Dien rushed forwards after the fleeing devilbunnies, the rest of the squirrels behind him. They fired whenever they could, rarely hitting their targets, but the random fire did take a few victims. Up ahead, the tunnel branched. There it was, Dien thought with glee, the warren itself! Once they had a chance to spread out, the bunnies would never be able to stop them from planting the demolition charges and taking this warren out for good. All they could do would be to block the exit. But then we'll just have to kill them, won't we, he thought. He didn't notice that the rabbits had stopped running until he slammed into one and went cartwheeling through their ranks. The little organization that the squirrels had retained through the brief chase was gone, as suddenly they were fighting claw-to-claw... and the rabbits' claws were bigger. "Retreat and regroup!" Dien broadcast to his group, mostly for the benefit of the squirrels in the rear who wouldn't be engaged yet. They had to get to range, he thought, ducking a bunny's lunge and firing his laser point- blank into another devilbunny's eye, or they were as good as dead. Already, most of the squirrels that had been in front were dead, testimony to the efficiency of fangs and claws at close range. Suddenly, he found himself relatively alone as the main force of bunnies rushed past him at the main force of squirrels. He got a running start and leaped as high as he could over the melee. In the first second he rose above the crowd, he saw the second force of devilbunnies blocking the entrance, even now attacking the rear of the group. He set his radio to wide-beam to the other groups, they had to be warned. "It's a tra--" he said, before being blocked by a devilbunny that jumped up at him. He felt the claws tear into his side, and the two of them crashed to the ground. --- Loren and the rest of group A loped along through the night towards their target, still several days away. Suddenly, the relative silence was broken as every radio in the group broadcast the same message. "It's a tra--" came Dien's voice, followed by a thump and a crunch. Loren ordered the group to stop. "All groups report in!" he sent, a chill spreading through his body, as he feared that he knew what he'd hear. "This is group B. What was that ab-- FRITH! BUNNIES, HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS, I DON'T KN--" hisssss... "D here, we're under attack. The lasers don't seem to be working." "We're taking defensive postion here," came the voice of group C's commander. "I think you'd better do the same, this is obviously not a coincidence." "Loren," said some squirrel nearby, "Should we take defensive position?" Loren just stood there, mouth slightly agape, staring blankly at the horizon. "Loren?" "Run away," he whispered, "Scatter... they can't catch all of us. Run away!" A few of the squirrels looked at each other, but a squirrel's death scream suddenly echoed out from the radios, and they moved. Loren saw the squirrels scatter, and ran, straight ahead. For the next few minutes(? hours? seconds?) he ran without thinking or remembering, until the next thing he knew he was clinging to a branch, high in a tree. Vague visions of bunnies chasing fleeing squirrels flashed before his eyes. Had they really been attacked? "What happened?" he chittered faintly. "The bunnies attacked," came a soft voice from behind him. One of the soldiers stood on the branch behind him. "Hundreds, thousands... probably hundreds, but it was enough. We didn't even see them until we were already running." "But what happened?" "You were right, they couldn't catch everyone. They chased us, but we made it to this forest here. I don't know about everyone else, but I assume at least some of them got away." "Where are we?" "Some kind of forest. Some of the bunnies followed us inside, but we just climbed the trees and they lost track. I saw someone lob a bomb at a group, beautiful explosion, took out four, five buns at least. If they're smart, they won't we following us." What about the other groups? Loren wondered, had anyone else survived? "All groups," his voice cracked (which is hard, for a squirrel), and he cleared his throat and started over. "All groups, report in." Silence and static. "Anyone?" "Loren?" a voice replied. It was group C's commander. "What's your status?" "Well, most of us are still alive. The bunnies have us pinned here, I don't think we can get out. Looks bad." "I think," Loren said, "that the best course of action at this point would be a quick retreat." "Yeah... but first we'd need to get out of here. I think it's safe to say that this was *not* a good idea." Loren's claws dug into the tree's bark, but he managed to calm himself. He had had no way to know that the devilbunnies in Ohio had seen them so quickly. He hadn't known how closely they'd been watching. Or had they been tracking the radio signals? It was possible... "Take off your computer," Loren said to the soldier with him, who immediately complied. Loren peered over the edge of the branch, but no bunnies were in sight. He set the computer to tightbeam every other radio in the group, and waited several seconds while it verified the locations. 486 signals, scattered in more or less random directions -- but those were operating units, not necessarily living squirrels. "Everyone in group E," he said, "Take off and discard your computers. The devilbunnies might be tracking the radio signal. Do not reply." He switched it off, purged the memory, and left it hanging over the branch. "Come on," he said to the other squirrel, "We should move away from here before the devilbunnies track us here." "What are we going to do?" "Wait, for now," Loren replied, "Until the devilbunnies lose interest. Then we see how many other squirrels we can locate." "Then we head home?" "First things first." TBC. -------------+++++++++++++***************************+++++++++++----------- Loren Greycoat -- President of SAADB, Warren leader of UCirc Warren, Defender of the *true* cute. DB's beware!