"Surly wake up!" Andie's voice awoke Surly from his sleep and he let out a yell. He swung his head to look at Andie's face, her eyes wide with worry.
"Whoa Andie," Surly said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "What's going on?"
"One of our foragers got attacked last night and the attacker took the food he had collected."
Surly's sat up in his bunk, listening to the news.
"Attacked? By what? A cat."
Andie shook her head.
"No it was," Her head turned a bit to look at Buddy who was sleeping in his bunk, then back to Surly, "A rat."
Surly's eyes widened, and he too looked up at Buddy. Then he shook his head, ignoring the thoughts in it.
"Come on, you don't think it was Buddy do you? The guy is harmless."
"Believe me Surly, I trust what you say but…I don't know. Rats have never come into the park grounds before."
She said, crossing her arms and tilting her head in thought.
"The rat didn't hurt the guy very bad. A couple cuts here and there, but the main goal must have been to get the food from him."
Surly nodded, thinking through everything.
"Look Surly, all I'm saying is you need to watch out for Buddy. Raccoon is planning to double security, and if sees Buddy he might not ask questions first if they catch him."
Surly's ears drooped, and he lifted his head up to look at Buddy. He had grown quite found of him now. After all Buddy was helping him survive out here, he'd hate for something bad to happen to him.
"Alright Andie, I'll have a talk with him."
Andie let out a sigh, "Alright…sorry for waking you up early Surly," she said and turned to head down the tree.
"Hey Andie."
Andie looked back from the tree trunk.
"Um…thanks, for looking out for us."
Andie smiled before heading down the tree, and scurrying back to the oak. Surly let out a sigh and got out from the bunk. He placed a hand on Buddy and shook him a bit.
"Buddy, hey wake up."
Buddy let out a moan and peeked out from under his eyes lids.
"I need to talk to you about something. So get up."
Buddy slowly lifted himself from his bunk, stretching his body. Surly noticed tiny bags under his eyes.
"Didn't get that good of a sleep last night?"
He asked, sitting down on the branch. Buddy shrugged and jumped down next to Surly. Surly noticed him wince, and he sat down and began to rub his foot.
"Is your foot alright?"
Surly asked, lifting his head up to try and get a peek at the foot. Buddy lifted his hand up and waved an in between sign with it.
"Huh weird, should of almost healed by now. You must of opened it up or something the other day. Make sure you tell me next time tough guy."
Surly said, nudging his shoulder with his fist. Buddy let out a tiny laugh before looking away from him.
"Alright Buddy so here's the deal. Andie just came up here and told me on of our foragers got attacked last night."
Surly saw Buddy's eyes widen and he slowly looked over at him.
"I know it's crazy, but the thing is. He was attacked…by a rat."
Buddy drew himself back a bit, looking baffled by the news.
"I know, but I reassured Andie that it wasn't you. But still, she told me you need to lay low around here. Because if Raccoon finds out about you being around here, he might assume you were the rat that did it."
Buddy looked down, appearing in deep thought.
"So Buddy if you ever need anything, I will for now on go get it for you alright."
Buddy looked up at him and smiled a bit. Surly nodded and patted his shoulder.
"I got to look out for my friend after all."
Buddy pointed to himself, Surly nodded.
"Yeah Buddy, you're my friend."
Buddy looked away for a minute before looking back at Surly with a tiny smile. Surly smiled back then leaned back against the tree trunk. He looked out over the tree and at the people walking on the side walk below. Surly grinned a grabbed a stick from the tree.
"Wanna throw some sticks at passerby's again?" He asked, tossing the stick up and catching it. Buddy grinned and shook his head. Taking the stick he aimed and fired, hitting a human right in the head. Buddy and Surly both laughed, falling over onto the tree. Surly looked over at Buddy still laughing and sighed. Life with Buddy made it feel like all his troubles disappeared. Maybe once this sentence was over, he could convince Raccoon to let Buddy join the park. Life is looking up for me Surly thought to himself as he grabbed another stick from the tree.