He felt a rush of relief as the medical camp came within sight. As he watched, a semi-distant Antoine pulled a couple of chairs just outside the tent, returned indoors, and ushered out a horse, and a rabbit with something on its arm. Antoine sat it down and checked it over. Strange, thought Rotor. Why's Antoine not using the tent? It was certainly big enough for a small group to sit inside, even though it was already stocked with Bookshire's surgery table, supplies, and a couple of beds.
As his group came nearer the tent, the smell of faeces wafted into Rotor's nostrils; he instinctively clamped them shut. Yuck! The closer he got, the stronger the smell became. As he arrived at the camp he said to the group, "Okay guys, this is it. You-" he turned to Crag, "-can keep your head down. I got better things to do than be your keeper." He groaned inwardly as he realised he didn't sound terribly impressive saying this, and Crag, judging by his expression, seemed to agree. Rotor turned away. "You," he indicated the pig, "just find somewhere to sit. We're gonna be here a while, just... settle somewhere, and if you see anyone needs help, be ready to help, okay?"
The pig nodded, wrinkling his nose at the fecal smell. Then his gaze snapped to the edge of the forest. "What happened to Dennis?"
"Who?"
The pig pointed. "The wildebeeste."
Rotor looked over. An antelope was tottering around, apparently getting acquainted with the local area at high speed, trembling.
"Uh... yeah. You wanna go help him?"
"Sure," the pig said, and headed off, slightly shaky himself.
Rotor turned back to the rest of his group - the monkey and her children, the snow leopard and the turtle, who was barely able to support her own weight. While Rotor tried to gather his thoughts, the monkey cleared her throat.
"I'll get us sorted out, Rotor," she said, indicating her children. "Thanks for everything." And without any further conversation, she gathered her offspring and looked for somewhere to settle a reasonable distance away from the stinking tent.
"Scallion?" the slow leopard said gently to the turtle. The old lady breathed in rustily and looked up at her. "Rotor and I are going to get you somewhere comfortable, okay?"
Rotor took the opportunity to glance inside the tent. Inside, Dr. Bookshire tended to an anaesthatized kangaroo, fiddling with a metal box that was attached to part of her innards. In front of the table lay a copious quantity of fecal matter, splattered on the edge of the table and the ground. Bunnie was kneeling there, clearing the mess with paper towels.
Argh... Here goes, Rotor thought. He approached, grabbed a handful of paper, and set to work alongside Bunnie. They shared a glance, and he noticed she was holding her breath. He couldn't blame her. Before he could say anything, the snow leopard looked in.
"Is there somewhere she can rest?" she asked pointedly, wrinkling her nose at the sight and scent.
Antoine trotted in and picked up a cup. He pointed over at the far side of the tent. "Pleaze, madamoiselle, take ze turtle to a bed." Then he filled the cup with water and returned to his charges outside.
With a quick glance at the mess Rotor and Bunnie were cleaning up, the cat guided Scallion toward the two beds. Only one was visible; in the closer one lay a polar bear, his rotund belly obscuring any further view.
Bunnie got up. "Rahght: cleaning fluid," she muttered to herself. Rotor was just about to follow her to find a sack to ditch the towels in when the cat called over.
"There aren't any beds here!"
He turned and looked more closely at the beds, at the closer one that supported the polar bear. He'd assumed there was an empty bed behind that large white belly, but as he craned his neck he saw a penguin in the further one. "Oh, man," he muttered. "Antoine?"
Antoine hurried back through, looking hassled. Rotor pointed to the scene, and the coyote flinched. "Ah..." he said worriedly and looked around as if to pluck inspiration or what to do out of thin air. Just as Rotor was losing patience - the weakening turtle had him on edge - Antoine brightened. "Bunnie?"
"Yeah?" she replied, citrus-soaked rag in hand.
"Pleaze to take a pillow and a sheetings outzide and make a bed for the ze polar bear. You can be lifting 'im, oui?"
Bunnie exchanged a surprised glance with Rotor. "You can't make someone sleep outside, Antoine!"
"Bunnie, pleaze do as I say!" Antoine snapped, his tone was clipped enough to surprise everyone else in the room.
Bunnie stared back at Antoine in dumbfounded surprise. Rotor felt much the way Bunnie looked; he'd never heard Antoine snap at a female before. He was about to say something, but the look on Antoine's face was as ernest as he'd ever seen it. The cyborg, handing the cloth to Rotor, set to work.
"Antoine," Dr. Draftwood said calmly, having taken no part in the conversation up until now, "can you please hold this?" he proffered the handles-end of some kind of metal clamp, the other side of which held part of the kangaroo's innards.
Rotor glanced at Antoine; the coyote still looked stressed. "I'll take it, doc," he said and went to reach for the clamp, but Bookshire shook his head.
"Antoine's hands are cleaner than yours."
xXx
Antoine straightened up, the weight secure in his hands. A little time had passed since Rotor's arrival, and, although he and the others felt harried, Antoine was more or less in control of the situation. The coyote felt his gorge rise as he helped Rotor carry the dead penguin out of the tent. Her surrogate arms - those of the gorilla, stitched obscenely on in some nefarious scheme of Robotnik's - dragged along the floor. He felt the rough, stitched edges where the arms joined onto her shoulders against his fingers and had to close his eyes for a second.
The hen had died without anybody noticing. Antoine knew this was terrible, and yet... with the already-stressful turmoil around him, he felt desensitized to hre departure. But he felt something else too, that disgusted and scared him: he was relieved to have a bed free. Dr. Draftwood had completed his operation on Doris - the kangaroo - but had kept her on the operating table. There simply hadn't been anywhere for her to go. Antoine feared Bookshire would need to move her when Sonic and the princess showed up, but at first, there simply wasn't any choice but to keep her there.
But with the penguin's passing, he now had a spot for her.
He focussed again; they were behind the tent. Sitting a short distance away, the pig glanced curiously at them, leaning back on a tree stump to see what was going on. Antoine's mind raced; how was he meant to deal with their first fatality?
Rotor looked expectantly at him, still holding the penguin's scaly ankles. "Put 'er down," Antoine instructed, and as a pair, they did so.
Footsteps fell behind the walrus and he glanced around to see the pig approach. The teenager goggled in horror at the hen. "Tundra?" he gasped. "Wh-?"
Antoine put his hand on the pig's shoulder. "Not to be looking now, my friend." The back part of his mind registered his own dispairing tone of voice and made note to force in some positivity, some resilience, for the rest of this ordeal.
"But she-" the pig began again, but this time, Rotor cut in.
"I know, man, I know," he said to the pig sympathetically.
"She w... I..." tears were leaching their way into the pig's voice and, as he broke down, Rotor led him away from the body.
Which left Antoine with the dilemma: bury her here and chance the disapproval of the survivors, or cover her with a sheet and risk a traumatised patient looking under and seeing it? He put a hand over his eyes as he tried to think, and posed himself the question differently: bury the body and spare them the horror of their disfigured friend or leave her unburied for the Rock Beach fugitives to mourn their own way?
He needed time to think about this and considered escaping back here with a cup of water, just for five minutes. Yes, that's what he'd do.
"Antoine? Yo, Ant!"
Sonic had arrived.
"I am on my way," Antoine called wearily, and went to see what challenges he and the princess had brought for him to cope with.
xXx
Sally saw Antoine round the corner of the tent, his expression harrassed; she wondered how he was coping. To her surprise, he rallied and sprang into action.
Sonic stood beside her carrying the lioness in his arms, unwilling to put her down for the pain it might cause her. Antoine approached the hedgehog. "What 'appened 'ere?"
"She's had her claws pulled, and her teeth. I don't think she's been sedated, but she's hurting a lot."
Antoine nodded and pointed toward the tent. "Take 'er..." then he paused as something dawned on him. "Oh." With a small gesture at Sonic to stay where he was, Antoine retreated into the tent. Sally watched him converse with Dr. Draftwood, and heard snippets of their conversation.
"Teezh and claws out... where shall we.."
"Just put the kangaroo to bed... needs to recov..."
"...old lady?"
"Not looking good... tomorrow morning perhaps."
"...any chance..."
"...not make it..."
Sally shared a glance with Sonic for a moment as Antoine looked over at the turtle, then at the lioness. He looked past Bookshire at the medical supplies, then at the turtle again; Sally wondered what he was thinking. With a sickened expression, Antoine took a couple of steps toward the turtle, then paused. He suddenly looked at the operating table, then at the lioness again and his expression melted to one of relief. He approached Sonic.
"Madame," he addressed the lioness, "You would be 'appiest sitting, oui?"
She blinked at him. "Nngh," she nodded gingerly.
"Sonic, put 'er on ze table. Let 'er sit."
"Sure thing."
"Merci."
Sonic walked past Antoine to the table. Sally saw him change grip on the lioness to raise her up. As Bookshire began to help them both, Antoine clapped his hands once, bringing her attention abruptly back to him and the rest of the group.
"Now," he said, addressing Sally. "What else?"
Most of the remainder of Sally's group were traumatised but not physically hurt. They would all need some kind of care, but for now there was only one other person here who needed medical help, and that was the peacock.
"This guy," she said immediately, and reached a hand toward the embarrassed-looking, featherless bird.
"Ah," Antoine mused and approached, taking one of the avian's hands and examining the skin carefully. "And you are just ze featherless, nothing else?"
The peacock ducked his head and glanced away; he nodded.
"Of course," Antoine said calmly. "Pleaze," he gestured toward the tent, "Dr. Draftwood will be finding you somezing to make your skin be 'urting less." He turned back to Sally's group and was just about to say something when the sounds of a scuffle broke out over to one side.
Sally looked over and saw a rhinoceros fighting with a large horse, next to an old, dead tree at the edge of the Great Forest. The horse had bandages around his head and the rhino seemed to be taunting him. The horse, clearly unwilling to fight, was trying to fend off the rhino's blows and talk his way out of trouble; his aggressor seemed, however, keen to take advantage of his handicap.
"Sacre bleu," Antoine muttered. Sally sensed him stiffen by her side, frozen into inaction by the rhino's show of aggression. Well, I guess it's down to me, she thought grimly and walked over.
"Alright, big guy, that's enough!" she barked, storming toward the two Mobians.
"What's your problem, bitch?" the rhino scoffed.
"Can't you see the guy's blind?" Sally retorted.
"Oh, yeah," the rhino grinned. "I can see he's blind. 'Cos you are, ain't ya?" he continued, slapping the horse on the side of his head. "Blind as a fuckin-"
Footsteps thumped behind Sally; she recognised them as Bunnie's. "Did you have something you wanted to say, Sugah?" the cyborg chipped in roughly. Sally glanced at her, sensing the rabbit's anger. "'Cos Ah think you can say it much nicer than thayat."
"What's with you, freak?" the rhino replied, looking curiously at Bunnie.
Bunnie's eyes narrowed at the insult. "Lookin' out for people who don't need you wavin' your dick around."
Sally paused. Wow Bunnie, you really are angry.
The rhino, it seemed, hadn't expected this comeback either, but as Sally looked at him again, he replied with a lecherous grin, "Got any better ideas where I should put my dick, slut?"
"Depends," Bunnie shot back. Clearly aware he was ogling her, she sauntered past Sally and took hold of one of the dead tree branches with her robotic arm. Barely breaking sweat, she tore it from the trunk and tossed it to herself until she found a tiny woodworm hole in its side. "Ah suspect this'll be fahne. Or would you need somethin' smaller?"
The rhino clenched his fists in rage as he registered the insult, but as he snapped his gaze from the branch to Bunnie's face, she squeezed the wood and effortlessly caused it to splinter, a clear signal for him not to bother. Frustrated by his predicament, he snarled and stalked off.
The horse, who'd retreated to a little distance behind Sally, leaned forward again, ears straining at the rhino's retreating form. "What did you do?" he asked incredulously. "What was that splintering sound?"
xXx
Sonic stood outside the tent, Sally safely at his side. He looked around; in the shade, a trembling beaver gently applied some kind of cream to the featherless peacock's back; only the white wattles around the bird's eyes betrayed his species. The legendary tail plumes were long-gone. It was a sickening sight, Sonic thought, and he hoped the poor guy would re-grow them soon.
A little distance away, a young meerkat huddled with a younger sea lion, the marine boy carefully avoiding touching anything with his fingers or toes. Both looked devastated. They clung together like barnacles, holding on as if afraid that if they ever let go, they'd never find eachother again. Sonic guessed they'd be okay by themselves for a while but determined to check on them soon.
"Whatarewegoingtodonow?Wecan''?Wheredoyoulive?Canwestaythere?" the wildebeeste approached Sonic for the third time in half an hour.
"Look, pal," Sonic answered as kindly as he could, "We're doing the best we can. Just let us get the others right first, okay?"
The wildebeeste frowned at him, shifting from one foot to the other. He shivered with exhaustion, but still couldn't seem to relax. Sonic didn't know what had happened to him, but the scars on top of his head offered something like a clue. Bookshire and Antoine hadn't considered him in need of immediate attention, but neither was he in any condition to help the other fugitives. Instead, he'd been encouraged to walk around in the hope he'd settle somewhere and eventually get some rest. Sonic had been hoping the wildebeeste might tire and slow down, but that was beginning to look unlikely.
"Can'twaitformuchlongertoday'sbeenages," he commented and jittered away again.
Sally sighed as Sonic watched the wildebeeste walk away. "I've got no idea how we're going to help him," she half-whispered to Sonic. "Just keep an eye on him. We don't want him getting near Crag."
Sonic had already thought of this, but nodded nonetheless. "Uh-huh." Sonic took the opportunity to look around for the rhino again.
He caught sight of him almost immediately. The rhino, whose temper hadn't cooled much since the rescue according to Rotor, was approaching the colobus family. Without another word, Sonic marched in their direction.
"Hey, Louche!" the rhino growled at the mother as she sat comforting the smallest of her children, "You gonna tell me what you meant when you said-"
Sonic was already there. He put a hand on Crag's shoulder. "Okay, pal, you've said enough. Back off!"
The rhino flinched in response to Sonic's touch. "Fuck you!"
"Not in front of the kid," Sonic warned just as Rotor approached. The walrus shared a brief glance with Sonic and they nodded agreement to handle this together.
Crag looked Rotor up and down. "What, are you both fuckin' homos?" he spat and turned away to leave, pausing for a moment to say to the mother, "I'm watchin' you, bitch," before leaving.
Sonic turned back in time to see the woman rub her eyes and sigh.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Mmm," she nodded tiredly. "He's mostly bluster," she managed to smile, although her expression suggested she was more frightened than that. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
Rotor looked toward the tent. "I'm gonna ask Antoine if he wants more help," he said, and walked over.
TO BE CONTINUED...
