Part 54: Then she said “Uh Oh!”

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“What do you mean by ‘uh oh’ “ I asked. “That’s not very informative.”

“The Husk of HornBunnies that I mentioned? They caught an Owl on the ground. They’re trying to kill it.”

“That’s not right!” I said “We can’t allow that to happen. Which way iszit?”

She told me…I started running that way. I didn’t like the idea of anything being kilt by bunnies. That was just too embarrassing.

“sigh a woman’s work is never done. Let me take care of that carcass for you. I’ll hold onto it while you two kick bunny butt. If you need any help don’t be shy of asking.” She said.

“Why thank you Gretchen. Mighty kind of you.” I told her while I ran. We got there in time…barely.

Somehow the young owl had injured it’s wing. A horde of horn bunnies were swarming it. Evidently it wasn’t familiar with Jackalopes. Horn bunnies weren’t like other rabbits. They stick together and counter-attack any threat. The owl had apparently thought they were normal bunnies, he might have been expected them all to run away when he killed one for dinner. They hadn’t, now he was surrounded and fighting for his life. They’d hurt him and he couldn’t fly.

He sure could kick bunny butt though. It’s talons were red from their blood, as was his beak. The little feller wasn’t giving up without a fight. He was putting up quite a scrap. Those talons of his and that beak…he could send a Jack-a-lope to it’s final sleep real quick.

But he was outnumbered…until Bubba got there. Bubba was in his element. We were gonna have Horn-Bunnie meat for a WEEK! Fine by me. Gretchen grills a mean steak when she’s got the fixin…and Bubba and the little Bird was kicking ASS! Nothing for me to do but watch.

You’d think those rodent’s would learn? Well yeah..they eventually did. The husk finally called it quits and scampered away when they saw me coming. I reckon they figured my smoke pole was a gun.

Wise of them…it certainly is. Actually it’s a rocket launcher.and I had flechette bursters now....better than a shotgun.

They left a number of dead. I proceeded to gather them up. Meanwhile Bubba was seeing to the owl. He nuzzled the owl like it was a kitten. Oddly enough the Owl didn’t claw his eyes out. He actually climbed up onto Bubba’s back.

Bubba let him.

“It’s a cyber -animal” Gretchen said via bone-fone “ there seems to be a lot of them lately. Either that or it’s a mutant Area-51 Alien , like the horn-bunnies.”

“Ok...you got me. Point taken. Hey, be nice how you talk about Bubba, he’s family” I said with a grin.

“Sorry” Gretchen agreed ”What ever the Owl’s genetics he’s hurt. Best get him back to the Truck so I can look at that wing.”

“Gotcha” I agree.” Hmm...she said ‘back to the truck’...I thought SHE was the truck...? I thought then I was distracted.

A swarm of her drones appeared. Gretchen took the carcasses off my hands and they drifted off toward the truck stop. The Owl on the PussyCat and I followed on foot. I noticed bits and pieces of rabbits dropping to the ground. The droids were field dressing the horn-bunnies in flight. Bubba and I veered wide. The blood and guts splattered onto the dirt. It was sure to attract visitors of the type we’d just as soon not deal with. I doubt that there would be any traces left within an hour or so.

When we got back to the truck the smell was wonderful. Gretchen was grilling up the first one and had another one ready in case we wanted seconds. I got cleaned up and helped Bubba wipe blood off of his whiskers.

Meanwhile Gretchen worked her magic on the little owl’s wing. Gretchen is awesome at multi-tasking.

“It’ll be ok pretty soon.” she said.

“Good. I wish we could keep him but If he’s a cyber owl then he belongs to someone I imagine” I mused.

“As a matter of fact…he does” Gretchen said. “There are other owls out and about flying a search pattern. I’ve been watching them. They come from a motor home over in the RV lot.”

“The right thing to do would be to return him to his master then.” I said…”too bad. It looks like him and Bubba are friends.”

Nothing for it…best get it done before they get too attached. Put chow on hold. We’ll be right back” I said. Soon Bubba and I were walking across the parking lot,.. again. This time the other direction toward the RV lot. The little owl was riding on Bubba’s back. Gretchen’s drones were flying high guard…mostly out of sight.

“Incoming” Gretchen said over the bone-phone. “We’ve got company. Owl flight at twelve o'clock high.”

Sure enough. Several Owls flew into sight. One flew down and hovered over Bubba. He was checking out his youngster. These were BIG owls, bigger than any Eagle I’ve ever heard of. They were definitely genies. They were probably cyberneticly augmented as well.

Gretchen, ever protective, had drones flanking the owls. If they got frisky there would be a fur-ball...er...I mean ..uh...feather ball? That doesn’t sound just right. Whatever. The Owls didn’t seem to care..they just hovered or circled. They accompanied us across the parking lot to a motorhome over in the corner. A woman was waiting for us in front of it. FINE looking older lady...bout half my age.

“There you are, you little rascal.” She said “Oh..you’ve injured your wing!”

She walked over to Bubba’s. The owl was still perched on his head. She absently petted Bubba as she knelt down to look more closely at the bird. Bubba didn’t seem to phase her one bit.

Bubba let her.

She murmured to the Owl for a little bit. When she stood up and faced me her face was a portrait of both sorrow and relief. “I see that my little maverick has found a new family.”

“What do you mean?” I said..”Oh...I’m forgetting my manners. Me and Bubba was out for a walk when we found this little guy punching above his weight. He had decided that he was hungry and took on a whole husk of Jack-a-lope.”

She nodded approval that I knew the correct name for a group of JackRabbits. Oddly enough that’s same designation applied to the feral-horn bunnies rather than ‘herd’ which was used for domestic rabbits.

“Bubba ran off the rest of them.” I continued “Not before the two of them killed a few of the critters I might add...we’re going to have grilled horn-bunny for a week. Would you like to have some of the meat? This little guy killed his fair share of it.”

“Actually I have a better idea.” I interrupted myself with sudden inspiration. “have you ate yet?”

She looked at me with a quizzical smile on her face...she looked at me closely and then slowly said..”Noooo...I haven’t eaten yet tonight”

To Be Continued
The Next Episode is
Part 55: We’ll have a Bar-B-Que.
The Previous episode was
Part 53: Going for a Walk…
the first episode was
Part 1 : Winter Storm

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