Run Rabbit Run

Chapter Three

Amazing fanart from @924.exe on tiktok

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I felt my heart race. Whatever or whoever took her must've been incredibly fast or great at hiding because I couldn't see anything. I only followed the sound of twigs snapping and leaves crunching. The sound only grew farther, tears filling the corners of my eyes as I desperately tried not to cry. Before I knew it, I was at the gate of a city.

I quickly whipped my eyes and looked at the city, seeing if they were prey or predator. It was a town full of cats. A cat took my sister. She's dead. She's so dead. I'm never going to see my sister again, some filthy cat got her. I sucked in my breath and retreated into the forest, watching the city from afar so no one would see me.

After thinking long and hard, I turned and walked away from the city. What did you expect me to do? Go charging in just for my sister? No way.

I walked through the forest, keeping my hand close to the knife in my pocket. I avoided standing on any sticks or leaves and slowly emerged from the forest to the road. I started jogging, the handle of the knife slightly poking my side. I ran to the fish city. I stood at the gate, panting, and slightly sweaty.  I looked at a lady and called out to her.

"M-Ma'am!! Please, can you get me... um-" I thought for a moment. "What was his name..?" I thought to myself. "Ben! Benedict!!.." The girl was gone. I couldn't just walk into some other prey's city without permission or the proper papers. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I slowly dropped to the floor, crying.

"Did someone call my-" The familiar feminine voice called. I looked up. The fish ran towards me. "What's wrong? Why are you back here? Where's your sister?!"

"Th-they took her! A cat took her!" I sobbed. His eyes widened. "You- you said you had a friend- a cat friend-" He nodded.

"Yes- they can help us get your sister! She lives in the city down there," he pointed down the road. "Now please just try and calm down." I nodded toward him and tried to steady my breathing. I slowly stood and whipped my eyes, my ears down and pressed against the back of my head. "I'm going to tell my mother, I'll be right back."

After a while, we were on the road. He was on his phone, texting his friend. We were there within a few more minutes, at least five cats were at the gate, 'catcalling' us.

"Ooh~ a fishy and a bunny? A whole meal!"

"Why don't you two come for dinner?~"

"You two look tasty~"

Before any of them could say anything more, a cat with curly short blonde hair and freckles pushed past them all. The cat wore a black scarf and red under armor with fishnet sleeves and black jeans.

"Beat it pussycats! They're mine!" I was already shaking that so many cats were fawning over us, but no someone was calling dibs? are we going to die?

"Zukoh!" The fish walked to the gate, holding my wrist. The cat looked down at me as if I were just another cat from the same litter.

"Are you the bunny who's sister got cat-napped?" I nodded up at them, staying silent. "Alright- wait for a second!" The feline reached into their pocket, pulling out a key-card and unlocking the cities front gate with one swipe.

"How come predators always have better security systems than us prey? Isn't that a bit animal-ist?" I questioned to myself as I watched the cat push open the gate for us.

"I think it's because of the... 'rumors'," Ben spoke.

"Oh, right. The drug dealers..." I brushed it off, not wanting to think about it. I eyed the cat and what of the city I could see before I walked inside with Ben.

"Get between us, you're smaller so you'd be safer in the middle." 'Zukoh' spoke to me as Ben walked to my right, Zukoh already being on my left.

"Not like I really have a choice." I huffed a bit. We walked through the town, cats eyeing us and whispering.

"That weird vegetarian has a bunny friend too? They probably won't let us eat him either!"

My ears perked at the whispering. I turned my head and looked at Zukoh. "You're vegetarian?" They looked down at me and nodded.

"I don't think me and Ben would be friends if I wasn't." They joked. The cat turned their gaze back forward. "So, did you see the cat that took your sister?" I thought for a moment before I spoke.

"Well... no. I honestly don't know if a cat took her.. all I know is that the footsteps lead me here, to this town." I looked at the road as we walked.

"Well- shes probably screaming from someone's house or something! She was loud when I first met her." Ben spoke up. I shivered at the thought of my little sister in some feline's basement screaming and tied up.

"Let's just hope shes not hurt..." I whispered.

"Was there any noises or anything that the kidnapper dropped?" Zukoh spoke. We approached a small yellow house. They opened the door and got me and Ben inside before coming inside themselves.

"Well, all I heard were twigs snapping and leaves crunching while I was running, and I didn't see anything being dropped." The two sat down at an oak table with a white-knit tablecloth. I sat next to Ben and looked at them.

"Well, we have three suspects." Zukoh tapped their chin then stood, walking into a different room before coming back with a single photograph. They set it on the table. The photo had Zukoh and two other cats, one was a slick-furred orange and black cat with blue eyes and the other was a fluffy black cat with one yellow eye and one dark brown eye. Zukoh pointed to the fluffy black cat. "That is my best cat friend, her name is Marnie-Mae, but we just call her Mae for short." Zukoh leaned back and spoke. "She only eats fish, bunnies, and bats. She is silent and slick though she sheds a lot, so I doubt that she would snap on twigs..." They leaned forward once more. "I don't have pictures of the other two, but next suspect is Yammi, he's a clumsy orange cat and we aren't that close, but he has a terrible sense of smell and wouldn't randomly leave the city to go hunting, plus, he'd probably be all over 'AnimaliaGram' about his new catch by now, and I haven't received any notifications." They pulled their phone out of their pocket and tapped on it a few times before just simply saying, "Nope." Zukoh then proceeded to put their phone on the table.

"And the last suspect?" I and ben spoke together.

"His name is Woody,  but he's blind and doesn't hunt and almost never leaves the city, though he does have a good nose and can smell a bunny from a mile away." Zukoh huffed.

"This makes no sense... I don't think any of them could've done it.." Ben mumbled.

"Well, we need to find out! I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing while someone could be hurting my sister! Let's interrogate some people!" I was practically steaming as I stood.

"Hold on! I can't just walk around with a fish and bunny, it'll look like I'm trying to sell you guys to the highest bidder!" Zukoh spoke, standing with me as Ben stayed still. "Okay... you two sit down, I'll go out and talk to them, nothing will happen to you from inside my house so there's no need to worry." I and Ben shared a look before we nodded to Zukoh. "Great! I'll be back!" They turned and walked to the door. They stepped out and locked the door from the outside.

About two hours later, the door unlocked and Zukoh came sulking in. They closed the door and went back to their previous seat and both me and Ben looked at them worriedly.

"What happened?" Ben spoke and fiddled with his fingers nervously as he hunched forward over the table.

"None of them said they did it and they had undeniable proof." Zukoh sighed and held their jaw in their hands as their elbows laid on the table.

"It doesn't make sense.." Ben mumbled. We all stayed quiet for a few minutes before It hit me. I let out a dramatic gasp as my ears tensed.

"What?? What is it???" Zukoh let go of their head and looked at me, their tail swished behind them in curiosity.

"What if it was a two-person job?"