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Chapter 154: The Calls.

"[...] he was not good with words. He often spoke better through his actions."

-Tenny24, Nightwatch

Leo was feeling frustrated. The theatrical company he was part of had just finished one of their performances. It had gone well; it was what had come afterwards that was the problem. One of the other actors had a huge ego, and considered himself the best of the group. He was always praising himself on his amazing skills, and whining about how he deserved better roles. He had even badmouthed other actors behind their backs on a few occasions, to further his own goals. It got so bad that Leo sometimes considered quitting, but he didn't want to give that jerk the satisfaction. Not to mention, his friend Rosie was also part of the group.

He was in the process of wiping off his makeup when his cellphone rang. The caller ID specified "unknown caller"; curious, Leo answered.

-"Hello?"

Blackberry and Pipkin heard Leo's voice come out of the phone; it was slightly distorted, due to the bad reception available underground.

-"Is it working?" Pipkin asked.

-"Yes, Leo should be able to hear us, unless I accidentally contacted the wrong human," Silverweed explained.

-"What am I supposed to do?"

-"Just talk."

-"That's it? I was expecting it to be more complicated."

Leo could hear the rabbits' conversation, but due the poor connection, he was unable to make out the exact words.

-"Is this Leo?" Pipkin said; this time, he was speaking closer to the microphone, and Leo could understand it.

-"Yes, who is this?"

-"This is Pipkin. I'm so glad to speak to you again."

Leo was left confused. The only Pipkin he knew was a rabbit, and it couldn't be him on the line right now: where would the rabbits at the Watership Down warren get a phone? This had to be a prank, and a nasty one. There was only one person he knew who would sink so low as to pull something like this.

-"Cut that out, Jason! It's not funny!"

-"I don't know who this 'Jason' is," Pipkin said. "This is Pipkin of Watership Down, Blackberry and Silverweed are with me."

-"I will turn on the camera, so you can see it really is us," Silverweed said.

-"What is the camera?" Blackberry asked.

-"It's part of the phone. Essentially, we will see Leo, and he will see us."

-"I never would have thought that was possible."

-"You would be surprised just how many things are possible."

After a few moments, the image appeared on Leo's phone. It was really dark (very little light filtered that far underground) but he could clearly see that these were indeed the rabbits they claimed to be. Leo was filled with guilt.

-"I'm sorry I accused you. Jason is my brother, and he's been teasing me about my trip to your warren ever since I first told him. I thought he was pranking me by pretending to be you."

-"It's fine, no need to worry," Pipkin said. "If the roles had been reversed, I probably would have doubted too. I'm not even sure how Silverweed managed to pull this off."

-"I'm not quite sure either, but I'm glad you did. Hope I didn't worry you all too much with my sudden disappearance."

-"Silverweed was able to find you quickly. We understand you would be interested in returning."

-"I would be. Do you have any idea how this could be accomplished? I don't know how I was turned into a rabbit the first time, or back into a human afterwards."

-"None of us understand it either. But we're looking into it! If we all work together, we should be able to do it!"

-"The battery is low," Silverweed warned.

-"What does that mean?" Pipkin asked.

-"It means that we'll have to end the conversation."

-"I just want to say...thank you for calling me," Leo said "This is the best thing that happened to me today."

The call was disconnected and Silverweed removed his claw from the jack.

-"It worked!" Pipkin was very excited. "Thank you so much Silverweed! Now we just need to bring him back."

-"Right." Silverweed slowly hopped away, leaving only Blackberry and Pipkin in the burrow with the phone.

-"I really hope we'll find a way," Pipkin said.

-"I hope so too," Blackberry replied. "If I think of anything, I'll let you know."

Blackberry also hopped out of the burrow, towards the tunnel Strawberry was digging, to check up on progress. Along the way, however, she crossed another rabbit. She remembered her from the battle. She had vowed to help her; now was the time to do so.

-"Violet, would you mind coming to my burrow with me?"

-"Why?"

-"I'll explain when you get there."

After several more failed attempts at contacting LH, Debbie found herself with no other choice than to go back to sleep. Once again, this proved difficult to accomplish, as she was filled with worry, both over her daughter, and her boyfriend.

After a while, she was once again woken up by the sound of a vehicle approaching, most likely the judge. Not wanting to repeat the mistake she had made last time, she decided to sit up before opening her eyes. When she finally opened them, she saw that she was surrounded by chickens. It seemed that the entire flock of eight birds or so had gathered around her to watch her sleep. Shaking her head, she stood up and walked out of the barn.

There were now three vehicles present outside: the kidnappers' police car (still parked in the vegetable patch), Hazel C's car, and Beaumont's van.

-"Is the judge here yet?" she asked.

-"Indeed he is," Walker said. "Ms Cane, meet Judge Logan."

-"What's so important that you had to drag me out of court in the middle of an important trial?" The judge was clearly annoyed at being there.

-"The hostage taker specifically asked for you," Yates explained, showing the judge the picture from Dusty's phone.

-"But I've never seen this man before in my life."

-"Would you be willing to speak with him? He will most likely explain his motivations then."

-"Might as well..."

Walker once again contacted the kidnappers. This time, the officer was quick to answer.

-"So, Eric, do you have what I want?"

-"We have the judge you asked for, outside with us," Beaumont said.

-"Good. Do you have the shrimp?"

-"We left it by the front door."

-"Perfect." The officer turned towards Lucy, who was still sitting on the couch. "You go bring it to me."

Lucy slowly walked over to the door, and opened it slightly. She looked down; the bowl of shrimp was on the ground in front of her. Rather than pick it up, however, she ran out the door as fast as she could.

-"HEY, GET BACK HERE!" the officer shouted.

He then pointed his gun towards Lucy and pulled the trigger, but no bullet was fired. He tried again; still nothing happened.

-"Whoops, I used up all the bullets on the dog..."

-"There's a hunting rifle hanging on the wall," Anya pointed out.

-"Oh right, thanks for reminding me." The officer walked over to the weapon and picked it up. He looked in the chamber; it was loaded, but looking through the open door, he could no longer see Lucy.

-"Did you just try to shoot my daughter?" the farmer asked.

-"Meh." The officer picked up the bowl of shrimp and closed the door. "You've been a bad boy. You need to be punished."

-"What have I done?"

Ignoring the farmer's question, the officer pulled Anya's phone out of his pocket; he had still not given it back to her. He tapped the screen a few times, and music started to play.

-"Be prepared for the most painful moment of your life," he said, with an evil grin.

The farmer held his breath as he heard the music: hopefully this was not the song he thought it was. His worst fears were confirmed at the end of the instrumental open, as the lyrics began:

Is it a kind of dream

Floating out on the tide

Following the river of death downstream

Oh is it a dream?

-"Oh please no!" he shouted, dropping down on his knees. "Anything but Art Garfunkel! I beg you, have mercy!"

But the officer did not stop the music; instead, he raised the volume.

Outside, it had not taken long for Debbie to notice Lucy running towards her.

-"Lucy!"

-"Mum!"

Lucy practically leaped into her mother's outstretched arms, as they hugged tightly. Hazel C guided them both to the other side of the van, where the kidnappers could no longer see them.

-"Are you all right?" Debbie asked.

-"Duster..." Lucy said weakly.

-"Yes, I know dear. I'm so sorry."

-"One does not just kill a poor, defenceless dog like that. It's so vile."

-"It is. Once the bad guys have been taken care of, we'll get another dog."

-"No! Duster was one of a kind! It's not like with a broken TV or phone, where you just buy a new one. He was a living being, he's irreplaceable!"

This last comment made Debbie sad. She desperately wanted to comfort her daughter, but her attempts at doing so appeared to be making the situation worse.