Michelle squinted, taking a quill and dabbing it in ink so she could copy from a book Cornelius was having her read. She was starting to learn the alphabet, soon she'd be able to read and write like Cornelius could. She coughed, and took deep breaths in order to avoid a coughing fit, or perhaps another asthma attack. Cornelius had herbal remedies prepared in case she did get another asthma attack; yerba santa leaves or licorice root worked the best. She couldn't understand why the gas had done this to her lungs, and her eyes. But it was just another thing she needed to get used to, like the death of her parents. After staving off the coughing fit, she sighed, rubbing her throat, and getting back to work.
It was then that Abigail burst through the door, followed by Russell and Edgar.
"Michelle! Are you here?" Abigail called out.
She peeked from behind the pile of books on the desk, "What's wrong?"
The three of them ran over to the desk.
"Humans are coming," Abigail answered, "Get up, Cornelius said there'd be a trap door under this chair."
"Humans?" Michelle blinked, "Are they cleaning the forest again?"
The three looked at each other, and then Abigail shook her head, "There's no time to explain, Michelle. Just get up."
Michelle slipped out of the chair, and Russell pushed it aside, as Edgar stooped down and felt the floor.
"Is it there?" Abigail asked.
As Edgar felt around, he came across a little ring in the floor. He pulled on it, and the trap door opened up.
"Alright, get inside Michelle," Abigail said, "We'll tell you what happened once everyone's in."
"Where's Uncle Cornelius?" Michelle asked.
"He's on his way," said Russell.
The three of them climbed down a step ladder, into a dark room. It had been abandoned for a long time, and the smell of dirt and dust was thick in the air. When they closed the door, the only light came in through cracks in the wooden trap door.
Outside, Cornelius hurriedly made his way through bushes and grass, as fast as his old legs could take him. He could hear the footsteps of humans and the sounds of their voices. He couldn't let himself be seen; he was all Michelle had left.
"Hm, looks like the forest has only just started to bounce back," said the blonde woman with the clipboard, followed by a couple men in jumpsuits.
"Dr. Stacy, you might want to have a look at this."
Cornelius peered through the grass as one of the men brought a tiny wooden wheel barrel over to the doctor. She took it in her hand and gazed at it.
"Remarkable…" she said in awe, "Where did you find this?"
"Near a patch of seedling sprouts over there by the stream. They looked like, well…they were in little rows."
"Signs of irrigation?" the doctor was most intrigued, "I think we've finally found out where those escaped rats have been hiding all these years. Keep searching."
"I must get back to the furlings, quick!" Cornelius whispered as he pressed on, trying to keep himself hidden in the dead grass.
Taking the longer route, it was several minutes before he reached the tree in which he'd made his home. But now the humans were storming the forest. He could hear the shrieks of animals being captured in nets and placed in bags throughout Dapplewood. He reached for the door, as a shadow loomed over him.
"Doctor Clark, Doctor Stacy, look at this," said one of the workers, "This badger's wearing clothes! And…and that's a little door, there in the tree!"
The two doctors turned, "Catch him, quickly!"
Cornelius gasped and opened the door, running inside.
"Furlings! Are you hidden?"
"Yes Cornelius," came Abigail from below the floor.
"Quick, the trap door!" Edgar shouted, "Get down here Cornelius!"
The roar of a chainsaw came from outside, and the little house shook as it began to cut through the wood. The humans were going to cut the whole tree down just to get at him. At that moment, Cornelius had to make a decision. The humans had seen him come in here, and when they cut the tree down, they would look for him. The furlings would stand a better chance of not being found themselves if he did not join them in the basement…if he let himself be captured. He hated to cause yet another loss to poor Michelle, but it was either that, or let them all be captured.
Soon splinters began to fly as the chainsaw cut through the tree. The children were screaming for Cornelius to join them. Hastily, Cornelius ran to his desk, opening some drawers. He took out some scrolls; maps, charts, plans for the flapper wingamathing, and some herbs for Michelle. They were things the children would need after he was gone. They were going to need to flee Dapplewood. The noise was too much, he would never be able to tell them with his voice, so he opened the trap door. For a split second the furlings thought he was climbing down to join them, but they were confused to see some scrolls drop down from the opening, and then for the door to close again. Cornelius hoped they were smart enough to know what to do. But he had faith in them.
There was a deafening crash as the tree fell to the ground. The whole house shook. Books flew from their shelves and sawdust made Cornelius cough and choke. The ceiling was gone now, exposed to the sky above, and the towering humans stood above his study, amazed. Cornelius could do nothing more than look up in terror. Was he to share his parent's fate now?
"My God…are those books?" one man said, squatting down over Cornelius' home.
Dr. Clark looked to Dr. Stacy, "Penny, did NIMH ever even work with badgers?"
"I'd have to do some research," Dr. Penny Stacy answered, "But offhand, I have never heard of any experimentation being done on badgers at NIMH."
Dr. Clark turned to one of the workers.
"Grab the badger, and everything inside this tree," he said, "And remember, you're never to divulge what you've seen here, under any circumstances."
With that, the worker reached down with a gloved hand and picked Cornelius up. Cornelius squirmed, but he couldn't put up a fight. He was dropped into a bag, as the other humans collected his books and furniture. The samples would be very valuable indeed.
Another worker approached the doctors.
"We've been seeing things like this all through the forest. Animals wearing clothing, as well as trees, burrows, all furnished with human-like technologies."
"Gather up anything you find," said Dr. Clark, "Animals and objects alike. Then I want you to destroy the burrows. We can't leave any evidence behind."
The humans began removing everything from Cornelius' home; the desk, the book shelves, the bed, everything. Luckily for the furlings, the workers left the trap door alone, not noticing it. The children huddled together, teary-eyed, but trying to remain absolutely silent.
"Man, this sure is a trip, ain't it Brock?" said one worker.
"Yeah man, it's like, something out of a cartoon," the other chuckled, "Anyway, I think we got everything here.'
As the two men left, the furlings let out a collective sigh. Michelle buried her face in Abigail's chest, sobbing quietly as Abigail hugged her tight.
"What do we do now?" Edgar whispered quietly, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.
"We need to wait until we know they're gone…" Abigail whispered, "Then we need to get to the flapper wingamathing, and get out of Dapplewood…"
"But…what about everyone else?" Russell asked, stifling tears himself, "What about our families?"
"I don't know," Abigail said, a tear rolling down her cheek as she thought of her father, "Maybe we'll search for anyone the humans forgot first. But we'll never know where the humans took everyone else…"
"Think there's any way we could rescue them if we did find out?" Russell asked.
"Where do humans even live?" Edgar wondered, still whispering.
A few moments passed, as the four of them thought, and grieved.
"Hey…maybe if we follow the black trail from the air, we'll find out," suggested Abigail.
After some consideration, Edgar and Russell nodded in agreement. Michelle whimpered lightly, and Abigail lightly rubbed her head.
"Don't worry Michelle…with a little teamwork, nothing is impossible," Abigail assured her.
So the four of them waited perhaps an hour more, until all they could hear outside was the chirping of birds. Thunder rolled in the distance, and the light patter of raindrops could be heard on the floor above them. Mustering up some courage, they gathered the scrolls and herbs Cornelius left them. Abigail was the first to climb the ladder and open up the trap door, cautiously peeking through it before opening it. She was baffled to see nothing but a hollow stump left of Cornelius' home. A raindrop hit her on the tip of her nose and she wrinkled it before shaking the drop off. She looked up at the dark gray sky above. There was no ceiling anymore. Everything had been taken. Only the stone fireplace was left intact, though it was cut off at the top. The other furlings followed behind Abigail as she carefully stepped over splinters and through damp sawdust. She walked up what was left of the stairs. Trees had been cut down around the forest, burrows stomped through and destroyed. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"We'll…we'll meet back here after we check our homes and look for survivors." Abigail said, trying to stay calm.
"What about me?" Michelle asked, her voice a numb monotone. She already knew her home had been destroyed and her only family taken away.
Abigail turned around and held out her hand, "You can come with me."
The furlings darted off in different directions, Abigail going a little slower so Michelle could keep up. She ran back through the dead grass and ferns, past the tree she used to always climb, splashing through puddles as the rain fell, before finally spotting her home in a hollow overturned log.
Or, what was left of her home.
The log was sawed in half, and everything that was inside was gone. Including her dad.
"Daddy?" she called out, her voice choking as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Daddy, are you there? Daddy!"
She fell to her knees and cried, rain soaking her clothes and her hair, as Michelle put a hand on her shoulder. Abigail turned to hug Michelle, sobbing and sniffling.
"We need to leave before the humans come back," Michelle said.
Abigail continued to cry. She had no family anymore. She felt so alone. Who knew what the humans were doing to her father? Why were they doing this? She cried uncontrollably for a few more minutes, before wiping her eyes and shakily getting back to her feet.
"I know how you feel." Michelle said, holding Abigail's hand.
"L-let's go…" Abigail sniffled, her ears down.
When they got back to what was left of Cornelius' home, Edgar and Russell were already there, sitting at the former entrance, and by their saddened expressions, it didn't look like they'd had any more luck than Abigail had.
"Th-they're all gone…" said Russell, sniffling.
"Mama…" Edgar said, his voice cracking as he wiped his eyes.
"We're the only ones left in the forest," said Abigail sadly, "I wonder if the humans found the flapper wingamathing."
"Let's go look." said Edgar, getting to his feet.
The furlings walked toward the bush where they always parked the flying craft, right next to the willow tree, the bark of which apparently helped with Cornelius' rheumatism. Sure enough they found it, having fortunately been overlooked by the humans. It would have taken most of the day to build a new one, and it would have been much harder doing it in the rain.
"Get in, we'll follow the black trail," said Abigail as she climbed into the cockpit.
Edgar tossed the backpack in first, filled with scrolls, herbs and some raspberries, and climbed in alongside Russell. The two of them pulled Michelle up.
"I'll steer," Russell said.
"Michelle, you can help be our navigator and make sure we're following the black trail on the ground," said Abigail, "Edgar and I will be busy cranking the winder-uppers until we get high up enough."
"Okay Abby," Michelle said; despite her dismal mood she felt glad to be given an important job.
As Abigail and Edgar made it to the cranks and began rotating them, the leafy wings of the contraption started to flap like those of a bird, shaking water off and spraying the furlings making them wetter than they already were, and soon it hovered over the air and became airborne. The aircraft glided forward as Russell steered it up past the trees and into the sky. Michelle peeked over the edge, looking at the forest below.
"Oh, I think I see the trail," she said, pointing, "Go that way."
Russell could see it too, "Alright, navigator. Let's see where it takes us."