Mama always say, "If sumthin' look like it wanna eat ya, it probably do."
I was really hopin' she was wrong.
She wasn't.
Cuz right now, we was bein' chased by sumthin' wit' red, glowy eyes—an' it wanted us bad.
"SQUEEEEEAK!" ("RUN!")
We bolted.
Da vines shook. Da moss shuddered. Da sound of claws scrapin' filled da air behind us—fast, too fast, gettin' closer.
I didn' look back. I didn' wanna see.
Rusty looked back.
Rusty shouldn' have looked back.
"SWEEEEEEK!" ("WHAT IS DAT?!")
Mama yanked his ear as she ran. "SQUEAK!" ("DON'T LOOK, JUST RUN!")
Rusty sprinted faster.
I didn' even know guinea pigs could move dat fast.
We wove through da twisted roots, leapin' over old logs, dodgin' low-hangin' vines. But dat thing?
It didn' stop.
Didn' slow.
It wanted us.
An' den—
Peanut tripped.
He was da second-smallest, right after Twitch, an' his legs weren' as fast as da rest of us. He tried to leap over a root—
Didn' make it.
He hit da dirt hard.
Mama turned fast. "SQUEAK!" ("PEANUT!")
Peanut struggled up, panicked, ears flat. "Sqeek, sqeek!" ("I'm okey, I'm okey—")
Too late.
Da thing leapt.
It burst from da vines, big an' wrong, like a shadow dat grew teeth. Red eyes flashin', metal limbs gleamin', wires pokin' from its broken face.
Not a cat. Not a rat. Not hooman.
It was sumthin' hoomans left behind.
A machine.
An old, busted, hooman-made hunter.
An' it was fallin' straight at Peanut.
Peanut froze.
I screamed.
Mama lunged.
Didn' matter.
Da machine was faster.
It opened its jaw—
Sharp metal teeth glintin'—
An' chomped—
But it didn'.
Cuz right before it could snap Peanut in half—
Rusty BONKED IT.
BAM.
Rusty swung da flashlight straight into da machine's head.
It screeched, sparks flying from its face.
It jerked back.
Spit Peanut out.
Peanut hit da ground, rollin' like a tiny, panicked potato. "SQUEEEAK!" ("I ALMOST DIED!")
Rusty stumbled back, still holdin' da flashlight. His eyes was huge."SWEEK!" ("I HIT A ROBOT!")
Mama grabbed Peanut an' RAN."SQUEAK!" ("DON'T STOP!")
Da machine twitched.
Den it snapped its head toward us.
An' kept chasin'.
We kept runnin'.
Da machine was mad now.
Didn' just chase. It JUMPED.
From tree to tree, claws diggin' in, metal legs bendin' in weird, grabby ways.
It wanted us BAD.
I could hear da gears grindin'. Da soft hiss of old wires sparkin'.
Hoomans built dis.
Hoomans LEFT dis.
An' now, it was hungry for sumthin' to catch.
An' we was right dere.
Rusty yelled, "SWEEK!" ("WHERE WE RUNNIN' TO?!")
Mama didn' know.
Grizz didn' know.
Twitch wheezed,"Sqwek!" ("Annyywhere but heeere'!")
An' den—
Da ground disappeared.
We skidded to a stop—right at da edge of a drop.
A deep, dark, hooman tunnel.
It stretched below us, open like a big, black mouth.
Rusty panted. "Sweek." ("Oh. Dat's not good.")
Da machine hissed behind us.
I turned.
It was crouched on a branch, red eyes glowin' in da dark, waiting.
It knew.
It had us trapped.
Mama's claws dug into da dirt.
Grizz's tail lashed. "Ssssqueak!" ("Now what?!")
Rusty looked between da tunnel an' da monster.
Den—
He jumped.
Into da tunnel.
"SWEEEEEK!" ("RUSTY, YOU DUMB—")
Too late.
Mama grabbed me, grabbed Twitch, grabbed Peanut, and the others—an' JUMPED TOO.
Grizz cursed an' followed.
Da last fing I saw before we hit da dark?
Da machine leapt too.
We hit da ground HARD.
Mud an' dirt splashed up around us. Da tunnel echoed wit' our gasps an' skids an' squeaks.
Den—
BOOM.
Sumthin' huge crashed behind us.
Da machine.
It landed, claws diggin' in.
I turned just in time to see—
A gate.
A big, old, rusted hooman gate, half-fallen, barely holdin' up—
An' right above da machine.
Mama saw it too. "SQUEAK!" ("SOMEONE PUSH DAT DOWN!")
Rusty looked at his flashlight.
Rusty looked at da gate.
Rusty grinned.
"SWEEEEEEK!" ("BONK TIME!")
He swung.
BAM.
Da flashlight smacked da gate.
It wobbled.
It creaked.
It collapsed.
CRASH.
Da machine didn' move fast enough.
Da whole rusty thing caved in on top of it, buryin' it in metal an' dirt.
It let out a final, glitchy hiss.
Den, silence.
Just da sound of our pantin'.
Just da sound of Rusty still holdin' da flashlight.
He blinked.
Den whispered, "Sweek." ("Dat… worked?")
Mama flopped onto her back.
"SQUEEEEEAK." ("I AM TOO OLD FOR DIS.")
Twitch coughed. "Sqeek." ("I fink I furgot how ta breaf.")
Peanut curled into a tiny ball. "Sqeek." ("I almost got eated. Twise.")
The rest of my siblings just laid there gasping.
Rusty beamed."Sweek!" ("I BONKED A ROBOT TO DEATH!")
Mama smacked him.
We laid dere, breathin', waitin', listenin'.
Nuffin'.
No stabby-fluffies.
No red eyes.
No chasin'.
Just… da tunnel.
Deep. Dark.
An' full of old, hooman secrets.
I shivered. "Squeak." ("Where even… is dis place?")
Grizz sniffed. His ears flicked.
Den he frowned.
"Ssssqueak." ("We ain't alone.")
I froze.
Mama sat up fast. "Squeak?" ("What?")
Den—
Sumthin' moved in da dark.
Not a machine.
Not a cat.
Sumthin'… else.
A voice whispered from da shadows.
"Who da squeak are you?"