In the end, Priscilla decided that she would dip the liquid out of the soup and just not eat the other bits if she could help it. It wasn't the best of solutions, but the soup was the only food around and she was hungry. She didn't know what was going on with the field of rabbits and the convenient garden that just so happened to be growing stuff to put into soups, but if she could do the least amount of damage with just sipping on the soup that was made from Oksana's water container (and not from the forest) then she would at least get to eat. Besides, even with the spices for flavor, it wasn't that great of a soup. Beggars couldn't be choosers and it was better than a dried meat stick or something.

Both Oksana and Helen ate two big bowls of the full soup and leaned back from being so full.

"Thanks, Mrs. Blount. That was delicious." Helen said.

"I have to say that even with the limited ingredients, it was a very good soup. Are you sure you don't want a full helping, Priscilla? There's plenty left?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. What I had will do."

"Alright then. I set up a few more traps to catch some more rabbits. They have such little meat that it's hard to make more than one meal out of them."

Priscilla frowned. "How... how many rabbits did it take to make the soup?"

"Oh, about... three I believe."

"What are you catching more for?" Helen asked.

"I was going to catch a few more to make breakfast in the morning and I brought a can of salt to preserve some meat to use later."

"Do you always carry a can of salt?" Priscilla asked, genuinely curious.

"You never go into the forest without a can of salt." Helen said, rolling out a sleeping bag. "You can use it for seasoning and, like what Mrs. Blount is going to do, you can use it for when you catch something and you don't think you'll get any meat later. If you put it in the salt, it will dry out and then you can use it later to make other soups when meat is rare."

"Oh... I see."

"I'm going to go and check on the traps and get some more firewood. I will be right back."

Oksana left and Helen threw something to Priscilla. She fumbled with it for a moment and finally looked at what it was.

"A blanket?"

"You obviously don't have a sleeping bag."

"Thanks..."

"I hope you not eating isn't going to cause a problem. I mean, the most important thing right now is survival, not being superstitious or picky."

"Helen, I'm not a picky eater, okay? I don't mind meat and I'm not a PETA supporter unless you're talking about People Eating Tasty Animals. What I am picky about is when I'm in a forest that has given me no good reason to trust it with anything and suddenly it provides a place that has meat and vegetables. That's not picky, that's shady AF. I don't know what that warning was on the sign that went to the watering hole, but the fact that it said the water was good but the fish wasn't means something. I don't know what it means, but it's not just surface level."

"Hmm," Helen said, plumping up the pillow. "I guess I get it. Just don't complain when you're hungry."

Priscilla pursed her lips at Helen. There was no getting through to her about how she really was outside of this hellhole. Maybe if they survive the night, she'll eat some of Mrs. Blount's soup but so far, the night was still young.

***************************

Late that night, Priscilla was woken up by something rattling beside her. She blinked awake, shivering from lack of a proper sleeping bag and found some of the bunnies had congregated around them. Priscilla immediately went stock still, still not trusting the rabbits or the forest. She decided to watch them and see what they would do. They didn't look carnivorous or evil like the deer did, but they were very much up to something... A few of the rabbits were messing around with the left-over soup in the small cooking cauldron and it almost looked like they were trying to get the lid off. After a few moments, the bunnies finally stacked up and pushed the lid off of it. A rabbit climbed inside and made a tiny plop noise as it hit the soup. Another rabbit looked inside and touched noses with the other rabbit as it stuck it's head back out. A small chuttering sound came from one of them and then they both started making small little noises at each other. The other rabbits all looked over at the same time and the one inside the pot actually screamed, all the other rabbits screaming back in unison.

Priscilla tried to keep from laughing more than being afraid. Yes, this was weird behavior, but she also kept imagining that they were yelling out for war and who could take that little squeak seriously? She kept her mouth tightly shut to keep from alerting the rabbits that she was awake and watching them. The one in the pot pulled itself out and shook off the soup from its fur as the other rabbits gathered around it. There was a small grunting noise as its nose fliffled, obviously telling all the other rabbits something important. They all seemed to hop away at the same time and Priscilla followed them with her eyes as they went around her and over to where Oksana had hung up the other four rabbits she had caught earlier to bleed them. She didn't think there were any predators to try and capture the rabbits due to the tranquility of the field, so they were left in the open. The rabbits all gathered under the bodies of the dead rabbits and then one by one, they jumped into the pools of blood that were under the four dead rabbits.

Priscilla looked around to make sure that there were no other rabbits watching her and she slowly propped herself up on her elbow to watch whatever ritual the little guys were doing. There were about twelve rabbits in total that had gathered around and now each one of them was covered in red blood. Priscilla quickly laid back down and closed her eyes as the bunnies headed out of the massacre and back over to them. She suddenly felt a tiny body jump onto her and start walking across her body. She felt another one leap onto her head and move it's little wet, bloody feet onto her face. She willed herself to stay calm as the one that had hopped onto her stomach and the one on her head seemed to meet up on her face. She felt little paws touch her lips and then one pulled her top lip and the other pulled the bottom, opening her mouth. Oh my god, are they going to choke me to death? Priscilla thought in horror, trying to keep her composure. Please don't kill me! I didn't eat any of you! Please, please, please... she prayed. She felt a small head go into her mouth, tasting the nasty metallic taste of the blood it was drenched in. She felt the little ears pop out of her mouth from where it had it's whole head in there and it gave a small noise. The other rabbits responded but Priscilla could have sworn they sounded confused.

After what seemed like hours, her mouth still held open by the two rabbits, she felt them let go of her of her mouth and then she felt one bite her! She twitched, her body automatically reacting to skin being pierced, but what she wanted to do was scream out in pain. It bit her right on the nose! After that, they scampered off and Priscilla opened her eyes. She made a face at them biting her but she couldn't do much until they were all gone. She couldn't see Oksana and Helen behind her because she had fallen asleep in the opposite direction, so she slowly turned over, making a sound like she was still asleep to keep the bunnies from suspicion. Now that she turned over, she got a clear view of what they were doing.

As she felt on herself, the rabbits were holding Oksana's mouth open and there was one that had it's whole head in there doing... something. Finally, it pulled it's head out and chirped another chirp was heard over by Helen, where she was enduring the same treatment. The chirp sounded very matter-of-fact, not like the sound they made with Priscilla. With the chirp sounded, the other eight bunnies hopped onto Oksana and Helen and climbed up to their mouths and then they went into their mouths. Priscilla's eyes practically bulged out of her head as she watched the rabbits enter into Oksana and Helen's mouths one by one and literally just go on down the hatch. Neither of them seemed like they were disturbed or aware of what was going on and it didn't seem like the rabbits were choking them either.

After the four rabbits went inside, the one holding the mouth open on the bottom climbed in as well, leaving the ones at the top of the lip all alone. They let go of the top lip and then turned, biting Oksana and Helen in the nose as well. They moved out of the way as both of them almost did the same reaction of moving their hands to try and shoo the intruding 'bug' that had bit them away. It seemed like they didn't even feel the rabbit on them as it went under into their sleeping bag. It looked like it may have bitten them a couple more times while it was under there, since both of them flinched, but then there was no more and the rabbit never came back out.

Priscilla waited and waited, but none of the rabbits came back out from anywhere.

Priscilla did not sleep.

**************************

The sun rose up and rays of sunlight beamed through just a little, hitting Priscilla in the face with a spot of warmth. She had apparently dozed off from complete exhaustion of trying not to fall asleep but when she realized she had fallen asleep, she jumped up in fright, looking around her for a moment.

"Are you okay?"

She looked and saw Oksana with a knife, skinning the rabbits. Priscilla remembered last night and she felt her stomach lurch. She ran away and threw up in a corner, trying to empty her contents of what little of the soup she had. The thought of eating a rabbit again after what she had just seen was horrifying. After she had purged her stomach as best she could, she walked back over to the campsite. Oksana reached into her bag and held out a small bottle of water.

"Here, you may need this. I'd swish your mouth out first."

Priscilla nodded and did just that, drinking the rest. Helen yawned and sat up in her sleeping bag, looking over at them.

"Good morning." She saw Priscilla and made a face. "Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you didn't sleep a wink."

"I didn't. I was... preoccupied." With watching kamikaze rabbits sacrifice themselves into your bowels and never come out! she screamed in her head.

"Did you get bit anywhere last night?" she asked. "I felt something start biting me and I shooed it away but still..."

"I felt something too. Priscilla, looks like you did as well. You have a welt on your nose."

Priscilla touched her nose a little and felt the scab of where the rabbit bit her. She picked at the spot for a second to get the scabbing off.

"What are you doing?" Helen said. "You shouldn't pick off a scab."

"Well, I want to disinfect it, and I can't do that with a scab on there. You have anything?"

"Yeah, I've got some ointment and stuff." As she rummaged through her backpack, she also looked at her arms. "I thought I felt it bite me on the arms..."

Helen handed her the ointment and saw that Oksana was skinning a rabbit. She gasped a little and went back into her bag, pulling out a knife.

"Look, Mrs. Blount, I got a skinning knife too! Can I help you with any of the rabbits?"

"Sure you can, you can start skinning that one."

Helen stood up to go over to her teacher when all of a sudden it felt like something dropped into her stomach. It was a heavy feeling and she made an audible noise, touching her stomach. Priscilla looked over.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it just... You know how you feel when you drop on a rollercoaster and your stomach kind of feels heavy?"

"Yeah?"

"That's what I felt. It was a weird sensation." She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm fine now."

She went over to Oksana and started helping out with the skinning as Priscilla continued to drink her drink. She saw some rabbits hopping along the edges of the forest, looking so innocent. Priscilla narrowed her eyes at them, knowing full well they were not innocent in the least. They did something to the other two and she was highly suspicious they did something to her too, but she just couldn't prove it and she wasn't going to say anything to them. They wouldn't listen to her anyway.

++++++++++++++++

oh my, what did priscilla see last night?