Guy followed the rabbids outside Big Hope to the parking lot where other rabbids were roaming and playing in the open space dotted with streetlights. Left behind, the only car remaining was Guy's own. Stickers and Tie walked right past it, but Guy couldn't help staring, knowing that it might be the last time he would see it. He had paid off his car for the past five years, and now, it didn't matter.

He could remember the change he had left inside the console compartment; his notepad, a nearly dried pen he refused to throw out, a blanket, water bottle and his emergency mints. He was too small to drive now, and surely not trusted by the law to do so. What a shame.

Stickers and Tie paused when they noticed Guy lost in thought.

"He's staring oddly at that car. You think he's attracted to it?" Tie pointed to Guy, crossed his arms over his chest and then pretended to hold on to a steering wheel.

"Maybe. I think there's something else wrong with this one. Have you noticed he's a little... jumpy? It's like he's afraid of something, but there isn't any fire or explosions or nothing?" Stickers said.

"Really? I didn't pick up any of that. He seems proper to me, like a teacher or a scientist! Although maybe a little anxious, but teachers and scientists are always anxious," Tie put his hands out in front of him, palms facing the floor, and tilted them side to side from their wrists.

"Proper as he may be, if he's afraid maybe we should be too. What if it's not something around him but something inside. What if he ate a bomb, but like one with a timer!?" Stickers said.

"You think so?" Tie put his hands in his mouth in worry.
"Who knows!"
"We should go ask him!"
"I have a better idea!"

Guy turned around to see his two companions running over to him. Stickers' eye had turned red. They flipped Guy over by his ankles and shook him upside down.

"Spit it out!" They hissed.

"Be gentle! You could make him explode if you jostle the bomb!" Tie grabbed his own ears to comfort himself.

"STOP! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Guy tried desperately to get out of Sticker's iron grip. His wallet fell out of his jacket pocket.
"Trying to get you to spit up the bomb!" Tie said.
"I didn't eat any bomb!" Guy said.
"You sure?!" Stickers asked.
"Yes yes! A hundred percent! Just please put me dow-"

Stickers dropped him, and then went up to a street light. They punched it with a beastly rage, bending the entire pole as if it had been hit by a cannonball. Guy felt his ears bend back whilst reacting to what he saw.

"Woah! Ok, what's wrong with him?" He breathed, getting behind Tie.
"Oh he's just like that sometimes. Sorry we thought you had a bomb in you," Tie shrugged.
"Why in anyone's right mind would you believe I ate a bomb?" Guy asked. The two rabbids blinked at him, taking the time to comprehend the question, "You know what, nevermind." Guy walked on past his car.

"No no! It was for good reason!" Tie said, catching up to him, "What if you blew up and it really hurt you, and you didn't tell us to try to protect our feelings. If we could get it out, we'd probably have to be quick like we just were!"

"..I guess that makes a little sense.." Guy said, crossing his arms.
"See! That's the perfect amount of sense!"
"Do rabbids swallow bombs a lot?" Guy asked.
"Not in the slightest!" Tie shook his head.

Meanwhile Stickers was cooling off when they found something on the ground: a wallet. Where did it come from again? Stickers put his hand on his chin and tapped his foot to think. Ah! It was in that strange rabbid's pocket. Something like this obviously wasn't his, so maybe he wouldn't mind if he looked to see if there were any free stickers inside.

A little disappointing, most of what was inside were plastic cards with strange images and numbers on them. Something so colorful and plasticity reminded them of a candy, but when they licked one it hardly had any taste. They stuck their tongue out in disgust and placed the wet card back into the wallet.

Another, almost sticker looking thing in the wallet was a card with a picture of a human and a bunch of numbers. For a picture of a human it sure was somber. Didn't humans usually smile in pictures of themselves? He could probably stand to have the card made into a sticker later, also all those green little pieces of paper. They were actually prettier than the somber human person sticker idea. Stickers unstuck a long piece of tape on the back of his head and stuck the wallet there before laying the tape back across it. They caught up to Guy and Tie once they knew it was secure.

"So, where exactly are we getting our food from? He said it was human food," Guy pointed to Tie, but was talking to Stickers.

"Relax, our food will come from the highway," Stickers said.
"So roadkill..?" Guy shivered at the idea.
"No, although roadkill is also good," Stickers said.
"If you're getting food from the highway, and it isn't roadkill I don't know what we're eating still," Guy said.
"You'll figure out when we get there," Stickers said.

Guy sighed.

They were walking out of the parking lot and into the trees that separated Big Hope property from the road to downtown.

It felt wrong to go downtown this way. He had never a reason to walk to the trees around the Big Hope parking lot, but would occasionally see groundskeepers mowing the lawns with riding mowers on sweltering summer days. He didn't belong down there where they worked, he didn't even know their names, yet he was here now, trespassing on where he would never normally walk, through trees, thorn bushes and a creek, to the backside of a downtown shop.

Guy had rarely visited the downtown area due to it being far from where he lived. Being as tired as he usually was, all he wanted was to be home after work. It was easier to stay in, take a shower, and watch a late night talk show.

Now he didn't even have a home to stay in, or a TV to watch talk shows with or a shower or a car.
To the perspective of men he had vanished without much of a trace besides his pants. It was as if he were a ghost amongst them.

"Hey, where are you from?" Tie asked Guy as he pulled him by the hand into downtown's sidewalk. Now they were in perfect view of humans. Guy couldn't help but jump, surprised by how tall they were. He looked to his rabbid companions to see that they were confused by his reaction. Guy was wearing more than they were, but he felt the most naked he'd ever been.

When humans passed him they moved faster with an urgency, as if they expected he would chase them. Tie and Stickers didn't find this strange at all, walking right past people without fear. It was the humans who would react to them, stepping out of their path or jumping in surprise when they headed their way.
Guy found himself trying to make eye contact with one of them, as if it would make a connection. The human widened their eyes and quickly looked away to try and avoid having anything to do with Guy. So much for having eyes be the windows to his soul. Humans would never attempt to know him well enough to understand who he really was. He was so embarrassed to be seen this way. What was he even doing here? It was clear he didn't belong.

"You ok?" Tie asked him, they slowed down for a moment. Guy hadn't even realized he was shaking again, "You didn't answer my question before," Tie put his hand up and then closed his 'fingers' it as if he was throwing something over his shoulder, then pointed to Guy, shook his head, touched one hand to his mouth while the other was next to his head before moving his hands in front of him to point at Guy. He pointed to himself, then finally traced a question mark in the air.

"I'm sorry.. There's just a lot going on out here," Guy struggled to say.
"A lot of what?" Tie turned around. It wasn't very busy.

"Is it the humans?" Stickers asked.

"..Humans.." Guy breathed, unsure. Stickers was techally right, but he couldn't possibly understand why these humans were so intimidating.
"I think you're right, it's like he's never seen humans before," Tie said. Tie touched his shoulders and then his hips with both hands, traced out a hook shape in the air with a flat palm, and then pointed to his eyes before pointing to Guy.

"Maybe we ought to explain them," Stickers said. Tie agreed, so they dragged Guy back into an alleyway where the humans couldn't see them, but Guy didn't calm down.

"He has it bad.." Stickers said softly, "He was like this when I first saw him too."
"You think he doesn't understand humans, or the humans did something to him?" Tie asked, not wanting it to be true.
"I wouldn't be surprised! I didn't act this way when I first saw humans. He's lost, alone, maybe the rabbids he knew.." It hurt Stickers to try and say any more.

"That's impossible," Tie said.
"Time, Jerry, time," Stickers said. They sighed.

"...Maybe we should stop making assumptions and ask him," Tie said. He bent what would have been a pointer finger and gestured to Guy.

The man-made rabbid was sitting against the wall, not paying attention to the conversation. There was enough light in the alleyway for his reflection to be seen in the glass window of a shop across the street. He moved his ears to see the way they looked on him. It was hard to stare so long. He could see his own bewildered expression on the rabbid looking back at him. This was still real. This was still happening.

How many times did he have to realize it? How long would he be surprised? Maybe it would be like this forever. He'd never stop being surprised because he simply was not a rabbid. When he closed his eyes he could imagine himself as his old body. He could splay his fingers, flare his nostrils, feel his hair brush against his forehead, but when he opened his eyes he had to accept that it was a brief fantasy. Never would he expect himself to be here as he was now, but every time he doubted, the experience was here to correct him in vivid detail.

"What's wrong with you? Who hurt you!?" Stickers said, crossing his arms. Guy snapped out of mourning his past life.

"Who hurt me?" Guy asked. He stood up, intimidated by the questions.
"You're all scared, and by the looks of it, by humans," Tie said, "If you were hurt by them we want to help!"
"I.. I'm not afraid of human's I.." Guy hesitated, "-I appreciate the concern, but I don't think this is something that can be helped," Guy said. Stickers crossed his arms.

"That excuse again? You're hiding something! And hiding things from me makes me nervous, and I don't like being nervous," Sticker's eye turned red briefly.
"Haha, erm, what they mean is that we don't want whatever it is you're afraid of to hurt you again, or us. No rabbid likes a downer when we should all be having fun! That includes you too dude!"

"..Me?" Guy was mostly saying this to himself. Tie had just included him in a 'we' statement, like 'we' as in 'us rabbids'.
"Yeah you! What can we do to help you get your confidence back? What do you like to do?" Tie asked.

Guy had a feeling one of his ex girlfriends asked him a very similar question in the past, but like now he was unable to answer. What did he like to do? He always did what had to be done. He liked to make a living, be the guy they needed, the one who would enter the system and eventually beat it. He'd be the guy who was constantly in luxury, who'd intimidate any company meeting with expertise and high expectations. He'd be the guy all men would envy, the expert, the rich and sophisticated.

It was impossible to be seen that way after what he had become. The promise of respect and comfort they told him he would receive for his dedication had blown up in his face by circumstance... and maybe also by letting his job take over his life. It only took his misdirected dedication to take him here, to get rid of everything he thought he was, yet he was still here. Somehow he was more than all that.

"...I don't know," Guy sighed. It was rather pathetic. He was hoping he wasn't as empty as he was discovering.

Tie gasped.
"Are you saying you don't know how to have fun?!"

"Are you sure you don't like building secret places?" Stickers asked.
"Wha.." Guy narrowed his eyes.
"Or going to the skatepark?!"
"Or racing goats?"
"Or playing marbles or dominoes?"
"Or drawing on stuff?"
"Hold on, w-no, I haven't done any of those before," Guy said.

"Wow," Stickers said with a growing smirk.
"What?" Guy shrugged.

"You're really boring," They couldn't help but laugh, which infected Tie into laughter too. Stickers sighed, "Don't worry, I used to be boring too," Stickers put his hand on Guy's shoulder, "When you lose your confidence, you just have to pretend to be that bombastic do-whatever rabbid you used to be, until you start believing it again!"

"..What if I never believed I was a bombastic, do-whatever rabbid before?" Guy asked.
"That's easy," Tie said. With a grin, Tie put what would have been his pointer finger to his forehead and moved his hand down so it fell into his other hand, "Believe it for the first time!"

Guy considered it, and then felt a great fear.

With nothing left to connect him to his old life, he was free to let loose, to become the boisterous being that Stickers and Tie thought a rabbid should be.
But if he gave in, he felt it would be something that would change him permanently. He would become unrecognizable from the man he was yesterday, but what was the point of holding on to his old life any longer? It was already impossible that he had become a rabbid in the first place. The chance that he could become human again was like expecting lightning to strike the same place twice. If that was true there was no point in believing he was a hard working, please the system human, if he couldn't be that person anymore.

No, no he couldn't give up so easily.

As much as it pained him to hold on, there had to be a way for it to be undone. Lightning could strike twice, but it was up to him to make it happen. He had to stay focused. He was going to be a man again, that was what he was going to believe in, even if it seemed impossible.

"Are you ready? We're going to be late at this rate," Stickers said. Tie nodded, pointed to himself, put his hand to the base of his neck, then pulled his hand down to his stomach. After that he put his hand up to his face, and pivoted it by his elbow away from his face while closing an open hand as if he was closing a flip phone in a sassy manner.

"Oh! Yes, sorry just thinking about.. do-whatever," Guy lied.
"Well come on then!" Stickers rushed back out to the sidewalk and Guy and Tie followed. This time, Guy tried to hold himself with confidence, a real human walk as evidence of his maturity. To help with the walk Guy tied off the excess of his shirt to the side so that it wouldn't drag on the ground anymore. No rabbid would walk with such an ordinary gate, except for Tie who was copying him.

"Wha-pt-what are you doing?" Guy asked when he realized, but they kept walking.
"Huh?"
"You're copying me!" Guy said.
"Well yeah of course! I'm happy for you, already having fun! Being do-whatever and walking with confidence! Who could resist!" He kept doing it.

"This isn't fun, I'm trying to act.. I'm trying to act natural," Guy grumbled.
"Then wouldn't you be naked?" Tie chuckled. Guy sighed.
"No, er, my natural involves clothes, and yes, confidence, sure, but it's not for fun. I'm trying to get noticed," Guy said.
"Can I be noticed too?" Tie asked.
"It's a little beside the point. I'm trying to be different from other rabbids. If everyone did the same thing I wouldn't be different anymore," Guy explained.

"Oh...Well what do you want to be different for?" Tie asked. He stopped copying Guy.

"So people notice that I'm.. I'm smart, polite.. Let them know I'm a.. a-a rabbid who can show some self control. That way I'll be approachable, and once I'm approachable people won't be afraid of me. They'd want to get to know who I really am." Guy stuttered. He practiced being confident by waving to a human while they walked, but the woman froze instead of waving back. He tried to keep from cringing.

"Oh! That sounds like so much fun! Connecting to people by playing polite and being all respectful and kind. Hardly any rabbid likes playing polite like I do! They always get so impatient," Tie said. Tie opened his hand and moved it in a tiny circle so that his outstretched thumb would run into his chest ever so slightly. He then, excited, put one hand to his lips before dropping it into his other palm at chest level, "They used to say I was very polite, more polite than some human students. Always put others before yourself! Especially women and children," Tie said.

"Yeah-yeah, of course, but again, I'm not going to be polite just because it's fun. I need to connect to humans, not play with rabbids. If I got humans to understand me, there's a chance I could.. I could, do as they do. Be allowed a nice house, cool car, maybe a pool and all that reliable fancy stuff that makes life satisfying. Not like what's rotting out here in the streets."

"Wow," Tie sighed in awe, "You want to live with the humans! Living with humans again would be a dream come true! I used to think I would do all that owning stuff one day... but, it didn't work out. What you're talking about with being polite just for them, that can be really hard."

"What's so hard about it?"
"...You think it's easy?" Tie was surprised.
"Well, I used to work for them, remember? It took me a long time to gain their trust and fill in that position, but I did it. If anybody could do it again, it'd have to be me," Guy said.

"Could you teach me?" Tie asked.
Stickers scoffed, "Jerry! Don't listen to him, he's clearly making it all up! And even if he wasn't, there's nothing good about a human lifestyle. Nice house, fancy car, pools? Please! If I want a house I'll build one, a car, don't need one to get where I'm going, and a pool? I have an entire ocean I could swim in whenever I feel like it! You have nonsense priorities dude! My friend here shouldn't have to be tempted by your false promises. A passion for humans is something I've been trying to ease him out of."

Guy opened his mouth to speak but Tie beat him to it.
"If I could advocate for myself," Tie said, "there's no need to get all worked up about this Tuller. I like being polite and I like humans! This rabbid does too!" Tie said.
"Yeah, but isn't it a waste of time to play with people who never appreciate a good rabbid when they see one? This path only leads to heartbreak and warfare! I'd stick to actual fun games without the power hungry aging apes trying to destroy me because they couldn't harness my power."

"Humans simply don't understand us, that's all. As foreigners who are dramatically different socially and physically, we could all strive to be better communicators to the race we share the planet with. Being essentially immortal and invulnerable compared to them could be really frightening to humanity," Tie said.

Stickers stuck his tongue out and gagged, "Guh, STOP talking you're going to ruin my appetite," They winced.
"Not enjoying a diet of truth and understanding?" Tie asked.
"Oh please, they are the ones who don't want to understand us. You should know that," Stickers said. Tie sighed.

"Tuller, that was my entire purpose..." He said.

They approached a dip in their path leading into a tan wall going across the horizon as far as the rabbids could see. The echo of cars going over a metal panel in the road hummed constantly like white noise: The highway.

Guy was still mulling over how he was going to get food from the road when there were bound to be other options, but he came here to learn in case he was going to be like this from now on. No matter what he was going to eat, at least he wouldn't be alone.

He followed Stickers and Tie through a gap in the wall to three lanes and speeding vehicles beyond. A mob of around ten rabbids were bashing and taping metal and wood together in the shape of a square boat-like sled thing. On the front of the sled was some sort of engine a rabbid in yellow was working on.
Guy kept close to his companions as a commanding officer rabbid dressed in a homemade military uniform approached them. Her modified metal bowl helmet went over her eyes, so it was unclear if she could actually see. Guy, Tie, and Stickers stopped in front of her. Stickers and Tie stood tall and saluted to the Capitan. Guy was slow to do the same.

"Greetings soldiers! And some new cadet I don't know! Would have liked to have seen you here much earlier! My favorite cloud passed by the moon ages ago and you weren't here!" She barked, pointing at the moon.

"Permission to speak, miss!" Stickers asked.
"..ight." she crossed her arms.
"I'm afraid to report that my sundial's malfunction was cause for my tardiness!" Stickers said.

"No excuse! It's an easy fix, just like mine," Capitan turned to face a sundial illuminated by a streetlight, "Unfortunately it caused time to stop at twenty five P.M, but that only makes it even more irresponsible that you were late! Time was frozen and you still didn't make it on time!? I ought to sacrifice you to the airplanes! ..Ah whatever! At ease gentlemen. Go make yourselves useful and make sure the operation's ready to go," She had a candy bar she pretended was a cigar that she lit with a lighter before eating it.

Guy tried to process everything he just heard, following Stickers and Tie to the shoulder of the highway, but not up to the sled.

While he stood and watched from a distance his rabbid companions got to work asking others for instruction. They were promptly given a roll of duct tape and some glue. Tie proceeded to chug the glue without a second of hesitation. Guy stood around, not sure what he should be doing.
When a car passed he was so close that the wind whipping around it pushed him back and pulled at his ears through the leaving current. They were so much bigger than him now, like mechanical monsters that defied nature and bore through air. No wonder deer panicked when they saw one.

Looking at the rabbids here, he found they were as odd as any he'd already seen, but some had more complex costumes than he expected a rabbid to make.

Captain for one seemed to put a lot of care into her attire. It was crooked with discolored patches and a dented helmet but somehow conveyed exactly what she was trying to get across, right down to the captain's insignia pinned to it.

A group of three suspicious looking rabbids wearing fedoras, long dress jackets, striped shirts, and black pants were crossing their arms while they took turns throwing a coin as close to the road as possible without going past it. To retrieve the coin one of them got too close to a speeding car and was forced to the ground by the whipping air. The two others laughed as their friend tried to pick up his hat. A realization washed over him that they were dressed like old timey mobsters. Their outfits were put together better than Capitan's, but he supposed that's what money could buy in the mafia.

"Something on your mind?" Someone said from behind. Guy jumped and turned to find a rabbid wearing all black. His whole body concealed besides the holes in the loose linen wrappings around his ears and an opening for his eyes. A scarf blue like the night sky flowed in the wind. A ninja.

"Oh! I guess, I mean yeah, but I'm ok," He stumbled. Guy looked to his companions but they were too far away to ask for help. The ninja chuckled.
"Calm yourself. I mean you no harm, only a practical joke. I was watching you on the way here," the ninja said.
"...for how long..?" Guy asked as he froze, his ears bent back. This only entertained the ninja more.
"Only around the highway. That is my job tonight, along with the other ninjas', as I have commanded, for I am the Ninja King. You say you are a polite rabbid. My game may not be politeness, but polite I can be," Ninja King said.

"Ok.." He tried to calm himself.
Ninja King tilted his head.
"Your game, it is like that of an ordinary person, the humans you idolize from this very town. It is unique. You want to impress them, why?" Ninja King sat down as one of his rabbids poured him a cup of tea, as well as Guy.

"Simple, humans have all the best stuff," Guy said. He sat and took a sip, blowing on the drink to cool it down.

"Of course, and you wish to do it the old fashioned way, like that of their own. I am a fan of humans myself, although the human ninjas of TV and movies in particular. Not so much the ordinary ones, but I always had a thought, that if I only understood the humans, would I eventually find where the human ninja are, and that we could play together and become stronger. Unfortunately I have yet to discover the human ninja. My skills surely do not match them. They hide in a way I cannot reveal," Ninja King lamented.

"Alright.." Guy said, "Aren't ninja Japanese? Maybe you should check in Japan?"
"..So the legend is true.. it is real after all?" Ninja King's eyes grew watery.
"Yeah, it's far from here but I guess you could stow away on a boat or a plane."

"Agent, make a note! We will quest for Japan and find the original ninja... after dinner," Ninja King told one of his agents. They bowed and nodded, "It is so good to learn I can go home. What I will become when I find my origin shall be the truest me."

"What happens if you go there and don't find any ninja? It's kinda been a while since they were seen as sorta, a real thing in Japan, or I don't know. I don't know anything about Japan," Guy said.
"Japan is where the ninja come from. Surely if they do not hide there, then it will be I who will inherit the throne, and what made them become who they are will reveal itself to me in the mountainsides, waterfalls and cherry blossoms. Either way I am already a ninja. I have already made peace with all that may happen on my journey."

"Even if the human ninja were real and saw you as a rival? or if they were offended by your ninja get-up? What if they hate you?" Guy asked.

"You test my ability to accept all that may happen, but I appreciate the concern. I may mourn, but will always have peace. A journey to discover self is never wasted. If not walked upon, will only be accepting something that may not be true, like everything I know about ninja. If I go to my origin and find it soiled, I will merely be the better ninja in rejecting the origin for a better future. Or maybe I'll finally switch sides and become a samurai, but I am better because I know."

Was Guy really getting wisdom from a rabbid dressed as a ninja? The whole idea was silly, but he took what he said as truth. The cool air passing him with every car reminded him that this was still real, but not as unpleasant as before. He somehow felt amongst peers, nearly harmonious, especially talking with this ninja who radiated chill vibes, or maybe that was the tea.

Racing on the shoulder, a rabbid with roller blades stopped when he reached the group. He saluted Capitan.
"New intel! The truck is minutes from turning the corner dude!" He said.
Capitan turned to the junk sled.
"Status!?" Capitan barked.

A rabbid dressed as an old fisherman with yellow rainwear and a mophead for a beard was testing the harpoon launcher on the front of the sled.

"The dang thing's still jammed!" He said.

Stickers and Tie were trying their best to fix it, but the news of their target truck nearing stressed them out too much to compose themselves.

Guy watched the harpoon launcher being fought over, the belts on wrong, spinning nothing, covered in tape.

He almost didn't feel himself get up as he got on the sled and pushed his bickering companions out of the way.

Of course the launcher was jammed, tape was sticking where it should be free to move. He unstuck the tape and took a belt off before flipping it and putting it back over the motor. It ran with a satisfying hum once it snapped into place.

The fisherman walked up next to him with a harpoon attached to a rope. A tractor trailer passed them like a hurricane as the fisherman fed the harpoon to the launcher and it shot into the air like a cannonball.

"It works!" Guy put his arms up in triumph.

The harpoon stuck into the back of the tractor trailer. The rope, attached to the sled, grew taught, pulling the sled behind it. Stickers, Tie and Guy were thrown to the back of the sled by the force, stacking into each other. The fisherman held onto the launcher and proceeded to steer. The bottom of the sled was flat, sliding over the road, spraying sparks.

Stickers got up first and gave them his hand to help up Tie and Guy. When Guy realized all that was happening he felt his senses sharpen.

"Wooo!" Stickers hollered, Tie joined them.

Guy was scared but, the speed they were going, the balance they had to keep so they didn't fly off the side. It was.. exhilarating. Cars in the lane beside them hovered at similar speeds. He could see the people inside, awestruck, afraid. Stickers stuck their tongue out at the onlookers while Tie took his tie and swung it around yelling. The person driving parallel visibly gulped and drove faster to pass them. Stickers and Tie exploded into laughter. Guy couldn't hold back his widening grin either.

The fisherman spoke.

"Help me bring 'er in!" He barked. He pulled on the rope, inching their sled a little closer to the back of the truck. The three rabbids composed themselves and got to work, getting behind the fisherman pulling on the rope together. Guy felt his arm muscles strain. It was by their arm strength alone that they were pulling themselves closer. The road underneath them wanted so badly to throw them all back to their original distance. He wondered if he could've done this as a man, or if he was stronger now. This would've been so much easier if the sled had wheels, or if there was something to lock the rope in place so they could take a break, but still, through all of his pain and focus he couldn't help but smile.

When they were a foot away from the trailer Guy noticed a hissing behind him.

"Sorry Tuller.."
Guy turned to see Tie holding a lit firework the size of his head. Stickers was fighting Tie for it behind him, eyes red, enraged by the explosive. While holding Stickers back with one hand, Tie displayed the firework to Guy with the other, "This is a lit firework that could blow some dude's hand off! Could you tape it to the truck's lock pretty please!?"

Guy felt his focus sharpen as he took it. The fuze burned closer and closer to the base. Knowing he had to act fast, he let go of the rope to stand on the edge of the sled. A foot gap was between him and the trailer. Delicately, he stepped on the back of the truck, nearly falling off with how little room he had to stand on. With Stickers and Tie still fighting, they lost their grip of the rope, throwing the sled back to its original distance without him.

"Now look what you di-" Guy could hear as the sled left earshot.

This was the tricky part. There was tape already on the firework, Guy just had to untangle it and put it over the trailer lock. Oh God, the tape was sticking to itself! Stupid little rabbid no-fingers! Just as it looked like he was going to blow his hands off he got the tape to stop sticking to itself. He stuck it flat on the lock and turned back to face the sled.

It was so far now, hardly staying in one place despite the fisherman's attempt at steering. There wasn't any time! With all his strength he leapt, sending him into the sled far faster than he initially thought. Regret. The force of his landing snapped the rope. The entire sled tumbled out of control and into traffic. Guy hadn't even figured out where he was before an incoming car hit him.

When he was finished sliding across asphalt his skin screamed and stung, but somehow, dizzy from the crash, he stood up anyway, right on time to watch the tractor trailer explode into fantastical colors. Tie limped over to Stickers to comfort them. Behind them cars piled up as the trailer fell, engulfed in flames.

The rabbids paused in awe.

"DUDE!" Tie squealed.
"DUDE! DID YOU SEE THAT?! I can't believe I did that!" Guy said, "like straight out of an action movie! I jumped, like what!? Like were you looking!? I didn't know what I was doing, I just did it!? I mean I literally just did!" Guy said.
"Haha! You broke the flippin rope on the way back cannonball! And, you should've seen the look on your face when I gave you the firework! You got so pale!" Tie said. He pretended to throw something at his own face and made a sickened expression.

"And I thought I couldn't get any paler tonight.. since I.. I! Did we get hit by a car?!"
"We did!"
"We did! I got hit, I'm up? Like if I was.. If I was a..! I mean I hardly felt anything! I didn't break any bones! At least I think! And you were just like 'here's a bomb!' and I was like 'OK!' Like you do this all the time!" Guy said.

"What we do varies," Stickers shrugged.

The truck driver got out of the crash and distanced herself putting her hands on her head in disbelief.
"...Oh what!? What THE!?" She screeched before her engine exploded into flame so bright it looked like day for half a second. Luckily she was unharmed, all but her eyebrows.

Guy chuckled, and then it turned into a full on laugh that he couldn't hold back. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the relief, or the lady's engine exploding, but it felt really good to laugh. His companions soon followed, hyenas with shadows long from the extinguishing flame.

Catching up, rabbids from the shoulder arrived with more help than was originally at the work site: The calvary. Each one got to work like ants, climbing into the back of the truck and handing out sausage cases. The truck driver sprinted over to them when she realized they were about to take her cargo. She tried to shoo them away with her hat but a rabbid hissed at her and she immediately turned around and left.

"Come on!" Tie said, pulling Stickers closer to the truck and beckoned Guy to follow.

Guy could hardly remember the last time he'd seen the inside of a tractor trailer. The memory had to be from one of his teen-hood dead end jobs moving stock. Humans were hardly as giddy as these rabbids were unloading a truck full of pallets, product, and plastic wrap. It was like Christmas but if every gift was a box of cold wieners. Even still, they were already eating a few before taking a box for themselves. When passing Guy, they gave him a thumbs up or patted him on the back, and he couldn't help but smile at the thanks he was getting.

"You did mighty fine, son," the fisherman said.
"That was diseased!" The rollerblading rabbid said.
"I try!" Guy replied.

The ninjas followed after them with the gang and Capitain, who climbed onto a case to sit on and fish for a snack.

"Good work soldiers. You might've arrived late but you put up a great work ethic to make up for it. Even brought a new kid engineer guy to fix the harpoon launcher before you knew it was broken. Let us move out and share the bounty! Quickly! Before it gets too heavy!" Captain said. The case she was sitting on was lifted up underneath her by the calvary.

Guy smirked and obliged, carrying a case of his own. The case was a fraction of the entire pallet's content, but it still held over thirty five packs. Guy watched his companions do the same.

Guy and his companions began to follow the rest of the rabbids away from the highway, hot dogs in hand. They headed through an unkept downhill footpath.

"Hey! Where are we going? Are we planning to have a feast or something?" Guy asked.
"Of course! You think I could eat all this by myself?" Stickers asked, holding up his case. Guy only stared, trying to come up with an appropriate answer, "Ok yes I could, but I'm not that hungry today. We're bringing it to the other rabbids in the area. We've got plenty so why not share."

"Huh...That's really thoughtful."
"Just common sense. I don't know where you come from, but around here, we're all we've got. We could at least share a snack every now and then."

He couldn't help but admire it, and was even a little jealous of it. These rabbids were doing battle to help the poor, and it was clear they were in love with the project. Ninjas, mobsters and calvary were giggling, using their cases as sleds down steep hills in the grass beyond the highway into the suburbs.

Here they were, where they weren't supposed to be, carrying stolen product from a truck he personally blew up. The dark only interrupted by haunting street lights in dead empty neighborhoods. The only life, their brothers coming out of the cracks to take their ration, and sometimes more, but there was never a fight, just strange thanks.

Only a couple took from Guy. One didn't say anything and took a single hot dog, too shy or unable to speak, while a rabbid dressed as a target took fifteen and spent a lot of time talking about what every injury on his body was from that day. Guy swore a streetlight detached from its base and fell on him as they were leaving, but Stickers shook their head at the idea.

From then on they walked until they eventually reached the beach, where the rollerblader rabbid was reunited with what looked to be surfers with modified swim gear, surf and boogie boards. The rabbids of the surf had started a giant bonfire taller than a mobile home. It was almost cult like how the rabbids in charge played around it and made it bigger.

As soon as they hit the sand Tie dropped off his cargo and ran to the ocean. When Guy realized he was going to swim he found the urge to chase after him.

Tie got to the surf first, and realized too late that the waves were way taller than he was. He turned to warn Guy but the both of them were swallowed up before he could even speak. After a dizzying strike from the water, it retreated, spitting the rabbids out onto land.

"Look out..." Tie mumbled far too late. Guy sat up.
"It's coming back!" He said. They ran from the wave before it fully developed. When they were far enough the wave was reduced to ankle height. They watched as little shellfish sank into the tide.

Tie sat down in the sand and drew a stick figure with rabbid ears shouting. He put his hand to his mouth in a 'c' shape, opened his mouth and threw the 'c' hand away from his face like a traveling sound wave.
Guy sat beside him and tried to think of something he could draw. Before he could decide Tie laid on his back and made a gesture like he was putting a blanket over himself.

"Would you bury me!" He asked.

"Sure." Guy began to push the sand up next to him forming some walls, "I already blew up a truck today, what's burying a rabbid in sand? I still can't believe I got hit by a car!" He smirked.

"You really had a good time doing that huh?" Tie said.
"Oh yeah, it was honestly the most amazing thing I've ever seen or done. I just can't stop thinking about it, it's beyond words, yet completely real! It's kinda mixing me up a little," Guy said.
"I'm so happy for you. You've got your confidence as a rabbid back! Or no wait..You got your confidence as a rabbid for the first time!" Tie said.
"I suppose that's true.. I feel great, confident, yes.." Guy was mixed about the idea, "Is this what it's supposed to be like?"
"Is what supposed to be like?" Tie asked.

"Being a rabbid," Guy said.

"Yeah! Well, you are a rabbid, so anything you do is what being a rabbid's supposed to be like! If you like doing cool missions you should go and do more. Then you'll be the rabbid robinhood!"

"Maybe.. I'm still thinking. Er, besides cool missions, what do you usually do?" Guy asked.

"Well, we go on food runs as a favor for our friend the Junk Lord, but we get into a lot of things around here besides that. Mostly hanging out, playing with other rabbids, just normal stuff. Like yesterday we snuck into a movie with the ninjas, but we had to leave early because there was a bomb in the movie and we all know someone who can't handle their explosives," Tie said. He looked up the coast to Stickers, who was staring into the water, deep in thought.

"How come he reacts that way.. If you don't mind me asking?" Guy said.
"Well, don't tell him I told you this, but," Tie dramatically paused, "-he's really... scared... of explosives. Fire too sometimes. It enrages him," Tie rotated a hand like he was gesturing that his left eye was crazy.

"..You don't say," Guy said.

"Uh huh. He's more of an indoor recess rabbid. There's a surprising amount of activities out there that involve exploding, burning, and being loud, but there's only so much of that he can take in a day. Luckily for them I'm just the rabbid patient enough to play quiet games with them, at least that's what they told me." Tie took his hand out of the sand blanket developing around him to put his thumb to his chin. He dragged his thumb down a bit. Guy grumbled as he put a new layer of sand on top of him to replace the sand wall that broke.

"I'm guessing you two hang out a lot?" Guy asked.

"Basically all the time. We're best friends after all. He's a real good rabbid, even if we don't always agree. He helps me out with what I'm afraid of too. That's why we stick together. We play together just right, and we know what to do when it's not fun anymore," Tie said.
"Could I ask what you're afraid of?"
"I guess I should've expected you to ask that," Tie sighed, "It's actually the same thing you're afraid of, so don't judge ok?"

"Ok," Guy said.
"I'm afraid of humans.." Tie said. Guy paused to fully realize all of the context and irony of Tie's fear.

"...How come? Didn't you say you wanted to live with..u-, them?"
"I know! and I do! But it's not really a normal fear, like being afraid of the boogierabbid or snakes or public speaking. It's more like, really really wanting to eat a whole bag of sugar, but being afraid of a stomach ache. Hey! It might not give me a stomach ache! Maybe it'll just make me feel really good and full, but I don't know what'll happen! Can't I just like sugar and eat it? But I don't like stomach aches..I don't like throwing up.. I always..I.." He grumbled, not wanting to say any more, "It's stupid.."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think I might be like that too. My fear of humans isn't like being afraid of public speaking either, it's more personal than that.. Have you ever.. No that's not it.. It's so hard to find the words for what I'm trying to say!" He sighed, "Ok, so, have you ever come to a place in your life where, and don't take this too literally, but you just couldn't understand what was looking back at you in the mirror? Like, something's happened to you and you don't know what to do, who you are, or where to go? Because all you want to do is go back, but it's impossible. Does that make sense?" Guy looked back to Tie. The buried rabbid's eyes were shiny.

"Yeah.." He gulped, "and.. and going back might not even be a good idea anyway! but you really really want to make it all better, because even if you're having fun, a day doesn't go by where you don't think you hear somebody calling you back inside for dinner."

"Somebody..?" Guy asked.
"Somebody," Tie avoided eye contact.

Stickers walked up next to them, he had a hot dog on a stick for each of them.

"You two ready to eat?" He gestured to the bonfire.
"As long as you are," Tie sat up, wiping his eyes. They both took sticks from Stickers and joined him and the other rabbids around the flame. Sticker's stayed significantly further back, giving their sausage stick to Tie to cook it for them.

The fire was so big that Guy suspected the sausages weren't the only things being cooked. The rabbids around the fire were starting to turn red under their fur. He made a mental note not to get so close, but not nearly as far as Stickers.

Guy stared into the flame, his mind wandering. Only a little while ago he was mentally spiraling about how desperately he had wanted to stay a man, but the static those thoughts had stormed up were nearly clear skies after he discovered this feeling.

It was rather short in retrospect, but everything he had done was really real, really fun, really rabbid. Now that he'd gotten to know some real rabbids it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought, but he couldn't deny his change.

He wasn't just a person who blew up a truck, but a person who was hungry to relive it, rave about it, have it become even more extreme. The stranger he saw in Sandra's mirror had arrived and he felt it was only going to feel more and more natural over time. He may never be a man again, but things were looking up for the man-made rabbid, at least for now. Not every night would be like this, sure, but he was feeling emotions that he had only heard people sing about. Whatever could come out of this was bound to be breathtaking, even if he was going to change. It was for the best anyway. His whole life he had been working towards earning a happiness like this, yet somehow he had found it by letting go, and maybe also becoming a nearly indestructible creature. Either way, he was finally ready to start the rest of his life.

After a long night of beach games, playing with fire and surfing, a number of rabbids slept where they sat, either alone in sandy divots they dug, or in disorganized piles like seals.

The sun was coming up over the coast. The birds were chirping.

Tie and Stickers were curled up back to back. When Tie woke up it took him a second to realize the empty space where Guy used to be. He sat up and tugged at Sticker's foot to wake them.

"The dress shirt rabbid is gone," He mumbled. Stickers squinted across the beach, but didn't spot anything.
"Maybe he just went to pee in the ocean," They said. They laid back down.
"Oh ok.." Tie laid back down. His head shot up off the sand, "Wait! Footprints!" He pointed. Older prints had been blown away by the coastal wind, but fresher prints illustrating Guy's path were still visible. It was hard to discern what Guy had even been doing. It looked like he had been clumsily pacing in one spot before making a b-line inland. There weren't any other prints interacting with him either, almost as if something had freaked him out on his own.

The two rabbids looked at one another in mild concern.

"Maybe he went to go poop in the grass?" Stickers suggested.
"M-maybe. But I still want to know if he's ok. Remember how erratic he was yesterday? We should make sure he's not freaking out by himself right?" Tie said. He played with his tie to relieve his stress. Stickers nodded.

The two of them followed Guy's prints inland, making sure not to confuse them with other rabbid prints from that morning. When they made it to the grass they continued in the general direction of the prints to a beachside road.
Tie stood stumped while Stickers walked around the grass beside the road. Did Guy keep going straight like his original path or did he follow the road? Tie looked around him to realize Stickers wasn't beside him, but next to something in the grass. He walked up next to him.

It was a man, asleep, but not at peace. It reminded the rabbids of a period piece movie when some old-timey human was sick with the plague scowling and covered in sweat. This human for sure fit the bill of restless despite resting.

What was especially odd about him was his clothes. It was eerily similar to the outfit they were trying to find on a rabbid, right down to the knot that was supposed to keep his dress shirt short. He didn't even have any pants or shoes on, although he did have underwear.

Stickers had been stumped up until his brain made a rare connection.
He unstuck the wallet on the back of his head and looked through the cards. Of them, a card with the bored looking human on it. He put the card up to compare the image and the man in front of him. Tie noticed what he was doing and snatched the card to see for himself. The two people matched: Kowalczyk, Guy.

"Where'd you get this?" Tie asked. He wiggled what would have been his pointer finger.
"The rabbid we're looking for dropped it earlier," Stickers said.
"So you just took it without asking?"
"Remember who you're talking to Jerry. Besides, I've got a weird feeling. Our rabbid dropped this card, and now we just so happen to find a human with this picture's exact description, wearing his clothes."
"Are you suggesting that Guy Kowalczyk is somehow related to our rabbid friend?" Tie asked. He pointed to the card, the man, and then made circles in his hands by connecting his 'pointer fingers' and thumbs before connecting them like a chain.

"I am, but I don't like it," Stickers said.
"Me neither. I mean, it's strange. Why would a human steal our rabbid's clothes and then take a nap on the side of the road? That's very unlike humans," Tie said. He made a 'c' shape with his hand up next to his head only to have it fall across his chest, landing on his opposite shoulder.
"Yeah, it's really more like something a rabbid would do," Stickers said.

Tie felt his stomach and ears drop when he made the realization. He looked at the card and then back to the man again. Guy was sitting up.

4/23/2023

Title "Souk Eye" from Gorillaz