Chapter Text
They had eaten their first, second, and third meals since waking about 12 hours ago, each one containing a ridiculous portion size of porridge and some unidentified vegetable (they would say carrot if it wasn’t for the fact that it made them want to hurl). If they didn’t know any better, though, they would say they hadn’t eaten anything. Their stomach practically roared in starvation, and they winced every time it did. Thankfully, it hadn’t rumbled around any of the nurses or Barney yet (which was an insane feat considering Barney was almost always in the room) so nobody had commented on it.
It felt…weird.
They had eaten so, so much and they were still fucking hungry.
This was the kind of greed that Beau would have made fun of them for, except usually, Beau was the one who ate disproportionately large amounts of food. Not them.
Right now, Barney was outside arguing with someone over the phone. Who, they weren’t really sure, but the emptiness in the room gave them some space to think. Really think, not just the little moments they caught in between the nurses, Barney, and focusing on their own growing hunger.
In this moment, they decided they’d try and sort out their thoughts, see if they could recover any other memories.
First, they thought of Rose.
She was…kind. Quiet. When picturing her face—sleek black fur, elegant yellow eyes, soft lips—they felt a kind of admiration. Awe, even. But also…guilt. Lots of guilt. Any attempt to try and think about what they themself could have done to warrant feeling such immense guilt would immediately be blocked by the realization that they weren’t really sure what their own relationship to her was.
Sure, they held some fondness for her, even a suspiciously clear memory of how her lips felt on theirs, their bodies intertwined, but…there wasn’t anything else. She hadn’t returned after pulling Barney out to talk to him about something, and they had spoken in such a volume that they couldn’t make out a single word of theirs through the door.
She…also hadn’t been there when they’d woken up at first.
Obviously everybody had their own lives, but if they were together, wouldn’t she have been there the whole time? Something in them told themself that, no, she would not have been even if they were.
Okay, so…definitely not a romantic relationship. Friends, then?
The term felt wrong in their thoughts, almost like trying to label a piece of lettuce a fruit.
Mulling it over, they thought of exes (which wouldn’t make sense, why was she still there then?), coworkers (wayyyy too close to even consider that), and literally anything else under the sun. Nothing felt…right.
They sighed deeply, imagining all of their worries exiting with the air from their lungs.
Lord that kitty was confusing.
(They ignored the flash of her bare neck, a partially unbuttoned top, and the feeling of their mouth where it probably shouldn’t be on a coworker, the sheer contentment they recalled from whatever the fuck had happened.)
They decided to leave Rose as ‘conundrum’, not quite friends but not quite lovers, either. Friends with benefits? Friends with benefits, even if that still sounded very, very wrong.
Then, they thought of Barney.
Again, there were mixed feelings, except this time, the negative outweighed the positive feelings. A pang of guilt associated this realization, as he had been there for practically every moment Coco had been out (according to Maya, at least). Not only that, but they still felt a general fondness for him, tainted by…something. Fear? Nervousness? Anger?
They were really, really scared about what could have possibly shaken their relationship like that.
Barney and Coco had always been closer to each other than the rest of their siblings, always a dynamic duo no matter how much one fucked up the other, no matter the physical harm, because they knew each others’ limits, knew and would overstep but then later forgive and forget because that’s just…who they were.
Barney and Coco, always together, always best-friends because they had learned each others’ quirks in a way no one else understood, practically shared the same brain cells for fuck’s sake.
A loud shout came from outside (not Barney, it wasn’t raspy enough), and they leaned back against the bed, imagining themself sinking deep into the mattress and never reemerging. It would be nice to do that. Really nice. Maybe the oxygen deprivation of suffocating themself in a pillow would force their memories back.
Their clearest, most recent memory of them packing the car with theirs and Barney’s stuff to head off to college, called to them.
What happened there?
It was…hard to describe what they really remembered. What came up when they thought of Barney.
Of course there were the normal, usual childhood to high school things, but there was also…blood. A lot of blood. A bedroom that wasn’t theirs, a bunch of people that they had never met before, something about that. Something about college, finishing it, and then…cutting him off. Cutting Barney off.
Why would they do that?
They swallowed thickly, willing the distorted memory away. They didn’t want to think about that. Not now.
So, their thoughts turned to Mama.
…
Nothing.
Nothing new, at least.
They felt something crack in their stomach, something sick and evil oozing out of it.
They turned their thoughts to their siblings. Lou, Lucie, Beau.
…
…the exact same thing. That same empty feeling.
Nothing new had happened since their last memory of them.
With everything going on, they had thought about this gap, of course, but they had tucked it neatly aside in a corner of their mind labelled “deal with later” that was practically overflowing with things. Barney’s deeper voice, his mellowing out, the fucking blood on the walls that was apparently sitting in a bag right fucking next to them, the absence of basically everyone and everything they knew…
God they were so confused and nobody was fucking helping.
The Barney they knew would have told them if something happened to everyone. Right? He was a liar, a cheat, and a fraud, but he never lied to Coco about anything that important. Right?
Their heart stopped as that thought made them feel like it was ironic, somehow. Opening their eyes, they scanned the room blankly, blinking even though nothing even made a difference, anymore.
What were Rose and Barney hiding from them? Why was it such a damn big deal?
A memory suddenly flashed before their eyes, of Mama before patting their back and sending them her best wishes.
“Watch out for anomalies, my honey. They’re more common in cities, ya know.”
All of a sudden, it was like a flood gate opened, and their vision came back, but only as they immersed themself in the flood of recovering memories.
They were nervous. Barney had gone to a party at some sorority a few days ago and never came back, which was normal, but he usually at least sent a text.
Their phone hadn’t lit up since Barney had called asking them for coffee right after leaving the party. The fridge, dwindling on supplies since Mama’s last visit, had a full vat of coffee in it, three days old.
None of their calls had gone through, and they had tried their best to put Barney out of their mind and focus on their studies. They had been the sibling sent to college for a reason, after all, their place as first in class since kindergarten solidifying the idea that they would be the first.
A deep ache underneath their eyes had settled into eye bags that, concerningly enough, were becoming visible even underneath their fur.
They would never tell Barney, but they hadn’t been able to sleep without his loud ass snoring, the room too quiet and their thoughts too loud without Barney’s natural white noise.
Speaking of, somebody screamed outside of the room, somewhere further down the hallway. They ignored it. Probably some partygoer.
A yawn lightly left their throat, long and overcoming, as they stared at their computer screen. The words practically blended together, and they had no clue why the fuck they decided they’d go the medical route. Glancing at the side of their desk revealed a stack of papers, all due by their next class on Thursday. Technically that did give them four days, but if they had to deep-clean the dorm, do their laundry, buy groceries again….they groaned, putting their head into their hands.
They were so, so tired.
Their phone buzzed and they grabbed it quicker than they would like to admit. A rush of relief filled their stomach as they saw Barney’s familiar icon on it, then was quickly followed by confusion at the message.
whore: ols laeve dorm
whore: so hungry
They blinked then sighed. Three days without texts, and Barney’s only message was for a one night stand? They wished he’d answered their calls so they could slut-shame him as they usually did.
Another buzz, another text, and they glanced down, opening their phone.
whore: gogogoogogogo pls no time explan
whore: not good not good please run
whore: run
whore: run
whore: get out
whore: so hu
They looked at the text, then blinked. Tilted their head like it would change the English language or something. The fuck?
They began typing back, asking about what kind of fucking drug Barney took before a loud bang echoed from the door. They jumped, turning in their chair as keys jingled in the lock. Then, it slammed open, and the man himself stumbled in.
Except…he wasn’t himself.
Coco’s blood ran cold as their long-time friend, best-friend, the person they probably knew better than themself, stood slumped on the door, covered from head to toe in blood. His clothes were ragged, his hat hanging low on his head, obscuring his face.
He was breathing heavily, phone grasped in his hands like it pained him to do so, and Coco moved to stand up. A low hiss came from somewhere, and it took them a moment to realize it came from Barney.
And here Coco was, stuck on a chair, frozen by their muscles as they tried to find the source of the blood. Was he okay? What happened? What the actual fuck had happened?
His hat covered his eyes so Coco hadn’t noticed anything odd, but when he looked up, it was like time stopped.
Instead of the familiar wide brown eyes that they saw every single day since they were a child, they saw beady black eyes. Little bits of what looked like meat were hanging from Barney’s whiskers, and his teeth….oh God, his teeth.
They were long, sharp, and covered in green slime and blood.
Before they knew it, they were screaming, scrambling back from who had been their only friend for the longest time.
The chair clattered onto the floor, and they heard thuds, only to be slammed into the very same hardwood floor by the neck.
They couldn’t breathe. They couldn’t think. They couldn’t do anything through the overwhelming terror that overtook their body.
Their eyes unfocused, only to refocus onto what used to be their friend.
Spit dripped onto their chest, and they scrabbled uselessly at the hands wrapped around their throat, legs kicking against what seemed to be cement.
No.
No.
No.
They couldn’t die like this.
There was no way.
Loud coughing erupted from their throat as the hands released their airway, and they tried to turn only to get their shoulder pinned by Barney’s elbow. His other hand wrapped around Coco’s ears and yanked their head to the side, exposing their neck.
They struggled, noises leaving their mouth that they had never made before, sounding almost animalistic. Terrified.
Nothing they did could stop him.
Nothing they did protected them.
And then—they froze.
Barney’s mouth was opening. Wider than his mouth had ever opened in the years upon years that they had known him.
It revealed rows upon rows of teeth, teeth so sharp that Coco immediately knew that he could easily rip out the flesh from their throat.
Barney sat, pinning Coco to the ground, mouth wide open, and they closed their eyes, awaiting what they knew now was inevitable. They were going to die here. Eaten alive by their best friend.
Then, a sob.
Barney…was crying.
They opened their eye but immediately regretted it as they saw his mouth closer than it had been before, green spit dripping onto their chest, a little glint leaking from Barney’s mouth before an explosive pain erupted in their neck.
Everything was a blur after that, but the pain had almost made them pass out, screams and cries seemingly deafened by whatever deathly silence had overtaken the dorm rooms.
Eventually, they stopped struggling, and they could feel Barney’s teeth sliding out of their shoulder, the razor sharp edges grazing the tender flesh of their open wound.
They weren’t crying anymore. Matter of fact, they weren’t even thinking. Despite not moving, they were so, so light-headed. So light headed, in fact, they didn’t notice the loud crash of the window as Barney burst through it, barely recognizing the reaching of their hand as they looked for their phone, fallen somewhere on the floor, the loud pounding of footsteps as officers chased Barney.
They called Lou.
No one picked up.
They called Lucie.
No one picked up.
They called Beau.
No one picked up.
They called Mama.
Only her voicemail answered, and they sobbed even harder as they pressed the edge of their hoodie into the wide open wound on their neck. Distantly, they remembered that in their classes, pressure should be applied to stop bleeding. But would it work on their neck? Their artery, no less?
Mama’s voice was sweet, gentle, and balming, and their vision was fading, and maybe they were hallucinating but three other rabbits had now entered the dorm, grabbing them with gentle arms, cooing soothingly at them. One had a radio, saying something completely incoherent into it.
They were here! Except…they weren’t.
These rabbits were purple, black, and light grey. Not the pink, green, or blue that they had wanted.
Warm, strong arms wrapped around their body, and they were lifted slowly, and—shit! Their phone! It had dropped out of their blood stained hand, and they cried like a little baby as they were carried out of the dorm room, away from the fading voice of their mother, away from the puddle of their own blood that they had been lying in, into the hallway.
Desperately, they wanted to hear her say their name one more time.
A cramp seized their leg and they cried out again.
What…what was their name, again?
Everything hurt. Everything burned.
Were they in hell?
They had to be.
Their eyes drifted closed, barely processing the haunted look on the other rabbits’ faces, the even redder hallway filled with silhouettes of people they barely remembered, the unfamiliar tang of metal invading their nostrils, causing waves of nausea to roll through their stomach.
Behind their eyelids, they drifted off into darkness, not quite asleep but not quite awake, either. Cramps and burns randomly appearing throughout their whole body kept them in this in-between state, and it felt like there was something burning through their veins, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Everything shook, the warm arms still tight around their body, and the cramps lessened in intensity.
Were they slowing down?
They had to be.
And soon, the smell of blood stopped making them nauseous. Their stomach rumbled at the sharp odor.
The smell was making them hungry.
At least, that was the last thing they remembered thinking before the darkness overtook them, and their body shut down completely.