Just as I had suspected, the roof of the building was completely missing. I wasn't sure if it had been damaged in the war, or if those creatures destroyed it when making their nest. Thankfully it was relatively clean on the other side of the window, so we should not have any issues getting in. Getting out on the other hand, might be a bit more problematic.

Since I was the smaller one, I told the brothers to hang back and keep an eye out for me. They were hesitant at first, but after an intense stare session with them, they backed down. Did those stories really paint me to be such a, dangerous mammal? I really hope not, that might make things like trading hard in the future. Maybe I should tone it down a notch?

Inside there was not much floor left to walk on. A giant hole formed most of the room we were in. I tried to see how far down it went, but even with my binoculars, it looked too deep to tell. Guess if you have wings a vertical drop is nothing to worry about. Since there was no sign of any ladder or steps leading down, we might have to find another way. Across the gap was a door that lead deeper into the house. I turned around and waved them in.

"She must be down there, but I can't tell how far down it goes."

Nate moved to the edge of the hole and kicked a small piece of debris down into it.

"Nate! What are you doing!" I was trying to keep as quiet as I could, but my voice still echoed in this room.

"Trying to see how far down it goes. What? The edge of this is so rough, that I am sure they are used to something small dropping in. There it is. I would say it's probably, thirty feet down?"

"That is quite the drop. Any ideas Olivia?"

"Hmm, what if we…"

I was cut off by a small noise coming up from the bottom of the hole. It sounded like wind, or… wings.

"Hide!"

We ran through the open door on the other side of the room. This room, what appeared to once have been a kitchen, was surprisingly intact, despite the roof being missing. We ducked in under a large table in the middle of the kitchen. We could all fit, but we had to squeeze, uncomfortably, together. I felt something moving around my waist. I reached back and… is that? No… not now.

"How good is their eyesight?" I had to keep my mind preoccupied.

"Pretty good, but their sense of smell is even better."

Sense of… fuck. "You mean a smell like, oh I don't know, two-hundred-year-old shit?"

"Yeah… oh."

'Oh.' Why is it that whenever people are about to get discovered, they answer with such as a simple word? Not, 'We should have brought deodorant' or 'Maybe they won't smell us,' but no, it's just, 'Oh.' Fuck me.

"Maybe they won't smell us?"

Nate… I wanted to smack him. "Look on the bright side, if they eat us, they won't like how we taste. I'd never want to give them that satisfaction."

I heard one of them start to say something, but it was cut off by the sound of not one, but two deathwings flying from the hole. We were in such a position that we couldn't see the hole, but I folded back my ears and chanced a peak above us. I saw the outline of one of them, just hovering above us, but where was the other one?

As if it was answering my own thought, I saw the wolfish head of one poke through the open doorway leading to the kitchen. Fuck. We're dead. I felt Nate's tail tighten around my waist. Was he doing that on propose, or out of fear? Either way it felt… Okay Olivia, mind back on the thing that is probably going to kill us.

It slowly moved into the room. We all tried to bunch together as close as possible to prevent it from detecting us. It had home field advantage over us. It slowly moved into the room. I was too scared to pop my head out, and I knew that even if we all were to jump out guns blazing and kill it, it's friend above us, along with the countless ones below us would descend upon us before we could even react. No, we had to wait it out as long as possible.

Clicking noises alerted me to its over-sized claws hitting the ceramic floor as it slowly moved across the room. It moved around the table, I heard it taking large sniffs in the air, as if trying find out where that, hopefully not delectable, aroma was coming from. The table moved slightly as I heard a thump on top of it.

"I think it just…"

"Shhhh!"

It made a chirping noise. I did not know if it was trying to talk, or if it was just happy it found lunch. Please just be asking 'Who goes there.' The bulk of the creature was starting to make the table bow under its weight. If it didn't move soon, it would cause it to break, and then it would defiantly know we are here. The smelling noise was getting closer as I saw the outline of its head start to move down into our view. It was about to see us! Fuck. We. Are. Dead.

A loud screeching caused it to suddenly snap its head back up and the table flipped over as it took off. We were completely bare to the world, but the creatures didn't look back as it flew off into the night. We were all breathing heavily. We all started to get up. The danger was over, for now. I tried to move towards the door, but I was yanked back. Nate's tail was still around me.

"Umm, do you… mind?"

Nate suddenly realized what was going on as he unraveled his tail and held it against him, like he was coddling a child. "I'm… sorry. Just a… nervous reaction."

"It's alright. Just keep your tail to yourself next time."

Nate went to say something but Markus interrupted him by smacking him, calling him a 'doof.' What was a doof? No time for that. We need to find our way down. "Okay, we need to find another way down. One that preferably isn't a straight fall to our doom. Keep it quiet, but look everywhere. Search each room, see if there is a basement, something."

"And if we don't find another way?"

"How good are you with heights?"

"It's not the heights that get to us. It's the sudden stop at the end of a fall."

"Then we best find another way down."

My Pip-Boar beeped, notifying me that I had received a direct communication link. It was probably Onion.

"Miss! I am glad you are safe. I saw those two creatures, and feared the worse."

"We are fine Onion. A tad rattled, but unscathed. I'm gonna put this thing on mute, that notification noise might attract attention. If you don't hear from us in an hour, well, wait another hour. We'll be fine."

"Miss! Surely…"

I disconnected the link. I know he was worried. He was rightful to be, but I needed to maintain my focus, and the last thing I needed was to be reminded how this whole thing was a dumb, and dangerous, idea. It had to be done, if not for Holly's sake, then for the brothers. If I did not do anything to help, they probably would have gotten themselves killed trying to rescue her. I hope I'm not about to do the same.

"Nate? What's the matter? Nate? Olivia, you need to get down here, now!"

Markus' voice was echoing as I instantly turned towards the sound of his voice. Attached to the kitchen was a small closet like room with a small set of stairs leading downward. I slid down the ladder as fast as I could. Oh please let them be okay. They were out of my sight for only a couple minutes!

The basement was dark, so I risked turning on my Pip-Boar. Shining it around I saw large crates scattered all over, along with heavy construction equipment. This was not the typical residential equipment I was used to seeing. This reminded me of… oh no. I heard Markus calling for me again and I bolted to where they were.

Nate was facing a giant metal door, his entire body shaking. My ears started to pick up that he was… crying? Markus was next to him trying to snap him out of it, but having no luck.

"Nate! You need to focus! This… this isn't the same one! Remember why we are here! Remember Holly!"

"Holly… no… NO! I can't go back! No… I can't…"

I walked up next to them and Markus directed my eyes towards the metal door. My light highlighted it. Fuck. It was a symbol that I knew all too well, and one that they must have as well. A symbol that was steadily driving out my fear and replacing it with anger and hate. Burrow-Tec. This was a fucking BURROW! I knew I should have gone alone, I knew it! Something happened to these two in their Burrow that has caused so much harm to Nate that it was physically and mentally debilitating him.

"He's your brother, what should we do?"

"I… I don't know. I know this isn't our Burrow, but I really don't want to have to face one, not like this. I also know that it's the only way to free Holly. Nate, he had it rough, rougher than you can even imagine. You probably noticed, but just the mention of a Burrow causes him pain, and to see this symbol now? I don't know if he can make it."

"It's too late to leave him. If those things come back and find him like this while we are rescuing Holly, he's as good as dead."

"But what if, Holly is…"

"Don't you dare! Don't you fucking dare Markus! She is alive. The only way we can continue is if we do it together. We are her only hope!"

"But we, we are worthless. No one likes us, and I doubt no one besides you would have cared enough to help us."

"You are NOT worthless! I don't fucking care what other people would say. Right now I don't fucking care about anyone else! Right here, right now, you two are the only ones who matter! If we don't snap him out of it now, all of us, including Holly, might as well be dead."

"I can see why he likes you."

He? Wait, does he mean? Gah! Even in this time of duress, why do my thoughts keep wondering there? I wonder if he… "You know what? Fuck it."

I caught Markus off guard. From the look on his face, I think he thought I was about to leave them, not to do what I was probably going to regret later. I stomped over and placed myself between Nate and the door. His eyes were wide, tears falling from them. I couldn't tell if he even knew I was there, but hopefully, he would soon. I reached up and pulled him down so that our faces were right next to each other. Oh, please don't let me regret this. Then I kissed him.

Nate's eyes started to calm down as I pulled my lips away from him. I never kissed anyone before, especially not a boy, but it felt… good. Wonder if it would be any better if… no, bad Olivia. Not now.

"What… umm… what just happened.…where am I?" Nate was sounding dumbfounded rather than scared. It was a good start.

"Did you just… kiss my brother?"

"I had to do something to snap him out if, and well, it seemed like the most logical choice at the time."

"She… you… kissed me…"

"Ok, mind focused now, you good?"

"Yes… I think?"

"Holly, in danger? Ring any bells?"

"Holly! Yes!"

"Okay, good boy. Now to get this door open. Umm, Markus? You and Nate go make sure we don't get any surprise visitors while I get this open."

"Don't you think… oh, gotcha. Hey Nate, you with me bro? I think I see some sort of gizmo or something over here…"

Markus' voice trailed off as he forced his still blubbering brother over to near some of the crates. I really hope that he is fine until we get out of here. If I have to snap him out of it like that again, I don't think I will make it. I cleared my mind and looked over the door. It was very solid, and like typical Burrow doors, it either had its hinges on the inside, or it slid. Although, based upon the surroundings, it was probably hinged. There should be a… bingo!

Halfway up the door was a small sign that said: Burrow-Tec Personnel Only!. I took out my screwdriver and removed the four screws that were bolting it to the door. I tossed the sign over into a nearby corner and shone my light at the now revealed locking mechanism. These doors had two types of entry. First is the wireless access that was typically tied to the Pip-Boar or ID card of an authorized user. I could use my Pip-Boar to hack it wirelessly, but since I did not have the time to try breaking through the encryption, I risk sounding any alarms that might still be attached.

The other way to get in, was a small trick that my mother showed me when the Overseer locked all the rabbits in their quarters during 'Rodent Appreciation Day.' I hated that 'holiday.' On either side of the doors, usually behind a sign or an access plate, there was a manual access that was designed for emergencies only. By physically connecting my Pip-Boar's connector, and running a certain access code, it would open the door without tripping any security. Typically, only the security personnel had these codes, but my mother seemed to have a way of getting things she shouldn't be able to. Let's just hope that this code is not tied specifically to my Burrow.

Once my Pip-Boar was interfaced with it, I ran the activation signal. Four seconds later I was greeted by a series of clicks just before the door slowly opened.

"We're in! Let's go!"

I opened the door all the way, mainly to prevent Nate from seeing the symbol again, but unfortunately, Burrow-Tec like to use it, repeatedly throughout the place. I just have to hope that Nate doesn't have another breakdown. I just needed to make sure they were both focused on the task at hand.

"He good?"

"Yeah, he's still a little flustered, but good."

"What about you?"

"I'm… good as well. I am sorry for my… I'm sorry. I was letting our feelings of that place get the better of me. I promise not to let that happen again."

"Better not. I don't wanna have to kiss you too."

"Wait, what? You kissed… what?" Nate seemed very confused.

Markus slapped him again, "Let's go you doof."

I chuckled a bit before leading them through the door. This was defiantly going to be a very interesting experience. For all of us.

This Burrow must have been built much deeper than mine. The stairs leading down to the main door felt like they were going on forever. When we finally reached the bottom, the very first thing I noticed was that the Burrow door was wide open. Since it had been retracted inside, I was unable to see what it's designation was. Not that it mattered, I was just, curious.

I checked my sensors but was not picking up anything. The ceiling was still intact, so they must be getting in and out deeper inside the actual compound. There was more construction equipment nearby, but unlike the ones above, these were much larger. The Burrow door was also nearly twice in diameter as Seventy-Six was.

"If I wasn't mistaken, I think this was designed for the larger species, and that they were building the house above after sending the workers down here."

"What? You mean the workers were building their own home?" Markus was busy making sure that Nate did not have another episode. So far he seemed to be doing good.

"That's what it looks like. There is no way that this equipment could fit up those stairs, yet alone rhinos, elephants, or hippos."

"You're right. Maybe there was another way?"

"Possibly, but we can't worry about that. I wanna get Holly and get the fuck out of here, and I am guessing you wanna do the same."

"Yes. The sooner we leave this… place, the better."

"You good Nate?"

"I… think… hi." It sounded like he was having trouble responding to my question.

"You're fine. Let's go."

So far, so good. There was no sign of any deathwings. There wasn't really any sign of life. We passed a few large skeletons, probably the workers who the equipment belonged to, but thankfully nothing dangerous. I shuddered at the thought of running into ghouls and deathwings. I would probably just surrender right there and let them have their way with me.

Unlike my Burrow, this place was plain. Seventy-Six was nothing to brag about in the looks department, but it at least had cables, conduits, and pipes running all through it, breaking up the monotony. This place, however, felt lifeless. Solid steel walls with no breaks in them. No pipes, no cables, nothing to break it up. It made it feel like the corridors were much longer than they were. There was also a severe lack of doors.

"I don't think this place is like the other ones." Markus spooked me when he spoke. His quiet voice was like a ghost whispering in my ear.

"I was thinking the same thing."

A sudden noise caused all of us to stop. I checked the Pip-Boar. Three dots appeared in front of us, and were moving in our direction. Fuck! There was no place to hide! They must have seen my expression, because both of their faces stiffened. I looked down the dimly lit hallway. Only the emergency lights were on, so it wasn't completely illuminated. There were no signs of movement. The dots got closer.

"Something is coming right at us, and I can't get any visual! There is also nowhere to hide!"

They looked around as we started to back up towards the entrance. The dots were almost upon us. Still nothing. They were getting closer, and closer, and… went right past us. Huh?

"Oh yeah. I forgot to mention something. Pip-Boars have no way of tracking if it is above or below the user."

This time I did smack Nate. "That would have been good to know earlier."

"Sorry, guess I didn't think about it. Keep forgetting how much of a doof you are with that thing."

What the fuck was a doof? You know what, never mind. "In that case, we need to keep our ears and eyes open. Seems we can't rely on sensors."

We kept moving through the never ending corridors. I had no idea where we were going, and even if this was a standard Burrow layout, there could be countless places that they could have taken her. I had no idea how the builders managed to traverse this place. There weren't any signs or anything that pointed us in a particular direction. I did not even see any terminals. Maybe this wasn't a Burrow? Maybe it was supposed to be like that research facility where I met Mr. Big?

"How you holding up Nate?" I had to periodically ask him that, last thing we needed was to run into trouble and him freezing up.

"I'm fine… I think. This place… feels weird."

"I get what you mean bro, I never thought we would ever come back to… a place like this."

"No, that's not what… I mean is, there are no rooms, no anything that would make this place into a… home."

"It's bothering the hell out of me too Nate. By now we should have run into something like that."

We took another turn and it lead to the same nothingness that we have been met with so far. The scanner showed movement all over the place, but as long as we did not see anything down one of the corridors, we were safe. When we turned down the next corridor, we finally saw some resemblance of a typical Burrow. Gray doors lined the hallway, alternating sides. There was something a bit off about their placement, however.

"You think Holly could be in one of them?"

"It's possible Markus, but, I don't know. Look at their placement. You two stay here, I wanna go check out them."

I went over to the nearest door. It looked very vibrant in color. Too vibrant. I went to access the hidden lock but when my screwdriver touched what I thought was screws, it tore the door. What the fuck? I scraped the screwdriver against the 'door' and soon realized it wasn't a door. I moved the tool to one edge and started to peel the door of the wall. It was a fucking picture!

"Did you just… scrape the door… off the wall?"

I went to the next one and it was the same thing. Every single door was a picture plastered on the wall. What the FUCK was this place!?

"They are all fake! Who the fuck plasters pictures of doors where there should be a real ones? Tell me? Who? FUCK THIS PLACE!"

I was panting in anger when I looked over to the brothers. They were, scared. Oh boy, you really did it Olivia didn't you?

"Sorry, I got a little frustrated. It's fine. Umm, hello?"

Markus pointed and I followed his paw past to where I just was. Standing at the end of the hallway was a deathwing. Fuck me. I pulled out my gun and aimed at it, but it simply continued to stare at us… at me. Why did I feel like it was looking at only me? I saw it take the claw that was attached to its arm like wings and scratch at its neck. Then I saw something familiar. A small red light flashed on and off. Was that a… this just became much more difficult for me.

"It's not attacking, umm Olivia? Why is it not attacking?"

"I don't know Markus, but, and I am being serious here, I don't think it wants to."

"What do you mean? We are sitting targets here. Why doesn't it just attack?"

Before I could answer it stopped scratching at its neck and turned and walked away. "I'm following it."

"WHAT!?" Mark and Nate yelled that simultaneously before each of them slapped their paws over their mouths.

"It's… well it's a hunch. Look, if it wanted to kill us, it would have. If it wanted to call its friends, it would have. But it didn't. So I am going to see where it is going, and if you don't like that, well, the exit is that way."

"No, we are not leaving without Holly. Just… don't get us killed. Or eaten."

"I make no promises. Let's go boys."

A collective sigh fell across them as they reluctantly followed. They were probably right, and it was most likely leading us into a trap, but what if my hunch was right? What if it really didn't want to hurt us? If I wasn't mistaken, it did not have an itch, but rather, was trying to show me the collar around its neck. A collar that looked an awfully lot like the one in my bag. Just like when I met North and Mr. Big, my mind was now torn between savagery and intelligence. If that thing attacked us, it would have made things so much easier for me. It really would have.

I slowly led the way down where the deathwing went. As I turned the next corner, I saw it, standing there just before moving down another corridor. It was leading us someplace. At trap? A feast? Maybe Holly befriended it and since I was a rabbit, he thought I was with her? Whatever it was, I couldn't just ignore it. I had to find out.

The creature finally led us to hall that had no visible connecting ones. It was a dead end. Oh fuck. Was it a trap? This feels like a trap. I looked back towards Nate and Markus. They must have had the same thoughts as I did. I gripped the handle of my gun as I prepared to enter B.A.T.S. The deathwing knelt down, as if going to charge. It was now or never. Then it disappeared into the ceiling. I checked my sensor but there was no dot coming towards us.

"Umm, Olivia? Look."

I looked to where the deathwing was. It was a door. Instantly I knew it was a real door, not one of these fakes. Above it was a sign. The first sign that I have ever seen. Nate must have seen it as well because his eyes were starting to widen again. I put my paw on his, and felt him trembling, but it was not as strong as before.

"Hold it together Nate. Remember, we are here for Holly, and don't make me kiss you again."

His trembling faded a bit, as his face became more serious. He was still scared, but I didn't think he was going to lose it again. We all faced the door and stood there for a second. The sign was bringing back memories of my own. Overseer's Office. I took the first step towards the door, but a scream caused the foxes to suddenly push me aside as they sprinted towards the door. I recovered and went after them.

They reached the door and it was slightly ajar. Markus was the first one there as he forced the door open, causing it's slam to echo throughout the halls. When I caught up to them I had to shove myself between them. Inside was something out of a horror story. The tunnel from the surface lead straight to this room. This room was massive, but it was so torn apart that I couldn't tell if it was built like this, or if the deathwings had expanded it. On the walls were large poles, at least a hundred of them, and on nearly every single one was a deathwing, hanging upside down, it's wings covering them like a blanket. Fuck me.

"Holly!"

Markus caused my concentration to focus in the center of the room. It was filled with computers and tubes, and what looked like medical equipment. In the middle was a large metal structure, placed vertically to the ground. Tied to it was a rabbit, hoses coming out from her body and connected to a machine. She looked terrible. Holly managed to look up at us. I think she was trying to smile.

"W…ell, my boys… I didn't think…"

"Holly!" Markus tried to race over to her, but I had to stop him as two deathwings landed on either side of Holly.

"I… I'm not… gone a… day and… you already… find another… rabbit?"

"Holly, it's not like that!"

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A rather pitiful attempt at a rescue I imagine."

A deathwing walked towards me. I think it was the same one as before, because it was scratching its neck again. At first I thought it was the deathwing speaking, until it moved to the side, revealing a large boar with brown fur that had started graying with his age. A white streak of hair went from between his eyes and over his head, almost like he painted it on himself. The boar was wearing a black suit with a white tie that matched the white on his head.

"Who, the hell are you? And what are you doing to her?"

"Oh, just a little hobby I am working on rabbit. One that you three will be very acquainted with soon enough. Now, I have wasted to much of your time. Get them."

I went to draw my gun up, but three deathwings 'fell' from above us, pinning us to the ground. They grabbed each of us and stood us up as another one dragged in a couple more of those standing tables. I tried to struggle, but it was no use. They were too strong, and we had been caught off guard. My head kept trying to formulate plans, but it was no use, nothing I could think of would help. I looked over to Holly whose expression had just turned from a smile, to… sorrow? Anger? Fear? I couldn't tell. To her I was probably just some dumb bunny who just got her friends killed.

I should have listened to myself earlier. I work better alone, and now I have just doomed these two to whatever horrors Holly has faced. There was only one thing I could think of to say.

"I'm sorry."

—

Fallout: Zootopia After Show

Featuring:

'Stripes in the Morning'

[Stripes]

"Good morning Zootopian Wasteland!"

[Max]

"It's eleven at night Stripes! And why are you always so damn chipper?"

[Stripes]

"Coffee. Wonderful, wonderful coffee. Now as I was saying. This is Stripes with Stripes in the Morning! Today's guest is… trivia! Now you may be thinking, 'Trivia? Who's Trivia? Did I miss someone new?". Not quite. You see Stripes in the Morning isn't all about interviews, it's also your premiere source of general knowledge and history! You see folks, sometimes it's rather hard to squeeze in lore and history into the story without making it seem… forced, and that's exactly why I'm here, to force it upon you!"

[Max]

"You didn't plan anything, did you...And did you raid my coffee stash?! You'd better not have raided my coffee stash!"

[Stripes]

"No. No I didn't. Now onto the show! You see folks, according to a Burrow-Tec guide to the Burrows that I just so happen to have found one day, it says there are multitudinous Burrows both within the Zootopia City limits, and in the far reaches of the world. What these little informative pamphlets don't tell you is the dark, secret history of them. You see the Burrows were actually…"

[Max]

"I think I should stop you right there Stripes. You don't want to spoil everything for the audience, now do you?"

[Stripes]

"Whoops, got a little off track there, didn't I? As a certain musical stream once said… 'Spoilers'. Okay, so the Burrows. They weren't your typical 'let's save the mammal race' type designs, as many of you who have played a certain video game that this is based off of know, Burrow-Tec had a more… sinister plan to help protect the future of the mammalian race. Burrow 23, this one they stumbled into, is by far no exception. You see, according to some… information that I got my hooves on, Burrow 23 was designed to house only a single mammal, the one who would be called the Overseer. He was led into the facility being told that they wanted him to get acclimated with his new role before the residents arrived. His office was packed with all the food, books and games that would entertain any mammal for weeks. However, what Burrow-Tec neglected to tell him was that the Overseer's office was the only room in the entire Burrow. All the doors he saw on the way there? Very realistic posters that were simply glued onto the walls. Once the Burrow-Tec representatives left, they sealed it off and began their monitoring. A rather cruel fate for such an innocent mammal I think."

[Max]

"Cruel? That's downright dastardly."

[Stripes]

"Indeed. Well there you have it folks! A little back story on a Burrow that will never be mentioned again! This is Stripes signing off, and remember folks. I'll continue to do what I can to bring you all the news, no matter how much it hurts!"