======== Newsgroups: alt.devilbunnies Subject: [s] Camping Trip, pt. 7 From: Remus Shepherd Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 15:00:14 GMT > Chit's fur bristled, and he looked up from his find into the glinting > eyes of a thousand tiny lapine forms. He drew his sabre silently and > glowered at the massed enemy. If he was going down... > It was a sign of the strength of his recent conditioning that it took > fully half a second for reason to kick in, and he went up instead, > carrying the sabre in his teeth as he scurried up the trunk of the tree. > From a high branch, he considered his options. Stay here until they > found some way to get to him, or run back and tell Remus where they were. > He liked simple choices. Clinging to his branch, Chit turned to stare at his pursuers, who kept coming, undeterred by his escape. when they reached the tree, the bits of fluff milled around its snowy base for a few seconds...and then, almost effortlessly, the microbunnies leapt onto the trunk and lowest branches of the tree. Sheathing his sword, Chit climbed even higher up. The microbunnies couldn't match his climbing, but they made amazing leaps for their size, from one branch to another, almost as if tiny white leaves were falling up into the aspen in reverse. Soon Chit could climb no higher, and he began looking around for nearby trees to leap into. The back of his mind started working on better escape plans, but so far they all included reinforcements from NoCo and a vanilla-equipped helicopter... "Chit!", called Remus from back on the trail. "Where are you?" In three quick leaps, Chit travelled from his tree to one above Dr. Shepherd. Unceremoniously, he dropped out of the tree onto the man's backpack. "I'm here. They're there!" "Where? Oh," Remus said, pumping his supersoaker with narrowed eyes. "I see them." On the trail, tiny bits of fluff leapt down from the trees, skating across the snow's thin crust. Remus let them get within easy range, aimed, and pulled the trigger. "Uh oh," he said, throwing the gun into the woods and running back along the trail. Digging his claws into the backpack, Chit braced himself to the man's gait. "What?" "I think......it froze overnight. The car's this way, right?" "Who cares? Just run!" A microbunny landed on the backpack, gripping the canvas with needle-like claws. Chit stabbed at the tiny beast with his sword, and it fell behind them with a tiny squeal. "What was that?" "Nothing! Keep running!!" Another boarder leapt onto the backpack, down where Chit had to lean over and slash at the thing. The first slash took a tiny tip off a long pink ear...but on the second, the microbunny caught the sword in its teeth, biting off a third of the length. The squirrel locked gazes with the beadier-eyed mutant...and as the microbunny sprang, Chit caught it with the remnants of his blade, twisting up and flinging the rabbit off into the woods. "How close are they?" "Close!" The squirrel worked at canvas straps, and dug into the backpack. "Did you find my crossbow?" "No. But there's cans of soda in there -- hand me one!" "Soda?" Chit flung clothing and utensils around until he discovered an orange can. "Moxie!" "Bill gave us......three cans for emergencies. Hand me one!" Chit boosted a can up and over Remus' shoulder; the man caught it with one hand, and spun around on the trail. "Now," he panted, shaking the deadly beverage. "That's more like it." As he cracked open the pull tab, a fizzle of the most carbonated soda in the world sprayed into the snow, cracking ice off the underbrush and making the first wave of microbunnies screech in pain. The full spray melted those that were nearby; microbunnies farther away stopped their pursuit, leaning back on their haunches to sniff the air. Remus put his hand over his shoulder. "Next can!" Chit heaved another can into the man's hand, and sat on his shoulder to watch. "At least it isn't frozen." "Moxie, freeze? I don't think it's possible." The next barrage of soda sprinkled as far down the path as fuddly training would allow, soaking into the snow and crippling those microbunnies that were still within range. When the can had emptied, nothing moved on the path, nor in the woods around them. "Give me the last one, just in case." "Here. Can we go back, now?" "Yeah, I think we got what we came to find out." From the man's shoulder, Chit leaned to look into Remus' face. "What *did* we come here to find out?" "Whether or not there's microbunnies in the woods. And whether they hibernate, and whether they're breeding." "Oh," said Chit, flicking his tail to balance himself comfortably. "So the answers are Yes, No, and Like Rabbits, right?" Slowly, looking in two directions at once, the pair made their way through the snow and out of the forest. ... ... Remus Shepherd (remus@netcom.com) and Chit.