Six Feet Under

A wicked chuckling was wracking the creature as he peered over the side of the hole, hoping to see kitty splattered all over the ground. His chuckling stopped and grin faded into an irritated snarl when he saw that the young tomcat was alive and whole and very much unharmed. He turned with a snarl, not waiting to see Danielle hurl herself into the pit after Berlioz. He spotted a chubby puppy standing close by to where the gray cat had been. She looked weak. Chuckles escaped the red creature before he charged at Two-Tone, intent on shoving her into the pit as violently as Berlioz.

Dinah felt dread seep through her bones. Never before had she been so afraid. Even fighting that fluffy grey mutt-dog was better than this! Then, at least, she knew Oliver was watching over her, now, Oliver had been let free. He wasn't here to hold her paw and make sure that she was okay. The cherry-furred feline let a shiver run down her spine, watching in fear as Oliver slowly began to leave. The tabby tom was like an older brother to her, always looking out for her, but this time, she had to defend herself. But how do you defend yourself against surviving in a pit? Is that even possible?

A yell jerked the female from her thoughts, her fur standing on end as she whipped around to see Berlioz plummet. Teal orbs growing wide, she felt her heart stop. That was going to be her next! And then... Danielle! Heart near stopping, Dinah took a shaky breath. That was Berlioz and Dani. Oh gosh. Oh man. Toulouse's and Marie's little brother! Was he okay?! Was he alive?! Toulouse! The name shot through her head like a bullet, here eyes growing wide as she snapped back to life. Tolouse?! Where is Tolouse? Is he okay?! Panic raced through the young cat until her eyes rested upon a familiar ginger form not too far away.

"Toulouse!" Dinah called, heart thumping in her cream colored chest. "Are you, are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything did they?" She asked frantically sniffing her friend a few times to assess his current welfare. Just as she felt relief bubbling up inside herself, the cherry feline spotted Two-Tone next to her ginger friend. While she wasn't such a fan of the spotted pup, the she-cat was far beyond being in a mood to argue or start something. While the thought made her feel slightly strange, Dinah wanted nothing more than to curl up next to Toulouse and let her fears and worry spill. Giving a small nod to Two-Tone, she offered up a small smile before turning to glance at the furry red creature.

"I sure hope we're not next..." She whispered, voice thin as she glanced towards the pit, fearing for Berlioz's and Danielle's safety.

Marie seemed to be the only one not shocked by the tumbling of Berlioz into the pit. In truth she was furious that someone but herself had done that to her own brother. She had been wanting to do something like that for a long time, but now someone else had beaten her to the punch. Her claws dug into the dirt and her blue orbs flashed with furry.

She watched the strange alien creature go after another dog next. She would not go down as easily as her brother or his little girlfriend. No sir. She watched the cherry coated kitten approach her other brother and sniffed. "Just don't let them see that you are afraid." she said. "It will only make them feel superior."

Berlioz was there to stop any serious damage from coming to the cocker pup. Serious as in death. Danielle spent the ten seconds or so when she was falling having her life flash before her eyes. From her first Christmas with mom and dad when Scamp tore apart Uncle Jock's sweater to the moment when she left home to join the war. Danielle was trying to figure out if it was worth it. Just before she fell a few feet from Berlioz she hit the side of the wall. She bounced off of the tom kitten's back a little harshly because of it and rolled, coming to a slow halt in the dirt. For a few minutes she was unconscious, looking almost dead with her mouth parted and her eyes shut.

When she finally did rise it was a painful site. Sliding down the sharp edge of the wall had made her miss a few patches of fur on her backside and shoulder. Speaking of which her shoulder wouldn't allow her to put any weight on her paw, not letting the arm move at all. So she had to stay put where she was. She gave a low whimper before blinking over at Berlioz.

"Am I still alive? It hurts really...really bad."

A shriek was heard from above as the clone came rushing towards Two-Tone. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She yelped, pushing back, "Stay back, you ugly little thing! I don't wanna die! Buster! Help!" She turned to stare at the silent doberman cross, watching, waiting, pleading with her emerald eyes for him to do something to save her.

What Berlioz had been sort of expecting was for Danielle to slam into his side, maybe knocking him off his feet but also stopping her momentum. He hadn't counted on her bouncing straight off his back, and as such, the impact knocked his legs out from under him, leaving him sprawled in the dirt as the cocker rolled to a stop. His back throbbing painfully, Berlioz nonetheless forced himself to his feet and darted to Danielle's side. For a moment, he thought his action had been in vain; that in spite of his best efforts, she was dead. A horrible grief rose up to choke him. First Mama, then Mr O'Malley, and now... now...

And then, suddenly, she was struggling to rise. Berlioz stared, hardly daring to believe his eyes as the canine rose, clearly in pain, favouring her shoulder something awful, but nonetheless alive. Berlioz wasn't sure he'd ever felt such profound relief as in that moment.

He wasn't sure when he'd moved, but suddenly he was at her side, nestling his head beneath her chin, offering her what support he could. "You're really alive," he mumbled, burrying his face in her fluffy chest to hide the tears of sheer relief that were making it hard for him to see clearly. For now, he didn't speak again; Danielle might have been injured, battered and bruised, but she was his best friend and she was alive and that was all that mattered to Berlioz in that moment.

Buster had turned his attention away from Two-Tone when Scar gave the call to push the prisoners in. He heard the cackling from what he had thought was a hyena but it was in truth some red creature. It wasn't but a moment later that the creature had shoved a grayish-black kitten over the lip of the large hole. Even with some of the things the Dobbie had done in his past he help his ears twist back and the stubby fur on his neck raise slightly. Buster liked hurting others just as much as the next guy, but even then throwing once former allies into a pit to their deaths was just flat out wrong.

Before anyone could do anything a young dog, actually the one he'd snapped at earlier, jumped right in after the cat. Buster could only guess that either she wanted to go out her own way or the cat meant more to her then her own life. Still it didn't matter to the Dobbie one way or the other. The god awful chuckle ripped into the air again and Buster knew what was coming then. Another poor creature was about to meet their death. What he hadn't expected was who it would be. Buster turned brown eyes toward the red-furred thing only to see it charging straight toward...

Two-Tone!

Buster didn't have any time to react the creature was already on her before he could even so much as move. Luckily though for Buster, Two-Tone wasn't going to go down without a fight and held her ground against the little monster's charge.

"Buster! Help!"

The Dobbie mix help a involuntary shiver run along his spine at her tone. But even still Buster just stood there, shocked unable to move. What was there he could do? If he were to try something he'd most likely end up being thrown in along side her. Normally he wouldn't of minded but if there was one thing Buster feared it was death. Brown locked with emerald for a fleeting moment. Still, the Doberman didn't make to move toward her, nether did he move away.

"Buster not save you!" Leroy's clone cackled, edging ever closer. "No one save you!!" He stood still before the half-grown pup, chuckling in a very wicked manner to himself, before giving Two-Tone a hefty shove, hoping to force her into the pit. "Puppy go die now!!" Maybe this puppy would actually die instead of survive...or better yet, break a bone or two. Or three. Or ten. Maybe she'd lay paralyzed unable to move until she starved to death. The sick thoughts made the trog chuckle like nothing else.

When Two-Tone called to a "Buster" for help, the clone had to wonder for a brief second who that actually was. Was Buster one of their number? One of the prisoners? Whatever. Whoever it was hadn't appeared to help, and for that he was actually glad.

Wiser could not believe Buster. Two tone cared for Buster, he knew she did, and Buster seemed to care about Tones too. If it wasn't for Two Tone calling for "Buster" to get involved and save her, he would of put up a fight for Tones. Her life mattered a little bit more than his. Wizzer just stood there every part of his body wanted to jump in and growl at the alien to leave his sister alone.

Poor Wizzer was too late.

Tears streaming from emerald orbs, Two-Tone shrieked violently as she was shoved in. She tried her hardest to grip onto the side but only managed to steady herself briefly. Her weight and canine claws were the beginning of her downfall. She choked out a few unladylike sobs, a whimpered before she finally succumbed to her falling fate. She held out for Toulouse before she fell, shot a quick look to her brother and then yelped.

"BUSTERRRRR!"

As she fell she thought darkly about the male. He'd let her fall. He had just stood there. Like a bloody coward. She wanted him to be THE ONE. More badass than Mooch had ever been! Didn't he love her? Didn't he care about her? She wailed before tracking a similar path to Danielle.

Bounce, Bouce, SNAP

Like Danielle, Two-Tone survived the fall. But at first she didn't think so. The wind had been knocked from her body and she assumed she was dead. Or maybe she wasn't, she thought. By the time that thought crossed her mind it snapped her out of her daze.

And unfortunately into the reality of a broken shoulder and a cracked rib. Danielle tilted her head to the side as she heard Two-Tone let out an ugly howl.

"Berlioz....you're okay right? One of us...is gonna make it..."

"TONES" he wailed and ran over to the edge of the pit to make she was Ok. Wizzer was just about to unleash a howl only a pup who had just lost sister/ bestest friend could, until he saw movement. Okay, two tone was ok, (in a way at least) he glares at Buster he wanted so badly to push Buster into the pit himself.

Buster couldn't move, he wanted to. Oh did he ever want to. But his body wouldn't work. The red thing, whatever it was, was pushing Two-Tone closer and closer to the end, her stand against it was failing.

And then she fell.

"Tonesy!"

Buster's body was suddenly working again and he raced forward to the pit, Two-Tone hadn't completely fallen yet, she clung to the side desperately trying to keep herself from falling to a near most certain death.

Buster's effort was for not though as just as he reached the hole to reach for her, her grip failed. "Two-Tone!" His ears flattened to his head and he backed away from the pit. Not caring to see if she had indeed lived or not. Unwanted tears began to wail in the Doberman's eyes and he turned tail and ran off. Away from the pit and away from the eyes of Nuka's troops and those of Scar's that were there.

(Buster has left the thread.)

The red monster just laughed at the display. What a pitiable display of emotion the dog creature showed. So that was Buster. Not that the clone cared. He stepped forward with a horrible chuckle.

"Who next?" He fixed his terrible gaze on Wizzer next. The pup looked so pitiful. Weaker than the first two even. He would probably be very easy to push.

Leroy's clone padded closer to Wizzer, still chuckling. "Puppy want fall too? Meega can make you." He was laughing at the thought, the abominable thing. Did this clone of Leroy have no heart?

Berlioz winced sympathetically as he watched the second young dog go rolling painfully down the steep edge of the pit and meet the ground with a sickening crack. Frankly, he didn't think he'd ever felt quite so glad as now to be a feline, with his innate ability to land on his paws that the canines didn't possess. It gave a whole new reasoning to everybody wanting to be a cat, he supposed.

He glanced at Danielle as she spoke again, almost missing her words beneath Two-Tone's howl. If Scar really was going to have them burried alive and not just thrown down the pit, he had his doubts that even he would make it, but decided that voicing that thought wasn't going to help any of them. Maybe Scar had just mentioned burial to scare them, not because he was really planning on it; honestly, Berlioz couldn't pretend to guess what the lion whose propoganda he had once spouted mindlessly would do.

"If I make it, you're going to as well," he promised the cocker adamantly. He'd basically got thrown down here so Dani wouldn't be all alone; there was no way that the charcoal feline wasn't going to do everything in his power to make sure she survived whatever else Scar's troops would throw at them too. "We're in this together now, Dani."

Wizzer's ears pinned against his head and his tail tucked beneath his legs in fear. "You gotta do something, that is your sister down there" he said to himself. Wiz knew however he'd never make it, if he got thrown in his neck would surely break but he had to do something. Despite all his fear telling him to run he went with his other option , standing up for Tones and hoping it didn't kill him. He growls at the alien.

Dotty flinched at Scar's roar. This was it, she knew it, she knew that time was up. Scar's patience had been tested to its breaking point and now their fate awaited them. She tried to contain her fear and school her features into a neutral expression. Her daughters wouldn't see her break. They had been let down far too much in their short lives. She would show some dignity if the Great Kings saw fit to end her life.

Then it began.

The crush pushed Dotty backwards towards the edge of the pit. She had just enough time to see Nia struggling to reach her, Kuzimu frozen in shock and Nuka disappearing off into the horizon. It was just enough time for her to be horrified before there was a final shove and she fell backwards.

In reality, it was seconds but her fall seemed to last for an eternity. The ground was rushing up and she was falling down far too quickly. On instinct, she twisted, trying to ensure she landed on her feet and not anywhere else so that she risked a more severe injury. However, she wasn't nearly fast enough, she only managed to half twist herself so she landed on her side.

Bright white pain shot from her rib cage and she could only gasp out. She didn't know how badly she had hurt herself but she could hear a faint rattling as she breathed. A broken rib? Cracked maybe? That would make her next to useless if she had to fight her way past hordes of hyenas to survive.

Gingerly, the grey lioness pushed herself up to sit. She saw her fellow captives rush to their friends' defences and she felt a bitter twist in her gut that she was alone.