//------------------------------// // Caterpillar // Story: On The Run // by Sagami //------------------------------// “Fuck.” “FUCK” “Fuck… Fuck, fuck fuck...” “WE’RE SO FUCKED.” Sunset couldn’t think. Her brain was saturated. Her mind was scattered. Where was her attention? Someone, somebody please listen. Her grip on reality was getting weaker and weaker, with every step she made alongside Fluttershy. Her friend hadn’t noticed anything, with a phone either silent or out of battery. She had to tell her, she had to get it together, she had to do something sooner or later, walk faster, be stronger, get it together, get it together… “Everyone knows, everyone knows. The police is in CHS. All our friends know… but they don’t know… They don’t know… We can’t reach them, we can’t see them…” They couldn’t go back, only forward, deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. But on the other side wasn’t the Wonderland. Just an old camping site she could start to distinguish in the distance. No white rabbit, no singing flowers, no mad hatter. If she was lucky, she could always get high off something and pretend she is conversing with a blue caterpillar. “Is everything alright, Sunset?” No. Everything was not alright. It was far from alright. What kind of question was that anyway? Some stupid lazy way people have to say ‘Are you okay?’. Leave that to cheap novel writers, everything wasn’t ‘alright’. Nothing was alright. Why was she still thinking about this, it was just a question! And why was she thinking about the fact that it was just a question?! “Why?” “WHY?” “FUCKING WHY?!” “Sunset?” Wow. Back to reality. There goes the white rabbit. Her palms were sweaty, knees weak and arms heavy. There was sweat on her shirt already, in spite of the cold wind. She was still walking. Forward. Always. But Fluttershy was at her side, looking directly into her eyes. “...Oh my, what’s happening to you? You were completely lost in… your thoughts… And I don’t need your power to guess they were not the most pleasant ones…” Sunset looked at the pink-haired girl with confused eyes. Where were they going again? Oh that’s right, the camping area. Shit. She shook her head and smiled at Fluttershy, with incredible efforts to look calm and ready. On the surface. “Nah, I’m just a little tired from the bus… You know, public transportation always gives me a small headache so… no worries. I’m fine! Look! Aaaall good! And look, we can see our destination already!” “Yay…” Fluttershy answered with a relieved, yet nervous voice. “She’s not stupid. She knows something is up. I can’t hide everything from her. She has to know. She needs to know.” But she kept walking. And walking. And walking. Don’t say a word, don’t look around. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. No need to slow down, no need to stop. Just reach the camp, and try to figure out something. Anything. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Hope for the best. Hope for the best… Don’t slow down, you’re already late, so late… }--oO0Oo--{ “Good morning ladies!” “Hello!” “Hey…” “Welcome to Griffonstone camping site! How may I help you?” asked the the tall man with exceptionally long dark hair, falling on his shoulders like the leaves the girls could hear rubbing against the roof of the wooden cabin. “We are kind of lo-” “We are planning on coming here with friends in a few days.” Sunset interrupted, stopping Fluttershy from saying things she might regret later, “And we were hoping you could let us check out the site, to get an idea of what we could find here!” “Well it’s pretty chilly this week…” The man chuckled, “So we don’t have that many clients. I’m sure nobody would mind if you took a look around. Just… try not to disturb the campers, alrighty? It’s still pretty early.” “Alright, thanks.” Sunset answered abruptly, “Hey, can I grab a map?” “Sure… They’re free, so have at it!” “Thanks.” Take the map. Grab the bag. Open the door. “If you want, I can give you a tou-” SLAM “...’Kay.” “Sunset! You could be a little more polite with that man! He was so nice with us!” “We don’t have time to lose, Fluttershy… There, there are toilets. Wanna go?” “Uhm… sure…” The girl answered with a frowning pout. She was tired, so was Sunset. But time was running out on them. “I’ll try and find something to eat. Let’s meet here in five, okay?” “Fine for me.” And so she left, disappearing behind the shack wooden door, like the sun hiding behind the clouds. And now Sunset was alone again. She had to act : do something, anything. She had to be in charge, be responsible, she had dragged Fluttershy into this mess, now she had to keep her safe. Food. Shelter. How? Where? “Calm down, just calm down. For a second. Food’s easy. You have your credit card : use it.” She held that thought for a bit. “No, maybe not, what if they track it? What then?” There. An ATM. Here, in the almost-middle-of-nowhere. Praise capitalism. Just one cashout, and she’ll be good. Even if they do track it, it wouldn’t matter. And it was better than nothing. She marched towards the machine, located just outside the small souvenir shop, and proceeded to grab as many bills as she could. Two hundreds. That would have to do for now. “Alright, decent. Now to buy food. Poor Flutter, she must be hungry… See, what does she like most…” She entered the shop, waving politely but discreetly at the middle-aged woman at the desk, and wondered between the rows for a few minutes before grabbing a few products: sliced bread, chocolate, beef jerky, canned beans,... Enough for a few days. Maybe. If they were reasonable. But in their situation, reason wasn’t of question, out of vision, not even a suggestion. And just like the rabbits she saw passing by the camping site through the window, they were out of time. “Sunset?” Fluttershy had just entered the shop, bag in hand and looking slightly more refreshed after this quick break. She came to Sunset’s side as the crimson-haired girl grabbed her bag of products to offer assistance. “Hey Fluttershy… No, it’s okay, it’s only one bag… Here, got you this.” The girl’s eyes widened as she noticed what her friend was holding : “Oh! Nougat! Sunset, you’re the sweetest! I don’t think I deserve thi!” “...Of course you do! After all this, you’ve earned some nice sugar-heavy delicacy!  Enjoy your ectomorphism, lucky you!” She chuckled as she watched Fluttershy devour the treat, with even more pleasure in her eyes than that time when she saved a seagull with a broken wing. Pleasure was a rare resource now, they had to relish it. “Didn’t think I’d even come to contemplate the setting… Yet here we are. This place is… surprisingly peaceful.” Her surroundings contrasted heavily with the need she had to hide, to run, to protect her friend and herself. It was true what they said, some places, some sensations, some… moments… really can make one reconsider its whole life. Well, maybe not life, more her situation, her past day. But being really honest with herself, she didn’t need anything other than two intact brain cells to reconsider the past twenty-four hours. But this… this was good. An escape, a break, a time out. Not only did it feel good, it felt… deserved. “Hello Mr. Whiskers! Look how cute you are!” Sunset looked at Fluttershy, crouched on the ground, with a small grey rodent sitting in the palm of her hand, nibbling on a tiny piece of sugar. She looked… happy, still. Maybe it was the forest, the wild life. She did seem better now that they were far from the city, far from the danger. “Really makes you think, uh?” She took a small portion of dark chocolate, biting the corners before attacking the center, back laid against the wall, eyes wandering into the distance. Maybe it wasn’t all dark. Maybe there was some good in all this madness. But all good things come to an end, eventually. In that case, the end’s name was Silky Winds. Silky is married, two kids, a boy and a girl, who run around, scream and annoy neighbors all day long. She likes to eat, she likes to sing, and she is a good citizen. The kind of citizen who’d notify the police if she ever saw two wanted fugitives she had heard about on her miniature TV about an hour ago. Two girls… So young… Young but deadly apparently. Never trust facades. She should’ve known that before marrying her husband. Deep down, she felt guilty calling the police on these two girls. But she was a good citizen. Sunset could hear the tires. She could see the blue lights. They were coming. Coming for them, coming at them. Someone had tipped the police off, and now here they were. How could she have been so stupid?! Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong! “Sunset, what’s happening?” “We need to go.” The back door. Perfect. The owner couldn’t see them. Slowly but surely, the headed towards the exit, so close yet so far away. Closer… closer… Out they were. The police cars had stopped at the entrance of the camping, probably asking questions to the man from earlier. Were they all up there? “Freeze!” No they were not. “Holy fuck…” “Nooo!” Fluttershy screamed. A young man in blue was facing them, standing between the girls and the woods. Gun still in holster, but hand on gun. Don’t move an inch, don’t breathe a word. “Mister…” Fluttershy started, much at Sunset’s surprise, “We-” “Now you listen to me! We’re going to wait here, nice and steady, alright?” “But we-” “Young lady, you have the right to remain silent! I strongly suggest you use it!” Fluttershy sighed. Then she touched her necklace, and whispered, just loud enough so that Sunset could hear : “Please help us… Someone…” “Hands in the air! Don’t force me to pull out my gu-” Before he finished his sentence, help came, in the form of dozens of squirrels, mice and nutrias, climbing on the policeman’s legs, scratching his pants, gloves and belt. Not hurting him in the slightest, but surely as hell scaring him. Ironically, he was the first to run away. But he would be back. With others. “Fluttershy, is he alright?!” “Oh my, I certainly hope so, When I touched my necklace, I was just asking for a distraction…” Sunset wondered how close this just had been. Was escaping the police a second time a good thing? Or not? Didn’t matter, they had to go. Now. Now. “NOW!” Bells in her head, they don’t ring by themselves, and the bell ringer was right : “Run.” And they ran. Into the woods. Deep, deep, into their own twisted Wonderland.