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Wile E slowly opened his eyes to a white room and a barred door. Wait-What? White room? Barred door? No, no, this can’t be right. He was supposed to be home, back in Albuquerque, not here! He sniffed the air around him, it smelled like nothing to him. He turned his ears to whatever noises that could provide him with a clue. He heard voices from two people: yes! Success! “He was very elusive, we thought the anvils would be enough to slow him down; but I had to pick up the road and make a truck flip over on top of him.” Talon, one of the agents of ACME told to another agent. Wile E’s ears drooped down suddenly, he’s in ACME, he’s in a cell in ACME’s basement where all of their abusive tests were conducted on toons! Horrible tests that benefitted nobody but the humans.
He slammed his shoulder into the barred door, hoping desperately that by some cartoon miracle, it’d work. However, it didn’t, so he kept trying. He bashed into it again and again until a sudden jolt of electricity struck him. He yelped, flinching back from the door when his eyes laid upon another ACME worker with an electrified baton. He curled his snout, snarling and growling. If he didn’t have a limited number of signs, he’d write out a novel of curse words just for them. The guard shocked him again, another yelp followed by more snarling. He was shocked repeatedly until he collapsed to the ground; but before he fell into an unconscious slumber, he let out one continuous howl, a final cry for help while his mind and body slowly gave out.
….
‘You’re never gonna catch him!’ Kevin’s mind played back to those final words, the final sentence that made Wile E walk away. He should’ve told him the truth long ago, he shouldn’t have made an empty promise that the Road Runner was going to show up in court. They were supposed to be going to DC for the final trial, but with Wile E still gone, that plan was out the window. He rubbed his hands along his face, sighing to himself. He should at least shower and at least try to look more alive today. So he did, he showered, changed into another brown suit (the only difference is that this is a more lighter-brown suit), grabbed his case, and left his motel room and locked the door behind him.
Wile E is probably back by now, he thought to himself while knocking on the door. “Come on Wile E, you need to get up, we’re going to miss the flight.” No answer, not even another boxing glove trap that was supposed to launch him into the pool. He knocked harder, “are you sulking in there? Wile E, we don’t have time for this, you can sulk on the plane; but Road Runner is still not attending the trial.” Still more silence. Okay so either he’s a professional at holding a grudge or something is terribly wrong. He started banging on the door, practically screaming at it for Wile E to answer him until he was stopped when the motel’s manager told him to keep it down.
Now something is wrong, his inner voice said. Find Wile E as fast as you can and bring him back. Kevin nodded to himself as he dashed downstairs to the parking lot. After both his cars were destroyed, one by a falling piano and the other was blown up by one of Wile E’s rockets going rogue, his bike was the only mode of transportation that he trusted. “Hang in there, Wile E, I’m bringing a friend to help me.”
…
Road Runner didn’t really feel like running, but his body was forcing him to run anyways. He’s a Road Runner, he can’t be a Road Walker, so he kept running while stopping to look behind any convenient rocks that littered the desert ground for any signs of Wile E. When it was empty, Road Runner pouted before continuing on with his run. Where is he? When is he coming back to me? Will he ever come back to me? He wasn’t losing hope yet, all the ‘where, when, and will’ questions and ‘what if’ scenarios in his head are all distractions to him. He knows Wile E better than any toon on earth, he knows his perseverance rivals that of Bugs Bunny himself, at least in Road Runner’s mind. He’s an excellent schemer, an inventor (if only he’d stop buying ACME products), and a coyote who keeps getting back up when his plans to catch him fail.
But if he’s all that and so much more, why isn’t he here? Road Runner dipped his head, staring down at the cement in front of his feet. He watched as a single tear dripped from his eye and onto the pavement. He missed Wile E so much that being away from him is slowly killing him from the inside out. He was about to run when he hears a little ‘ding’ from a bike, he turns around and sees a disheveled man that looked just like Kevin Avery peddling through a scorching hot desert. His suit is drenched in sweat, his hair was sticking up a bit on the back of his head, and he was panting.
He trusts Kevin, he didn’t even try to catch him and only used paper and bird seed to get him to try and communicate with him. He stood still, waiting for Kevin to approach him. “You haven’t seen Wile E either, have you?” Road Runner only replied with a single, sad-sounding “beep”. “Figures,” Kevin sighed again, taking a deep breath before continuing on. “He was supposed to be here last night. Did you happen to notice anything unusual?” Road Runner let out a single “beep” again. Kevin laid down on the pavement with his eyes facing the sky while Road Runner sat next to him. ”Wile E must be so scared right now, wherever he is.” He can picture it so clearly: Wile E with his ears down flat, snarling at anybody who got too close, backing himself into corners, lashing out desperately to escape the situation.
A light bulb suddenly went off in his head, he perked up immediately and turned to Road Runner urgently. “I think ACME took him! Talon, the agent that was always chasing us to get to Wile E, he must’ve been successful in his mission and he’s now in ACME HQ!” At the mere mention of ACME, Road Runner’s eyes had fire in them. He remembered having a little run-in with them with a trap that involved a mountain of birdseed and a lot of glue. He managed to escape, while blowing up a helicopter in the process, he darted off. To say he was livid was a gross understatement, he let out a series of furious “beeps” while dashing back-and-forth in front of Kevin.
If ACME were the ones responsible for capturing his beloved coyote, then Road Runner will have start taking names…a lot of names.
….
Wile E was still in his cell, looking way worse for wear. He started scratching himself out of stress due to the endless tests, he was crying himself to sleep every night at the thought of Kevin, Paige, and especially Road Runner, and he barely had any motivation left to get up and try another escape attempt. Every time he did try he was either met with sudden volts to the body or sedation. Today, however, the workers decided that Wile E would stay in his cell because he bit a worker when he was being forced to blow himself up with a new stick of dynamite that was going to be converted into a new firework display.
He fought back hard, punching, kicking, and even trying to hit the worker with a cartoon mallet. None of it worked, except for biting. Oh how he loved it when the worker screamed in pain, the teeth marks on their skin serving as a reminder to whoever else wanted to control him. He’s still proud of himself, he stopped crying as he laid on the cold floor, his back to the wall and his arms crossed. That smug grin never left his face as he eyeball each and every worker that caught his attention. Now they were afraid of him and that was exactly what he wanted…until they weren’t anymore…now they’ve decided to sedate him more often, force him to test even more experiments, and shock him if he even so much as let out a light growl.
Week after week? Month after month? Year after year? Wile E didn’t know anymore, he had lost track of even the most basic of tasks that he doesn’t even remember doing anymore: has he eaten today? When did he last bathe? Where was his home again? Instead of lying down with his back to wall, he’d curl himself up in the center of his cell, the bald patches on his body can clearly be seen on his arms, holding himself for comfort. He howled again, still hopeful that whoever hears it will either end it all right here and now or save him.
”Beep-beep!” Wile E’s ears immediately perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. He’s heard it before, he just can’t place his finger on it since his mind is too scrambled to make sense of anything right now. “Beep-Beep!” It echoed again, was his mind playing tricks on him? Was he finally in here for too long that his mind has conjured up an idea that the Road Runner himself was there to save the day? He didn’t want to get his hopes up too high, so he laid back down and covered his ears so that he can get some sleep. However, it was very difficult to sleep when Wile E kept hearing ‘beep-beep’ followed by the sounds of screaming from the ACME workers.
Road Runner and Kevin raced to Wile E’s cell only to stare at him in shock and concern. Wile E’s ribs were fully exposed, his bald spots on his body were there for the whole world to see, “oh God…” Kevin couldn’t even think of the right words to say. There was Wile E. Coyote in the worst shape he’s ever been in his life. Sure any toon can bounce back from any injury, whether it was inflicted on themselves or not; but Wile E wasn’t healing himself, he can see the bald spots on his skin and his rib cage has gotten even more exposed. “Beep?” Road Runner’s soft sound echoed in the hallway, making Wile E’s ears perk up yet again; but they’re twitching this time. His eyes are filled with blood red lines as he bolts up to the door, shaking it violently with an unhinged smile.
Kevin and Road Runner exchanged uncertain looks with a hint of concern before turning back to Wile E, who was still smiling at them and staring at them as if he can see into their very souls. Kevin was the first person to speak, “Hello Wile E, uhm, are you doing ok?” Wile E raised a sign in all capital letters with clear signs that he used his now horribly untrimmed claws to write [NEVER BETTER!] on it. Road Runner stepped in holding up one of his own signs: [We’re going to let you out. However, I think it would be best for you if you take the outside world slow and steady]. Wile E either didn’t listen to Road Runner’s statement or flat-out just didn’t care anymore because he was already bouncing a little, his tail swishing back-and-forth like a pendulum.
When Kevin unlocks the cage, Wile E is gone, he bolted immediately out of his cell and into the parking lot. He and Road Runner caught up to him just before he burst open the doors so that he could put on his sunglasses. Kevin nodded in amusement, he knew how excited Wile E was to finally run in a huge open space; but before that happened, he got down on his knees. Road Runner eyed him suspiciously, thinking that this is either a proposal or that he’s going to kiss his coyote. It always comes down to those two extremes due to the fact that he’s the most jealous and possessive prey that Wile E has ever met. But he still can’t help but love him for it.
“I’m so sorry for everything,” he said before giving Wile E a tight embrace, making Road Runner’s feathers puff up. “Beep-beep-beep!” Road Runner translation: “that’s my man you’re hugging!” Kevin laughs a little, “Road Runner needs your attention now, I’m terrified of him after what he did to those ACME workers. Seriously, I’ve naively thought that he was just an innocent bird that was just a speedster. He proved me wrong in a heartbeat.” He let go to let Wile E embrace Road Runner, which he does by picking up the bird, spinning in a circle, and kissing him directly on the beak.
He holds up a sign with a smug expression: [looks like I finally caught the Road Runner]. He then proceeded to race out the door with Road Runner still in his arms to rediscover his new-found freedom on the outside and to hunt down any ACME agents who still needed to pay for their treatment against all toons, once and for all.