Callie Awakens

Originally posted 2 August, 1997. This takes after One Warren, One Fight and springboards-off of Bryan Hall's The Reconstruction. Volo Bog characters in this story were used with his permission.

© 1997 by Scott Bernier and Bryan Hall.
First HTML-ized by Scott Bernier, 20 August, 1997.

>     As Perl and Brightspot hopped off to get some food, Orchid
>(Fluffed) happily. "You know, " he said to Callie, who was still out
>cold, "the Mentat is adapting to bunny life far better than I'd thought
>he would." He checked the IV's on Callie, and continued.  "See, when he
>first came here, after Sunfall died, I was worried that he'd not adjust
>at all, and misinterpret everything.  Bunny life is a lot different than
>human life, and there's the potential for some nasty misunderstandings.
>But I don't think there's much call to worry now. He seems to
>understand Perl well enough. (GigglePoof)."

Callie stirred and mumbled something. Orchid twitched his left ear and kept still. She stirred again.

"NURSE!"

Callie's eyes snapped wide-open, fear-filled. She tried to stir, but couldn't because of the restraints.

(restrainedpanicfluff) "Where am I? How come I can't move? Let me go!" She struggled as Orchid tried to calm her as nursebuns rushed over.

(calmreassuringfluff) "You're safe, Callie. Thanks to you, we're all safe."

"But, but..."

(hushfluff) "Everything will be alright. You've got to relax, Callie. Or" (sternfluff) Orchid stared at Callie's wound as Callie's attempts to move under the restraints caused the stitches to stretch. "I might have to restitch your wound."

Callie looked about, breathing rapidly, taking in her surroundings. The fear slowly left her eyes. And the tension in her body relaxed slightly. She looked at Orchid.

"You're a medbun?"

"Yes, Callie, I'm Orchid..."

Callie's eyes shot wide-open as memories came flashing back. "The Bad Buns!" She struggled some more. A nursebun rushed over with a tranquilizer. "Let me go! I've got to stop the Bad Buns! They're hurting the kits!"

Orchid paw-waved the nursebun to hold-off. "Callie, the bad buns are gone." He stated calmly. "You stopped them, Callie. You saved us. Relax, we're all safe now."

Callie looked at Orchid again. "Where's Smudge...and...and Treehugger.... and...and..Stekman?"

Orchid nodded and the nursebuns turned Callie's bed about so she could see Smudge lying on a small incubator like hers nearby.

"Treerunner is very busy at the moment. I'll have him visit you later. Smudge will be alright, but he hasn't awakened yet, Callie. As for Steekman.." he paused.

Tears filled Callie's eyes. "nnnoo..." she whimpered.

Orchid comforted her. "We don't know what happened to Steekman. He disappeared in the fight."

"The...the Bad Buns got him, didn't they?" Though she was as large as a full-grown bun, being a convert, Callie suddenly looked very, very small. (whimperfluff)

Orchid hugged her. "I hope not, Callie. We could use his help here." He gently let her go. "You need to rest now." He paw-waved the nursebun with the tranquilizer over and she administered the drug.

(yawnfluff) Callie tried to fight-off sleepiness. "Maybe we can send him a message on a 'puter later..." she whispered as she drifted-off into sleep.

A week went by quickly and Callie was up and about, but she still had to take things easy for the injury had not yet completely healed. Orchid explained she would have to go to kit school soon so that she could adjust to life in the warren. He also promised her that once the warren was repaired that the other buns and squirrels would try and help her search for her parents. At the moment she was finishing her therapy session, to stretch her muscles around the wound without causing further injury to the wound.

"When can I send a message to Stekman, Orchid?" (pleadfluff)

(sighfluff) "Callie, dear, the bad buns damaged the warren then I wanted to tell you. Our computer system no longer works." (hopefulfluff) "in another week or two we'll have it fixed."

(scuffpaw) "What if I used my computer?"

Orchid was taken aback. "You have a computer?"

"Well..." (bigbambieyesmorepawscuffing) "I borrowed it from one of the bunnymovers. It was in my backpack just before the fight..."

Orchid placed a call, her backpack was retrieved from the nursary where it had lain forgotten since the battle. Two squirrel guards thoroughly checking it before bringing it to Orchid. He in turn removed a small, beat-up palmtop.

(dismaypoofle) "I hope it still works," Callie admonished.

She openned it up and it booted-up, but the screen was semi-snowy. She started tapping away, having a few problems typing with her claw-tips.

(sighfluff) "Will I ever get use to claws rather than fingers?" she asked no one as she typed away. As she typed-out the message, her eyes filled with tears and she sobbed, finally, pressing the send key, and then breaking-out into open bawling. Her claw-tips brushed-over a combination of the CTRL, F1, and D keys at the same time as she curled-up away from the palmtop, crying. Almost instantly, the computer began to smoke.

Orchid quickly scooped Callie-up and away from the self-destructing computer as the squirrels rushed forward with fire extinguishers as the palmtop burst into flames. Callie nuzzled into him, crying and choking-out words in between sobs.

"I didn't" (sob) "mean to kill them..." (sobwhimper) "I've become a bad bun..." (gasp) "I only wanted to stop them...not kill..." The rest was lost as she burried her muzzle into Orchid's fur. He comforted her for an hour until she fell asleep, then he laid her to rest in a sleeping nest and kept an eye on her the rest of the evening and through that night, leaving a request for a councilor bun to be ready to talk to Callie when she awaken.

WIDEBEAM INITIATED

(static)

Stekman! Where are you? We're all worried about you. We don't know what happened after the Bad Fudds and Buns attacked (static). (worriedfluff) I hope they didn't get you! I don't know how long I'll be able to talk, dis 'puter is not working well. (poutfluff)

(pleadfluff) Please Stekman, please reply! The other nice bunnies and squirrels here need your help, Stekman. The Bad Fudds and Bunnies damaged so much. And...and (sob) they killed kits and pregnant does...and...and...they hurt Smudge. Smudge tried to protect me when (whimper) a Bad Fudd hurt him. (static) hasn't woken-up yet. So...so, if Smudge's warren can see this, he's...he's injured but he'll recover or so Orchid, the nice medbun here at VoloBog Warren, assures me. He'll be home as soon as he heals.

Stekman, I miss you so much. You(static) a hero here. Without your help those Bad Fudds and Buns would have won (STOMP!). But your fixing of the radio saved the day, Stekman. Please come home, Stekman, we need you.

(sighfluff) I can't get the other buns that had been in the nursery that day to stop calling me (static) Avenging Angel of Frith (whimper) I didn't mean to do it! I didn't! I just wanted to stop them from hurting the kits and does...(sob) I didn't mean to kill th(Static) Bad Fudds and Bad Buns. I just wanted to stop them, Stekman...(bigtearfilledBambieyes) why? why? why? Why did they have to die? Why did I have to kill them? (sobsniffletearsbegintoflow) When does the hurting stop? Why couldn't I have just stopped them? Why did the Bad Buns I ran away from force me to learn how to do these bad things? And why (sob) did I (sob) have to put it (whimperwipemuzzle) to use....(opencrying)

Callie
(static)END CARRIER

Lt McMalley sat back from the pile of paperwork he had just had to deal with on his desk at NoCO. He was worried about several things. But the top of the list was the VoloBog situation. His intercom beeped.

"Yes?"

"LT, sir! Incoming message on priority channel--for your eyes only, sir."

"Send it through to my terminal, Crpl."

"Yes, sir!"

McMalley moved the mouse to disengage the *POP*ping bunny-head screen saver and typed in his access code.

*****BUNNYSTUMPER DELUXE TIGHTBEAM*****
AUTOMATED TIGHTBEAM TO LT MCMALLEY, AoF SPY DIVISION, NoCO

If you are reading this, then I have successfully infiltrated VoloBog Warren, but must self-destruct my pc to prevent those in the warren from suspecting what I really am. Will follow normal procedures until I can reestablish a secure channel.

Field Agent Callie
Spy Division, Army of Fudd
*****END MESSAGE AND ENCRYPTION*****

McMalley sat back with a minor sigh of relief. She survived the attack and was a month overdue on her first report. But she was alive. He got back to work filing new forms dealing with the new information and ordered the Crpl under him to pay close attention to the newsgroup, concerning VoloBog and any broadcasts from Callie until further notice. He also made note that no one outside of NoCO top brass and his division (as was standard procedure) was to know that Callie was a spy. Not even his agent in the field in IL, what was his name...Stickney, nor "Callie's" parents.

Author's note: Yes, it was my and Bryan's intentions all along for Callie to be a Fudd plant at Volo Bog. I hope you enjoyed the story up through now and enjoy Callie's future adventures at Volo Bog.