The Tale of Carrot

Chapter 7

Light blinded his eyes.

Blinking wildly, Carrot slowly opened his eyes completely. Fatigue filled his body and Carrot rubbed his eyes.

He glanced around himself. He was on top of a table outside in a yard. Trees dotted the area and a small pond surrounded by rocks occupied some space. Behind Carrot was a gigantic house with a beautiful exterior. Birds chirped happily and a small dog was seen running around the yard.

"What is this place?" Carrot wondered aloud. He swam forwards swiftly, aiming towards the pond area, but soon crashed into a transparent barrier.

He rammed into the barrier with brute force that sent Carrot rebounding through the water. Clutching his now bruised head, he stared ahead very puzzled.

Carrot swam slowly towards the barrier. It looked like he was able to swim through it, but it was apparently completely solid.

Using his uninjured fin, he carefully stroked the barrier. It was as cool as the water. The coldness shivered through Carrot's nerves.

Up close, Carrot could see that the scene on the outside was slightly distorted.

This was when he started to realize what had happened.

"No, no and no. I got taken. Why does it have to be me?" Carrot protested. "I got to get out of here."

He swam to the opposite side of the pond and charged through the water once again. Rapidly speeding ahead, he crashed into the barrier again. His head became more damaged as he hit it on the barrier each time.

Again and again, Carrot would repeatedly swim back and forth desperately trying to get out, but to no avail. He knew it was a long shot, but he was terrified for his life. Who knows what the Takers would do to him?

Carrot was now incredibly injured everywhere. Joining the torn up fin of his, he accumulated a black eye, bruised head, bloody nose, and was bleeding all over his body. He looked like someone beat up by a swordfish.

He gave up trying to get out and went to the bottom of the 'jail cell' and pondered.

If he was taken, where were all the other fishes that were taken? Most importantly; where was Finn? Finn wasn't taken too long ago, but he wasn't in the weird cage thing.

Carrot got up from the bottom of the strange place and swam beside the edges, looking at his surroundings more carefully.

It was slightly harder to see (as Carrot's blood stained the water) but things were still visible.

Littered across the area, were clear spheres with a small opening at the top. Carrot looked in horror as every sphere had around twenty fishes cooped up in there. Algae were floating on the surface of the water and the water was stained a murky green. The water was even worse than Como Lake's water.

Carrot's water was still absolutely clear and clean but with no source of food.

Carrot observed the fish stuck in the other sphere. They all had looks of suffering on their faces. A few fish were upside down and floating at the top of the water. The other fish either looked at the dead fish in sadness or avoided them at all costs.

Carrot was sadly watching the other containment cage and noticed a familiar fish swimming among the live fish mourning. Squinting his eyes, he identified the fish as Finn. His heartbeat raced quickly.

Finn was alive.

Relief filled his body at once. He took a closer look at Finn.

Finn was staring at one of the dead fish and he was sobbing. He looked like he was dying in the inside.