Against Instinct
by Alex Reynard
---------------
Sonya was brushing her fur. She found herself doing that a lot these days. Ever since she started high school she had become nearly obsessed with her looks. She inspected herself in the mirror. What she saw was a very pretty young white rabbit with long, slender ears, a candy-pink nose and a perfectly round cotton tail.
The brush hit a snag in her fur. "Ouch!" She eased the brush out and worked at the tangle with her fingers. She looked in the mirror again. Satisfied with her appearance, she sat the brush down on top of her bureau.
Sonya pulled on her burgundy jacket and a few bracelets. She walked out of her bedroom and into the livingroom. Her mother glanced up from the book she was reading. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna go hang out with my friends."
Her mother sat the book down on her lap, losing her place. "Please be careful. You know how close we are to the predator sector."
Sonya gritted her teeth. "Mother! You've told me that at least a thousand times since we moved here! I'm not stupid enough to get myself eaten, you know."
"You can't blame me for worrying can you? I didn't want to move here. I knew it was dangerous, but..."
"But it was the only place you could afford. I know." She walked over to the armchair and gave her mother a big hug. "You give me this same speech every time I leave the house! I'll be safe, Mom, really. Don't fuss over me so much."
"All right, dear. Go have fun with your friends. Just be home at a decent hour, please." There was definitely a note of apprehension in her voice. She was well aware that her daughter was just beginning the rebelliousness of her youth.
"I will. Love ya Mom." Sonya walked out the front door, locked it and hopped down the steps into the dim glow of the early evening She sat down and put on her rollerblades. She had gotten them at a secondhand store and they just barely fit over her large bunny feet. She started off for her friend Melissa's house. Her little circle of friends usually met there every Friday afternoon.
Even though she didn't let it show, Sonya often worried about predators living so close to her home. Some nights she would lie awake, thinking she could hear barks and howls through her bedroom window. Her family had been forced out of their previous apartment by their landlord; he wanted to rent it out to someone else for a higher price. They had found their new home through the newspaper classifieds. The rent was cheap and it wasn't too far from Sonya's high school. The drawback was its very close proximity to the predator sector.
Having different sections of the state for predators and prey was supposed to keep the prey safe, but everyone knew that any predator with half a brain could sneak into the prey side and have a veritable deli counter open to them. It was a well-known fact that prey border guards had the highest rate of being eaten for any job in the nation.
Sonya shuddered. The mere thought of being eaten made her uneasy. She had heard so many stories all her life about careless rabbits like herself who were gobbled up by hungry wolves or bears. Her uncle Joseph had been eaten only a few months ago, mere days before they moved, adding an extra element of terrifying reality to the situation.
The light turned green and she skated across the street. In a matter of minutes she had arrived at Melissa's house. She took off her blades and knocked on the door.
Rachel, a rabbit friend of Sonya's with shiny brown fur, answered the door. "I was wondering when you'd get here," she said. Sonya walked in and Rachel made a quick scan of the street for any predators who might be lurking around. She locked the door and they went inside Melissa's pastel-colored livingroom.
Melissa was sprawled on the couch while Julie laid on the plush carpet parallel to her. Melissa was lightly fanning herself with her large skunk tail and Julie was doing the same with her slightly smaller squirrel tail.
"Hi everyone!" Sonya said. "Got any ideas for something to do?"
Julie turned over onto her back. "Not really. We were hoping you might have some."
"Well... We could go to the mall again."
Melissa groaned. "We hung out there last Tuesday, and practically every day before that. I'm sick of the mall."
Rachel plopped down in a purple bean bag chair. She turned her head to Sonya. "I checked the movie listings. There isn't anything playing that I'd pay to see."
"There's no parties going on tonight," Julie said as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "There's not even any bands playing up at the coffeeshop."
Sonya threw herself dramatically to the floor. "Oh what will we do! Boredom shall engulf us!" This raised a giggle. The four of them sat in silence for a few awkward moments, racking their brains for anything they could do to pass the time.
Out of nowhere, a sly smile formed on Melissa's lips. "I've got a great idea!"
The rest of the girls looked intently at her.
Melissa's smile widened into a broad grin. "Let's sneak over to the predator sector!"
"Yeah right," said Rachel, "like getting killed is my idea of a fun night out."
"No, no, I'm serious! Think about it. We'd be the most popular girls in school if we could prove we were brave enough to go there and come back ...Alive." She completely savored all the macabre essence of that last word.
A shiver went down each of their spines. The idea was insane! Ridiculously dangerous! And yet...
Sonya felt almost interested. A little taste of the forbidden fruit appealed to her. She wanted the others to see that she wasn't just the meek little rabbit she appeared to be on the outside. "How would we do that? Prove we went there, I mean."
Julie held up a magazine she'd been reading. "We could buy a magazine! Or maybe a newspaper!"
"Yeah!" replied Melissa.
Rachel backed away a little. "I don't know if I want to do this. It's really dangerous. We could get murdered!"
Julie grabbed Rachel's shoulders. She was really interested in the idea now. "That's the point! We have to do this. We just have to!"
"Besides," Melissa said while gesturing at Rachel, "there's safety in numbers. We'd watch each other's backs."
"I'm still not that comfortable with the idea."
"Come on, Rachel! Don't be a wuss," Sonya found herself saying.
Rachel ground her teeth nervously as she looked into the pressuring eyes of her friends. "Well... All right." She tried to smile bravely.
"Cool!" Melissa put out her paw. "So, are we all agreed? We go to the predator sector tonight?"
Julie put her paw on top of Melissa's. Sonya put her paw in too. After a brief moment of hesitation, Rachel did also. Melissa let out a morbid cackle. "All right! Let's go eat something and then when it gets dark we'll head out."
Sonya got up first. "I just hope my mom doesn't find out about this!"
~~~~~
It was now nine thirteen and the four friends were standing by the fence separating the state's predator sector from the prey's. On both sides of the tall wire fence was a large field of plain grass. This was due to the fact that the prey didn't want to build anything too near the predator sector, and there were laws that kept the predators from building too close as well.
The wind had picked up. It was noticeably colder than it had been on previous nights. Melissa grabbed the fence and started to hoist herself up. It was going to be a somewhat challenging climb.
Sonya's pink miniskirt was whipping against her leg in the wind. She noticed the lack of any real security around the border. There were no guards in sight, no barbed wire, no signs reading: "Warning! 20,000 volt security system!" The thin chainlink fence looked like such a thin shield against the evil of the predator sector. She leaned closer to Julie. "This seems pretty easy getting in. Now I see how so many predators can cross over. Do you know why this fence isn't electrified or something?"
"I think I heard something once about how it would be too easy for little kids to run into it and get hurt if it was." Julie shrugged. "I don't really know."
The wind bit at Melissa's eyes. She was precariously balanced on top of the fence and was waving the others up. Julie and Sonya gave Rachel a push and she started climbing. Melissa took her paw and helped pull her over. Rachel climbed a little ways down and jumped the rest of the distance.
Melissa glanced in both directions. She saw two oval lights heading towards them. "Hurry up! The border guards are coming!" she yelled.
Sonya and Julie began scrambling upwards. The chainlink fence rattled and jangled. Melissa helped both of them over and they jumped to the ground. All four started running across the grass, heading towards the buildings and street lights.
Reaching the relative safety of the back of a tall brick building, the girls stopped to catch their breath. The border guards' flashlights could be seen probing where they had been just seconds ago. After a few moments, the lights turned in the opposite direction, looking for a phantom predator they thought had jumped over to the prey side. "Congratulations girls," Melissa puffed out. "We made it."
Rachel peered out from behind a large cardboard appliance box. "Let's find a newspaper stand and get out of here fast. I have a humongous case of the creeps."
The four girls started edging their way around to the front of the building. Their shoes were making dull clicks on the brick street. It sounded like thunder to each of them. Adrenaline was flowing.
The predator sector was like a dungeon. All the buildings looked either deserted or about to collapse. Trash was strewn everywhere. Alleys abounded. Everything looked like it was ready to be condemned. There wasn't an area this raw and broken anywhere in the prey sector.
The girls cautiously made their way down a side street. It was deserted. Sonya felt completely naked, being so out in the open and unprotected. It suddenly hit her full force how stupid it was to be doing this. They were so vulnerable. They didn't even know where they were. 'What if we get lost,' she thought. 'What then? We'll be midnight snacks for whoever's hidden in the shadows for sure!' Sonya nervously kept on walking, avoiding well-lit areas and main streets.
After eleven terrifying minutes of searching, (which seemed much, much longer) Rachel pointed up ahead. There was a small convenience store a block in front of them. "That place looks like it might have some magazines," she whispered.
They hid in a dank alley just across the street from the store. Fluorescent lights were on inside. Everything could be seen through three huge wall-sized windows. There was what looked like a cat lounging behind the cash register. Another animal of indeterminate species was browsing through the aisles.
"Which one of us is going to go get the paper?" Sonya asked.
Melissa pointed at Rachel and Sonya. "With your long ears you're both out. They'd recognize you immediately."
"So I guess you'll do it then, Melissa?" Rachel said.
Melissa put her paws up as if she were pushing away something vile. "No way!"
Sonya leaned in. "Are you too scared? You're the one who talked us into doing this in the first place!"
"No, no it's not that. It's..."
'What?" Julie prodded.
"They'd recognize me too. With this black and white fur there's nothing else I could be but a skunk." 'Nicely recovered,' Melissa thought to herself. She had always been proud of her beautiful fur, now she could use it as an excuse. "I guess that leaves Julie."
"Me!? No! I don't want to!"
"You suggested getting a magazine. You should get it," Rachel said.
"Come on," Sonya urged. "You're the only one of us that even vaguely resembles a predator."
Melissa took Julie's paw in hers. "Yeah. If you tuck in your tail and hide your buck teeth you could look like, I don't know... Maybe a weasel."
Julie pulled her paw away. "I won't forget you compared me to a weasel!" Sonya stifled a nervous giggle.
"So you'll do it?" Rachel asked.
Julie began to push her tail into the back of her jacket. "Yeah, I'll do it." She moved in closer and hugged them all together. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Then we get out of here, and fast." Julie left them and started across the street.
The road seemed to stretch in front of her. It felt like years had passed before she reached the door to the little shop. Her skin jumped as the bell on the door chimed. The cat behind the counter took a quick look up from the newspaper he was pretending to read. He was actually keeping a hawk-like watch over the store. The customer, a very old badger woman, hadn't noticed Julie at all.
Julie walked up to the magazine rack. Her glasses had fogged up during the transition from the chilly night to the cozy interior of the store. She nervously took them off and wiped them on her jacket. She skimmed the titles and decided it would be best to just get a newspaper. There was only one left so it was an easy decision. She walked up to the register and laid some pocket change down on the counter.
She was just about to turn and leave when the cat's paw dashed out and caught her wrist. He leered up at her. "My eyesight may be fading, but I sure can smell a squirrel when there's one nearby!" A drop of drool ran out of the cat's mouth onto the counter.
Julie shrieked at the top of her lungs. Behind her, the old badger woman was so startled by the scream that she fell over and knocked several dozen cans off a shelf. This provided the split second of diversion that Julie needed to save her life. She wrenched her paw free and ran out of the store.
Her friends were waiting outside. They grabbed Julie's arms and helped her run. "I got the newspaper! I got the newspaper!" Julie said triumphantly over and over.
The cat ran out of his store and started chasing them. Someone looking out their window noticed the girls and shouted out "Prey! Prey in the street!" Lights popped on all down the block. "Just what I need," muttered the cat under his breath, "Competition."
Sonya and her friends were now running for their lives. The cat made a leap at them, missed, and crashed to the cold pavement, chipping one of his teeth. By this time, several other predators had picked up the chase. Sonya knew she had never run this fast in her entire life. She could almost feel the groping paws and chomping jaws of the predators behind her.
Melissa sharply turned a corner and jumped inside a dumpster. The other girls followed her in. The garbage stench invaded their noses. The trash stuck to their fur. They heard the predators outside run past them, shouting and making hungry sounds. They felt relief for a fleeting moment.
They waited a few more moments to be sure, then the four friends climbed out of the cold, stinking dumpster and started running down a deserted sidestreet. All the buildings looked empty. Their hearts were pumping loudly but they felt momentarily safe.
Suddenly a coyote in ragged, filthy clothes popped out from behind a row of trash cans and grabbed Rachel. "Gotcha!" he yelled.
Julie stopped in her tracks. "Help her somebody!" she yelled.
Sonya turned around and ran at the coyote. She leaped into the air and kicked him as hard as she could on the side of his face. Rachel managed to shake him off and get away.
The coyote grunted and stumbled backwards. Suddenly, he lunged forward and savagely bit at Sonya. She barely avoided having his teeth sink into her arm.
Melissa ran at the coyote. "Get away Sonya! I'll handle this!" She quickly turned around and blasted the attacker with as much skunk scent as she could force out. The coyote let out a garbled howl and fell to the sidewalk. "Run!" screamed Melissa.
They ran. Shouts were coming at them from every direction now. Lights flickered on all down the street. More and more predators began hounding them. The girls' legs throbbed with pain from being used so hard for so long. They cut through a narrow alley and managed to lose most of their pursuers. Their feet pounded on the concrete until they felt it turn into grass. They had reached the field. A few feet more and they were at the fence. The remaining predators cursed and began walking away.
Within seconds they were over the fence and back on home turf.
It was only then when they realized something horrible had happened. Rachel couldn't believe it. "We lost Sonya! She's still back there!"
All three ran to the fence to see if Sonya was following them. There was no little white rabbit running across the grass. "No!" Melissa screamed. Her best friend was lost to the predators, almost assuredly dead. 'And it's all my fault,' Melissa thought. "Sonya!" she screamed through the cold metal fence. "Sonya!!!"
Border guards were rushing in to investigate, their flashlights swirling crazily around in the darkness. Melissa sunk to her knees and began to weep.
~~~~~
Sonya picked herself up. Her left leg throbbed with pain. While she and her friends were running through the alley, she'd tripped over a garbage can and fell flat on her face. She stood up and looked around. Her friends were nowhere in sight. Her body stiffened in shock. She was now alone and lost in the predator sector. She was going to die. She felt her blood chill to zero.
Suddenly, a paw shot out of the darkness and wrapped around Sonya's mouth. She tried to scream despite it and a shock of fear ripped through her body. She knew the next few seconds would be her last.
Another paw grabbed hers and squeezed it gently. She felt warm breathing in her ear and then a voice: "Listen carefully. I'm not going to hurt you. If you want to get back to the prey sector alive you'll have to trust me."
Something in the voice made Sonya feel that what it was saying was true. She felt the paw across her mouth loosen. "Who are you?" she asked as she turned around.
He was a rusty orange fox, around her age, wearing small square glasses and a large black jacket. What struck Sonya the most though was how stunningly handsome he was. She couldn't believe she was thinking this about a bloodthirsty prey-killer.
"I'm Alex. Pleased to meet you." He shook her paw hastily. "We have to get inside or someone will see you. Be as quiet as you can." He took her arm and led her through the alley to the side door of a five story brick apartment building. They went in and took the graffiti-covered elevator to the fourth floor.
In the pitch-black hallway, Alex fumbled with his key ring for a few seconds before finding his apartment key and letting Sonya in.
Sonya was shocked by what she saw inside. She had always considered herself somewhat poor but she was rich in comparison to this. The apartment itself was narrow and small. The wallpaper was peeling. The creaking floorboards were filled with splinters. Water was dripping from the ceiling in the next room. There was only one window and it had an arm-length crack running across it. Sonya noticed that even though the room was dilapidated, it was still kept clean and in order, as much as that was possible.
Alex hung his jacket on a peg nailed to the door. "Come into my room." he whispered. He opened a door to his left and escorted Sonya in. Sonya was impressed by how polite Alex was being. She had been taught for years at school that predators were uncivilized, savage monsters. She wondered if his behavior was just an act, if he was leading her into a trap. Yet somehow, it didn't feel that way.
Alex closed the door and pulled up the window shade. Moonlight poured silently into the room. "I'm leaving the lights off because I don't want to wake my folks. They're asleep in the next room, so talk low." He dropped down onto his bed and took his shoes off. "So I guess the logical questions to ask now are; who are you and how did you get into the predator sector?"
Sonya was still very much on guard. She was ready to run at any second. "My name is Sonya."
"Did someone bring you here to eat you, and you managed to escape?"
Sonya hung her head in regret for what she'd done. She sat down on the bed next to Alex. "No. Actually, some of my friends and I jumped the fence to prove how brave we were."
It was Alex's turn to be shocked. "Do you realize just how dangerous that was!? People starve to death every day here. Some predators would do literally anything to get their paws on a prey animal like you!"
Sonya buried her face in her hands. "I know. I know. I'm such an idiot. I, I..." She broke out in tears. It had sounded so simple when Melissa had first suggested it. Now she didn't even know if Melissa was still alive.
Alex put his arm around Sonya's shoulders. He grabbed a tissue from a box on his bedstand and handed it to her. "Here. Don't cry. Yes, it was a dumb thing to do but I'll make sure you get safely back to your home. I promise it." Sonya wiped her eyes. "You'll have to stay here the night, though. They were still searching for you when I found you and they'll keep searching all night long. We're all desperate for food here."
Sonya turned her face to look in Alex's eyes. They were a warm shade of brown. She knew, instinctually somehow, that she could trust him. "Alex, why are you being so nice to me? Why aren't you trying to eat me like all the other predators?"
Alex took off his glasses, squinted, and began cleaning them off with a tissue. "I'll tell you right now that a few years ago I wouldn't have hesitated to bite your throat out and have you for supper. However, in the past four years or so, I've put a lot of thought into the predator/prey relationship. I've done some research, some snooping, and what I've found has really disgusted me."
"Like what?" Sonya asked.
"Well, for instance, ever since kindergarten I was told that prey animals were ignorant, cruel-hearted and responsible for imprisoning us in this ghetto. And, since everything I saw around me seemed to agree with that, I believed it. In reality it was all just a way of justifying the slaughter of your families and children."
"That's terrible!" Sonya had never thought before of how the predators viewed things.
Alex shook his finger at Sonya. "I bet you've been told all your life that predators were vicious, carnal savages with no feelings other than hunger." He had a crafty, knowing smile on his face as he said this.
"Yeah, actually. How'd you know?"
"Like I said, I've done some poking around. I didn't like what I saw. And I decided I didn't want to be a part of the system anymore. I want to put intellect over instinct."
"Wow. That's really impressive Alex." She suddenly hugged him. "I am so lucky to have found you."
Alex blushed. "Well, you know... It really was just luck. There's about a thousand other fursons here you could have run into that would've killed you after one look. I heard the noise outside and went to the window. I noticed you and three others running through the street with about a dozen predators chasing you. When I saw you trip, I ran outside."
Sonya hugged Alex tighter. They started to rock gently back and forth. "I don't know how I could ever thank you enough for helping me."
Alex smiled modestly. "Hey, I'm just doing what I feel is right. Can I ask a favor of you in return though?"
A nervous feeling ran down Sonya's spine. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'here it comes...' "Uh, What is it?"
"When you get back, tell people about this. How I helped you and how we predators are starving over here. If we can make a bridge in communication, maybe we can find a solution to both our problems. Maybe we could even find a way for us to see each other again."
Sonya was astonished at Alex's selflessness. She felt ashamed for all her years of blindly fearing all predators. "I will, Alex. I promise I will."
Alex glanced at his alarm clock. It was a little after ten. "It's getting kind of late. We should go to bed soon."
Sonya looked around the small room. "Where wIll I sleep?"
"I'd offer you the bed, but my dad usually checks in on me before he goes to work in the morning. I have a sleeping bag you could use and there's enough space in the bottom of my closet to stretch out."
"Sounds okay to me." Sonya got up off the bed. Alex got up too and opened the closet door. He reached up to the top shelf and pulled down the sleeping bag. He began unrolling it. He cleared some of the things away from the bottom of the closet with his foot. "Here, let me help," Sonya said. She took the other end of the bag and they laid it down on the closet floor together.
"That looks like enough space for you to sleep in, don't you think?"
"Yeah, Alex. It looks all right." Sonya crouched down and slipped into the sleeping bag. It was more comfortable than she had expected. Alex took a pillow from his bed and handed it to her.
"I probably won't be able to sneak you out until tomorrow night," Alex said. "There'll be too many people around in the daytime. I don't want to risk anything."
"As long as I get out alive, I don't care when." Sonya put the pillow under her head and laid down. "Goodnight, Alex."
Alex smiled warmly as he tenderly patted the fur on top of Sonya's head. "Goodnight, my little fugitive." Sonya giggled softly as Alex closed the closet door and everything went dark around her.
Sonya thought she'd be awake all night, worrying about predators coming for her. But surprisingly, having Alex's presence so close helped her drift off to sleep in a matter of minutes.
As Alex climbed into bed he thought how sad he'd be when Sonya actually did leave. He had never before felt so close to someone whom he'd just met. And a prey animal too! She wasn't anything like the image of prey that he'd been led to believe. And as an added bonus, she was very pretty.
A funny thought struck him: His mother had always told him not to play with his food, but what about falling in love with his food?
~~~~~
Midday had come. Alex woke Sonya after he had gotten up and made sure his parents had already left for work. Sonya showered while Alex ran her clothes through the washing machine. He put the sleeping bag in also. Not only were Sonya's clothes filthy from her brief visit with the inside of the dumpster, but Alex also wanted to make sure there were no traces of her scent left. He didn't want any predators with sensitive noses and hungry bellies coming around.
After a sparse breakfast, the rabbit and fox spent the day talking, playing board games, watching television, and any other activity they could think of to bring night closer. They had just finished playing a game of checkers. Sonya had soundly beaten Alex several times in a row.
"You cheated!" Alex said sourly as he crossed his arms.
"Never!" Sonya replied. "One more game?"
Alex's left eyebrow shot up. "One more game." He started setting another game up. "And this time I'm gonna win!" he said with great dramatic flair.
A car horn honked outside. Alex got up and went to the window to see who it was. Standing on the sidewalk outside her cobalt blue car was a tall, rusty brown female fox in a kelly green varsity jacket. She looked up and waved at Alex.
"Oh no, no, no! Sonya, quick, hide somewhere!"
Sonya's eyes were wide open with fright. Something was very wrong. She could sense it coming off Alex like a cheap cologne. "What? What's wrong?"
"It's my big sister Sadie! She's home from college for some reason. If she sees you, you're tonight's dinner!"
"Where can I hide?"
Alex scanned the room quickly. "Try the closet. And hurry!"
Sonya pushed her way into the cluttered closet. She got the door closed just as she heard Sadie's keys turning in the lock. Alex checked the room again for anything that might signal Sonya's presence. The checkerboard! Sadie had a sharp mind; she'd find it highly suspicious that Alex would be sitting at home playing checkers with himself. He quickly swatted the game off the table with his long tail. Just as the board hit the floor, Sadie walked into the room. "Hi bro!" she said.
Alex tried to act calm. "Hey Sadiekins! What brings you here?" He walked over and hugged her. He loved his sister, he just couldn't understand how she could accept her current way of life as it was. The injustice was all too obvious to him.
"They were doing some construction on the new wing of the campus and they hit an electric cable. The power went totally out and we got a few days off until it's fixed. I thought I'd spend it at home with you and mom and dad."
"That's great! It's good to have you home finally. I've missed you." Alex was really thinking: 'If there was a worse time for you to show up, I can't think of it!'
Sadie looked around her old home. "I forgot how run down the apartment is."
"Yeah. This place is a dump. Bet it makes you glad you got away to college, huh?"
Sadie nodded in agreement.
"Hopefully I can get a scholarship like you did and get out of here too," Alex mused.
"Well, you're definitely smart enough. I always thought you were the cleverest one in the family." She affectionately ruffled his fur. Her duffel bag was getting heavy so she let it slide off her shoulder to the floor. "Could you put my bag away?"
"Sure." Alex picked up the bag and went to put it in his room. At the same time, Sadie walked to the closet to hang up her jacket.
Sonya was nearly suffocating in the closet. It was hot and stuffy and she couldn't make out what Alex and his sister were saying. She was scared. She had no idea what would happen if Sadie found her, but she did know it couldn't be anything good.
Suddenly she heard the doorknob turn. Was it Alex?
The light smacked her in the face and she saw Sadie standing in the doorframe. Without thinking, Sonya screamed at the top of her lungs. Sadie was so startled, she started screaming too.
In the next room Alex winced; the situation was rapidly turning from bad to worse.
Alex ran back to the livingroom. Sonya and Sadie were still screaming. Alex grabbed Sadie by the shoulders. "Sadie, calm down! Everything's okay! Really!"
"Alex, there's a rabbit in our closet!"
"I know, I know." He bent into the closet, roughly grabbed Sonya's arms and pretended to throttle her. He leaned in as close as he could and quickly whispered in Sonya's ear "Play along. Act scared."
"I don't have to act scared, I am scared!" Sonya whispered back.
"Shut up you!" Alex angrily yelled at Sonya. He winked to show her he was just acting. He brought his hand back and pretended to slap her. She recoiled into the back of the closet and cowered there.
"What's all this about, Alex?" Sadie asked.
"Actually, it was going to be a surprise for mom and dad. I caught this rabbit today and I thought I killed her by cracking her skull in with a brick. I guess I just knocked her unconscious."
"But why was she in the closet?"
Alex was very nervous. He'd never been a good liar and he could tell that Sadie was almost onto him. "Well, um, there's no place in here to slaughter her so I thought I'd wait until dad got home. Then we could take her someplace to do it." Alex took Sonya's arm and yanked her to her feet. Sonya was looking petrified, and not having to try very hard to do it.
Sadie was not buying Alex's story. "But that still doesn't explain why you put her in the closet of all places. And if you hit her with a brick, why isn't she even bleeding? Alex, what is really going on here?"
Alex hung his head. He wasn't comfortable with what he was about to do. "You know, Sadie, in every good plan there is something that goes wrong..." He moved Sonya out of the closet doorway. "I'm sorry you had to be it."
Sadie barely had time to say "What?" before Alex shoved her into the closet and slammed the door. He grabbed the nearest chair and propped it shut. "Run Sonya! That chair won't hold her for more than a few minutes. We have to get you home now!"
"In broad daylight!? I'd get caught in seconds!"
"We'll have to risk it. Now let's move!" He grabbed her arm and helped her out of the apartment. Alex banged on the elevator button but the elevator wouldn't come. "We'll take the stairs." They ran to the end of the hallway and started down the creaking staircase. Alex gracefully grabbed the railings and soared down, ten steps at a time. Sonya could barely keep up with him.
They reached the bottom. Alex opened the back door and cautiously looked out. No one was around except a few kids playing in the alley.
Alex was just about to tell Sonya the coast was clear when someone behind him bellowed out, "Food!"
Alex whirled around. Advancing on them was a dog in a long coat who looked mad with hunger. Reacting solely on adrenaline, Alex drew back and slammed his fist into the dog's jaw, knocking him to the floor. He and Sonya quickly ducked out of the building and barred the door behind them.
"Wow Alex! That guy was twice your size!" Sonya said as they ran down the alley.
"Yeah, I think I broke my fingers hitting him like that." He mouthed an 'ow' and shook his aching paw.
Alex poked his head around a corner. The street wasn't as busy as usual. 'Finally,' he thought, 'some good luck'. He turned to Sonya. "Tuck your ears behind your neck and keep your head down. Walk slow and I don't think anyone will notice us."
Sonya bent her ears back and stuffed them under her collar. She pulled up her jacket hood. She noticed how good it felt to be out in the sunlight again after spending so much time in Alex's musty apartment. "All right. Let's go."
They walked out into the open. 'Look nonchalant,' thought Sonya to herself over and over. They passed a cat who was standing at a bus stop and staring at his watch. They passed a wolf walking with her baby in a stroller. They passed a fox woman who waved at Alex. The momentary shock of someone noticing them made Alex's breath quicken.
What struck Sonya while she was walking was that all the people she saw were just people. Like her. These truly weren't monsters like she'd always been told. She could really see that now. She even forgave them for the fact that any one of them would kill and eat her if they knew that she was prey. She knew how uncomfortable it felt when she missed breakfast. She couldn't imagine the misery of starving to death.
Alex was feeling a little less tense. They were about three blocks from the apartment building. Things were going smooth for a change.
Then a voice behind him called out his name. He didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Sadie. He cringed. People on the street started to look in their direction.
Someone to their left shouted out "Hey! That's a rabbit!" Alex had started running before the sentence was even finished.
Sonya's legs throbbed. Her bruised leg sent a shock of pain racing up her nerves with every running step she took. She risked a quick glance behind her. Everyone on the street was now chasing them, including Sadie and the dog from the apartment building. She also thought she recognized the coyote that had attacked Rachel, but she wasn't sure. Last night was repeating itself.
Alex grabbed her arm and they suddenly turned down a side street. Another quick glance over her shoulder showed that the number of predators chasing them had thinned a little. Alex ducked down another side street and Sonya followed him.
They ran for a few minutes more when Alex suddenly realized he had made a wrong turn. "Oh crap! This street dead ends! We're trapped!"
Sonya frantically looked around for anything that might save them, anywhere they could hide. Her eyes fell on a half-opened manhole. She ran to it and gestured Alex over. "Help me lift this thing!" Alex bent down and together they managed to move the heavy lid out of the way enough for them to squeeze down the hole. Alex went first to help Sonya climb down. "Here they come!" she yelped as the predators turned the corner and swarmed towards the manhole.
The sewer was damp, nasty-smelling and dark. Lightbulbs in wire cages were dangling from the ceiling, quite a few were burned out. "Keep running!" Sonya cried out to Alex.
As they ran, the water splashed around their legs. The tunnel they were in twisted like a snake to the left and right. Sonya wasn't even sure which direction they were running anymore. She could hear the shouts of the predators echoing behind her. Alex could hear his sister mixed in with the roaring crowd. He hated the fact that he was running from someone that he loved, but who just didn't understand.
Sonya's legs were giving out. Her kneecaps seemed ready to shatter at any moment. She could hear the predators coming closer and closer behind her. She was starting to panic. How could she possibly escape? Without warning, Sonya felt the ground disappear below her. She screamed in terror as she toppled headfirst down a gaping drain hole in the sewer's bottom. She heard Alex's scream as he fell in after her. She slid along the grimy sides of the pipe for what felt like forever. The ice cold water splashed against her body. She was falling faster and faster and suddenly there was a burst of pain and everything went black.
~~~~~
"Sonya?"
"Sonya, are you all right?"
She was vaguely aware that she was still alive, and that was mostly because of the deep, throbbing pain in the top of her head. She slowly opened her eyes. Alex's worried face filled her field of vision. She had no idea where she was. The last thing she remembered was running through the sewer. "Where are we, Alex?"
Alex smiled a little. "Ah, good. You recognize me. At least you don't have amnesia or something. You hit your head pretty hard." He rubbed her forehead gently for a second then moved away enough for her to see her surroundings.
It was a tiny, oval-shaped steel compartment with four pipes leading out of it. They were sitting in an inch deep puddle of murky water. More water was pouring from two drains near the ceiling.
Sonya's pupils enlarged to adjust to the darkness. She was in a state of confusion and fear. "Where are we?" she quietly repeated.
Alex put his arm around Sonya's shoulders. "As far as I can tell we were chased into what I think is a joint between several sections of sewer pipe. We fell in through there." He pointed to a round opening above their heads.
Sonya rubbed her head a little more. A small bump had already started forming there. "Now I remember." She noticed something different about Alex. "Hey, where are your glasses?"
"They got smashed when I fell." He pulled the mangled spectacles from his front pocket.
"Can't you see without them?"
"It's okay. I mostly need them for reading." He pointed to the pipe opening above them. "You feel up to getting out of here? No one's up there now."
Sonya sat up. Her clothes were completely soaked. She shook the water off her ears. "Yeah. I think I'm okay." She happened to glance at Alex's legs. "Hey! You're hurt!"
There was a two-inch gash running down Alex's right leg. "It's not that bad," Alex said. "I'll be fine if I can get a bandage on it."
The wound looked worse than that to Sonya. "You might need more than just a bandage. Would you like me to do anything for it? I took a first aid class last summer."
"No, really, I'm fine. I just want to get us out of here." Alex stood up and poked his head into the opening. Sonya moved out of his way. He could see light coming from somewhere above. He stuck his arms into the hole and tried to climb up the side. It was useless. The cold steel sides of the pipe were much too slippery. There was no way he could get ahold of anything to pull himself up.
Alex growled to himself. He pulled out of the pipe a little and then lunged forward as hard as he could. He slid a few feet up the pipe and then came immediately plunging back into the joint. Sonya shrieked as water splashed all over her. Alex sat up and angrily spat out a mouthful of cruddy water.
He had another idea though. "Sonya, stick your head in the pipe."
"Why?"
"I think I might be able to push you up and then you could pull yourself out." Sonya nodded and reached up into the opening. "Now step onto my shoulders." Alex reached down, took Sonya's ankles, and positioned her feet on either side of his head. "Wow, you have really big feet!" he teased. They both laughed.
Alex braced himself and started pushing Sonya up. The water gushing from the pipe was drenching both of them. Alex stretched his muscles to push Sonya as far up as she could go. At last he was standing up straight. He yelled up to Sonya. "Can you reach anything?"
"No. I'm not even close," she yelled back.
"How about if you stepped onto my paws?"
"That might work." Sonya lifted her foot off Alex's shoulder and Alex raised his arms above his head. She carefully put one foot and then the other into Alex's paws. Alex clenched his eyes shut and tried desperately to keep Sonya up. He had never been very strong, (In gym class he was always making a fool of himself.) but he knew that it was crucial now to push himself to his farthest limits. "Sonya, can you reach it now?"
Sonya was stretching her arms and clawing at the sides of the pipe. The opening that she had fallen through was about four feet out of her reach. "Not quite. I think I could make it if I jumped."
"No wait!" Alex shouted. It was too late. Sonya made a terrific leap, missed, and came crashing back down into Alex. Their bodies collided and fell back into the water, making an amazing splash.
Sonya opened her eyes. She was sitting sideways across Alex's chest. There wasn't a dry spot on her entire body. Alex was laid out underneath her like a ragdoll. He propped himself up on his elbows and glared at her. Bitter annoyance was flaming in his eyes.
Suddenly his mouth broke into a smile and they both started laughing.
~~~~~
"I spy, with my little eye," said Alex, "something beginning with W."
Sonya looked around. "I give up."
"Water."
"I already said that!"
"Oh yeah, you did."
They had been sitting in the pipe for several hours now. Alex searched their tiny surroundings for something else. "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with G."
Sonya glanced at a few candy bar wrappers floating by her feet. "Garbage?"
"No. Grates."
"This is really boring."
"You read my mind."
"Wanna do something else?"
"What?"
Sonya looked up to the pipe above her head. "You want to try climbing the pipe again?"
Alex snarled. "No! We've already done it six times and that last time I think I may have twisted my ankle."
"Seventh time's the charm."
"You mean the *third* time. And if I remember right, the third time we tried it you fell on your face."
Sonya threw her arms up. "Well then, what are we supposed to do?"
"Nothing. We're stuck here! Get used to it, N'est-ce pas?"
"I can't just sit here. I have to do something."
"You're going to have to learn to just sit there. At least until somebody finds us."
"Yeah, I guess." She brought her legs up to her chest and put her arms around them. She laid her head on her knees. "Well, look at the bright side. We could be in a much worse place. That's clean water coming out of the pipe on the left so we'll have enough to drink. It's not too cramped. Plus, we're lucky that it's the middle of May. If it were winter we'd be freezing our tails off down here." Alex smirked a little.
He scratched his ear. "Another good thing is that there's plenty of drainage so when we have to go to the bathroom we won't have to sit in it."
"Eww!"
"Yeah, Eww! I heard about a guy who got trapped in his car under a bunch of rocks out in the mountains and..."
Sonya winced. "Alex, I don't think I want to hear the rest of this story."
"All right. It gets pretty gross after he has to eat his own leg to survive."
Sonya punched Alex on his forearm. "You're disgusting!"
Alex chuckled. Suddenly a shock of pain hit him from his leg. "Ow!"
"I didn't hit you that hard."
"No, it's my leg. The cut's hurting again."
"Do you want me to do something for it now?"
Alex looked the wound over. It was starting to bleed again. "Sure. What can you do?"
Sonya took off her jacket. She was glad she had grabbed it just before they had ran from Alex's apartment. She held the elastic-lined cuff of her sleeve and started to bite it off. "Take your shoe off and roll up your pant leg."
Alex untied his sneaker, pulled it off and sat it next to him. He bent over and pulled the ripped jeans leg up to his knee. He flinched as the denim rubbed across the open cut. He sat watching Sonya, impressed with how efficiently she was working.
Sonya slipped the cuff onto Alex's foot and crawled over to the clean water pipe. She cupped her paws under it and poured the water onto Alex's cut. She moved the cuff up Alex's leg until it covered the gash. Then she fished around in her pockets until she found a safety pin. She stuck it between her lips. "Do you have anything long and thin? Like a bandage?"
"You mean like a scarf or something? No, I don't think so..."
An Idea struck her. "Never mind." Sonya took the end of her T-shirt in both hands and ripped it. She tore off the bottom edge so it made one long strip.
Alex lifted his leg a little as Sonya wrapped the cloth around the wound and the jacket cuff. "Is that too tight?"
"No, it's fine. Actually, you might want to pull it a bit tighter."
Sonya did and secured it with the safety pin. "There! Does that feel better?"
"Definitely! You did a great job." Alex gave his leg a few test wiggles and then pulled his pant leg down and put the shoe back on.
Sonya sat down next to Alex. "You're my first patient. I believe the operation was a success." She smiled proudly to herself.
Alex put his arms around her. "Thanks'" he said. Sonya hugged him back.
Their eyes met. Alex could see caring and tenderness in Sonya's light green eyes. Love, too.
He moved closer, hesitated, then softly kissed her.
Sonya was a little surprised, but she kissed back. It felt good. Better than good.
Alex pulled away from the kiss and took a breath. Sonya quickly pulled him back and kissed him tenderly.
She opened her mouth and their tongues embraced. She pressed her tongue into his mouth. She felt his sharp teeth. 'I'm kissing a predator,' Sonya thought. 'My every instinct should be to scream and run as far away as I can. But I'm not frightened at all. I love every second. I love Alex. I love Alex.'
~~~~~
Sonya was lying on her back now. Several hours had passed since the kiss. Maybe even a day. Alex was asleep. She could hear the cute little snoozy sounds he was making. She smiled.
She closed her eyes and felt the water slowly swirling around her ears. It was a very calm, soothing motion. She felt serene for the first time since her whole misadventure had started. She was hungry, cold and had no idea how long she would have to stay in this wet oubliette, but at least no one was chasing her for the time being. And it was quiet. Quiet was important to her.
She wished she was back at home with her family. She knew her parents had to be terribly worried about her. They might even think she was dead; caught and eaten in the predator sector. Then again, Melissa and her friends might not have escaped to tell them what had happened. She wanted so hard to be with all of them now and to tell them that she was all right.
Sonya's thoughts drifted to her relationship with Alex. It was all so incredible. They had only been together for three days and she knew for certain that she wanted to be with him forever. The fact that he was a predator made it all the more amazing. In another time, another place, they would have been natural enemies. He could even have killed her. And yet, now that she knew him as more than just a predator stereotype, a 'prey-killer', he was so gentle, so funny, and so intelligent. Not only had he won her heart, but he had also made her rethink everything she thought she knew about his kind.
Sonya listened to the quiet roar as water poured from the ceiling. She watched the dim light reflecting off the drops that fell. Her eyes traced the lines of sediment that had collected on the pipe's ceiling over the years. She began thinking about her near future.
'What happens when we get rescued?' she thought. 'Is there any way Alex and I could have any sort of normal life together? Where would we go? If we lived in the predator sector, I'd always be in danger. Everyone would be trying to eat me all the time. Then again, if we lived with prey, Alex could never go anywhere without people running from him in fear. They might even attack him. And what would Alex eat? He's a predator; he has to eat meat to survive. He can't just choose to be a vegetarian like me. He might starve if he tried.'
Sonya felt tears starting to pool beneath her eyelids. 'Why, why, why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't I just love him and be left alone? I've finally found true love and I have to give it up just because society says I should. It's just not fair.'
'No. There must be a way. Alex is too important to me to leave behind. I'll fight if I have to, but I will stay with him.'
She turned onto her side. The dark water moved in a tiny whirlpool around one of the drains. She put her finger in the middle of the swirl and slowly ran it in the opposite direction of the water flow. 'That's what Alex and I are like,' she thought, 'moving against the flow of the water. How long will we be able to keep going against the current?' There was no way to know.
Alex suddenly woke with a sharp cry. His pupils were wide and his heart was pounding loudly. Sonya crawled over to him. "What's wrong, Alex? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yes. I've been having them a lot and this one was probably the worst."
Sonya took his paw and gave it a gentle squeeze. She could tell Alex was really shaken up. "Do you remember it? Sometimes when I have bad dreams I forget them as soon as I wake up."
"I wish that was the case." He paused a moment to take a deep breath.
"In my dream I was a rabbit like you: long ears, short tail, everything. I was lost in the predator sector. I didn't recognize any of the buildings, even though now that I think back, I know exactly where I was.
"I was trying to find my way out when I heard shouting behind me. I couldn't tell who was yelling or what they were saying. I turned around and saw predators. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them. And they were all people I knew. Sadie was there. So was my mother, my father, my grandparents, my friends at school, even that dog I punched out when we were escaping from my apartment. You remember him, don't you?"
Sonya nodded.
Alex took another deep breath. "But the weirdest part was that I was in front of all of them. Another me. My regular self; a fox. It was so scary to see myself like that. I had this crazed look in my eyes. So I ran. It was just like when we were running before. I could feel my legs moving and everything, every sensation. It was frighteningly real."
"Eventually I was too tired to run anymore. I tripped and they surrounded me. Their eyes were bright red and they were all foaming at the mouth. Two of them, Sadie and my friend Tom, grabbed my arms and held me down on the street. The other me pounced onto my chest and bit my throat out. Blood was gushing everywhere. But I didn't die. I stayed totally conscious as he started eating me. He ripped open my chest and was gorging himself on my guts. I could feel all the pain. It was so... real." Alex couldn't help himself. He broke out in tears.
Sonya couldn't stand to see him like this. She put her arms around him and slowly rocked back and forth. "It's all right, Alex. It's over now."
Alex clenched his eyes shut in internal pain. "No. It's not over. Sonya, there's something I need to tell you. Something that I don't think you want to know about me."
"It can't be that bad." Yet something in Alex's tightened face told her it was.
"If I tell you, you may not want to have anything to do with me ever again." He brought up his head and looked Sonya in the eyes. "Sonya, I am a murderer."
"What!?"
"I have killed four prey animals just like you, and eaten I don't know how many more that my parents brought home. I have looked into terrified eyes and brutally slashed throats and then watched the life drain out of those same eyes. One of them was a little boy. A little squirrel, he couldn't have been more than eight or nine. I snuck up behind him in an alley and tore out his neck with my teeth."
Sonya gasped in shock. She hadn't been prepared to hear this. "Alex I..."
Alex hid his face in shame. "It's all right if you hate me now. You should."
"No, Alex, that's not how I feel at all!"
"Well why not!?" Alex suddenly yelled at her. "I know I seem like a nice, fairly intelligent guy," he growled, "but underneath all of that I still am and always will be a fox, whose biggest drive is to kill and eat animals like you!!"
Sonya gasped and drew away from him. She had never seen Alex as angry as he was now.
"If I can't hardly live with myself for what I am, I don't see how you possibly could!" He buried his tear-stained face in his folded arms. "You can't trust me..."
Sonya took his face in her hands and lovingly stroked his fur. "Yes I can trust you, Alex. I understand. I understand why you killed. I saw how terrible it was where you lived. I saw predators who were so skinny they looked like skeletons. You did what you did to survive. It wasn't because you were evil. It's because you had to eat or die."
Sonya was almost crying now also. "Besides, I think I knew all along that you had killed for food. It's what predators do. I just wasn't expecting to hear you say it. My feelings for you haven't changed, Alex. I still love you."
Alex wiped his eyes and took Sonya's hands in his. "You mean you forgive me?"
Sonya smiled warmly. "I forgive you."
They embraced. Alex held Sonya tight to him. He never wanted to let go of this wonderful girl who understood him so well. He was still crying, but now his tears were ones of joy. "I love you Sonya. More than anyone alive, I love you."
"I love you too, Alex."
They sat together in the cold water, warming each other with their hearts.
~~~~~
"How long have we been here, Alex?"
They were lying back to back in the middle of the pipe joint. Alex reached into his pocket and found his watch. He'd used to wear it on his wrist until the band broke. Instead of throwing it out, Alex got the ingenious idea to glue on a chain and make it into a pocketwatch. It was one of his favorite possessions. He pressed the tiny button to make the digital display light up. It looked like a tiny blue lamp in the dim metal chamber. "It's the thirteenth. We've been down in this cesspool for five days."
Sonya's eyebrows popped up in surprise. "Really? It doesn't seem that long."
Alex ruffled her fur. "That's because we've had each other to keep us company. Imagine if you were down here by yourself. You'd go crazy."
Sonya nodded and then sighed heavily. "I am so hungry. All I can think of is chomping on a nice big stalk of broccoli." Her mouth watered at the thought.
Alex turned his head to her. "Hah! You think you're hungry! You're not the one who was starving in the first place. My stomach feels like there's chainsaws running inside it. *I* am hungry."
Sonya reached behind her and gave Alex's belly a few pats. "You're right. I'm probably not half as hungry as you are." There was something that was pressing on her mind and this was as good a time as any to bring it up. "Um, Alex, I've been doing some thinking about food ever since you told me about your nightmare..."
Alex's eyebrows raised. "You've thought of a way to get some?"
"Well... Sort of. I'll be blunt." She turned around and sat cross-legged in front of Alex. She laid back and rested her head in his lap. "Alex, if someone doesn't come to rescue us soon..." She gulped. This wasn't easy to say. "...I want you to eat me."
Alex did a double take. "Are you nuts? I can't eat you! You know I love you too much to do anything like that!"
"No, I really mean it. If nobody finds us and we're both starving to death, I want you to kill me as painlessly as you can and eat me.
"I, I can't Sonya! I..."
"Alex, be reasonable. There's no sense in both of us dying. If I can save you, that's what I want."
Alex was stunned. He bent over and lightly kissed her forehead. "Wow. I'm astonished that you would sacrifice yourself like that. Thank you."
Sonya smiled brightly up at him. "I love you. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."
Alex laughed and pulled Sonya into his arms. "And there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, too." He suddenly winced. "But are you sure you want me to kill you? Couldn't I just, say, eat your foot instead?"
"No way! First off, the pain would be unbearable. I'd have to use a crutch for the rest of my life, and I'd probably die anyway from the loss of blood. I don't want that. Either go all the way or don't do it at all."
"All right. I can understand that. One more question, though. How long should I wait before 1... do it?" It was clear to both of them that Alex was very uncomfortable talking about the subject.
Sonya thought a little. "Well, we've only been down here five days and our tummies are starting to hurt already. How about when two and a half weeks have passed?"
"Come on! I can go longer than that!"
"No, I think It's a good time limit. I read in a book once that most animals can only live without food for about a month. Even then, they're so weak they can't move or even talk. I don't want you to be so weak from hunger that you can't even start eating me in the first place."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked at his watch again. Sonya now had a little less than two weeks to live. "I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you doing this for me. If the situation was reversed and I was the prey, I don't know if I'd have the courage to give up my life like that."
Sonya looked into his dark brown eyes. "I think you would."
Alex softly ran his fingers through the fur on Sonya's chest. Out of nowhere, a grin formed on his lips. He looked at Sonya in a mischievous way.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I was thinking, there's really no reason I shouldn't... Eat you right now! Aha!" He grabbed Sonya's ear and nibbled it playfully.
"Eek!" Sonya shrieked and burst out laughing.
Alex growled a cute foxy snarl and pounced on Sonya's feet. He teasingly bit at her toes.
Sonya could hardly breathe, she was laughing so hard. "Alex, stop! Stop! I'm ticklish!"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you're ticklish, are you?" He dramatically growled, jumped on Sonya, and began to tickle her all over. Sonya tried to stop him, but she was giggling so much she couldn't speak.
After a few minutes, Alex stopped and gave Sonya a quick, but passionate, kiss on the lips. "That's enough tickle-torture for one day."
Sonya put on an air of mock disgust. "You're such a creep!"
"Yeah, I know. Now kiss me again."
"Gladly." And she did.
~~~~~
More time had passed. Without Alex's watch it would have been impossible to tell how long. The dim, continuous light coming from somewhere unknown never changed. There was no night and day. Only perpetual twilight.
The fox and rabbit were sleeping now. It was really the only thing they could do anymore to pass the time. Plus, it helped them conserve energy. Alex had his big bushy tail wrapped around the pair of them and Sonya had her ears draped around his neck. She was snoring lightly.
Alex was twitching in his sleep. His eyelids flickered. He was dreaming, but not pleasantly. Another nightmare was raging in his head. He suddenly woke up. "No, no, NO!"
Sonya was jolted awake by Alex's shouts. "What is it? What is it?"
Alex's heart was thumping again and he was breathing in spurts. He tried to compose himself. "I'm really sorry I woke you up. It was just another nightmare. This was a really horrible one."
"Worse than your prey dream?"
"Actually, yes. I think it was, but for different reasons."
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"
"Yeah. I think that'll help." He stretched his arms above his head to calm himself. His shoulder made a small popping sound. He snuggled closer to Sonya. She laid her arm across his chest.
"In this one..." he started. "Wow, this is really awful." He sighed deeply.
"Go on. I'm listening."
He smiled at her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "In this one I'm here, in this pipe, and the time is finally up. I kiss you and you lay your head in my arms. We tell each other goodbye and I get ready to kill you." Alex cleared his throat. "I bend down and brush the fur away from your neck. Everything feels like it's in slow motion. Then I open my mouth and bite you right on your jugular vein. You don't scream at all, you just quietly pass away. I can taste your blood and it is delicious. It's just what I've wanted for so long."
Sonya shivered when he said that.
"I'm just about ready to take another bite when the wall to my left breaks in. It's four men in hard hats and they've come to rescue us. Then I realize that if I had only waited five seconds more, you would still be alive and we would be safe. Then I started screaming and screaming and then I woke up."
Alex had a dead look in his eyes. Sonya hugged him tight. "Oh, Alex." She squeezed him tighter. A single tear slid down her face. "Poor, poor Alex."
They slowly rocked back and forth. Alex rubbed Sonya's back very tenderly. They were both silent for a long time.
Finally, Alex spoke. "I don't think I can go through with it, Sonya. Even if I was dying, even if my skin was stretched tight across my bones, I still don't think I could kill you. I couldn't ever do anything to hurt you. You're too precious to me. I'm too scared that this dream would come true."
"But Alex... I still wouldn't hold anything against you even if it did. If you had to eat me to survive I would still love you, even from beyond this world. And when you grew old and died, I'd be right there waiting for you with all the love in my heart."
Alex was about to reply, but Sonya put her finger to his lips. Nothing needed to be said.
They laid there a while longer in each other's arms.
~~~~~
After an hour, Sonya asked what time it was.
Alex took out his watch. "Ten thirty-six in the morning. Time for a drink."
They both went over to the clean water pipe and cupped their paws underneath it. The cool water felt good as it slid down their throats. 'I'm so glad we've got water,' Alex thought. 'If we were dehydrated as well as starving we'd both be dead by now.'
After a long breakfast drink, the two sat back down against the wall. Alex yawned and stretched out his back. His terrible dream was mostly forgotten now. "So, my love, what shall we do today? I'm up for the intellectual challenge of counting the number of rust spots on the inside of the pipe."
Sonya giggled. "You're so funny, Alex."
"At least I'm not funny looking."
Sonya giggled again. "How's your leg doing?"
"My what? Oh yeah, my leg." Sonya's impromptu bandage job had worked so well that Alex had completely forgotten his leg was cut. He reached down and rubbed it. "No pain at all. Should I take off the cloth and have a look at it?"
"I wouldn't. You don't want to risk it getting infected. We are in a sewer, if you'd forgotten. I'm surprised we're both not sick by now."
"Yeah. Probably millions of germs floating around in here." He looked around as if trying to see some. "I guess that means we both have really good immune systems."
An idea came to Sonya. "Say, do you remember the night that we met, when you told me about how you had done some snooping into how our societies work?"
"Yeah, I remember. Why?"
"Tell me more about the things you found out."
Alex took a deep breath. "Oh boy. Now that's a topic." He looked Sonya in the eyes. "If you thought you knew anything about how the government works, you're wrong. In reality everything is so twisted up it's surreal. There are so many tiny evil details, it's almost impossible to try to comprehend them all."
"Well, why don't you start with the basics and tell me the rest from there."
Alex took in another deep breath. He barely knew where to begin. "For starters, you might have wondered why the predators don't have more power than the prey. After all, we eat you guys. You'd think we would be like kings. The reason why we're not is because there's so many of you. Prey outnumber predators by about six to one so you're able to keep us in line."
"Is that how the predators ended up in a separate part of the state?"
"Exactly. The prey leaders set up borders and forced us into them. It wasn't voluntary on our part in any way. Something like fifty thousand of us across the country were shot or beaten to death by prey during the relocation."
Sonya gasped. "I can't imagine how terrible that must have been for the people who lived through it."
"It only gets worse. The leaders of both sides met together to discuss what would happen next. The prey knew that the predators had to eat meat to live, and they respected that." Alex paused. "I hate to think of what would have happened if the prey hadn't. They could have easily killed off every predator on the face of the planet."
Sonya interrupted with a question. "When did all this happen?"
"The meeting I'm talking about took place about a century ago. Probably before your grandparents were even born. Anyway, the predator leaders pleaded desperately for a way to get food. They managed to work out a deal that the public was never supposed to know about. The borders would be kept up and so would the guards." Alex's eyes narrowed. "But security for the borders was to be kept intentionally loose. Intentionally! It was the only solution they could come up with that would seem to the prey public to be tough on predators, but would still allow the predators to eat. That's why it was so easy for you to sneak in like you told me. It's just as easy to sneak out and then back in with the body of a prey animal."
Sonya couldn't believe her ears. She was genuinely shocked. "That's horrible! This means that every time I've heard the mayor or some other politician talking about how they would tighten security around the borders to keep us safe, it was all lies?"
Alex nodded sadly. "For the most part, yes. Unfortunately for us predators, soon after the policy was started, the prey realized it was a little too easy for predators to cross over and back. They thought too many prey were being killed. So they changed the contract to read that any predator caught sneaking out or in would be shot by the border guards. A lot of predators died in the months after that. When we protested, the prey leaders threatened to make it even harder for us to get food."
Alex coughed and continued. "And eventually they did. Again, without telling us first. They made it legal for any border guard to shoot on sight any predator who set foot on the grassy area near the fence. We were given no warning. I asked my grandpa about it and he said that little kids used to play there. The guards gunned them down like tin cans." Tears were welling up in Alex's eyes. "I can see it happening even though I was never there. But I've known other animals, even some friends of mine, who have committed suicide to escape from the pain and the hunger. And I've known even more who've starved to death. Sometimes I wonder how I've survived this long. So many, many of us have died."
Alex was choking on his words. Sonya had to strain to understand him through his sobs. "And the pain isn't all physical, either. Some of the torture is psychological. Like trying to figure out who the bad guy really is here. Is it the predators, who murder because they're hungry? Or the prey, who murder because they can? Maybe it's both of us.
"But I think that the ones who get the worst of it are the prey like you. The ones who have to live so close to the predator sector. Because, really, you're the only ones that ever get eaten. Predators hardly ever make it farther than a few miles into the prey sector. Some have tried to go farther in, to get at the prey leaders. Every one I've ever heard about all got caught and killed on the way there. I can't remember how many times when I was a kid, when my mom or dad would go out hunting, I would sit in my room wondering if this time they wouldn't come back."
Sonya was crying too now. "Alex, I... I don't know what to say. I had no idea any of this had ever happened."
"Neither did I until I started looking for the truth. When I found out about the kids being shot near the fence, I cried for days. After that was when my nightmares started and I've been having them ever since."
"Alex..." Sonya wiped away his tears. "If it makes you feel any better, I apologize for what all us prey have done to you and the other predators."
Alex pulled away from her slightly. "Don't. I don't want you to get the impression that all predators are just victims. There have been plenty of us who have gone out into the prey sector to kill as many prey as possible. Not caring about eating any of them, just wanting to strike back. Plenty of innocent animals have died on either side of the border fence."
Tears were streaming down Sonya's face now. She laid her head across Alex's chest. "Why does it have to be this way? Why can't we work our differences out somehow, without all this hate?"
"Because we're natural enemies, and most of us can't see beyond that."
Sonya cried harder. Alex said nothing and they sat in quiet stillness for a while. "Aren't you going to tell me not to cry, that everything's going to be all right?"
Alex put his hand on Sonya's head and softly stroked her ears. "No, I won't say that," he replied, "because it's okay to cry. And because I don't know that everything will be all right."
~~~~~
Seconds turned into minutes.
Minutes turned into hours.
Hours lengthened into days, and the days would soon stretch into weeks. Alex and Sonya, trapped in the cold, dank section of pipe, began to slowly starve. Each day Sonya could see the skin over Alex's ribs growing tighter and tighter until she could count each one with a glance. She was faring almost as bad herself. She had always tried to be fashionably slender, but now she looked sickly thin. Her joints ached every time she moved. Her stomach felt like iron hands were grinding it into pulp. Also, she was starting to have second thoughts about letting Alex eat her. According to Alex's watch, they had been in the pipe joint for ten days now. She had little more than a week to live before Alex would kill and eat her. The thought of death was starting to scare her. But which was better; slow tortuous starvation, or Alex's quick, gentle bite?
They barely moved around anymore. Both of them were far from being able to attempt jumping up the drain. Most of the time they slept and when they didn't sleep they talked. But now they were silent more and more often. They were beginning to run out of things to say. Hopelessness was starting to set in for both of them. Sonya didn't know how long she could last. If Alex didn't kill her first, she felt sure she would die soon anyway. Somehow she knew that she wouldn't be leaving the sewer alive.
She was holding Alex's pocketwatch in her hands and staring blankly at the display. She watched the numbers silently change from seconds to minutes to hours. At first the quiet had been important to her. Now it was deafening. She listened and heard nothing but the running water and Alex's breathing. It was maddening.
Sonya honestly had no idea how the situation would turn out. They could be rescued. They could both die. Alex could eat her. Alex could starve first. Somehow food could come from somewhere and save them. Anything was possible.
In the meantime, all there was to do was sleep, talk, and wait for the end, whatever it would be.
~~~~~
Sonya was again looking at the face of Alex's watch. It told her that they had survived another three days. Her spine tingled as she realized she only had four more days to live according to her agreement with Alex. That was assuming Alex wouldn't starve first. And also assuming no one would save them in time. Considering how long they had been stuck in the pipe already, being rescued didn't seem very likely.
Alex was asleep with his head in her lap. She reached down and gently slipped the watch back into his pocket. He flinched and opened his eyes. "Good morning, Sonya."
"Good morning, Alex."
"You'd make a lousy pickpocket, you know."
Sonya chuckled. "You looked pretty calm while you were asleep. No nightmares this time?"
Alex smiled broadly. "Not a one. I think talking about it may have helped some."
"I was glad to listen."
Alex stretched and yawned. "What time is it?" he muttered to himself as he reached into his pocket for the watch. "Eight fifteen PM. I guess I should have said good night."
Sonya smirked. "Hey, get off me for a second. I have to pee."
"All right." Alex rolled off of her and winced. His knees felt like they were about to snap. He hadn't fully realized yet how weak from hunger he was. Sonya eased herself over to a drain on the floor and pulled her panties down. Her joints were stiff and sore too.
When she was done, she went back over to Alex and he laid his head in her lap again. She scratched behind his ears. Alex smiled deeply and his tail began to wag a little.
Sonya laid her head back against the wall. She took in a deep breath and held it. She formed her lips into an 'o' shape and exhaled. She brought her head down and rested it on top of Alex's. "I was looking at your watch. It says I have four days left."
"Until what?"
"You know."
Alex's face fell. "Oh yeah. That."
"I'm feeling kind of scared about dying, Alex."
"If you don't want to go through with it, I don't mind. It's your decision. To tell the truth, I'm just as apprehensive about it as you. Maybe more."
"Why? I thought you'd be looking forward to finally getting some food."
Alex stammered. "It... It's not that simple. Do you realize how hard it is for me, knowing that I'm about to kill someone that I love with all my heart? I only agreed to eat you because you brought it up first."
"That's nice of you to say, but it really is what I want. I told you, if It will save your life, I'm perfectly willing."
Alex brightened a little. "How about this; If I starve first, you can eat me. Deal?"
Sonya grinned back at him. "Sure." They shook paws on it. "Maybe I'd feel better if I knew how you were going to do it. Kill me, I mean."
"Well, if we switch positions, I'll show you." Alex sat up amid pops and cracks from his bones and moved behind Sonya. She leaned back into his arms. "First, of course, I'd give you a goodbye kiss." He bent closer and sensuously kissed her on the lips. She pushed into it and stroked the sides of his head.
Sonya took in a breath and gave Alex another small kiss on his nose. "Then what?"
"Since it should be as quick and painless as possible, I'd want to bite you here." He pointed to a spot on her neck. "This is where you have some major nerves and blood vessels. You'd die almost instantly." She put her neck in his hands and he stooped to demonstrate. He opened his mouth and very delicately touched his teeth to Sonya's neck.
Bite her. Now.
Alex's eyes popped wide open. Had he really just thought that?
You're starving. Kill her now.
His whole body stiffened. He couldn't believe those thoughts had actually entered his mind. He was shocked. He quickly pulled away from Sonya.
Sonya turned around. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I-I'm fine." Alex was really shaken. He was afraid of himself.
Sonya could sense his discomfort. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. It was just a sharp pain in my back. I'm fine now."
An awkward silence fell over them.
~~~~~
It was late the next day. Alex was sitting with his head on his knees, watching Sonya sleeping across the pipe from him. He was still trying to get over the thoughts that had popped into his head the other day. "I love Sonya," he said quietly to himself. "No matter how hungry I get, I have to remember that." But he couldn't deny that the hunger was starting to shred at his mind.
By concentrating on his thoughts, he was trying as hard as he could to ignore the excruciating pain in his gut. It felt like his stomach was dissolving itself in its own acid. He gritted his teeth and moaned as he held onto his aching belly. His veins throbbed. His intestines tightened. He suddenly knew he couldn't stand any more.
Alex's mind snapped. He looked up at Sonya with a wildness in his eyes that had never been there before. Everything he had felt the previous day when he was about to bite Sonya's neck was back, fiercer than ever. He was now a carnal, primitive beast; his only instinct was to eat.
He slowly crawled over to where Sonya lay asleep. His bones felt brittle and worn, but he didn't notice. He loomed over her. Saliva flowed from his mouth. In this state, he didn't even realize who Sonya was. All he saw was a prey animal to be killed and devoured.
He leaned closer to rip her throat out. His hot breath tickled Sonya's nose and she slowly woke up. "Alex?"
He moved closer. His mouth opened wider.
"Alex!?"
He grabbed her wrists and slammed them against the wall behind her. Sonya's eyes were wide with fright. She struggled to free herself from his strong grip.
Alex reared his head back and growled. His head darted forward to deliver a fatal bite. Sonya wrenched her arm free and quickly shielded her neck. Alex missed and drove his canines into the soft flesh of her forearm.
He tasted her blood.
It was delicious. It was just what he had wanted for so long.
Now he wanted more.
Sonya screamed louder than she had ever screamed before in her life. Alex cried out in pain and held his ears. He tumbled backwards into the puddle of water.
For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. They just sat like statues, slowly inhaling and exhaling.
Sonya carefully looked over the teethmarks in her arm. The wounds weren't very bad. She doubted that they even needed bandaging.
Alex laid on his side in the water. He licked his lips. The taste of Sonya was still there.
Finally, they felt ready to deal with what had happened. Alex sat up and looked Sonya in the eyes. "I don't think just saying I'm sorry is good enough to make up for what I was about to do."
"You tried to kill me, Alex," Sonya said rather emotionlessly.
"I didn't mean to..." Alex's voice shattered. He couldn't put into words the horror he felt at what very nearly happened to his true love.
"You tried to kill me!" Sonya raged. "You know, There's been a little doubt about you in the back of my mind ever since we met. I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should be listening to it!!"
The words hit Alex with the same force as if they had been bullets. He couldn't even croak out a response.
Sonya was furious. "Should I be listening to my instincts, Alex? You tell me. If we stay together, Will I have to worry about being murdered in my sleep? Huh? Tell me Alex! Tell me I can trust you!"
Alex raised his tear-filled eyes to her. His lips stuttered ineffectually, but the look of extreme regret in his eyes told her all she needed to know. He suddenly exhaled a deep breath and crumbled into nothing. He shied away from her and she barely caught the words "I don't know if I can be trusted or not anymore..."
He sobbed and cursed himself a few seconds more before he felt Sonya's gentle touch on his shoulder. He turned around to face her. "I'm sorry, Sonya. I promise I'll never try to hurt you again. I mean it. You're too important to me to lose in one moment of blind instinct."
Sonya was still wary, but ready to forgive him now. "What happened to you? What made you attack me like that?"
Alex moved a little closer and took Sonya's injured arm in his paws. He softly caressed the skin around the bites. Tears came back to his eyes. "I can't believe I did this to you, Sonya. I really could have killed you! I am so, so sorry." He gave her a small kiss on the back of her paw. "It was my stomach. I don't think you know just how much pain I'm in right now. It's unbearable. I think the pain kind of took control of me and the only way out was to eat."
"I forgive you and I understand, Alex. My stomach hurts me so bad sometimes, I feel like tearing it right out of my body. It's terrible what's happening to us. I understand."
"Still, I could have controlled myself better. I could have done something more..."
Sonya leaned closer to him. "Alex, I know how much you love me. I love you just as much. If there was any way you could have stopped yourself, I know you would have." She put a paw on his shoulder. "And if you're that hungry, I'll let you eat me now. I would have only had to wait three more days anyway."
Alex was speechless. A single tear ran down his nose. He suddenly clutched Sonya to his chest in a powerful, heartfelt hug. "Oh Sonya, I love you, I love you, I love you. I'll never stop loving you. I don't deserve you. How can you be so caring after all the terrible things I've done? My stupid nightmares, the other prey I've killed, attacking you now... How can you still love me?"
"You do deserve to be loved, Alex. Because you've done so many wonderful things." She stroked his soft tail. "You saved me from the other predators, twice. You looked for the truth about what was really going on. You've resisted eating me all this time, even though you were starving and your every instinct told you to. You're honest, you're caring and selfless and you're much too hard on yourself. You're not bad just because you're a predator. You're beautiful, Alex. That's why I love you."
There was nothing more to be said. The two lovers held each other and cried. Tears of love, tears of sadness and tears of pain. Alex broke the silence. "l won't eat you now, Sonya. We agreed on two and a half weeks and I will last that long."
"Then that's three more days to go," Sonya quietly said.
"I can last three more days."
~~~~~
In the next two remaining days, Sonya and Alex grew closer than friends, closer than siblings, closer than anything they had ever experienced before. They shared all their secrets, told all their stories, and laughed through their pain. Their hearts were light and nothing else mattered. Their empty stomachs were forgotten, for a while at least.
Alex had just finished telling Sonya about the time when he had gotten his head stuck in his locker at school. "...And it took them four hours to get me out! I was screaming bloody murder the whole time. They had to destroy the locker and the ones next to it to free me!"
Every time Sonya laughed, her middle throbbed in pain, but she couldn't help herself. "Why did it take all that? Did you have a head the size of a watermelon, or what?"
"No, the school had these really skinny lockers because a lot of students went there and they had to conserve space. You could hardly fit anything in them."
"I guess you got some practice for being stuck here then."
Alex rolled his eyes. "No comparison! I'd take my head stuck in a locker for four hours over being stuck in a sewer for two and a half weeks any day."
"I wouldn't. It would be worth it to be here with you."
Alex smiled deeply. "Thanks, Sonya. You're so sweet." They exchanged a quick kiss. "All right, your turn. You tell me something funny about your life."
Sonya tried to think of something. Her life up until now had been fairly dull. "Um, I still wear pajamas with feet!"
Alex put on an exaggerated frown. "Nope, not funny enough. Try again."
"Well, there was this one time when I was at my grandparent's house in..." She trailed off and seemed to be concentrating on something else. "Do you hear that?"
"No, I don't hear anything."
"Put your ear to the wall. There's a humming noise behind it."
Alex strained his ears, and suddenly he heard it too. "It sounds like... I'm not sure." They listened more. Whatever it was, it seemed to be coming towards them. "It sounds kind of like a machine."
Sonya's eyes opened wide and her breath quickened. Her large, sensitive rabbit ears suddenly told her exactly what it was. "It sounds like drills. They're drilling through the pipes to us."
She whirled around and grabbed Alex's arms. "Alex, someone is coming to rescue us!!"
They both screamed in happiness and hugged each other. "We're getting out of here!" Alex shouted. "I won't have to eat you!"
"I'm so happy!!"
Alex was so excited he could barely get his words out. "Sonya, quick, make as much noise as you can! We have to let them know we're really here." They both started shouting, yelling and pounding on the wall. Their joints were stiff, their stomachs ached, they were cold and wet and as thin as stick figures, but they didn't care. They were going to be free.
The sound of machines filled the pipe now. Sonya grabbed Alex's wrists to make him stop pounding. "Move back. You don't want to be sitting here when the wall breaks in." Alex nodded. They quickly scooted to the pipe's opposite end and sat eagerly waiting.
Alex held Sonya's paws. They were both giggling like idiots. "I wonder how my parents are going to react when they find out we're in love," Sonya asked herself.
"Yeah. I don't have a clue what my parents'll do either," Alex replied.
Sonya arched an eyebrow. "Do you mean your parents don't know about you going against your instincts?"
Alex half-smiled. "Not really. I've never actually told them because I was scared that they wouldn't understand. For all I know, they might think this was worse than if I was on drugs or something."
"Can't you share your feelings with anyone?"
"Well, there is my grandpa. He's the one who told me about the kids being shot by the border. I learned a lot of what I believe now from him. I think, though, that if I could tell anyone it would probably be Sadie. I think she might be open minded enough to understand. If not now, then someday."
A question suddenly popped up in Alex's mind. "I hadn't really thought about this before, Sonya; but what's going to happen to us once we get out of here?"
"What do you mean?" They were shouting a little now to be heard over the loud drilling
"Any number of things could happen. We could be separated, you could be eaten, anything! We don't even know who's on the other side of that wall. It could be predators or prey."
Before he could go on, Sonya reached over and held his mouth shut. "Don't spoil the moment. No matter what happens, we'll get through it just fine. We got through this alive, didn't we ?"
"Why are you always right?"
They were about to kiss again when a crack appeared in the wall and light flooded the tiny room. Both of them shielded their eyes. They could almost make out dark shapes moving and widening the hole. Their eyes slowly got used to the light again.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, two men, a dog and a rat, stepped into the pipe joint. The rat spoke into a walkie-talkie. "Yeah, we found 'em. That's right, both of them!"
The dog shuffled on his knees over to them. "I'm really surprised you two are both alive. All of us thought that you were either both dead or that you," he pointed at Alex, "had eaten her."
Alex just smiled. "Neither of the two."
"Thank you so much for rescuing us," Sonya said. She was crying again. This time though, they were tears of pure joy.
"Well, come with us and we'll get you out of here," the dog said to them. He moved aside and Sonya and Alex hurriedly exited the pipe. It was one place they never wanted to see again.
The rat led them through a long, narrow tunnel dug in the dirt between the sewer pipes. They came out in a connecting pipe with a tall ladder leading up to the street. Alex could see the moonlight through the manhole.
The rat turned to him. "Do you think you can make it up the ladder?"
Alex took the rusty metal rungs in his hands and tried to pull himself up. He couldn't do it. He had drained all his energy. "I can't."
The rat spoke to the dog and gestured up at the manhole. The dog climbed the ladder and disappeared from view.
Sonya tapped the rat on the shoulder. "How did you find us?"
"You're lucky that that pipe section you were in has such good acoustics. Me and my team were doing some basic repair work in this area two days ago when we heard a loud scream that sounded like a rabbit. We listened and heard some faint voices. We had seen reports from the predator sector about a month ago of a fox and rabbit being chased down here and drowning, so we figured maybe that was it. Except for the drowning part."
"Wait a minute," Sonya said. "Did you say a month!? What day is it now?"
"Almost a month. Today's June eighth."
Sonya turned around to face Alex. "I thought your watch said we were only here two weeks and a few days!"
Alex smiled a crooked grin. "I, uh, didn't really want to eat you, so I kept setting my watch back. We were here an extra week or so."
Sonya sputtered. "Alex! I don't know whether to hug you or hit you!"
"I told you I didn't want to eat you."
The rat, meanwhile, had no idea what they were talking about.
"Anyway, Sonya, I think it's amazing we lasted this long. I'm proud of us."
"! suppose I can't be angry at you for not killing me." She gave his paw a little squeeze.
Alex turned to the rat. Something puzzling had just occurred to him. "One more question: Why didn't you just come in through the pipe that we fell down, instead of drilling?"
"Simple answer; we couldn't get to it from where we were." He shrugged.
The dog shouted down something that none of them understood and two harnesses on ropes came down the manhole. The rat strapped both of them in. "Did you know that this is the first time that anybody can remember when prey and predators have worked together on something like this? They were looking for Alex and we were looking for you, Sonya, and we all sort of met in the middle."
Alex was amazed to hear this. Maybe there was hope for the predator/prey relationship after all.
The harnesses pulled them up and up and finally out onto the street. Sonya took in her first breath of clean air. She looked around her and was astounded at what she saw. They were in the prey sector and hundreds of animals were all around them, prey on one side, predators on the other. Prey police had set up barricades around the predator crowd to keep them apart from the prey. The mood of the crowd was mostly one of baffled curiosity; wondering who, if anyone, would emerge from the sewer and what might happen with the two groups of animals, hardened enemies for generations, together in one place finally. Television cameras were sprinkled everywhere. Cameras flashed like tiny fireworks.
When the crowds saw Alex and Sonya come out they began clapping and cheering. Sonya looked into Alex's deep brown eyes. "We made it."
"We made it," Alex said back.
The rat and dog helped them to their feet. Alex heard his name being called. He turned around to see his parents, his grandparents, Sadie and many of his friends from school. He walked as fast as he could towards them. They desperately wanted to run to him despite the armed prey holding them back. Alex finally reached them and was swallowed up in an immense hug.
His mother was crying. She kissed him all over his face. "Oh, Alex! I thought I'd lost my beautiful boy forever!"
"It's so good to see you Mom, and Dad, and Grandma and Grandpa."
"Don't forget me, Bro!" Sadie said.
"How could I forget my big sister." He gave her an extra big hug. "Sorry about shutting you up in the closet the last time I saw you." He grinned in his foxy way.
She was crying tears of joy. "Like I could possibly care about that, now that I've got my little brother back from the dead."
Meanwhile, Sonya was being reunited with her family too. In the middle of a big hug from her father, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around.
"Sonya!" Melissa shouted with joy. She and Julie and Rachel all crowded around Sonya.
Sonya hugged them all. "I'm so happy to see you guys!"
"You're so skinny!" Julie said.
"How did you manage to survive so long down there with that fox?" Rachel asked. "Didn't he try to kill you all the time?"
"No, no it wasn't..." Sonya was cut off by Melissa.
"Sonya, I can't say how sorry I am. It was all my fault this happened. I laid in my bed each
night, crying myself to sleep, thinking that I was responsible for my best friend's death. I'm so glad that you're alive."
Sonya took Melissa's paws in hers. "I don't blame you for this, Melissa. This has turned out
to be one of the best experiences of my life."
"What!? You were stuck in a sewer with a monster! How can that be a good thing?"
Sonya was frustrated. She wanted so hard to get her friends to understand what had really happened. "Alex isn't a monster. He's..." She suddenly broke away from them and hobbled towards the predators.
Alex was at that very moment trying to explain to his parents and friends why he hadn't eaten Sonya the first chance he'd gotten. They didn't understand any more than Sonya's friends. Alex turned away from them and headed towards the crowd of prey.
Sonya saw Alex coming towards her. She managed to walk just a little faster, despite the screaming pain in her bones. Alex walked a little faster too.
They met in the middle of the gap between the prey and the predators. They embraced.
They kissed deeply. The crowd gasped in shock.
They stood there kissing for what seemed like days to them. No one in the entire crowd of hundreds spoke a word. Everything was silent. Sonya wished it could go on forever. The kiss was richer than any other they had ever had, because they were happy to be free and because they were happy that the prey and predators had managed to come together for their rescue, however cautiously. But they both knew that it was mostly because they wanted the world to see the love that could exist between two different species, regardless of what society dictated.
The silence was broken by the sound of one pair of paws clapping. Alex opened an eye and saw that it was his sister. 'Thank you Sadie,' he thought.
Soon, others began clapping. Within seconds, everyone there was applauding them. Sonya smiled as she recognized her friends' voices cheering in the crowd. Around the country, everyone watching the scene on TV was swept up in the exhilarating mood.
Alex and Sonya's kiss ended. The crowd was shouting and cheering all around them, but they didn't notice anything but each other. They looked deep into each other's eyes and could see all the way to the soul. "I love you, Sonya," Alex said breathlessly.
"I love you, Alex."
"This is so wonderful, Sonya. I'm not sure what's going to come from all this, but I know it has to be good."
"Your dream of predators and prey working out their problems is coming true."
"And we did it. We did it. Together."
"You know something else? I think everything that happened, happened for the best. Everything turned out well in the end."
"But it's not the end. It kinda sounds cliche, but this is only the beginning."
Sonya hugged Alex tighter. Two prey paramedics came up to them and tapped Sonya on the shoulder. "Miss, we're going to take you to the hospital for treatment. We'll get you some food and rest. Say goodbye to your friend now."
Another paramedic, a cat, walked up behind Alex. Alex let go of Sonya, but still held her paws. "Goodbye, my love."
"Goodbye, Alex."
"Why don't I just come with you?"
She could sense his wanting to stay with her as clear as anything. "I don't think they'd be able to treat you in a prey hospital. They wouldn't have anything to feed you."
Alex smiled bittersweetly. "There you go, always being right again."
"How about that goodbye kiss you promised me a few days ago?"
He tenderly ruffled Sonya's fur. "Only without the unpleasantness of eating you afterwards." He grabbed Sonya in his arms. He wanted to dip her, like he saw in the movies, but he knew he was much too weak. "I shall see you soon, my love." And they kissed again.
With their goodbyes said, the cat paramedic took Alex's arm and led him to a stretcher. Alex laid down on it and another paramedic strapped him in snugly. It was the most comfortable thing he had laid on in a month, excluding Sonya's lap. As they pushed the stretcher into the ambulance, Alex could see two other paramedics doing the same to Sonya. He could also see his and Sonya's families coming together and introducing themselves. He smiled with deep satisfaction. Everything really was turning out for the best.
The door closed and the ambulance siren sounded. The vehicle nudged its way through the immense crowd and began the long drive back to the predator sector's only hospital. Alex laid back and closed his eyes. His pain was finally at an end.
'What's going to happen next?' He thought over and over in his mind. 'Could we ever resolve our differences with the prey? We have to eat and that won't change. Can we exist peacefully alongside them while still gobbling them up all the time?'
Alex opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling of the ambulance. The cat paramedic was removing Sonya's makeshift bandage and tending to Alex's cut. Alex's attention was momentarily diverted by a stinging sensation coming from his leg, but his mind quickly came back to his thoughts. 'Then again,' he realized, 'there is still far to go.' He had seen the cat paramedic's cruel glare at Sonya, the harsh grip he had used when strapping Alex in. Barely veiled bigotry coming from him was plainly obvious. And he was just one of many. How many others would resist Alex and Sonya's love and whatever results it would have on the world? Alex cringed in terror. 'Have I unintentionally started yet another war?' he thought.
Everything in the future was so confusing and unclear. Alex was a deep thinker but his thoughts weren't working like he wanted them to. He wanted it to all make sense, to all come together in his mind, but it just wouldn't. His big life-changing ordeal was finally over. He felt he should be having some sort of major revelation. All he truly felt though, was a vague sense of uncertainty and happiness.
'Maybe it's better this way,' he thought. 'I think too much. I'll rest now and save my pondering for later. I'll certainly have plenty of time for that while I'm recuperating.' He sighed and closed his eyes again. He saw images of Sonya.
Then Alex drifted off into the first truly peaceful sleep he'd had in years.
---The end---
Alex R.
04/10/99
