RJ looked flustered as he turned to me, "What happened? Where'd all the food go!?"
"I-I don't know!" I snap at him, running my paws through my hair, "Who could've done this? Who wasn't with us?"
RJ straightens up and mutters under his breath, "Verne…"
In an instant he has taken off towards the hedge and I blink, "RJ, where are you going?"
He looks over his shoulder as he runs, "I'm gonna go find the food! You wait here!" Then in a rustle of leaves he disappears through the hedge.
I sighed and plopped down onto the ground, staring into the log in disbelief, "I can't believe it's all gone…"
"What's all gone?" A voice asks from behind me.
I turn to see Heather standing behind me. My ears lay back and I shrink away from her, "U-Uh…"
"The food!" Heather exclaims, realising what had me so freaked out.
The sound of her yelling made the others rush over to see what was going on.
"Where's all the food, Rebekah?" Heather asks, starting to get scared.
"I-I don't know," I sputter, "RJ and I came out here to try and the food was just gone!"
"Well where's RJ now?" Penny urges.
"He went to see if he could find out where the food went," my eyes shoot from one person to another.
Then there is a large explosion from the other side of the hedge. We all get ridged and my fur stands on end like a cat that just had its tail stepped on.
There are then cracking noises from above us before Verne and RJ fall from the trees and land in front of me, followed by a red wagon and a blue cooler. Both of the objects were beaten up and burnt badly.
RJ got to his feet instantly, looking at the blue cooler in shock. I scurry over to his side and put a hand on his shoulder, "What happened?"
He looked at me with big eyes, completely shocked, "It's all gone…"
"Verne! You alright there?" Lou asks quickly as they all run over to help him up, "Give me a hand, Oz."
"Oh, sure, sure," Ozzy says, getting to his feet and rushing over to help Verne.
"What do you mean it's all gone?" I ask, feeling a tightness in my chest as I silently pleaded that he wasn't implying what I thought he was.
"What the heck happened?" Penny asks RJ.
"Yeah, what happened?" Spike asks.
"It's all gone! The food! Gone!" RJ drops to his knees and cries. I flinched back at his sudden outburst, my fears suddenly becoming a reality.
"What?" Heather exclaims.
"Gone?" Stella gapes, "How is it gone?"
"Ask," RJ snaps, pointing at Verne, "Him."
"Verne…?" Penny asks slowly. Everyone turning their attention to him.
"I returned it to its rightful owner," Verne says.
"What?!" Ozzy and Lou gasp, dropping Verne.
"We like worked our tails off, you know!? Like a lot! And the food we gathered was totally…you know!? And…and you're all whatever!" Heather turns away from him angrily.
"Yeah, Verne? What were you thinking?" Ozzy says, exasperated, "The log was full!"
Verne manages to get to his feet on his own, "Full of junk."
"So what are you saying? That food we gather our way isn't as good as the food we gather your way?" Lou asks, hands on his hips.
"Your way?" Verne asks before pointing at RJ, "You mean his way! Can't you see that RJ is just using you?"
I feel my conscious picking at me. I knew that something was up from the moment I saw him. Verne saw it too.
"Verne!" Penny gapes, "Shame on you! RJ wouldn't do that!"
My eyes slowly move over to RJ who had his back to the group. He spun the wheels on the cooler slowly with his finger.
"You have got to trust me on this! Don't you understand that there's something wrong with this guy?" Verne says, "My tail tingles every time I get near him!"
"RJ…?" I ask quietly.
He looks back at me slowly, his eyes staring at me. He looked afraid and somewhat ashamed, as if the words that Verne were saying we actually true.
"RJ…" I ask again, begging him to tell me what was going on.
"Oh, so we're supposed to go hungry because your butt's vibrating?" Stella asks in shock, "I'm starting to think that that tingle of yours is just you being jealous!"
"Jealous?" Verne scoffs, "Of him?"
"Yeah!" Lou yells, "He's embracing the future, there, and you're just holding us back!"
"Oh I hold you back alright," Verne yells, "from extinction!"
This grabs RJ's attention and we both turn to Verne.
"You see what you've done here?" Verne asks RJ, "If they listen to half the stuff that you're telling them, they'll be dead within a week!"
RJ cringes back from Verne.
"You're only taking advantage of them because they're too stupid and naive to know any better!" Verne yells.
The words slowly sink in and I stare at Verne in shock.
Verne looks around him and realisation sinks in.
I wasn't stupid. I was anything but stupid. But hearing those words from Verne, the guy that took me in last winter, made my heart sting. I was by no means a sensitive person but I had never been yelled at before. Not like this…
"I'm not stupid…" Hammy says, his eyes glassing over with tears.
"Okay, I didn't mean…" Verne says, trying to fix his mistake, "I meant ignorant."
The others still stared at him in shock and hurt.
"To the ways, over…over there," Verne points to the hedge.
"What's wrong with you…?" I mutter under my breath, staring at Verne in shock. These were his friends he was talking about.
Stella scoffs.
"Come on! You guys know I didn't mean it like that!" Verne says as they all begin to walk away, but Hammy RJ and I remained where we stood. Verne reached out to them, "Don't…don't do this! Stella…? Ozzy…? Hammy…? You know I didn't…Hammy." Verne reaches out to him but Hammy pushes him away instantly, turning away from him.
Hammy looked at the ground with sad eyes, "I'm not stupid…"
"Please…" Verne begged quietly.
Hammy grabbed RJ's hand and pulled RJ with him away from Verne.
RJ looks back at Verne one last time before RJ turns away, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and ushering me to come along with him.
I made one last glance in Verne's direction before turning away and hugging myself, leaning into RJ's protective hold.
When we all got back to RJ's new home we all lay down to go to sleep. The others all went off to their own little spot to sleep and I curled up on the welcome mat that sat in front of the TV. RJ sat down next to me and lay down, the triplets laying on his feet.
"Goodnight Uncle RJ…" Quillo yawned.
"Night, kiddo," RJ says slowly, looking up at the sky.
Normally I would have smiled at this but not tonight. Too many things had happened to make me feel happy. The only thing that could make me smile now was the thought of Jason…Wherever he may be…
"Goodnight Rebekah," RJ says quietly.
The image of Jason faded and was replaced with one of RJ smiling brightly at me. A smile tugged onto my face and I closed my eyes, "Goodnight RJ…"
A/N: Thank you for all of those fantastic reviews!
Clarabow3311! You get a cookie from knowing where I got the 'It's not Pink, it's salmon!' from. I just adore the movie Wreck-It Ralph! Turbo/King Candy is my favorite character.
Turbo: Yeah. She's one of my Fangirls.
Me: How did you even get in here? You're not even in this story!
Turbo: *Shrugs* The little fox let me in.
Rebekah: Hey Belle, this is my new friend. He's from a video game! Isn't that cool?
Me: *Facepalms* Both of you just get out…
Turbo: *Grins and lays back onto a chair* Naw, I'm just going to chill in here for the next few chapters.
Me: You can't do that! This is my story, not yours-!
Turbo: Have some candy! *Throws candy at me and knocks me out of my chair*
Turbo: *Turns to face you* Hope you liked this chapter!
Rebekah: And be sure to review!
Me: *Sits up* You got pixie stick powder in my eyes!