Squirrel Patrol: Thousand-Yard Stare

Excursion, Escape, Attack!

Nibbles worked his way through the dense grass as a couple of Avians flew lazy circles above him. They were the guards for the trip. His escort was General Malf and his translator. The three leaders had argued loud and long on who was to be the escort, but to Nibbles it was just an irritating bunch of chirps which they didn't bother to translate for him.

A lot of things were making him irritable. Over the past few days, food didn't taste right, he wasn't sleeping soundly, and he had started a cough. He thought about the last time he was sick; a long time ago when he was little, before he joined the Army. He remembered hating it then and now wasn't any better.

It was slow going, due to Nibbles' dragging the cart of the general. Nibbles had volunteered to keep up with them if they preferred to fly, but the general politely declined. "Haste makes waste.", was the translation. Nibbles accepted the fact, even if it irritated him. He was smart enough to realize the importance of this mission and he wanted to see it through. Besides, he thought a little greedily, there might be an award or promotion in it for him when it was all done. So what if the birds did things a certain way, it would all be good for him in the end anyway.

Nibbles thought back over the last few days, and how the birds did everything in their power to keep him comfortable, all the while inspecting him head to tail. They made him bathe in some flowery water, gave him some nasty medicine to drink, and combed any lice or vermin from his fur. After he came away from these indignities, he had to admit he looked and smelled ready for a weekend pass. If only he didn't feel like so much garbage inside.

***

The putrescent smell inside his cell was nothing compared to what he could smell inside this new room. A room apparently designed to collect prisoners' bodily wastes and wash them out with tidal seawater. But it didn't work like how it was designed. It required the operation of sets of levers to open and close valves and gates. Work that was impossible for Avians, but not for a determined pair of mammals named Sgt. Lankee and Cpl. Berries.

When Berries mentioned the idea of a breakout, Lankee was all for it. He even came up with this plan; that of going out through the sewer. Berries wasn't overly fond of the plan, but it sounded like it had a better than average chance. The fox had been detailed with this chore before, usually paired up with a mangy rabbit who still had some weight on him, because it would take some strength. But now, Berries was the one pulling on the bottom of a gate wheel while Lankee used a pipe as a lever from the top. It was hard work, the gate moving fractionally every few minutes. The fox had explained that once the gate was opened, sea water would flush the sewage out of the room. And the two of them would flow out immediately after.

A great sum of minutes later, exhausted from the effort, the two watched the water come in through one high gate and force the sludge out through a lower opening. They were sitting on a ledge above the receding muck waiting until it was more or less clean.

"So, let's just check our plan while we're waiting", Berries said, breathing heavily. "The valve is open, the crap is getting pushed out to the big water, and we're going to follow it out the same way." He looked at the fox, who was just staring at the rising, clearing water.

"Lankee! Hey, buddy!" Berries huffed, too tired to expend more breath than needed. "Stay with me, huh. We'll be out and away before they know what's what."

The fox just nodded without looking. Then he let himself slide into the water. Berries just shook his head and followed the fox's lead. They both treaded water capably, making their way to the exit gate. Berries realized that there would be no one to close the gate behind them. Hopefully, the Avians wouldn't be too concerned about water rushing about for so long. At the gate, there was a small overhang that required the two to submerge and swim to the outside. Lankee had already disappeared so Berries took a deep breath and followed.

Swimming through the murkiness was difficult, but Berries had the funny thought that he didn't have to smell what was topside. Unfortunately, he saw the daylight shimmering above and knew he had to resurface. On breaking above the water and wiping it away from his eyes, he saw Lankee - sitting morosely between two mean looking falcons, two talons piercing his fur. Before Berries had a chance to duck back under the water, a blinding pain grabbed him in his shoulders; caught by another guard. He was discarded roughly across the exhaust stream, heavily thumping to the rocky ground .

***

Nuts was hoping, almost, that he would get picked off first. Lieutenant Itchy had them advancing up the open road. Nuts had requested to have at least two of them move along the flank, but was overruled. As the patrol moved along, Basher gave Nuts a rundown on the caches they had placed last night.

The patrol did not encounter any adversaries. Any. That bothered Nuts just as much as Itchy's stupidity. Fern did her best to run interference, but could only do so much with the recalcitrant officer. The rest of the patrol picked up on the mutual irritation and wisely made themselves small targets.

But that still left the absence of Avians. They had a clear view of the old one's building. Many buildings, at least as many as the town where the Mammal army was encamped. The only difference was their town had lots of open spaces between buildings; this place connected all the buildings into one misshaped lump.

At least the shavetail had sense enough to allow the patrol to take some cover along the sides of the road in the taller grass. Nuts could only feel slightly calmer; having a little cover was no match for not seeing enemy activity.

Which was only a bit true. Nuts pointed out some movement far away near the waters' edge. A couple of birds beating up a couple prisoners. Basher and Cowboy took note of where Nuts pointed, but Nuts just shook his head sadly. They had a bigger mission to accomplish. Jotunheim, the word inscribed on the arch above the main entrance was much clearer now, the patrol only ten meters or so away. It didn't mean anything to them. They knew it was written in the old ones language, but it was as useful as tree bark to them.

Itchy walked up to the arch. He saw the crows in the distance and lifted his pebbler a little more. Nuts saw it and hoped he wouldn't draw attention to them too soon. The rest of the patrol bunched up behind them, getting Nuts a little mad. They knew better than that. He hissed at the privates and waved them ahead.

Cowboy and Fern went left to a broken piece of wall, Itchy and Nuts went to the right where there was an overgrown patch of weeds. The rest went straight up the middle to a small building, its windows completely missing with only tiny jagged edges protruding.

The patrol converged on the dilapidated building. Entering in from three sides, they met near the central entrance. Itchy was crouched with his pebbler, jerking at shadows and noises. The rest of the team relaxed a bit, as this part of the installation had been abandoned for some time. Nonetheless, they all held their weapons at the ready.

"Building secure, right?", said the lieutenant to no one in particular. Badger responded, "Yes, sir. No Avians nearby."

Nuts wasn't going to debate the point. They all had seen birds flying in the distance. He moved to a rear wall and looked out another window. More buildings, situated more or less in straight lines. From the window he could see two large streets running into the distance; one leading to the beach, the other running parallel to it. There were some few smaller side streets that disappeared between buildings. The Avians in the distance would be met by following the parallel road. He said as much to the patrol.

"Well, let's get to it then!", Itchy said enthusiastically. He started toward the main door.