(I've changed the number of times the shorks get fed from every day to every second say, as there is lots of food that are delivered to them)
Jason emerged from the surface of the water, breaking the still mirror-like expanse with a cascade of droplets that sparkled in the artificial light of the terrarium. He gave a few steady breaths of air, before crawling out of the lake and shaking gleaming water droplets off his emerald fur. He trotted over to the sleeping cave and turned directly to Ava. A cheerful grin was worn on her face, but it faltered and disappeared the moment her eyes met Jason's. Her eyes darted on Jason, assessing his injuries at the speed of light, and her ears drooped.
"I-" she stuttered "I'm sorry..."
"It's fine," Jason murmured. An expression of awkwardness was adorned on his face, but he shook that off and threw himself at Ava. They embraced in a hug, before breaking away and staring at each other for some time. "I'm sorry, too." Jason admitted.
Ava beamed. "Apology accepted," she laughed.
Then something caught Jason's eye. Behind her appeared a smaller, fluffier lemon shork, with bright yet weary eyes and a pale-pink nose. She glanced up at Jason, and a jolt shot down his spine. She's a human, he realized instinctively. He had no idea where the thought came from, but he just... knew.
"This is Flix!" Ava announced, beckoning the young shork forward. Flix's ears wilted as he looked up at Jason, trembling. "Hi," he said, bending down and holding out a paw, which Flix shook nervously. He vowed to himself that he would keep a close eye on this shork. There was a whirring noise outside the sleeping cave as Jason peeked his head out, just in time to see lunch falling from the sky. A variety of food fell, and Jason counted:
One live cow
Two small live deer
Four small live writhing goats
Two bucketfuls of small, thin, twitching silver fish
A small pail of pale octopus (pail pale wowww)
A few dead and live chickens
A pail of a few mysterious colourful fish
A live pig
Some wide, bony fish
A few salmon
Strangely, a few rhubarb sticks stripped clean of leaves,
And lastly, a dish of some crab flesh with a herby red sauce that Jason suspected was a leftover lunch of some scientist. ;-;
"Ava," he said. "I'm going to find Aloe and apologise. You can go have lunch with your friend."
Ava nodded and grabbed Flix by the arm and sauntered off with her.
Jason prowled through the chaotic terrarium, avoiding the wet, flying bodies of fish and squawking mad chickens, wounded a deer that Dragonfly was chasing, plus dodged a few stressed goats and accidentally trod on a flopping salmon, leaving a splatter of scarlet blood spray behind him. After a few mins of mayhem he finally spotted Aloe, crouched by the pool, surprisingly releasing a few big colorful fish into the lake.
He gave a deep breath and shoved his apprehension somewhere where it wouldn't escape from his body, and crept up to her.
"Aloe," he breathed, and she looked up at him with bright, pinkish-red eyes.
"Jason," she said, her voice wavering a little. "What a surprise."
"Aloe, look-" he began. "I'm really sorry I just forced you away like that. Please, I'm really, really sorry."
Aloe stared at him for a few moments. "All forgiven" she said with a smile. "C'mere."
Jason edged towards her. "I wonder if these fish'll look good in the river. They're inedible, of course, they're poisonous. Everyone knows that, apart from those scientists, of course. I wonder how long they'll survive in here before, y'know, just dying out." she released the last fish into the water, which thrashed aggressively, jaws full of sharp teeth gaping for a threat to latch on, before disappearing below the surface. "These fish are carnivorous. I wonder what I'll feed them."
Aloe looked over her shoulder to a bucket of silver fish, before trotting over and grabbing a handful of writhing bait. She picked up a tiny, flailing body and thrusted it into the water, and before the helpless fish knew what was happening, one of the colourful fish launched out of the water and devoured it in one huge gulp.
Jason's smile faltered as a thought suddenly struck him. What was he going to tell Glory's friends? They didn't seem to know about her death, as they seemed perfectly happy. He obviously needed someone's help, he couldn't do this alone. He knew Aloe knew Glory well, so he could tell her.
"Aloe," he spoke seriously. "I need your help, but first I need to tell you something."
YOU ARE READING
The Laminax Facility
FanfictionSeason 1: (Finished) Jason and his younger sister Ava discover a mysterious, furry-infested facility while strolling in the forest. They get yoinked into the facility, and in order to survive, they must know who to trust. Along the way they make wav...
