The Rabbit's Den

The Rabbit Comes Home

Kaleb unintentionally was driving the entire Nest crazy. He worked hard all day and tried to drive everyone else to do the same. The group worked hard, but not like Kaleb; he didn't want to stop for anything. When the reasonable daily tasks were complete, he wanted to start another large, time consuming chore. Rarely taking meal breaks, Sadie and Yana were forced to track him down and argue him into compliance. But hands down the worst time was at night, everyone else was putting children down and trying to catch some sleep themselves and Kaleb would be working on something inside. It was starting to feel like he never slept.

One night in particular, at the end of May he felt it necessary to start removing the boards from the broken windows. He had reached the peak of his mania. Rhys had crawled out of bed, weary and annoyed. Trying to reason with Kaleb quickly turned into a fist fight. Neither man had any kind of animosity towards one another; it was just exhaustion and nerves. The fight had roused Sadie and Yana from their own beds. Both stood on the first floor and watched briefly as the guys took to the floor, rolling about. Having enough Sadie went back to her newly arranged infirmary and grabbed a sedative. She calmly walked back down the stairs and wiggled the syringe at Yana who nodded.

When Kaleb got the upper hand and was sitting on top of Rhys, Yana wrapped her arm around his neck. Yana was sturdy but if it had been any other day Kaleb probably could have at least knocked her around a little. He flailed falling backwards on top of Yana, but she held tight as Sadie came from the side and jabbed his arm. Yana immediately let go, pushing Kaleb away as he sat up. "Sadie! What the hell?" Kaleb asked looking insulted. Rhys was now sitting up as well, holding his arms out to his friend as he started to sway. Rhys looked at Sadie concerned, "What'd you give him?" He asked. Kaleb turned his head, he looked drunk then repeated, "Yeah, what'd you give me?" He blinked slowly a few times.

Sadie shook her head, "A mild sedative, he'll be fine in a few hours." Rhys got to his feet and helped Kaleb up. He walked like he was drunk as well, leaning heavily on Rhys' shoulder. Sadie waved over to the bed that Trixie took far in the corner when she had her episodes. "Put him in that one, we don't want him falling down the stairs." Rhys helped him over to the bed. "Why?" Kaleb asked sounding surprised. Rhys covered him with the blanket and grabbed his hand. "You're making us crazy with your crazy. Just go to sleep Kaleb. Everything is fine." Kaleb's eyes slowly closed. As Rhys laid his hand across his chest and turned to walk away his eyes shot back open. "Rhys, are you mad at me?" Kaleb sounded like a little kid and it made Rhys laugh. "No Kaleb, nobody's mad at you. Go to sleep."

Kaleb's body had succumbed to the Ativan and exhaustion. He had been sleeping so hard, that Sadie had to check on him a couple of times to make sure he was still alive. Grief could do horrible things to the mind and body, she felt for the man. After checking on him she made her way to the garden, it was usually Kaleb's personal chore, but she felt responsible for the upkeep while he was indisposed. She was hauling water to it when she noticed a figure coming out of the trees. At first, she was alarmed. Shading her eyes, she got a better look at who it was, a smile spread across her face.

Sadie started walking towards her when Petra came bounding out of the door straight to her. "Trixie!" She cried out gleefully as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Sadie slowly made her way up to the girls. "How was it then?" Sadie asked. Trixie gave her a weak smile, "There's only one group of people that way, but they agreed to trade with us." Sadie smiled, "Well there's two victories for the week." Trixie gave her a confused look, "What's the other." Petra laughed a little, "Probably getting Kaleb to shut up." Sadie smiled as she and Petra told the story of Kaleb's actions in the last few day, and the shot of Ativan that had kept him out and peaceful for the night.

Trixie shook her head; Kaleb could be such an emotional train wreck sometimes. "I'm going to go in and check on him." Sadie grabbed her arm, "First tell me about the group, what are they willing to trade?" Trixie smiled, "They can get medical supplies and food. They want meat and a place to send their girls for help." With her eyes wide Sadie asked, "How many people? How many girls?" The satisfaction on Trixie's face said it all. "Almost as much as the Den, but much more girls. They're hiding, they're all terrified. And as long as we take care of the girls, they'll try and spread the word." Tears welled up in Sadie's eyes. "Good girl."