It was true. Bat was dead. Turns out, the pressure that Panther put on his neck while we were all struggling suffocated him.
“Jesus Christ…” Red Panda backed away from the scene.
I backed up with him with Butterfly’s hand still gripping my shoulder.
“W-We killed him…” Wolf gasped.
I turned to look at Duck. She was silent, like usual. But it was more of an empty silence than anything. She shook her head and bent down next to her dead lover. She gave him a quick kiss on the back of his head and closed her eyes.
“Goodnight, my love.” Duck whispered to herself. We all looked at each other and frowned.
“I know where to take him. I believe you all should”, Duck stopped in the middle of her sentence to breathe. Now that she spoke, we all realized she had a slight stutter to her voice, “take...whatever is left of Bear to a safe place too. Please be careful when you go look for him.” And with that, she picked Bat up bridal-style and carried him into the forest.
We all stood silently for about a minute before Owl spoke.
“Come on, everyone. Go get Bear. Panther, I believe we need to talk?” She put her hand on Panther’s shoulder. Panther held her hand softly and stood up. The two walked to their tent. As they walked away, I could spot a tear roll down Panther's face. I could see the true pain in her eyes.
“Let’s go.” Red Panda grunted before walking into the forest. Butterfly, Axolotl, and Spider followed. Spider’s hands were together and his fingers were intertwined. He mumbled a prayer under his breath.
Wolf and I were the only ones who stood next to the campfire.
“Can you believe this? What just happened?” Wolf had her hand over her eyes.
“I don't. But, I think we need to do something.” I walked over to her.
“Like what? I have no idea what we need to do now. Usually, I know just what to do. But...I have no idea. Absolutely nothing.” Her voice quivered slightly as she spoke.
“Maybe we should rest? Sometimes you just need to sleep for a moment before making another move.” I suggested. She nodded and walked to our tent and got inside.
Now, there was only me. I was the only one there. I looked up at the orange sky and sighed. Absolute silence filled my ears. Well, it wasn't completely silent. I could hear the wind flowing through the bushes and trees.
Suddenly, a white tissue covered my mouth. I took a deep breath and clawed at the hand holding the cloth against my face. I could feel myself drifting off and began to yell and kick. But my efforts failed me and drifted off to sleep.
I woke up in a dark room.
“Heh, I'm getting a bit of Deja Vu.” I laughed to myself as I tried to get up. I then realized that I was tied to a chair.
“Damn it, who did this…?” I asked the darkness. Luckily, I got an answer.
“I did this. Nice to meet you, Reese or should I say, Peacock.”
“Who are you? Wait, your voice is familiar…” I began to think of where I heard this man’s voice from.
“You may know me from when you started. When you got here.” The voice responded. And then I figured it out.
“The Announcer! It’s you! But...a lot closer!” I exclaimed.
“Yes. It is I. But now that you know it’s me, don’t you have anything to ask me?” The Announcer asked. I could hear the sound of footsteps getting louder as if he was coming closer to me.
“Where are we? What are we doing here, actually? The real reason! And what is the Kujuko Gala?” I questioned until the footsteps suddenly stopped.
“Kujuko Gala? Where did you hear bout’ that from?” The footsteps continued, but softer this time.
“Well...I can’t exactly tell you.” I mumbled.
Then, the man appeared in front of me. He was tall with chestnut-colored skin and freckles around his nose and cheeks. He had wavy brown hair and blue ends. He wore a white lab coat with black pants and shoes.
“Are you sure you can’t tell me, Peacock? Or maybe it’s just that you don’t want to.” He walked closer, one of his eyebrows raised. I turned my head away so he wouldn’t see the obvious blush on my cheeks.
“Hm? Are you going to respond, Peacock? Am I going to have to...make you speak for me?” He sounded flirtatious but incredibly threatening. When I looked back up, his face was close to mine. About an inch away if I had to guess.
“No...I just…” I mumbled.
“Come on, Peacock. I just want to know where you found this out from.”
“I can tell you. But you have to promise not to hurt the others. Please. I don’t think they can take any more heartbreak…” I pleaded with him with a frown. He sighed and nodded.
“Good. Then, I’ll tell you”, I took a breath before I continued, “My friends and I went to this facility deep in the forest. When we snuck inside, we found some rooms. My friend Butterfly and I found an office and when we looked at the papers on the desk, it talked about the Kujuko Gala. We assumed it was some government experiment so we just left the papers there since that kind of thing is pretty normal nowadays and-”
“Okay, calm down, Peacock. I get it now.” He chuckled.
“So, does that have anything to do with us?” I asked.
“Well, maybe. I don’t know.” He then looked at his watch.
“Oh! Time for you to go back. Can’t have my boss find out that you’re here.” He winked at me and grabbed a tissue from his pocket.
“Wait! What is your name? I want to know.”
Before placing the tissue to my mouth, he grinned and whispered, “Lawrence but people call me Lars”.
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