A trio of bears. Evil, Fighter and Lech sneaked pass the Zoo keepers to get the Warthog Exhibit it was there that the solution to Evil's problems lie. The three crawled into various bushes until they reached inside the exhibit.
"Are we there yet?" Lech asked annoyed as they crawled he held a rope on his back.
"Be quiet." Evil looked around cautiously his eyes caught a sign with the picture of pig with tusks.
He pointed to lech. "You throw down the rope so Fighter and I can get down into exhibit quickly."
"And what if a keeper comes?" Lech said
"Just keep eye out, it's not that difficult." Lech tied the rope to the railing at the top of the exhibit and threw it down. "Just watch your asses in there." Lech said
"No worries "alpha" we'll be fine." Fighter teased Lech as he rubbed his eyes.
The two bear repelled down on the rope lept off when they reached the ground. "H-Hold on. L-Let me catch my breath." Fighter said as they both were walking toward a tree in the exhibit. There were warthogs sleeping around the tree.
"What's matter tired?" Evil whispered as they reached the apple tree. He tapped his feet and rolled his eyes. Fighter sighed reluctantly and let Evil use him as leverage. Evil climbed on top of Fighter and kicked him in the back of the head while he went up the tree.
Fighter growled annoyed. "Yea. I'm tired."
"Shh be quiet." Evil went further up the tree to grab a few apples and placed them in his fanny pack.
"Four days of work will not go down the drain because of your belly aching." He slowly walked forward on a branch to get more fruit.
"It's not belly aching that will ruin your plans," He yawned. "It's sleep deprivation." Fighter rubbed his eyes. Evil was barely paying attention to him as he saw golden apple at the edge of a branch. He reached for it and replied.
"Suck it up you baby. Not my fault you can't sleep." Fighter leaned on the tree.
"Maybe. But it's still your fault for not helping "distract" the animals we've been stealing from."
"Hey, I'm the brains of this operation. Your the muscle and lech…is the freeloader with a rope. I can't risk my hide fighting croc's and wolverines."
He was just in arms reach of the apple. A small cracking sound could be heard from under the branch. The bear below him heard the sound.
"E, I think you should-"
"I said quiet, you brute!" He looked at the branch then to Evil, he gave a forced smile. The branch snapped and left him tumbling down the tree. Waking a few of the warthogs in the process. Fighter quickly ran to Evil's aid. Snickering before he tried to help him up.
"Don't touch me. I can get up myself."Evil got up and brushed of a bit of dirt his fur and picked up the apple.
"Can you walk?" He stopped snickering.
"What do you think, Genius!" He shouted in anger. A loud snort was heard from behind them. A warthog had finally gotten up and was staring them down.
"You again?" the warthog shouted.
"You've done this before?!" Fighter said. Evil shrugged tilted his head.
"How many apples do you have?" Evil counted the apples in his pack. "Including this one, six why-" He grabbed the golden apple out of Evil's hand and threw the apple at the hog's head. The impact with the hog's skull squished the remnants of the apple's juices blinding him temporarily.
"Really?!" Evil gritted his teeth and he held out his arms toward Fighter.
"Run, you idiot!". Evil leered at Fighter as they both ran to the walls of the exhibit. They both ran towards the edge of the exhibit where they entered.
Lech heard a chatter coming from the entrance of the exhibit.
"Crap!" He quickly pulled the rope and ran into the nearest bush as he saw two Zoo keepers walking by the exhibit.
"Hey Tim, check on the warthogs." Tim took a sip of his coffee and laughed.
"Are you kiddin' me? All those hogs do is sleep, eat and mate. Nothing is happening over there." He pointed to the exhibit behind him not noticing the bears running from the warthog.
"Whatever you say, not my problem if one of animals is dead." The other keeper said
"Drama queen." They both walked out of the exhibit. Lech peeked his head out of the bushes
"Dammit! they need to hurry before more come."
"Crap!" Evil shouted. He saw the rope was no longer there. "Good for nothing!"
Fighter noticed a tree large another to reach the railing. He pointed to tree.
"Quick let's get to the tree. I'll boost you up and then you throw me down another rope." He knelt down for Evil to climb on top of him.
"RRRight" Evil used him as a ladder and jumped barely reaching the rafters. Evil jumped of the railing and saw Lech with the rope in hand. "What the hell, man?!" Evil shouted.
"The keepers showed up and I had to take the rope." Evil scoffed. "Doesn't matter, we got what we came for let's go!"
"What about-" "Forget about him, he can fend for himself." Evil ran toward the exit to the exhibit. Lech turned his to the exhibit then back to entrance. He sighed and followed Evil out.
Fighter just barely dodged the hog's blind rampage as he darted around it. He held his head tired.
"Alright Lech, Evil throw me a rope or something!" He didn't hear a response from him. "Anything will do!"
Silence.
"C-come on don't..." He hung his head down. The warthog finally shook off the apple residue and saw the lone bear. He charged forward with his tusks ready to pierce him. The bear was shaking, his fist clenched tightly. The Hog was just about gore the bear when something stopped all his momentum.
He looked at the bear. His paws were firmly grasping his tusks as he stood holding the hog back.
How did he know when to.. He looked at his ears to see them twitching ever so slightly. The Warthog slowly tried to walked backward but it was clear that the bear hold on him was strong.
"Look, kid I just was protecting my food. Just let me go," The bear didn't respond his head still hung down."You deaf are something I just-" The warthog struggled to move out his grip. "Hey! Fruit-loop let me go!" Fighter tilted his head up to meet with his attacker. He stared at the hog with no expression just a dead look in his eyes. He remained quiet as his claws dug into his tusks.
"Oh crap."
Prozac sighed as he looked at the fruits on the table. "Where did you get these?" He was referring to Evil and Lech. "The woods where else?" Evil rolled his eyes.
"Never knew you could forge so well," His tone grew skeptical. He grabbed the apple and bit into it. He enjoyed the flavor of the freshly ripe apple. "Thanks, Evil. Good to see your doing something constructive for once." Prozac smiled happily.
"No problem." Evil said as he forced smile and pulled out the rest of the he fruit collected onto the table. Gay grabbed one of them and inspected closely for any punctures. To his surprise they weren't and he smiled haply. "I could use these for my new short bread recipe!"
Gay squealed in delight. Lech scoffed and rolled his eyes. He walked toward Evil and pulled him close to whisper to him. Death was watching him closely from entrance to their rooms.
"We need to go back for him." Lech whispered.
"No, we don't." Evil waved his finger between them to emphasize his point.
"You don't leave somebody hangin' like that!"
"Like I care?" Evil scoffed. "Wait, why do you care so much-"
An audible thud was heard outside as they were talking. Evil eyes grew to the size of saucers when he saw who entered the den. "Time to go." He got out off Lech's grasp by punching him in the ribs. Lech held his side and Evil was just about to leave when Death blocked his path.
"I'd like know what happened to our friend as well." Evil smiled and played along as Fighter walked into the den. His fists were clenched as he walked forward past the table. His eyes locked with Evil's as he walked toward them. Evil raised his hand and regretfully waved slowly.
Fighter raised his fist up to Evil's face. Their eyes met and Evil saw nothing. Just cold emotionless eyes, the lively yellow orbs that he saw before were gone. Just a blank slate was left in their place. There was only a hint of anger he could feel as his fist was shaking in front of him. But also something sweet?
Prozac looked at the disgruntled bear and sighed seeing the gesture but something else caught his attention. He smelt something different on him. "What's that smell?" Gay looked at his paws to see a red tinge.
"Pro, pretty sure that's-"
"Blood." Fighter interrupted. Prozac gasped.
"Fighter, that's terrible are you hurt. Why would you..." He heard Evil whistling innocently as he clasped his hands behind his back. Prozac's shoulders slumped and he sighed. He pointed to Evil and Fighter."Both you just go to your-" "Room. Fine." He bumped into Evil as he walked to his room.
He stopped then turned back toward Lech and glared at him."Nice to know I can count on you." Lech could feel the bitterness in his voice. It felt like he punched him in his gut Lech avoided his gaze and hung his head down.
Fighter continued to walk to his room. An audible thud was heard as he went into the room. "What's his problem?" Evil blurted out. Lech growled and pulled him by his collar. Prozac jumped in to stop the two before things escalated as Death walked away from the chaos.
Death slowly walked to his room. He noticed the lights were off. He turned on light to see Fighter in the corner of his room staring blankly at the walls. Not even acknowledging his presence he held his fist and massaged it. He saw a red spot on the wall.
"If your still angry we can get an apology from them." Death tried to move closer but stopped as fighter responded. He shook his head.
"Sorry isn't good enough?"
"Sorry? No, I should be one who's sorry."
"Why? and what for?" Death was trying to calm him down. He could see him shaking.
"For forgetting something important I learned in the past. Trust no one."
He slammed his fist against the wall. Many of the cave occupants could hear the impact as it echoed in the cave.
"The moment I feel like I have certainty, the moment I have faith in another. I'm left to fend for myself." His voice grew tired and hoarse as he laid against the cave wall. Death looked at Fighter and his expression softened. Fighter noticed this and retorted.
"I don't need your pity." Death shook his head.
"No, friend I understand." Fighter scoffed.
Death walked to him, knelled and meet him face to face.
"If you give up trusting those around you nothing good will come of it."
"It's not like they've earned my trust."
"That is true, but if you aren't willing to give it those who deserve it than what good does that do?"
""I trusted someone once and what was my reward? He pointed to his left ear. A bit of it missing like it was ripped off. "I was hit in the back of my head and left to rot in a cage. This is my only reminder." He replied bitterly. Death remained undeterred
"The first step is to talk and build a relationship with those around you." Fighter was about to interrupt but Death quickly stopped him. "
"If you don't trust those here than I will be the one to for you to talk to."
Fighter scowled. "And why should I have-"
"I could've done a lot worse to you." Fighter kept silent, he wondered what he meant by that. Death held his paw out an eerie blue light flickered from his palms. Right.
"But I didn't, do you know why, friend?" He continued to listen. "Because I saw a bit of good in you the day you came here. And I know you can could be better than a simple brute."He closed his palm and sighed. "If you ever feel anxious or anything in between don't hesitate. Try to talk to me." He smiled genuinely. Fighter looked at him, sighed and laid back on the wall.
"It's been a long time since anyone has ever thought better of me."
"I assume Lech is the first?"
"No. An animal I trusted is... hell I don't even know what became of him."
His tone grew somber. Death noticed and apologized. He didn't seem to mind however. He lurched forward and hugged him."Wait!" He felt a sudden shock fill his body. His black fur rose on end. Fighter chuckled. "Ouch, gonna feel that tomorrow." he combed his fur into place.
Death stood up and walked out of the room but stopped just as he reached the door. "Keep yourself open to us, ok?" Fighter nodded and let Death close the door.
Forgiveness however wasn't going to come very easily as Evil found out the next morning as he walked out of the cave entrance. He had a black eye and was scowling at Fighter resting under a tree.
"Unbelievable, I make the right choice to leave the sap and I'm punished for it." he whispered.
"Hey, you dick!" He shouted at Fighter. He opened one eye and stared at Evil.
"Can you use my name for once?"
"Watch yourself a-hole, I won't forget this!" he pointed to his eye.
Fighter raised a single eyebrow and shrugged. "Ok. Relax."
Evil growled. "Don't you dare brush me off, I am the menace that lingers over this dump. I won't forget this!" Evil was furious he see that just from his face alone. The grin he gave Fighter was borderline psychotic it had a bit of a sadistic glee to it. He looked at Evil, Shook his head and walked back into the cave.
"What's the matter scared of what's to come?!"
Fighter didn't respond.
Death was right. He thought.
"That's right keep running! You'll get what's coming to you!" He clasped his hands together rubbed them.