Chap-ter... Chapter 12~! *jazz hands*

This chapter is freakin' long. T'was not supposed to swell to such length, but I guess I got carried away at some points. This chapter, for the most part, was incredibly fun to write.

Please, please, PLEASE review! They make me happy and I get motivation points from them!

Chapter 12

"Thank ye lasses so much! I wasn't sure I'd be able to go on fur much longer, arg…"

"Don't worry Russell," Giggles said, her arm about his waist as she helped him to walk. "You'll be fine. Everyone's at the hospital-tree right now, and you don't seem too sick."

"It ain't me I'm worryin' about, lass."

The otter looked over his shoulder and spotted Flaky, who was trying to pull an incapacitated Splendid over her shoulder by the tail. She wasn't having a very easy time, but it was only to be expected. The blue sugar glider would not be still, and he wasn't even conscious. When he wasn't tossing and turning amidst the confines of his dream, he was spitting up the contents of his stomach or sneezing and coughing horribly, groaning from headaches or itching his eyes or the skin between his arms and legs.

"He's been like that fur days," Russell called to Flaky, halting him and Giggles's travels to wait for her to catch up. "Rantin' and ravin' like a sailor gone mad. Barely spoke fur the last few days. Got worse the closer we got to getting' 'er.

"I found 'im on me way back to the Valley; was floatin' in the water like some sodden log 'n I thought 'e was already dead. But I fished 'im out with me hook and sure as the sea is briny he was still alive! So I sailed us back to the docks and looked fur someone to help us out, but alas, no one was around.

"We woulda gotten 'ere sooner, but the squirrel was slowly goin' madder and madder. Already lost his powers once we got to the docks, so he couldn't fly – after a week 'er so I had to start carrying the lubber around. Keeps havin' horrible nightmares."

"That sound's awful," Giggles said. Flaky nodded as she passed, and the three of them walked together with a twitching Splendid leaving a trail behind.

Cuddles was waiting for them when they got back, probably expecting help bringing in food rather than bringing in two half-dead males. The yellow rabbit gasped as Russell loudly 'Yar'-ed and waved at him with his hook. As Cuddles ran over, Flaky set down Splendid and looked over her shoulder.

The closer and closer they came to the hospital-tree, the less paranoid Flaky had become. She didn't understand. The further away from the illness, the worse she got. She'd reverted back to her old, scardy-cat state only ten times worse. But when they came back towards the illness, it was as if she was all better. Like nothing had happened. It didn't make any sense. How could being closer to all of the illness actually make Flaky feel better?

And it wasn't until right now that Flaky realized how calm she'd actually been during her stay at the hospital-tree. She wasn't half as paranoid as she used to be – sure, she was still worried about a lot of things and concerned about the illness and her friends, but it wasn't raw, irrational fear anymore. Strangely, the idea made Flaky feel a little better about herself.

Cuddles got a hold of Splendid and he along with Giggles and Russell went back into the hospital-tree. Flaky stayed and contemplated her revelation. She sighed, sat down and allowed herself to fall back and be held by the snow. Flaky watched the frozen ice crystals drift down from the gray sky and fall on her nose, her fur and her hair, sprinkling her red body with specs of frozen whiteness.

Flaky sighed. This snow might mean the end of everything, but it was pretty peaceful. The porcupine spread her legs and arms and then pulled them back against her body, then repeated the process. Flaky pushed herself up and looked back down to inspect her snow angel. But it wasn't the shape in the snow that caught her interest. It was what had been uncovered.

Flaky dropped down to her knees and tugged at one of the blades of grass, only to have it break and crumble between her fingers. A shudder ripped through her. The porcupine dashed towards the front of the hospital-tree, and then began removing snow from against the wooden structure. There, at the base of the tree, more dead grass. And it practically turned to dust as when she stepped on it. Looking up, Flaky saw in horror that the leaves and branches of the tree didn't look any better. Of course she'd noticed when leaves had begun falling, it was simply too cold for them to keep hold on the branches. But Flaky had never bothered to look up and see what they looked like.

They were all gray. Some kind of gray that was trying to be green along the spine but failing miserably. The leaves were all droopy and sounded like a chorus of tingling shells whenever a breeze pushed them against each other. The higher they were to the top, the greener they stayed, but the ones closest to Flaky were already crumbing and falling to the ground.

Flaky gulped. She then thought of something else; turning around she ran back to the area where she, Giggles, Russell and Splendid had emerged from the trees. Because of his weight, Splendid had left a clear trail in his wake. And Flaky saw that all of the grass beyond the line of trees was still green. It wasn't dead – it had just been hiding underneath the thin layer of snow. But it wasn't dead like the grass around the hospital-tree. The grass did gradually turn brown and then gray, but that was only as it got closer and closer to the tree…

This was bad. Flaky didn't know exactly what it was, but instinct told her that it was very, very bad.

As if to confirm her theory, a scream sounded behind her.

And instead of running away from the obvious danger, Flaky ran towards it, which was something she never would have done before.

Flaky threw open the door only to be met with scrambling animals and shouting. Lammy was hopping from table to table in the kitchen, expertly landing on her slit hooves, clenching Mr. Pickles tightly against her sweater. Lifty and Shifty were hiding behind an island, their heads and ears poking out every few seconds to inspect the situation. Petunia, Giggles and Cuddles were all cowering in a corner, and Sniffles was half in and half out of his room, shouting about the noise and questioning what was going on.

Pop, Cub and Mime ran from up the hallway that led to all of the rooms, and as Flaky stepped inside, she could see what they were running from.

Flippy. Only, it wasn't Flippy.

"Evil!"

Flaky shuddered and gasped in horror as the mangy green bear snickered, turning his bowie knife in his hands, eyes locking on the one person who hadn't moved an inch.

Splendid.

Russell called to Splendid, but you could tell from his voice that he knew it was pointless. The sugar glider wasn't awake and couldn't move without help, and everyone else was too afraid to try and stop Evil as the bear took another step closer.

Flaky wanted to help. But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't move, and as Evil laughed, he brought down the bowie knife. It split Splendid's skull like a melon.

For the first time in weeks, Flaky screamed.

Unfortunately, this seemed a very effective way to gain Evil's interest.

The green bear paused in his stabbing spree and looked up at Flaky, a frown planted firmly on his face. For a second Flaky thought she could see Flippy in the expression, and a flash of recognition in the bear's eyes. But it was gone all too soon. Evil took a step towards Flaky.

The room was still, and all were quiet. Flaky silently hoped that someone would come to her rescue, but knew no one would. For all they knew, Splendid wouldn't be coming back from the dead. Not this time.

And as Evil was finally standing before Flaky, the porcupine wondered what it would be like to die and not come back. Was there a heaven for someone who'd died more times than they could count? Maybe she'd turn into a ghost and would haunt Happy Tree Valley for the rest of her ethereal life. Or maybe Flaky would just die. Her spirit wouldn't go anywhere. Maybe all there was to look forward to was darkness. Incomprehension.

She'd just be dead.

He was so close now. Flaky could feel his hot, rank breath against her face, and she wanted to close her eyes but in her fear she couldn't. The porcupine whimpered as tears began to form in her eyes. So this was the end, was it? She'd die here and now, and that would be it.

Well, at least it would be by the hand of someone she cared about. Sort of.

But Evil didn't strike. He didn't bring his bowie knife down on Flaky and end her life with a grin on his face. He just stared at her, as if she was some kind of impressive bug in a museum, or something he'd been waiting so long to see only to find it hard to believe it was really there. Evil was intrigued. He tilted his head to the side, dropped his knife and took another step so that he was so close their noses were almost touching.

Flaky stared into his eyes, and there she saw something. It was a glimmer, a wink, a nothing but a something and all too soon it was gone again.

Evil whispered three words. Three small, one syllable words. His voice was deep, gravelly, and didn't sound anything like Flippy. Evil said the words, licked his lips and then he grinned. He said the words again. Still a whisper, but with a scary, newfound certainty.

And then there was only darkness.

When Flaky opened her eyes, it had only been a few seconds passing, but everything around her had changed. For one, Petunia was standing above her, frying pan clenched tightly between both hands. For second, Evil had been knocked out, and by the process of inquiry Flaky concluded that the blue skunk who stood above her had promptly knocked Evil upside the head the second he bear had been distracted, probably just after Flaky fainted.

Also, everyone was back on ground level and not hiding behind counters or standing on tables, talking. Sniffles was talking to Giggles and Cuddles, still unsure of what had happened while the other sick residents either talked among themselves, stared at Splendid's dead body or simply stood in shock, too surprised by the death of a friend to know what to think.

Flaky groaned as she sat up on her elbows, and her head spun when Petunia forcefully pulled the porcupine up from the tiled floor. "Are you okay, Flaky?" Petunia asked. Flaky whimpered tiredly and held her head in her hands. She must have hit her head on the floor when she fell. "What happened. Flippy…!"

"I hit him," Petunia said blankly. She sighed, throwing he pan onto a nearby table. She was wearing an old outfit, the one she'd gotten from Giggles's mother, who Flaky realized wasn't in the room. As the skunk rubbed her neck and looked around, Flaky ran up to Giggles and Cuddles. Sniffles was sighing through his jaw, rubbing his eyes and his body had slumped further than Flaky ever thought possible for the uptight anteater. "Giggles, what happened," Flaky asked as she approached. The chipmunk said, "It was horrible! It happened before anyone knew what was going on!"

"What happened?"

"Flippy was asleep," Cuddles said, "when we took Splendid upstairs. We figured he should go in the heavy ward a soon as possible, since he was so sick. Russell was still down here and he was going to talk to Sniffles about how they got here and about Splendid. Giggles and I were dragging Splendid into the room when the squirrel woke up, spazzed out and shot lasers from his eyes!

"Well, the lasers bounced off a mirror and vaporized the leg of Flippy's hospital bed and then pretty much blew up. The bear woke up screaming like he'd been caught by the reaper. I guess he had been having a pretty bad dream, because the second he realized he was awake, he flipped-out and turned into Evil."

"Did everyone get out?" Flaky asked, counting heads. "Did you make sure everyone got out?"

"How am I supposed to know who got out," Cuddles asked almost angrily. "I slit. Everyone did the second we realized he'd flipped-out. It doesn't take instinct to know when to run away from that."

"We're sorry Flaky," Giggles said. But Flaky wasn't listening; she'd counted everyone in the room and found four to be missing, not including Ms. Giggles.

"Where are Handy and the Mole? Lumpy and Nutty aren't here either."

"I think he got Lumpy," Lifty offered, sitting with his brother on the counter they'd previously been hiding behind. "In the hallway when everyone was running."

"Heard a girly scream and saw some blood spatter," Shifty added. The two of them nodded and then simultaneously began scratching their hands. It wasn't until then Sniffles realized everyone was intermingling. "Alright, everyone get back to your rooms. Now! Or else you'll get sick!"

"But we have to make sure everyone missing is still alive," Flaky interrupted. Sniffles gave her a look, but the porcupine didn't let up, though she did lower her ears a bit. "I mean, don't you think so?"

Sniffles looked around and sighed, then began calling for Handy and the Mole. Everyone else followed suit, including Flaky until she realized that Lifty and Shifty weren't moving.

Both raccoons were still sitting on the counter; Shifty had lifted his legs and set them on the surface, and Lifty was inspecting one of the feet. Flaky went over to them. "Is something wrong?"

"Twisted my ankle," Shifty told her simply, taking the opportunity to kick his brother in the nose with his good foot. Lifty muttered an 'ouch' and huffed at his brother but decided to say nothing. "No big deal."

"Are you sure?" Flaky asked. She began to feel her nurse-ly intentions surfacing. She gently shooed Lifty away and inspected the ankle herself. "It isn't twisted, it's broken. How'd you break it?"

"Saw Flippy all flipped-out, jumped from my bed and took some of it with me. Tried running and got caught in something. Next thing I knew couldn't stand by myself anymore."

"How did you get away?"

"I had to help him up. We barely got out of the hallway before Flippy started throwing plates." Lifty said this as if it was some kind of chore he'd been more than averse to doing. But there was a hint of relief in the raccoon's voice that made Flaky think otherwise. She felt skeptical – since when did either of the thieving raccoons turn back to save each other?

She didn't pursue her theory, but only told them to go to Sniffles and get his ankle properly attended to.

And when Flaky heard a scream coming from the second floor of the building, she supposed the next thing she should do was go and investigate. She, Petunia, Giggles, and Cuddles quickly ran towards the stairs to see what the issue was.

In the hallway that led to the stairs, there was a broom closet by each room. One of the doors to the closets slowly creaked open. Flaky paused as the others went on, squinting her eyes to try and see who it was. "Who is that?"

"It's just me," came Handy's voice. He opened the door wider and stepped out, looking up and down the hallway. "Is Flippy…?"

Flaky nodded. The beaver let out a heavy sigh and looked over his shoulder. "Safe to come out now, Mole."

The mole stepped out from behind Handy and he did not look amused. He raised his walking stick only to jab Handy painfully in the chest with it. "One minute I'm sleeping, next thing I know there's a homicidal bear running rampant in the hospital. And you have the nerve to drag me out of my bed and into some godforsaken closet. There's no piece with you around."

"Calm down Mole. You're starting to sound like my grouchy grandmother. And stop poking me with that stupid cane!"

Flaky took a moment to stare in amusement as both adult males continued to squabble. It looked as if they'd done this more than once before, but the porcupine had never really seen the two of them together.

Remembering what awaited upstairs, Flaky sighed, bounded up the steps and ran to the door of the heavy ward. Giggles and Cuddles were standing at the doorway, too shocked to do anything other than stare. Flaky gently pushed the rabbit aside to talk a look for herself.

She hadn't failed to notice Lumpy's body as it lay in the middle of the hallway, and she'd had to tiptoe against the wall as to not touch any of the blood or the body. He'd gotten the top half of his head cut clean off by a plate – one's she'd left in the room after lunch. Remembering what Lifty said, she could imagine Evil as he held an armful of plates, expertly sliding them off of each other so that they cut through the air like spinning knives. She was actually surprised anyone else made it out so untouched.

Inside of the room was worse. Chairs and beds were knocked over; cups and plates were shattered, with dust from the glass covering nearly the entire floor. Burns from Splendid's renegade heat ray or whatever blossomed like black flowers on the wall and floor where it'd hit. Water was spilt, some buckets too, and the smell of wild fear still hung about in the room. Along with that and everything else, Flaky couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.

Petunia was standing midway in the room. Her fur had gone pale, her fists shook, and her mouth was set in a straight line as she stared down at Nutty's disfigured, bleeding, dead body. Flaky's hand went to her mouth. He'd been strapped in, unable to get away like the others…

"Oh my God…"

Flaky jumped and turned to see a disheveled Flippy staring at Nutty from over her shoulder. His eyes were wide, and his own fists were clenched; she couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now. Anger? Remorse? Stomach sickness?

"You killed Nutty!" Giggles and Cuddles whispered the accusation in unison, both staring at Flippy like they couldn't believe what had just happened.

"You bastard!"

Before anyone could react, Petunia promptly punched Flippy in the face.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and in a blur. Flaky and Giggles cleaned the heavy ward while everyone else took care of the downstairs and of disposing the three dead bodies.

Everyone was reluctant. They couldn't decide if they should just bury them like they usually did or if they should give them a proper funeral. They were all in doubt, wondering silently if their friends would ever return.

But eventually the work got done. The somber mood lightened a bit after everyone ate dinner, though some of the friends had to force themselves to go to sleep. Flippy himself was very reluctant to return upstairs with the others, but Flaky talked to him and eventually convinced the bear that everything would be fine. She gave him some sleep medicine and with a heavy sigh, dragged herself upstairs.

The day had been eventful – too eventful in Flaky's opinion. As the porcupine tugged off her nurse's gown and threw herself onto the white sheeted bed, she decided she wouldn't stare out the window for the next hour before going to sleep. She stubbornly laid on her stomach like she used to, before she had hair instead of quills, and turned to stare in the darkness. Giggles was already asleep; Flaky could tell because her breath was gentler than usual, and because Giggles tended to twitch in her sleep.

Flaky wasn't looking, but she could feel the icy moonlight as it touched her back, the fur on her head. Her unclothed arms, which she'd wrapped around her pillow in an effort to find comfort. With a sigh, Flaky shut her eyes and forced her breath to come slower and slower, deeper, and as darkness slowly welcomed her into its arms, Flaky tried to expel those three words from her head. They echoed and rumbled and replayed over and over in the silence.

"I know you…"