Eleven Days Escape Time

Day 5.

September 11. 6 days before the competition.

"I was just watching Hutch last night, after you left," Wallace explained at breakfast the next morning. "Then I felt sick, like my stomach was aching and I felt very nauseous, so I sat down for a minute, and then out of nowhere my whole body was in pain, and then before I knew it, I was a monster," Gromit nodded, writing down key points from Wallace's story. "We have got to fix that Mind-o-Matic before it happens again tonight." He said. "Luckily it only happens at night, so we have some time."

As Wallace stood up, Gromit's heart dropped into his stomach. He quickly got up and patted Wallace, trying to get his attention. "What, lad?" He turned around to where Gromit was pointing, and let out a yelp. Along with his long rabbit ears, he had a large, fluffy cotton tail, which had remained after he'd changed back. "Oh no, not now," Wallace groaned. Gromit did his best to comfort Wallace by patting him on the back. "Gromit, what happens if we don't fix the Mind-o-Matic by tonight?" Wallace sat back down on the dining room chair, leaning his arm on the table and letting out a sigh. Gromit shrugged softly, trying to think of something. "Well, it won't do us any good sitting around up here and feeling sorry for ourselves," Wallace stood up, gaining a bit of confidence. "Let's go fix that machine," he led Gromit to the basement.

After sitting in front of the shattered glass and torn metal for a few hours with no luck, Wallace held his head in his hands. "It's no use, Gromit," he pouted. "My mind's just a rabbity mush," he scraped aside the pieces and lay his head down in his arms, beginning to cry. "Oh, Gromit! I don't wanna be a giant rabbit monster!" He blew his nose into his ears as Gromit felt sorry for his master, and tried once again to comfort him. Then they both perked up as Hutch began to fiddle with the pieces, and to their surprise, began successfully piecing together the Mind-o-matic!

***

Hours later, it still wasn't complete. He was working, but very slowly....

Wallace sighed as he watched the rabbit put together a few wires. "It won't be done in time," he frowned as Gromit brought down their nightly tea and the dinner of steamed vegetables he'd made. Wallace turned to the clock on the wall. 8:30 pm. They were out of time. "Stay away from me, Gromit, Wallace stood and backed into a corner of the room. "I'm feeling that feeling again.."Gromit watched from the table as Wallace sat on a chair he'd placed there earlier. He was suddenly bent over on pain, gritting his teeth as he seemed to resist the urge to throw up. He suddenly grew two large rabbit teeth, and brown fur began to tear through his sleeves. His hands transformed into paws, his bunny feet tore through his shoes, and before either of them knew it, there was the Were-Rabbit, sniffing around the room for vegetables.

This time, he seemed... less Wallace-like to Gromit- the other night, the rabbit could distinctly remember his faithful friend. But that night, the creature sniffed around the basement without a second thought. Like he didn't even remember Gromit. The beast suddenly turned to Gromit, letting out a low growl. Gromit took a deep breath of fear as the monster lumbered towards him and the table, sniffing the pieces of metal strewn across the top. His eyes seems different as well, his pupils were more dilated and animal-like than the eyes he'd seen in the beast the night before. Unlike yesterday, Gromit couldn't see Wallace in the monster's face, and that terrified him.

The monster let out a huff, uninterested in the metal and glass shards and headed towards the stairs. He was trying to escape, and Gromit couldn't stop him! He ran after the giant rabbit as it slowly and clumsily climbed up the stairs. Gromit reached for the tail of the creature, trying to grab and stop him. He accidentally pulled his tail, causing him to roar and flip around to face the now terrified Gromit. If he was correct, and Wallace wasn't in control right now, he was dead meat. The rabbit snorted, steam emitting from his flared nostrils as he turned back and headed for the front door. There was no stopping him. Gromit could do nothing but helplessly watch as the monster tore through the front door and out into the night.