The Final Six of Violet Tree Town

I was scared

As if he had a anvil on his back, the teal otter pulled himself off the ground. He scanned himself for any injuries, but he was completely unharmed. When Russell dies, he comes back to life depending on how long his death was. If it was short and quick, about two minutes. If it's long and painful, about an hour. The same applied for the rest of the residents of this odd town. All previous wounds were now gone, but he still felt the pain. However, they are vulnerable when in their deceased state, so they gotta be extremely careful, especially at a time like this. A nauseating headache accompanied him as he got a closer look at the car wreckage. The agents weren't severely wounded, but were unconscious. Russell remembered that his contact lens comes back whenever he does since he always wears it. He put it back on his eye took a look around, only to be met with the gruesome fates of what two unlucky residents fell to. Handy was impaled on a tree, his eyes still open, but lifeless. Meanwhile, Mime had apparently bled out due to his injuries, but he looked peaceful unlike the latter.

Signs of anyone else were nowhere in sight, Russell did remember a brief second when he saw a glimpse of someone flying out of the car, but couldn't recall who it was. Now with him and these people in the wilderness outside their town, he knew that every minute counted.

Just to see if there was a way back, Russell tried climbing back up, but ended up slipping back down due to the dirt now turned to mud thanks to the heavy rainfall, which has now decreased to a light drizzle. Just as he was about to think of a plan B, he saw something red out of the corner of his eye. A low rustling noise was coming from his blind side. He listened closely, but didn't hear a thing. He could hear the mud squishing as if something was making their way down to where he was.

Sensing possible danger, he swiftly turned around with his hook in the air to intimidate any supposed threat. As a part of his otter instincts, he chirped a couple times as a warning signal to back off. Finally, something did come out of a bushes...

An owl. The bird of prey was flying close to the ground, proven to be hunting as a mouse was gripped in it's beak. The owl tilted it's head at Russell before flying up into a nearby tree, where it proceeded to ululate at him. Happy that it wasn't harmful, the otter sighed in relief. He chuckled softly, trying to shake off any signs of fear he might have exposed seconds earlier. (

Wait a second... if that was an owl, what was the red thing that he caught a glimpse of a minute ago?

The owl suddenly tensed up, spreading it's wings to their fullest extent before swiftly flying away. Russell looked around, but saw nothing unusual.

That's when he felt something smooth and silky slowly slide against his back. He looked up, only to be met with two large red eyes. The snake was right in front of him. If it wanted to, it could easily coil Russell right now.

"M-Mama...."

Russell could feel a scream coming, but it was stuck in his throat. His suddenly senses snapped, as if he lost control in his body.

"AAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Russell began running as fast as he possibly could, it felt like he couldn't control his legs. He wanted to protect the others or at least fight back, but he was too scared. Every time something went down like this, he would only save himself. Was it wrong to run away out of fear? Was it wrong to be scared? Was he a coward? He had no idea, he just wanted to live. His muscles were soon screaming at him to stop running, but he couldn't, if he could, he wouldn't. He soon descended down a steep hill, where he fully lost control of his legs as he speeded down. A large tree root collided with him, causing one of his wooden peg legs to break off. He flew for a couple seconds before coming through the clearing and face planting the cool sand.

His head felt like he was on one of those spinning teacup rides for too long as he weakly sat up, before proceeding to cough out some sand that got in his mouth. He shakily stood up, but quickly lost balance due to the soggy sand and his missing peg leg. From below the knees, his legs were amputated. The reason, he doesn't remember, it's been too long to remember. He lied down and settled in the sand, trying to recover his breath. He wanted to rest, but knew that  going into the vulnerable state of sleep wasn't an option. He crawled his way to where he could hear the waves crashing on the shore.

Russell eventually dove into the ocean, before swimming to a nearby rock that was decently sized. He hoped to recover a bit there, and since he was about a mile from shore, he felt pretty safe. The otter let his tiredness get the better of him, and he fell asleep, trying not to feel guilty for his actions of leaving everyone behind. He was just scared, was that wrong?

Was it wrong to be scared?