AUTHOR'S NOTE: thanks for the review TheRanger101 :)

This chapter marks the first appearance of two OCs. Leo Barning belong to Fox Teen. "Blueberry" (not his real name, more will be revealed in future chapters) belongs to 5UP3RN0V42015.

Chapter 30: Restrictions, Decisions and Confusion.

"You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to have

concentrate on

a road accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a mobile phone."

-Unknown

The man was calmly driving his truck along the road. He was supposed to deliver a load of gasoline to a gas station in Kingsclere. He would have reached his destination several hours ago, but he had been forced to take a detour due to a construction site. Apparently a bridge had been destroyed. He was in a hurry to reach his destination and finish his job for the day, but nevertheless drove at a reasonable speed. An accident would only cause him to lose more time. Besides, he would lose a salary bonus for not having a single accident in an entire year.

As he approached the roundabout, he saw something on the road in front of his vehicle. As his truck got closer, he realized that it was a large number of rabbits. At the last moment, he turned the other way, no doubt saving the lives of all these creatures. "I wish these roads were lit properly, I would have seen them earlier," he mumbled.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise, and his truck abruptly stopped. While the driver was unharmed, thanks largely to the airbags, he could see smoke coming from the engine. This was terrible news, and it would only be a matter of time before the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames. He ran out of the truck, and saw what was left of a small car. "What kind of idiot drives with their headlights off?" he shouted in anger. Still, he had to try to save the driver of the car. The window had been shattered, making it easy for him to reach inside and open the door.

As soon as the door was open, the air was filled with a strong stench of alcohol. The driver of the car was half-conscious, bleeding from several cuts in his face, holding a smartphone in his hands, the screen showing an unfinished text message. It was the same person who had run over several rabbits in Woundwort's owsla the previous day. The truck driver grabbed him and pulled him out of the vehicle.

-"Get away from here, before it blows up!"

The injured driver responded with a soft moan; the trucker was unable to determine whether it was just a random sound or if he was trying to say something. The two slowly walked away from the scene of the accident, the trucker supporting the other the best he could.

Once they were a certain distance from the scene of the accident, the trucker heard a loud noise. He did not look back: it could only mean one thing. His load of gasoline had exploded. The rabbits were showered with fragments of glass and other pieces of sharp debris. Suddenly, the car driver raised his arm towards the sky.

-"I reached 100 miles an hour, so [incomprehensible mumbling] my hood to stop me 'cause it's just too fast!"

With that, he fell to the ground unconscious. The truck driver pried the smartphone out of his hands, desperate to call an ambulance.

Fiver had spent a large portion of the afternoon dealing with Snowdrop, Mallow, Gilia and Periwinkle. The kittens were very agitated, as both their parents had vanished from the warren without telling them anything. He had tried playing bob stones with them, but this did little to calm them down. He then asked Dandelion to tell them a story, but that didn't work out either: instead, Dandelion soon found himself pinned to the ground and tickled relentlessly. In desperation, Fiver asked Pipkin to take them out on a patrol.

The five rabbits made it to the bottom of the Down, as far as Bigwig had allowed them to go. Periwinkle was quite excited, as she had never ventured that far before. Her siblings, however, were less than enthusiastic.

-"There's nothing interesting here!" Mallow complained. "I silflay here all the time, and it's boring."

-"If it's so boring, why do you silflay here?" Gilia asked sarcastically.

-"Because of the clovers and dandelions. Except I ate most of them."

-"Pipkin, why don't we go a bit further?" Snowdrop suggested. "Bigwig would never know."

-"I can't betray his trust," Pipkin explained. "He said not to go further than the bottom, so we won't. It's too dangerous."

-"It's not fun unless it's dangerous!"

-"Quiet!" Periwinkle suddenly said. "I think I hear something."

-"But..."

-"She's right," Pipkin said, "I hear it too."

Everyone fell silent and raised their ears. They picked up a faint voice; it sounded like a rabbit, a buck.

-"Should we go and meet him?" Mallow asked.

Pipkin thought quickly. From one point of view, Bigwig had forbidden him from bringing the kittens beyond the bottom of the Down, but from another, the rabbit they were hearing might need help.

-"Let's go to him, but stay close to me. Don't venture too far away."

The rabbits followed the sound, until they finally stumbled upon its source. A black rabbit, only a few months old, was lying behind a bush, singing. Another rabbit, this one with white fur and blue eyes, was lying nearby; he was around the same size as Fiver. Neither seemed to notice the junior owsla's presence.

-"I'm scared," Snowdrop said. "I don't know about the white one, but the small one looks like the Black Rabbit of Inlé. Let's get back to the warren before he sees us."

-"No, I think he's a real, living rabbit," Mallow said. "But what's that thing in his ears?"

-"I don't know, but it's probably not supposed to be there," Gilia said. "I'll save him."

Before anyone else could react, she pounced on him and ripped the object out of his ears. The buck was clearly scared by this and wiggled his way out of Gilia's grip, leaving the object lying in the grass.

The black rabbit was about to pounce on Gilia, but suddenly stopped.

-"Uh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a weasel, or a fox..." he said rather awkwardly.

-"Are you all right?"

-"Uh, yes, I'm all right..."

-"We've been travelling for a while now," the white rabbit said, "and I was wondering if you know of any nearby warrens where we could stay?"

-"You are both free to stay at our warren, Watership Down," Pipkin said.

-"I heard about Watership Down!" the black rabbit suddenly said. "I would love to stay there."

Fiver was nibbling a patch of clover, and staring in the distance, feeling the wind blowing through his fur. Hazel, Bigwig, Kehaar and Hannah had left the warren to search for Blackberry and Primrose earlier that day, and he had not heard from them since. He was not worried, as he knew they would be able to take care of themselves, and he had not had any visions of approaching danger.

There weren't many other rabbits at silflay: the only others were Flora and Blackavar, who appeared to be having a discussion of some sort. Fiver decided to join them.

-"So you're saying you were dead but the Black Rabbit sent you back?" Flora asked the brown buck.

-"That's what happened. He didn't want to, but he said he had no choice but to do so. I didn't really understand the full explanation."

-"Spooky! How did it feel, being dead?"

-"Depends. The Shadowlands were horrible, but the Meadow was a nice place. Honestly, I wish I could have stayed there longer. There are no elil there, and plenty of clover. I like clover."

-"Me too. She's the most beautiful rabbit I've ever seen."

-"I was talking about the plant, not the rabbit."

-"I know, I was just joking. But she really is pretty."

Fiver then hopped away, and looked up at the moon. It was only a few days past the full moon, and it was getting smaller every night. He stood up on his hind legs, to better appreciate the view, when suddenly, he felt something take over his mind. A loud scream broke from him, and he collapsed as a vision began.

"A trip to the Valley of Fire

Where there is a long thin wire

There is only one way out

For one we cannot do without"

There was a terrifying machine of human construction, a machine that could both be powerful and dangerous, depending on the human in charge of operating it. The entire area was something so terrible it was hard to believe it actually existed.

-"Fiver! Fiver, what's the matter?"

Fiver opened his eyes. Pipkin was standing over him, staring worriedly at him.

-"I'm...fine..." he replied as he got up.

-"Are you sure? You look rather nervous."

-"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine." Fiver then noticed the kittens behind his friend, along with two strangers. "Who are these two?"

-"My name is Leo Barning," the white rabbit said, "and this is Blueberry."

-"Nice to meet you two..."

Fiver slowly made his way back to the warren, and lied down in his burrow. He had had a vision of approaching danger, but there was nothing he could do about it. He could not warn Hazel or Bigwig so they could do something to prevent it. He could not go himself, because the vision only told him what was going to happen, but he had no idea where the Valley of Fire was. He was entirely powerless to stop it. The two newcomers most likely had nothing to do with his vision, but this was only mildly reassuring.