Chapter 8

There was time between exiting the park and arriving on the long side of the Oakton orphanage that Andie had began to doubt herself. She and the other park animals had never pulled a heist before without Surly's help. What they were attempting was a fruitfully dangerous endeavor and their omniscient consultant was withdrawn. Everyone thought it likely that he was sobbing in a puddle of his own salty tears. Quite the contrary actually, Andie knew that for a fact. While she wasn't sure if Surly had cried that much at all, she knew with undeniable certainty that Surly was thinking about everything that had happened. He was going over the events of he and Hayden's journey together in multitudes, and the avid yearning he had for her soon started to return to become the fatherly tenderness that he had experienced around her.

The other animals faced the orphanage, and while it wasn't as big as the mall they'd infiltrated, it certainly was taller. Andie looked over the building when she and the others arrived and she could only see up to five stories. The Bruisers, who were somewhat taller, could see an extra two or three stories. This meant that the animals were dealing with an eight story building, something none of them had experienced before. But in spite of the eerie chills down their spines they pressed onward.

Andie was the first to step up in front of the horde of animals. She raised her paws and waved them to get their attention. She wanted to speak and she made sure that everyone around her could hear her. "Okay everyone," her voice was as crisp as English chips "We know why we're here. We're going to get up there and bring our friend back to the park. I know some of you may have mixed feelings about Hayden, but we've all seen the good in her ultimately. Therefor, we have to think like Surly would, outside of the box. We need a plan to get at least one of us up those windows, after that we can look around for her. While that happens, some other group needs to get in through the bottom floor. If we go in from both sides we're bound to find her eventually... Bruisers."

"Yes Andie?" Jimmy asked as he and Johnny faced the red squirrel like men in an army.

"Go around the sides of the building and see if there are any loose materials we can use." she said

With a nod the two boys scurried around the parallel sides of the building wile their sister remained in the crowd. This way they'd have a groundhog on all sides, but one of course. With them surveying the perimeters of the building, Andie continued to conduct. She gave everyone in the gathering a job, and each one was met with positive reception. Soon enough, every animal was scuttling about the building looking for various entrances and loose pieces of human products to aid them in their quest.

While the other mammals and birds darted around the four corners of the structure, Jimmy, who was on the adjacent side to Andie, was the first to find the front door. It was a large and brown double door set, clearly made from polished and sand papered wood. "Hey Andie," he called. She came running soon after "Look," the groundhog said as she scampered up the stairs "This must be the door the humans use to get in. We could probably get some critters to gnaw through the corner."

"Good plan Jimmy." Andie said. She called out to some chipmunks and some other squirrels and they began to chip away the door before Andie heard another voice calling out to her, this time it was Mole.

"Andie, you should see this!"

Andie rushed over to the side of the building where Mole was and without the use to words he pointed up to the fire escapes that the people could use to escape if anything barricaded the doors. "This'll work." Andie said

Within minutes, the animals had stacked themselves up against the side of the brickwork to make an organic ladder. When it seemed sturdy enough, Andie raced up the animal ladder and, with an extra jump here and there, she managed to climb all the way to the closest escape. The animals started to climb off of one another and go help with the door while Andie began to sneak peeks through the windows along the fire ways in search of Hayden. It grew colder the more higher she climbed and she was beginning to shiver. She started to realize that she would probably end up getting sick if she didn't find the child very soon.

Wiping away he frost off one of the next windows she pressed her nose to the glass and peered inside. She saw toys scattered throughout the room, mostly dolls and crayons, a canvas facing the wall and away from the window and a little bed with someone sleeping in it. Looking closer Andie could see the small human shaped figure tucked under the covers. The sheets were white and the person looked very uncomfortable as they were squirming about. Soon enough the person rolled over and their face was shone through the window. It was Hayden.

Andie jumped for joy and quickly made a pitter-patter noise against the glass. She saw Hayden's face fidget and once her eyes opened a smile fallowed. The girl sprang from her bed and galloped to the windowsill and popped the lock open with a snap. With the lock undone, the girl lifted the pane, and Andie jumped into Hayden's arms, returning her affection with a hug. Hayden happily squeezed Andie with compassion, while still being gentle with her since she was bigger then the squirrel.

"Oh Andie! I missed you so much!" Hayden said happily

"And we missed you too, Hayden!" Andie curled up against Hayden's shoulder for a moment before she wriggled out. She placed herself on the rug near the canvas, but the orphaned girl only grinned.

"Did you see it?" Hayden asked as she pointed to the canvas.

Andie was about to ask when the child pointed to the canvas and saw that Hayden had drawn and colored a portrait of her and all the animals for the park. It was an amateur drawing with most of the animals and she drew them as stick figures but Andie could still recognize who everyone was. She saw herself sitting in a tree with Surly sitting next to her. Hayden was by the base of the tree with Buddy on top of her head and the Bruisers directly in front of her. This fallowed by Mole, a few other animals like the chipmunks and pigeons, and Grayson was poised n a root sticking up to Hayden's left. The red squirrel was breathless and simultaneously flattered. Her attention was brought back to the purple squirrel that she was drawn next too up in the tree.

"That's Surly isn't it?" She asked the human. At that Hayden nodded.

"Of course it is, I may be mad at him but he's still part of our family isn't he? There is no reason for me to exclude him." there was a warm tingle spreading throughout Andie's chest.

"Hayden," she said "You know he'd never say this but you do know that Surly loves you, right?" the girl smiled and her head fell like a raindrop

"Of course I do Andie. He's my daddy and your my mommy, isn't you?" Hayden said.

Andie's heart dropped. Never once had she thought that Hayden would think of Surly as her father, nor she as her mother. As the truth washed overher, it started to settle in whimsically, as if it were meant to be. She trembled for a moment but then the warm speading through her chest branched out and encompassed her entire body. She smiled sweetly and then looked up at Hayden with so much affection in her eyes and heart.

"Yes Baby," Andie said "I suppose we are."

The girl smiled and picked up her shoulders in a shrugging motion. Sweet innocent Hayden. She truly was a gem.

"Are you ready to go home Hayden?" Andie asked

She nodded "Uh-huh. Let's go."

At that, Hayden scooped up Andie with her hand and placed her gently upon her right shoulder before she opened the door to her room and went out. As she stepped out into the hall, Andie tapped her ear and started whispering to her "I have to say Hayden, I didn't think we'd find you so easily. A lot of the animals from the park came here with me to find you."

This surprised the child and she suddenly stopped dead in the hallway. Andie felt Hayden get goose bumps under her nightgown and the human began to breath quickly. "You what?" She almost blurred "You brought he entire park along with you?" Andie tried to calm Hayden down but before she got the chance Hayden began to scold her "Andie, that's crazy! Why would you bring everyone? What if someone sees all of you? They might call animal control and you'll all get taken away."

Se was right. Andie and the other animal had been careless. Andie tried to think of the proper words to soothe Hayden but she seemed too distraught. "Hayden, please. Try to calm down." she said gently "Yes, I know that we may not have thought this whole thing completely through, but we've never thrown a heist without Surly before. And we-"

"Surly's not here?" Hayden interrupted "Why not?"

Andie wasn't sure how she was suppose to respond to that question. She could tell the truth, but she might become even more anxious then she already was. And if she lied, he might lash out on her as well. It was an awful predicament and the squirrel just sat there on Hayden's shoulder, confused and fidgety. She tried to come up with the proper response, but there was just too much that needed to be explained before she could make Hayden fully understand.

"Hayden, Surly," she choked on her words "He's..."

Suddenly a chilling scream rattled through the halls of the building and in the distant corridor they heard someone yell "RAT!"

Both Andie and Hayden gaped and looked at each other as they said un union "Buddy!"

Without skipping a beat Hayden hurried down the hall as Andie hung on to her shoulder. She raced down the stars as fast as her young legs could carry her, nearly tripping and falling on her face a few times and Andie could hear her heartbeat racing the whole trip. When they finally arrived at the bottom floor, they were surprised to see the room in utter chaos. On the floor were all kinds of animals scattered about, all the park animals. The Bruisers were throwing fruit at an older lady, presumably the one who had screamed. In her hand Hayden saw that she was holding a phone and quickly realize what had happened. Jut as she had feared, the presence of all these animals scared the nanny into calling animal control.

Andie jumped off Hayden's shoulder and tried flailing her arms to get the crowd's attention but to no avail. After this failed Andie ordered Hayden to try and shoo the animals out the door as fast as she could. As the child ran off to do this Andie met up with Mole, who was hiding under a table in the corner of the room.

"Mole, what's going on here? What happened?!" She asked.

Mole was shaking vigorously but she manged to understand what he was saying "The chipmunks finished gnawing through the door, and then we all started to move in but then that human caught Buddy and then Grayson and the Bruisers and the next thing I knew everybody was panicking and running around like maniacs! The Bruisers tried to contain her but al they did was make her pick up the phone and now they'll be more humans any minute!"

Andie was furious at what happened. This wasn't part f the plan at all. She turned around only to see that Hayden's kind voice was having no effect at all. There were animals hiding in nooks and crannies all over the kitchen and lobby areas, and the Bruisers kept getting closer to the nanny, making her scream even more. It was discord incarnated and nothing that anyone did was doing seemed to have any impact on the struggle.

"Hayden!" Andie called.

Hayden ran over to the red squirrel and knelt down to her, amidst the scurrying animals. She had a look of bewilderment on her face, as did Andie. Neither knew what could be done, and with every passing moment the situation only became worse. "What's happening over there Hayden?"

"I don't know." The girl complained "The animals aren't listening to me. Every time our nanny screams it just scares them more."

"Well then we have to stop her from screaming. It's the only way to calm everyone down." Andie was determined with her plan, but Hayden was still confused.

"How are we suppose to do that?" Hayden asked "The Bruisers are scaring her more then she's scaring them."

Andie smirked and then it hit her. "I have an idea. Come with me." she hurried over with Hayden into the kitchen where the Bruisers had cornered the nanny. Her hand was starting to turn white while she was grasping the length of the phone so hard. She was obviously scared out of her wits and the groundhogs weren't helping. Andie bolted up the side of the counter and looked around for something and soon found an apple. It was red and the perfect shape for Andie's purpose and she gestured for Hayden to grab it. Hayden ran over to the kitchen table, grabbed the apple and brought it back to Andie.

Andie grabbed the apple by the stem and ran over to the corner of the counter where the nanny had been backed against the walls. On the ground, Andie could hear the Bruisers taunting her.

"Like that old lady?"

"Take that human!"

"You ain't so tough!"

The insults went on as Andie firmly grasped the apple and Hayden waited for the signal. Soon, the maiden had started to shriek again thanks to the mammals poking her legs with forks and spoons. She heard them cackling at it. Those were the Bruisers alright. They always had to outdo themselves in everything they did. With the Nanny's mouth wide open from her scream, Andie made the sign that Hayden had been waiting for. Andie then rolled the apple down over the counter and let it fall to the floor with a thud. Unfortunately before Hayden could pick it up Johnny heard it topple and turned around to see what it was. Grinning, he chuckled to himself and sized the fruit.

"No Johnny! Wait!" Andie cried but it was too late. Laughing harshly Johnny pitched the apple like a baseball towards the lady and the fruit conked her right on the head. The woman was dazed for a moment and then she checked out, and came toppling down to the ground. She came down gently, as Hayden had ran over and grabbed her, slowly easing her onto the ground so that she wouldn't hit her head. She was a bit heavier then she thought she'd be but luckily the Bruisers helped her before her arms could give out. Once the woman was down on the ground safely Andie rushed over to Johnny and smacked him over the head with her paw.

"Ow! What was that for Andie?" Johnny asked in pain

"That was not what the apple was for Johnny!" Andie scolded him

"but it worked didn't it?" Johnny asked, defending his action as he rubbed the back of his head "She stopped screaming."

Andie was so mad at the ground hog that she had entirely forgotten what the true purpose of the apple had been. Either way, and while Andie didn't like it, the oversized chipmunk had been right, the woman was quiet at last.

With the noise and commotion finally coming to a halt, Andie and the others ran back out into the main lobby area and rounded up the animals. Now that they were calm, most of them were overjoyed to see Hayden, while the rest were still to disorientated to notice. They stared to try and squeeze everyone through the small gnawed hole in the door but then a flashing red light started to creep in through the crevasse. Horns began sounding off, and everyone heard doors being opened from outside.

Animal control had arrived.

Andie was petrified and she suddenly became more scared then she had been the entire length of the night combined. The Heist was already in shambles up until this point, and the appearance of more humans didn't help the situation. Hayden was the first to speak during the point of distress. "Andie, what are we gonna do now?"

Andie wanted to respond to the question but she didn't have one answer to give. She admitted defeat and shrugged her shoulders. She tried to speak but the words eluded her. The light started to fade from her eyes and she sulked brassily. Everyone began to tremble as they heard people starting to put on suits and walk up the stairs.

Everyone started to hyperventilate and were about to panic again when suddenly they heard a small creak that echoed behind them. Andie responded to it first, fallowed by Hayden and soon the entire group had turned around. To their wonder, the stairs leading up to the first floor had been opened and at the foot of the door was none other then Surly. His tail was perked and fluffed, and a big smile coated his lips. It as the biggest smile Andie had ever seen on him.

"Surly," she sighed gratefully, just saying his name aloud was like medicine for a mad cold.

"Thank me later." he said as he pointed into the deserted room where an open window was "There's a window in this room we can sneak out of, and here aren't any humans there to block us."

"But Surly, how... I thought..." Andie started

"Not now Andie." Surly said "We have to get a move on, unless you guys like being human bait!"

That was al the motivation they needed. One by one they hustled up the stairs and into the room, climbing up the windowsill and out onto the street below. Hayden ran and shut the door, locking it after the last animals got into the room. Surly and Andie helped her through, fallowed by Andie and lastly Surly. Hayden shut the window behind them and then they all high tailed it back to the park, out of harm, out of breath and out of danger and harm at last.