Chapter 17:
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The mammals on the outside froze, turning to each other in shock.
"That's… That's…" Skye just mumbled to herself, holding her muzzle with a cut up blood drenched paw, the crimson staining into the already present tear lines.
"What's going on in there!?" Carmelita growled, turning back to the ruin of the stealth drone. It had slid further down into the tree, now caught by strained, groaning branches. Its outer skin torn off across it, its rotors bent, the gun turret at the base severed from its control leads and the main barrel knotted into a loop by tiger paws.
Still though, despite their furious actions since they heard the first gunshot, believing one of their own to be no more, they hadn't been able to tear into the passenger cabin itself.
Nick cut in, putting his paws up and waving Jack towards the vessel. The hare wasn't sure at first until the fox pointed at his ears, at which point the lapin jumped up onto the nearest branch and laid his ear down where he could. Eyes narrow, focussing.
He rested a finger on his lips, trying to press in.
His mouth twerked, eyebrows rising, before pushing in once more.
The machine screamed, a tinny electric wail that sent the hare shooting away, limbs flying in a cloudy blur. A few muffled whines, a subdued banging echoing out at full volume, then the tinny yet still aloof voice of Rattigan spoke out. "You know, I thought I was in a bit of a pickle right then? It really, for once, looked like you mammals had me!"
Siding up to Jack, Carmelita whispered to him. "Did you hear anything?"
"Nothing, nothing, few words, then he began yelling out about 'the king will come or something?'"
"Clockwerk?" Skye asked, looking over to Murray. He shook his head, shrugging.
"-I mean to think!" He said. "Anyway, bad news, your annoying talisman swapping vixen pest is in here, mostly dead."
Skye let out a panicked whine, unable to stop herself looking to Murray. The hippo just tapped over his pocket, giving a sad shake of his head. The swift fox vixen could only nod weakly in response.
"Serves her right," he carried on. "Anyway, if you want to see her again, you've got to do something very simple. Walk away. Walk far away, -see that rock there? Behind it."
Doug gave it a sceptical look.
"-Yes, well done Dr Ramses. But given your medical experience I think you'd want to move a little further away. Don't want another Grazer incident, do we?"
"I suppose I don't," he muttered, walking further back. Carmelita looked at him, tilting her head, but he just looked off disinterested.
"Okay, okay, good, good, good. -Now," Rattigan said, the anticipation clear in his voice even as a fault in the speaker cut over, sending a high wail straight over his words. "I'm going to drop her on the floor. My compatriot and I are going to jump out. We're going to run away, and you mammals are going to run in and do your best to save her life. You got that?"
"I…" Nick began, only for the back hatch of the drone to swing down and open. A red figure began falling out, all as a brown lapin went with her, leaping off and into the overgrowth. All the mammals began to race forward towards their injured comrade, even Carmelita, though she kept her shock pistol up and aimed towards the figure racing out into the brush.
"BOMB! GET DOWN!"
They froze, before being barged to the side by Doug as the sheep leapt towards the fallen figure, grabbing her and rolling over, hooves racing down and across her body before he pulled something out, taking it up to his mouth and tearing it.
The mammals all froze, looking on at the mining charge in his paw, the fuse bitten off. He spat it out, a tiny little fibre, about a quarter of it singed black.
The ovine panted in and out a few times before looking down at it and frowning. "Well that was terrifying."
Anything more though was cut out as Skye blinked, suddenly realising the state of the mammal it was planted on. "SWEETIE!"
She raced forward as the sheep pulled her into a recovery position, blood already pooling around him. He paid the worried swift fox vixen, already fussing, no mind as he checked the red fox's pulse, the wounds on the back of her neck, and began ripping off some of his own wool. "Hold that there," he said, checking it was done before starting to pull out a more equipped medical kit.
"She's… She's…"
"Not dead if that's what you're asking," the sheep muttered. "Though I'm not sure if she wanted that or not…" He looked in closer. "Yup."
"What do you mean, yup," she said, Carmelita waving Nick and Judy over, all while she still scanned the surroundings for activity.
The sheep shrugged. "Clear entry and exit wounds from a self-inflicted gunshot. Though at the same time going under the jawline and over the voicebox." He grabbed her and stood up, letting her hang down like a towel, blood flowing from her mouth to the shock of her sister.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
"Stopping her drowning," he said, placing her back down in a recovery position and grabbing a bottle of spray on antiseptic, a medical sewing kit and some swab. He quickly sprayed both wounds, cleaning them out with the swab before bringing out the needle. Gloves pulled on, he got to work first working on the inside of the wounds where they cut through her throat. The mammals around kept a close eye, on her, on him, the surroundings.
"Too much…" He grumbled, moving her over and around, letting gravity empty most of the wound and some sponges doing the rest. Sighing with relief, both internal wounds somewhat fixed, he stuffed the bullet carved cavities with swab before starting on the external wounds. A small shaver out he cleaned a perimeter of fur, enough to make sure that the skin was firm and could hold, before stitching them together.
Finally, after minutes that felt like hours, silent bar the ever present sounds of the jungle and whoever it might hold, he cut off the last of the thread and gave what was left a spray with a disinfecting plaster sealant. Pulling out some bandage cord, wrapping it around her throat, he gave a quick check to her. "It's non-lethal but she'll have fainted from the shock, and probably the lack of oxygen from the airway blockage." He looked over at Tigress. "You carry her, keep her face pointing down to let anything inside drain out. Make sure she keeps breathing, if her throat gets blocked tell me and I'll see what I can do. Keep a paw on her heart, measuring her beat, if it starts racing further tell me, I'll set up a UBS transfusion."
The mammals followed through with the act, a trembling Skye grabbing the bag of universal blood substitute and looking on as the red vixen was pulled up into the tiger's arms. Eyes closed, breath slow and shallow.
"Okay," Carmelita said, pausing before taking the stick of explosives. "Everyone else, keep an eye open, they'll still have weapons. We need to move down fast. Look out for any reinforcing drones. Vamanoss!"
With that they began a fast march down the hill, Jack quickly taking point, worried that this was all a bluff and there were more snakes up ahead.
Judy meanwhile was up against Skye, holding on to the trembling vixen as they kept on going. Downhill. Step by step.
"T-thankyou."
Judy looked over to the vixen, whose eyes were up at Doug.
He shrugged. "Just basic medical treatment, fairly…"
"You could have refused," she said, pausing. "You could have let us all get blown up, but…" A smile began to waver over her face. "You've…" She pull in a half sniff, half laugh. "You've grown fond of us!"
He glanced at her before looking away. "No, I just have my professional standards to follow. And my record. And the present fact that any excuse or failure would be used to strip back what improved treatment I have earned and to oppress me for my political viewpoints. Honestly a suicidal activity like that was forced on me from the start. How enlightened."
"Even then," Skye said. "You could have just warned us and let her die…"
"I repeat my last point."
"Or you could have let that stuff happen and run off with Rattigan," Judy cut in. "He knew your name, he knew who you were." Her nose twitched. "Was…"
"Okay, now you're just back to acquainting me with that freak," He spoke, shrugging. "The natural order has been preserved, let's just end this thing and never have to meet or speak to each other again."
"Yeah," Skye chuckled, managing a smirk. "Let's do that."
"Don't be smug with me. You didn't affect the outcome in any way. It was just a long attrition treatment, quite inevitable and without the slightest bit of cunning.
"So," Nick said, jogging up. "You admit you have grown fond of us, if not by special foxy powers."
"Oh look, my best friend here is joining in."
"Hey, it's a pleasure Doug," Nick saluted off, keeping up the pace.
"Not rea… -Oh, you finally worked it out," the sheep said, raising an eyebrow. "Took you long enough."
"Ah, ah, ah…" the fox said, grabbing his phone and bringing up a picture. Doug peered at it and froze, Tigress having to leap straight over him rather than crashing into his back. Murray just crashed into the neighbouring bamboo instead.
The sheep just glanced at the photograph of Nick in the hangar before their mission started, a small paw-written sign held up. 'So I'm going to stop an elder god with a sheep supremacist I stole a train-lab from.'
"I…" the sheep began before huffing out a hot breath of air. "That's…"
"-Wasting our time!" Carmelita barked. "Argue on the run."
The posse began moving again, and arguing.
"Well those are just blatant lies," the sheep waved off.
"I know," Judy agreed, glaring at Nick. "I stole that train, you tried to stop me."
"And who is it that stopped the evidence that ended up sending Douggy boy here behind bars from getting conflagulated in the wreck of that train car?"
"You, but the point…"
"-I mean it's clearly photoshopped," the sheep spat, glaring at the two.
Nick just flicked his phone, turning to a video of him in the same situation. 'So this is in case Dave, or rather Doug, decides the photograph was a photoshop or something. -Hey look, there you are, enjoying your latte."
"You know," Doug growled. "You're quite exceptionally lucky that I didn't learn of this highly orchestrated humiliation deception before I had the option of not risking my life and letting you predators get blown to pieces."
"Ah," Nick said, smiling. "You say that, you say that… But, he really does care."
"Which I suppose is more than something that can be said for you, FOX!"
"-That is my species, yes," Nick smiled. "And consider it self-preservation. I've learnt that for mammals who think us foxxo's are sneaky little pests, there's literally no better way to play them like a fiddle than let them believe they're the ones hustling the hustlers. So, being able to hustle you into thinking you were hustling me and ergo were quite content with the whole situation we've been in the last while was quite the practical delight. Thank you Doug Ramses."
"-PHD," Skye added.
The sheep just looked forward, eyes narrowing, voice grumbling as they ran. Skye's brief mood boost faded somewhat as she pulled back to Tigress, looking up at her and then down at her sister. Still limp, still breathing lightly. The swift fox's ears pulled up as she thought she heard a soft mumble, a pained whine. She held onto the red fox's paw, tight.
"It's okay," she said softly, wiping away a tear only to start blinking from the blood and muck stained onto it. "We're getting you out, we're getting you out, we've got it…"
"-Unless Rattigan did what he said and destroyed our transports," Doug said. "Or the army out there in the forest ambushes us. Or the…"
"Well, we'll find out in five minutes or so," Carmelita said, pausing before looking to Jack. "Check for snakes."
"You don't need to tell me," the hare said.
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Not long after they found the site at the bottom of the track, ears going up as it looked unchanged. Even so, they began advancing slowly, carefully, Jack's ears up and the foxes sniffing.
"No sna…" Jack began before pausing, eyes narrowing as he noticed a bunch of odd light sparks on the ground, glinting in the sun. He reached down and picked one up. "Bullet casings."
Their ears were down as they approached the edge of the forests, noticing the all too frequent bullet holes and shredded leaves. The thick layers of camouflage nettings were pulled up and the mammals looked on at the jeep, worried looks shared between them. A smattering of holes were peppered over it, the windscreen smashed, a few on the bonnet.
"It was random, at least," Judy said, looking around to check the wheels. "One hit."
"I'll check the engine," Skye said.
They quickly set to work, the swift vixen looking in at the engine, noting that the fan had lost a few blades and the radiator had taken the brunt of the damage. "We've leaked out."
"Can you fix it?" Murray asked, pulling the spare wheel over.
"If we have some waterproof tape or something, some sealant, I could do my best to clog up around the stuck bullets. But what we really need is a butt tonne of water we can just keep pouring in."
"On it, after this," the Hippo announced, all as Tigress stood up from the limp figure of Lt Vixen.
"I'll take it," she said, looking in for anything they could use. "Rainsheets, but I'd need you to hold the other end Murray…"
"Anyone got a knife that can cut through rubber?" Nick asked, looking at the flat.
"One better," Tigress said, going over and clawing out a large gash.
"Jugs, food containers," Judy was listing off, pulling them out.
Skye nodded as Carmelita handed her some of the spray on plaster sealant from the medical kit. The sandy coloured vixen paused, looking at it, back at her sister lying quietly on the seat, closing her eyes and focussing as she tried to stick it on in the broken pipe ends and entombed bullets.
"Water," Tigress said, Skye pointing towards the radiator cap, freshly unpopped. The feline started to try and pour it in only to pause at the large amount of spillage. "Did we pack a funnel or…"
"Got a leaf," Nick said, plucking one from a tree and wrapping it up into a rough funnel shape. Some tape over the ends, they fitted it in and began to pour. The others were already coming in with filled up containers, placing them in the back.
Time ticked on.
Finally, in they got, Murray nervously looking to Skye as he turned the ignition.
The engine rumbled, stuttered, coughed, wheezed and, in a blaze of warning lights, came to life.
"Come on girl," Skye said, "Get us back safely and I'll pay to have you brought home and done up."
"I'll… I'll just keep an eye on the road," Murray said. "The temperature, I… -Should I still be holding the talisman? I don't want it to give me any spooky flashback thingies while driving."
"Still on your inside pocket?" Carmelita asked, looking on as Murray patted it. "Good, it needs skin contact to do the creepy stuff. Even keratin can block it. Doug could carry it in his hooves and be just fine."
"Right," the hippo agreed. "Still, he might be holding back or something. I don't want him to give me a flashback or whatever while I'm at the wheel and spook us into the river. You take the wheel," he said, looking at Skye.
Testing out her adapters, the swift fox vixen nodded and slowly pushed off, looking around carefully and keeping her movements slow and steady, never stressing the engine too far. In the back Tigress glanced behind, seeing the large water mark they'd dripped from filling up and no real sign of anything continuing. At least, nothing big enough to cause them an immediate problem. "It wasn't too far to the nearest village, wasn't it?" she asked.
"I… If they have a vehicle we could use, maybe we could," Skye began.
"-I was thinking of your sister," the feline said, looking down at the bandaged up figure currently laying across two of the seats, belted in place. Nick and Judy were both around her, making sure she was held in position, Doug by the side keeping his eyes on her.
"I… They won't have a hospital," Jack said. "Not even a clinic."
"Well where's the nearest," Tigress began, only to freeze as a pained groan came from the injured vixen. The jeep jolted to the side for a second, only to right itself onto the correct course, Skye gritting her teeth and focussing on the road ahead.
All others though were looking in at her, Murray in the front seat shifting himself around to get a closer look.
Eyes fluttering, the soft breath coming in and out of her mouth, she choked slightly, a hideous crackly croak coming from her mouth before she slowly opened her eyes.
"We've got you," Judy said, smiling. "We've got it, as well."
She nodded, face wincing up in pain before she tried and barely succeeded at speaking. "Ouch."
"A bullet wound through each wall of the throat will do that," Doug said. "Though your aim was on point if you were trying to avoid hitting anything too permanent or critical. So was it your idea to play Furussian Roulette or someone else's?"
She smiled, a cold painful wheeze coming out. "Well done…"
He nodded. "Some appreciation is welcome," he said, leaning down to a bag. "I'll give you a suitable dose of emergency painkiller. I…"
"Main hospital?"
"Eventually, yes," the sheep said. "My meatball surgery, and I could go at length about the Prey-ist origins of that term, may be a cut above the rest, but there's plenty of stuff in there you don't want to get trapped inside as you heal. Now, though it gives me great pleasure to see the vulpine inability to shut up cause its owner great pain and suffering, I have my ethical standards to think about." He brought up a small needle and gave her a shot, a calming expression coming over her face as she began to drift off. Head resting back, a longer breath being taken in, her fluttering eyelids suddenly pulled themselves open as she gave a weak set of jerks, trying to get up despite the paws keeping her steady. She looked at the nearest mammal, staring into Judy's eyes, and barely managed to get out two syllables before collapsing back down, asleep. "Ratti…"
The mammals made her steady and comfy, Judy leaning close to them. "Don't worry, he's gone, we've got it, we've left him behind."
The vehicle settled down into a quiet mood as they slowly rolled along the road, the speed picking up slightly as Skye felt more comfortable letting their speed pick up. "Temperature still good," she said. "I think my meatball mechanics will hold up just as well as your surgery."
"The operative difference," Doug said, "being that one does not involve repeated percussive hammerings as a major strategy."
There was a slight chuckle from the driver. "Do you want to walk?"
"No, not really, I have a patient to monitor after all."
"And," Nick followed on, ears raising as he stood up, gaze holding on Lt Vixen before pulling up. "Rattigan's forces are still out there. Everyone still has their guns, right?"
"Right," came a round of responses from those who had them. Judy, checking her small pistol, looked up at him.
"You think there's still a risk? We had a head start, now we're…"
"They caught up to us once before," the fox said, jumping up onto one of the seats. He was frowning, looking out.
"With Rattigan's aircraft, which is now a heap of junk…"
"And if they have more," Nick said. "Mammals in the towns, villages, local allies. -He doesn't need that whole army to march down and catch us, one sniper in the right place…" He gave a look at Judy, gesturing with his head. "Get in the front, down near the pedals."
"I won't be able to…" She began, holding up her gun.
"-Neither will any of us if Skye's head gets blown off and we roll out of control down into the river," he said. "You and Carm can stay protected under the dash and work together to keep us going."
She stood back for a second before nodding. "Right, I see… -How will we see?"
"I… -Tigress can grab the rear view mirror and use it as a periscope," Nick said, throwing up his paws. "The real question is what happens if we drive over a landmine."
"We die," Doug said.
"Yes, and that's the bad ending," the fox huffed. He cradled his head, rubbing it as Judy came over.
"Don't worry Nick, the first was a good idea, I'll go, just… -We should be safe, they're a spent…"
"-She doesn't seem to think so," the red fox said, glancing down at Lt Vixen. The mammals in the back looked up at him, Jack speaking out.
"It might have just been panic, a flash back…"
"Or…" Nick stressed. "She knew Rattigan would never just give up after coming this far. Everything he's worked for, slipping out of his grip, he'd throw every plan and idea he'd have at us. Plans she may have seen, known, heard about…"
"-Like the explode us plan?" Tigress asked. "Which failed."
"Yes, but what if he had others before that. Rattigan didn't get this far without a backup plan."
"But the explode us plan was the backup plan," the Tiger said, pausing. "It was the backup plan to the backup plan. -And there might have been two more backups in there anyway."
"In which case why would you think this was the last one?" Nick asked.
"And why?" Carmelita asked, "-Not disparaging the need to stay vigilant, just advising we stop paranoia running rampant and blinding us to any more immediate dangers… Would he discuss the backup plan in front of the mammal he intended to blow up as part of his main plan?"
The fox looked at her with a tired look but it was the bunny doe by his side that answered. "We've both read the same witness testimonials and psych reports, haven't we?"
"Ask a silly question, get a patronizingly sensible answer," the vixen mumbled, turning forward, her shock pistol armed. "Still, brainstorming about what plan he may have and what resources he could throw against us will just mean we're paying less attention and will miss it when it comes. On point mammals."
That they did, Judy making her way to the front and getting low down as Murray leant forward and began trying to pull and work off the mirror, eventually yanking it back so hard his back flopped into the door, shooting up as a rather unsteady clunk rang out, the thing shifting. "Well," the hippo said, giving a nervous chuckle. "That was almost very bad." He handed the mirror back, turning to open the door and pull it back closed.
"And there's another war…" Skye said, looking down at the dash, only for Murray to cut in.
"-Wha the…" She turned to see him let go of the door, still swinging out, to reach and feel back at his clothes.
"What is…?" Carm said, turning to see him.
"-Hey, it's… -RAT!"
The three in the front looked on as a grey-brown figure jumped out of the inside of Murray's shirt and out into the void.
"What the…" Jack began from the back, those in the front blinking and looking at each other.
"I don't…" Carm began, only to shriek. "STOP THE CAR!" Skye slammed on the brakes as the interpol cop began turning and running, even pulling herself around to charge on all fours against the dash and leap straight out. Murray's paws shot to his chest, and his face seemed to turn white.
"OH NO!" He was turning too, kicking the door open and jumping with Carmelita even before they came to a stop.
All as others began figuring it out mid action. Skye as she finally brought the vehicle to a stop, Nick, Judy and Doug as they held Lt Vixen in place. Tigress as she leant out of the vehicle, trying to see where the tiny figure had jumped. Jack as he steadied himself, turning to jump up and out the window.
In a few seconds every occupant that could was out of the vehicle, Carmelita firing shock pistol shot after shock pistol shot at any nearby sign of movement, the others pulling out their guns and shotguns and, after a few seconds of confusion, just letting rip. The massive thickets of vegetation all around them began to shake and rattle as they were cut through, singed, and orgy of fire for a few seconds before Carm let out a shout. "CEASEFIRE!"
They held, advancing away from the vehicle, the massacred plantlife now showing no signs of what had happened just seconds before. Carm sniffed desperately as Nick, followed by Skye, got onto the floor and began sniffing around.
Judy and Jack tried to listen in as Murray, panicking and still white faced, pulled his shirt off, giving a few more desperate feels just to totally confirm that their precious deadly treasure was not there before throwing it in front of the two foxes. The froze, backing off and looking at him before Nick leapt in, taking a deep breath. Skye followed, quickly joined by Carm, the sniffing continuing before they began leading them on and back, towards the undergrowth.
They hit the edge and started to part their way in, Nick slowly making his way in as Skye held back. "We've lost…"
"Not with that attitude!" the red fox todd warned.
"I… He'll be miles ahead," she said, trembling. "And be twice as fast in that territory. We won't be able to…" She jolted down, covering her ears as Doug let out a barrage of shotgun fire into the vegetation beyond, peppering it in the hopes of nicely seasoning the rat. Four shots, five, six, the weapon clicked.
"Get some more in," Nick said, "We can take him, we…"
"Annoyingly she's correct," The sheep muttered. "Honestly those shots were just about making it seem like I was doing something useful and helping group cohesion anyway. We have completely and utterly failed, though I'm at least mildly surprised by its origin source."
"I'm sorry!" Murray wailed. "I… I just felt something move and looked down, it was too late, I should have…"
"QUIET!" Carmelita roared. All eyes turned to her, the vixen panting and trembling. "We can't give up, we can't let him. I don't know where he was hiding in the car before finding the time to sneak into Murray's pockets, I'm sure those of us with good noses will get back in and slap our faces as we smell the oh so obvious rat. -But if firing blindly and hoping we'd hit would have worked, we'd be smelling blood right now. So…" She closed her eyes, thinking.
"-I can pick up his scent too," Tigress said. "I can follow his trail, and I'm built for this jungle." She looked at Skye. "You're right in that you're all the worst size for this terrain. But I'm the best shot you have at cutting through and capturing him."
Carmelita looked up and nodded. "Right… We need to get Lt Vixen down to a hospital. Skye can drive, she needs Doug, and this is mountain jungle and not swamp jungle so Murray will get stuck at the nearest cliff. You three, carry on down. Tigress, how many can you carry on you?"
She looked around. "You, Nick and Judy. Three trained officers with good sniffer noses and good ears." She glanced at Jack. "Nothing personal, short end of the straw."
"No," he said, looking over to see Skye make her way back to the vehicle. "She, she needs me, where shall we…"
"-Hospital!" Carmelita said, taking Doug's shotgun and ammunition and giving it to Nick. Judy, pistols holstered, was already climbing on Tigress' back. "Now go! GO!"
That they did, racing back into the vehicle, Jack jumping in and turning to see Tigress already taking the three into the undergrowth, half dancing and leaping through it with the poise and dexterity of an elite kung fu warrior, half smashing and bulldozing through with the force of two-hundred and fifty pounds of pure South-China tiger weight and muscle.
He didn't wait to see them vanish from view, instead getting in, holding on tight, and hoping for the best as they carried on down the mountain.