat. RJ fingered the foreign object gingerly, imagining it was something like the collars humans forced their pets to wear; only it had some kind of boxy gadget stuck to the back with an antenna sticking out. Whatever it was, RJ didn't like it.

Tugging on the collar proved fruitless; no matter how hard he pulled and fidgeted with it, he couldn't pull it over his head. The worst part was that he couldn't feel or see any button or lock that would release the collar; although raccoons were skilled at getting into or out of even the most secure of human contraptions, he had no idea how to unlock a collar with no lock.

Just as RJ was about to give up, the collar started making strange static-y noises, followed by a long, sharp bleep!RJ froze, watching the Vincent's shadow grow larger and larger on the wall in front of him. Fear gripped RJ's mind. No…no, please no, not again…

"Boo."

RJ fell back with a cry, more horrified than surprised to see the bear's head poking out from behind the rock. Vincent laughed as the raccoon scrambled to back away from him.

"Give it a rest, RJ. I'm done venting frustration; besides, anymore would probably kill you, and that wouldn't be any good, would it?"

"N-no."

"Hmm, well, that's debatable. Now, on to business. Today you will begin paying off your considerable debt. I want everything down to the last Spuddie back, and you have a week."

"A week!"

"Yes, just like before. If you don't have it done by then, you can say goodbye to your former family. If you still don't have it all by two weeks, your debt is doubled. If not by three weeks, it will be tripled. Four- well, I think you get the point. If you don't pay it off, you will pretty much be enslaved to it for the rest of your life."

"Bu- ….how…?"

"What about our part of the deal?" RJ turned his head to see Shane and his little gang standing at the entrance to the cave. "We didn't bring him here for nothing." So they had been a part of this?

"Oh, yes," Vincent said, acknowledging the weasel. "On top of that, you have to pay off whatever you owe these goons."

"But there's no way I can get that much food! I'll starve!"

"Starve, or live your whole life enslaved to debt. It's your choice," Vincent said, shrugging. "After all, it was your choice to steal from me in the first place."

RJ's eye's darted from Vincent to Shane pleadingly.

"And to make sure you play by the rules, I had Shane put that nifty little collar on you. It contains a tracking device that sends signals to this contraption," Vincent said, holding up a black box with a green screen and long antenna sticking out of the top. "The collar you're wearing sends a signal to this device every few minutes, and it shows up as a little dot on the screen, showing your precise location. The humans used it to keep track of me in the Rockies; I'll use it to make sure you don't run away or go out-of-bounds."

RJ was barely catching anything Vincent was saying, his mind was so caught up in the sheer amount of food he would have to acquire in a week and the penalties if he failed. It was impossible-he had no one to help, no time, no idea where to start, and his body was in no condition to be moving about Suburbia.

Everything became a slow-motion blur; Vincent was saying things, Shane and the others were arguing, telling him something, but RJ couldn't comprehend any of it. He didn't remember when he left, or how he climbed down the steep slope from Vincent's cave. He didn't remember feeling any pain, or how long he had wandered until he ended up in a human picnic area. It was as in if he was in a dream, and everything was an illusion just passing by.

The sight of litter next to a trash barrel snapped him out of his trance. Walking a few steps aimlessly, RJ finally broke down. Falling to his knees, RJ felt an overwhelming sense of despair. It seemed as if he would be stuck in this vicious cycle of pain and sorrow forever, all because of one little mistake.

"RJ?"

RJ's ear pricked up at the sound of a voice he had grown accustomed to the past few weeks.

Verne's sense of relief was quickly replaced with shock.

He and the hedgies had been searching for RJ all day, looking everywhere that they could think of for their friend. When no one was successful in finding RJ, a sense of hopelessness came over the group. Desperate to find RJ and make amends in private, Verne had left the group to follow a hunch that led him to a picnic area. He had rehearsed his apology over and over again in his head, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Verne barely recognized the raccoon. His usually well-groomed fur was tousled and dirty, and he wore a strange white collar around his neck. His little black paws were clenched tightly and his shoulders hunched over. But what Verne found the most disturbing in RJ's appearance was the large welts and blood-matted spots of fur. Verne could only imagine what had happened to RJ in the week he was gone.

"RJ?" Verne voiced, his tone giving away his concern.

The raccoon's head turned slowly. Verne's heart sank at the expression on his face. RJ's right eyelid drooped with a nasty, dark bruise, and Verne swore water pooled under his eyes. But beneath his forlorn expression, Verne could sense a deep resentment directed towards him.

Verne's tongue was tied. He had so much to say, so much to ask, but all that came out was an awkward, "You don't look so good." Verne could've slapped himself.

"You aren't so aesthetically pleasing yourself."

Verne smiled a little. At least RJ hadn't lost his wry sense of humor. "RJ, what happened? Are-"

"Go."

"…huh?'

"Go away."

"But RJ, I just want to help! I'm sorry for what said before, I never meant-"

"If you want to help, then leave before you make things worse."

Verne sighed. How much had RJ been affected by his careless words? "RJ, I'm here to bring you back. Your family misses you, and-"

"For God sakes, Verne go!" RJ suddenly shouted. Verne stepped back in surprise. "Vincent is back, and if you care anything about your family and well-being, don't let yourself be seen with me. He will kill you, all of you, if he thinks that you're still with me!"

Verne was dumbfounded. Vincent was back? How was that even possible? Realization dawned on Verne as he connected Vincent's return with RJ's injuries.

"RJ… what did he do to you?"

RJ looked away. "That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. Let me see." As Verne drew closer, RJ backed away. "RJ, no one is going to see us here. If you're so concerned, we can hide in those bushes."

RJ hesitated to follow, but knowing he couldn't shake Verne off any other way, he complied.

"Seriously Verne, you need to leave! A shrub won't keep Vincent from finding us. And if Vincent sees us, he'll think I'm still a part of your family and kill you!"

"You are still a part of our family, whether that puts us all in danger or not. Now hold still." RJ did hold still, though not because of the command. Verne had spoken the first encouraging words RJ had heard in a long time, and they stunned him.

Verne examined the gashes on RJ's body, mentally affirming that they where caused by bear claws. The deepest one was across RJ's chest, where the wound had not yet sealed itself, staining the white hair around it a bright shade of red. Parting RJ's fur to see the bruised skin underneath, Verne wondered what acts of violence caused the numerous welts all over RJ's body. "RJ, these are serious wounds. They need to be treated."

RJ pulled away. "There isn't any time for that. I have to collect enough food to pay off Vincent within a week."

"You can't do that with these injuries! You need help."

"I can't do it period. You guys need to leave. Vincent threatened to kill you all if I didn't get all the food in time. I will probably die eventually either way; hopefully these injuries will hasten it. But if you guys die because of me I...I don't think I could bear it."

Verne watched RJ sadly. RJ was usually so bold and creative, brimming with the ideas to solve any problem. Now he was at the end of his line, expecting nothing but the worst. What had Vincent done and said to bring his friend so low? Verne felt a pang of guilt, wondering if he was part of the reason for RJ's disheartenment.

"RJ, we're not going anywhere. We've managed to get out of tough situations before, and we'll find a way out of this. I'll do the worrying; you go find something to eat, and most importantly, rest. I'm going to get the others and see if we can figure out a way out of this."

Scientist will often put tracking devices on certain animals to watch migratory patterns or simply to keep track of where the animal is. I would assume they put one on Vincent before releasing him into the Rockies to see how well he would take to his new enviornment. Of course, once Vincent caught on he realized he could use the technology to make sure RJ could never hide from him... and so he stole a GPS and put his tracking collar on RJ. Apparently, this isn't the first time a bear's put it's collar on another animal...just google "Mountain Goat Black Bear Collar Swap" to see what I mean.

Wow, look at all the reviews! I'm delighted, folks. Some of you had questions, which I will answer here.

Cool dude: I think I hinted somewhere in chapter 1 that this story is set around two weeks after the movie.

Sugar Mouse: RJ's age, huh? Well, considering most raccoons live about 5 years in the wild, I'd say he's probably one or two. Joking aside, I personally imagine him to be anywhere from 17 to 21, but it's pretty open to interpretation.

Princess Shania: A 'loofah' (also luffa, or lufah) is basically a plant sponge used for a variety of things, from the soles of beach sandals to kitchen and bath sponges. In this instance, it is a bath sponge with a handle for those hard-to-reach areas. My including a loofah in the story is a nod to an on going gag in the Over the Hedge comic, where Verne attempts to combat his mildew issues with a loofah..

Ray (the bird) and the others refer to RJ as 'Skinny' because, well, have you ever seen a raccoon in the wild before? They're usually GIMONGOUS. RJ is much less weighty than most procyons, and Ray points it out in a derogatory way. So basically, they call him 'Skinny' because they're jerks and it annoys him.