The chemical reaction was fast, before anyone could respond, a blue gas was already starting to seep out of the flask.
"Up the stairs, now!" Judy commanded. The two males in the room didn't need to be told twice, covering their muzzles and running up, Judy right on their tails. "We've gotta shut that burner off if we can't get close enough to remove the flask."
Chris nodded. "There should be a circuit breaker… somewhere." Nick turned to stare at the hare as he reached the main floor. "You don't know where it is?!" He exclaimed. "I don't live here!" was the reply. "We'll have to split up, if we want to find the thing before the gas spreads to the rest of the house!"
"Or worse, outside the house." Judy added. "Let's go."
The trio went in separate directions, moving throughout the house.
Judy found herself in a large storage room, cardboard boxes and simple shelving, all stuffed to the brim, lining the walls. "Guess he had to move up everything from the basement." Judy commented. As she began searching through the room, she began to notice a bitter smell in the air.
The more she searched, the smaller the room started to feel. Confining. Entrapping. Judy began to find herself tapping the ground with her feet anxiously as she began moving boxes, her search becoming more desperate and rash as time passed. "Where is it? It has to be in here somewhere!" She exclaimed before pushing aside a stack of boxes. Nothing. The walls of the room were blank. She was wasting time. Next room. Hurry.
Judy rushed to the door, slamming it open and running ahead to go into another room. Every warning signal in her body was telling her she needed to get out of there. That something had gone wrong. That it was too late. She began to go from door to door, looking in each room instead of entering.
After a minute she began to notice the soft blue mist in the air, it hung heavy to the ground, but wisps of it spread out like tendrils or fingers. "How long have I been breathing this in?" Judy asked herself, trying to remain focused. Her thoughts however were interrupted by a series of distant clicks, and the lights suddenly went out, drowning the hallway in darkness. For a minute, Judy felt like she could calm down. Maybe things would be alright.
Then the screaming started.
Nick had found his way to the kitchen. This reminded him that he'd skipped breakfast. "Great, so now if I go savage at least I'll have two rabbits to chew on." He said to no one in particular. It was partially a joke, partially bitter cynicism from being stuck in this position.
Hungry. Food. Hunt.
Nick's instincts were already starting to yell at him. He must've been exposed while in the basement. "I'm not savage yet." He assured himself. "I must have only gotten a whiff." Still he was worried. He still had nightmares of that day, when he and Judy were being chased by Bellwether.
"What are you going to do? Kill me?"
"No. He is."
If anything in their plan had gone wrong, if Bellwether hadn't been satisfied by his act… He didn't want to think about it. Things had turned out alright, and he was going to make sure they stayed that way.
Nick opened his eyes. "Did I pass out?" He asked himself, looking around. The good news was that he was still in the kitchen. The bad news was that the blue gas was all over now. "Time to hurry." Nick said, beginning to search more thoroughly, ripping open cabinets to find any sign of the circuit breaker. Then he saw it. A black metal panel sticking partially out behind the fridge. "Of course. Naturally the thing you need in an emergency is behind the heaviest thing in a room." He began pushing it, barely managing to make enough room to begin flicking the breakers off. Click, click, click, click… CLICK
All the lights went out. The air conditioning stopped. That must have been the master. Nick's night vision would be of handy today at least. He turned to head out, hearing stumbling in one of the nearby rooms. "Here's hoping Judy and hare boy are staying calm. I wonder what they'd be like if they ran into each other while savage…" Nick had a brief mental image of Chris and Judy banging. "Nevermind, I'm going to hurry." He ran, forcing his way into the room the stumbling was coming from.
"N-No! Stay back!" Not Judy, the victim's brother. Panicked, screaming. Hungry. Prey. Kill.
Nick could feel his lips curling back to reveal his teeth. It would be so easy in the dark, no way the little rabbit could escape him in these tight quarters. And with that white fur, he was practically a glowing beacon. An easy target.
"Nick!"
Nick's ears perked up. Judy. Friend. For once he could agree with his instincts. "Carrots? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Nick, what about you?"
For once, Nick felt the best response was sobering reality. "I don't know." He shrugged and gestured toward the cowering arctic hare. Judy walked over to Chris, forcing him to his feet. "C'mon, I've got you." She said as she pulled him up. "Let's get some air." She nods to Nick. "We need to report this. Now."