There're many dangers in the sewers, specially for a small group of mice. The sewer rats clans are lurking, eager for easy preys, but although Tod is well prepared to fight the rats, they'll have to face something that can not be stopped nor avoided...

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Anne was thankful for Sarah's assistance, her footpaw though it was scraped and the injury wasn't deep it hurt to put a little weight on it "Well this certainly a heck of a way to visit the Sewers, Both of us injured." she says quietly but a little ruefully to her caompanion.

After a few steps, Tod starts to settle a little. His mind is tuned to listen for any other 'uninvited guests', but in all honesty, he didn't want to kill that rat. Then again, he couldn't let it kill the others, apart from the fact he'd have to live with that guilt, and it would have been wrong, there would have been all kinds of questions when he got back...alone. He slows his pace, finally, having gained some distance from the group. He looks back and is about to say something like 'keep up,', but decides it better not to. they're doing just fine as is, no need to push them. "Christopher," Tod calls out, "I'd double check and make sure that thing's still loaded, just to be on the safe side,"

Sarah chuckles a bit at Anne's comment "Indeed Mrs. Decker, though I wouldn't call it a visit. Under other circumstances I'd never come back here but... well we are not in position of freely make our choices. There are a lot of mice that count on us." The image of Li suffering the fever crosses her mind for a second. She follows Tod's lead while helping Anne to walk, carefully holding her with a paw. "Tod... are you sure we're going the right way? I mean... we're crossing rat territory and... well you know I just don't want to..." she gives a quick gaze back to the rat's corpse "...He was just one loner rat but, if any of the rat clans found us we wouldn't have a chance."

Christopher nods slightly. "Well, I only got off one shot, and this thing's supposed to hold six, I think... But I'll check." He fumbles with the weapon for a few moments, careful to keep it pointed away from anyone. Sure enough, the magazine had 5 shots left. Still, figuring that he might as well take care of it while he had it out, he slips another needle out of the pocket where he stores extras and slips it in the magazine (not without some difficulty), and the magazine back into the pistol. "Never thought I'd be using one of these," he muses, half to himself. He glances up at Sarah as she speaks to Tod, though he just listens for now.

Anne nodded to Sarah's words "I know this epidemic is just terrible I'm glad my son went with the Rats of NIMH when he did. I miss him terribly but at least he's away from here and out of harms way." she said sadly almost to herself but kept up her steady limping pace. "Mr. Bishop, you were at the NIMH Rats colony, did you happen to see my son Jacob while you were there?" she called up to Tod but still keeping her voice down.

With one ear to the sewer beyond, and one folded back to try and muffle out all the other acoustics, Tod only half hears the questions posed to him. "Most rat clans steer clear of this area, you'll only find drifters this way. not enough food to warrant any sort of a population..." He's not looking at the group, well, half way anyway. He turns to...Anne? was it?... "Jacob? um, yeah. Wasn't the best of circumstances for me, i was kind of...out of it, but yeah, i ran into him." Tod stands motionless for a few seconds, then blurts out "'scuse me," and scampers up to a side pipe of the sewer. He gives a hint of a smile and turns back, "The storm drains. Come on, this way," and waves the others up to his location.

Sarah nods and follows Tod "This way Mrs. Decker. Um... I wonder how that colony is, moreover how the NIMHrats actually are. I just know about the stories told by the Elders who met them back then at NIMH, though my mom doesn't talk much about it. I wonder... how their medics are trained, what their hospitals look like and such." she turns a bit back to side-look Christopher "Would be quite interesting don't you think Chris?"

Christopher tilts his head as Tod stops, raising an eyebrow at the smile. "Are we close, then?" he asks as he follows behind them. Looking back over to Sarah he blinks when he hears the question. "What was that? Oh, uh... the Rats? Yeah, guess it could be interesting. From what I hear, they don't have as much technology, though."

Anne's heart leapt when Tod mentioned seeing Jacob, her worries were momentarily forgotten and she had a little more spring in her step but the pain in her footpaw quickly brought her back to reality but her mood was definitely better then before. She nodded to Sarah "Okay lead the way dear." she said adjusting her walk to follow Sarah she shrugs at Sarah's questions about the NIMH Rats colony "I don't know Sarah, I can probably tell you the same thing that you heard from the other Elders. After all I was with them at NIMH as well." she said and smiled "If Mr. Bishop saw my Jacob there then that's a load off my mind I've been worried sick about Jake all I knew of him was just what William told me." at this she fell silent again "I wonder how William is doing with the Expedition for taking samples from the rats." she added and fell silent again.

"Closer than we were a few minutes ago," the old, sarcastic tone returns to Tod's voice. "This is the highway. it'll take us around to an old hotspot for mice near the junkyard. I used to have a few friends there." Tod pauses, his thinking about something...sometime...someone...With a sharp snap, Tod comes back to reality. "C'mon, let's get moving."

Sarah sighs at Anne's comment, her mother is there too dealing with the sewer rats. Though she knows Patricia has faced them many times before and she's strong enough, she also knows she tends to push herself way too much... "Yes, mom is there now too. Don't worry, their plan was fairly better planned than this. Besides they have many guards in case that something goes wrong." Nodding at Tod she continues "The junkyard... so you met them when you first left the colony right?"

Christopher rolls his eyes at Tod's response, unfortunately not noticing his pause as his attention turns back to Sarah.

Anne nods and tries to pat Sarah's arm reassuringly "Indeed dear, and lets not forget poor Hugo, he's the prisoner to the rats. I'm just glad They have my William and all those Guards to protect them." she said and earperks To what Tod said and what Sarah said, she didn't say anything and continued to follow along.

From the shadows , a pair of redeyes watches the group with interest. Not often they come to this part of the sewers...

Tod turns back to Sarah, "Not really. I actually used to make runs out here to visit them before i...i..." He trails off, a hint of a tear develops in his eyes, "Before i...got married." He tries to shrug it off, but it just won't go away this time. (Pull yourself together, Tod) he thinks to himself (Now is No time to be having a mental breakdown. they need you.

Sarah frowns, just by coincidence she happen to be looking at Tod directly and she noticed something on him that she has never seen before, obviously he doesn't shows that side often. Was just for a moment but, enough for Sarah to catch that hidden sorrow. "I... I am sorry Tod, I didn't mean to bring that back..." she says

The figure takes note of the tone of voice from the one called ...Tod.

Christopher bites his lip slightly, nodding in agreement with Sarah. He feels the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise a little, though he doesn't have any idea why they'd be doing that.

Anne limps along and frowns slightly at Sarah's words but she doesn't say anything. "Something doesn't feel right all of a sudden." she comments and starts to sniff the air, her ears swiveling for any kind of sound or smell that would explain this sudden feeling.

"It's alright," Tod sighs, "Just a lot of...yeah." He looks at the others. He hasn't sensed anything yet that would warrant a warning, and passes Christopher and Anne's reactions off as sensory hypochondria, as they used to call it on the guard. "It's a bit of a hike yet to go, though." Tod says, pushing forward, and noting a few drips of water from a nearby access. Odd, these pipes should all be frozen, or nearly so, anyway...

Sarah sighs and continues following behind Tod "Um... that's a heavy storm out there isn't it? We're lucky of being here protected from it. I remember when I was living in the forest, the rain filtrates from everywhere and sometimes the river near home flooded and we had to find another burrow..." her ears perk a bit at a weird sound, was like... crisps and mumbles echoing through the pipes. "... but luckily dad always knew where to go and what to do when that happened, and no one got hurt..." she continues almost without paying attention to the sound.

Christopher shrugs off the feeling, shaking his head a little. He glances over to Sarah, his ears perking a little as well at the sounds.

The figure shifts back into darkness and remains quiet. Apparently too close. Wouldnt do to be found out now. need to know more...

Anne continued to sniff the air but all she smelled was the usual smells you would find in the sewers. She continued to walk "Its funny, I have this strange feeling were being watched." she commented mostly to herself she shrugged the feeling off as her hearing was drawn to the sounds.

Tod stops, his ears perked fully, his whiskers twitching. "Guys," His voice is unsure, but commanding, "I think now would be a good time to run," The words are soft, clear, nonchalant. Tod takes two steps back, his eyes peering into the darkness beyond. There's a whooshing sound, the pipe starts to vibrate beneath his feet. In the blackness, Tod can see whisps of light bouncing off of...of...of...

"Hmmm? What do you..." Sarah peeks over Tod's shoulder. She can't see much in the darkness but the sound was definitively getting more and more closer, surpassing even the sound of the storm. She stops immediately and just by instinct she starts to step back. "W-What's..." she quickly turns and glances over Tod "Oh no... Quick help me with Anne! We gotta get out of the way! The flood's coming! RUN!!!"

Christopher's eyes widen as he hears the whooshing and rumbling... he shoves the gun into his belt, then reaches over to take Anne by the paw and tries to put her arm around his shoulder, so that she's being half-dragged along as he begins to run, almost piggy-back.

Anne groans at the ominous whooshing sound "Oh Great not again! I've been flushed away by a pipe once already." she said still groaning and looked around "Which way do we need to go?" she said still frantically trying to find the fastest way to avoid the flood. but before she can ask anything else she was assisted by Christopher. She tried her best to keep up with him but all she could do was a stumbling limp until she was almost being dragged.

"Oh sh," Tod never completes those words. As he turns to run, the water slams him from behind, knocking the mouse off his hindpaws. "GRAB AHOLD OF SOMETHING!" He shouts over the sound of the rushing water. It's cold, damn cold. Ice cold, like...like it was from the frozen streets above, which it probably is. Maneuvering around, Tod manages to grab the side of a feeder pipe, barely big enough around for him to squeeze into, then he looks back out to see if he can help anyone else.

Sarah barely manages to get ahold of a scrap in the pipe with one paw while holding Anne's with the other "H-Hold on! ...God" The chilling-cold water hits her all over her hide and face, and because of her already deteriorated health due the lack of sleep in the last days she feels how her body start to shiver uncontrollably. "C-Chris, I-I-I'm entering in s-shock I... H-hold h-hold Mrs. D-Decker... Hold h-er I..." her fingers start to slip from the scrap...

Christopher feels the water hit him as well and he finds himself suddenly swept along by the current, still holding onto Anne's paw. He somehow manages to grab ahold of the pipe, and he holds onto Anne with his other paw. "Sarah! No, hold on, Sarah!" He extends his tail and footpaw over to her, trying to catch hold of her or her clothing to help keep her from being swept away...

Anne gasps as the cold torrent struck her "OH GOD!" she calls out as the cold water flowed around her, She actually attempted to grip Christopher's arm in a death grip. "Oh no Sarah hold on!" she cried when she saw Sarah's paw start to slip from the scrap. Being closest to Sarah she tried to lock her legs around Sarah's waist as well to keep her from being swept away. "Don't you dare let go Miss Maple!" she commanded as she reached her free paw to grab the same pipe Christopher had.

Yet again, when it seems like he is needed the most, Tod all the sudden comes up...missing.

Sarah can't hold anymore! In a desperate effort she tries to place a paw on another scrap. She made it, but then suddenly by the cold her muscles get cramped, losing the grip instantly and the current drags her! "C-CHRIS!!!!" It's all what she could say before sinking! Just in time she grabs from a scrap just at the end of the pipe before a falling, which now looks like a waterfall. She's barely clinging there almost about to fall to a pool of cold water under her!

"SARAH!!" Seeing that Anne has a grip on the pipe, he lets go, swimming with the current but fighting to keep close to the wall towards Sarah! He catches onto another scrap just above the one that she's holding onto... he tries to wrap his footpaws and tail around her to keep her from falling if her grip fails. "Hold on, Sarah!" His own grip starts sliding slowly down the slick scrap.

Anne gasps when Sarah was washed away and when Christopher left her. With the water washing past her she held on but just barely "This is almost as bad as being blown away in the airshafts at NIMH!" she cried, ahe was loosing her grip fast on the pipe, the water was almost too much for her old paws.

Tod finds what he's looking for up the sidepipe, and latches a rope out of his pack onto it. Then, in a fury of wet gray fur, he explodes out the pipe and into the rush, sweeping down the 'waterfall' past Sara before the rope goes tight. "I need a vacation," Tod mutters as he starts wrenching his way back up toward Sarah. The water pressure seems to be dropping now, as if the rush is slowly passing. Or, at least Tod hopes it is...

Sarah holds with all her remaining strength (which is not much). She glances over Christopher with a terrified look while the freezing water hits her making her swallow water with each wave. Her already fatigued muscles are failing and she's slowly loosing the grip, and then like a flash maybe because of the shock state, she sees her family, her dad, siblings, her mother everyone is around her... she was in the forest, back in her home again... Sarah faints, and loose the grip.

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"Dream! What you dare to dream.
Go! To where you want to go.
Be! What you want to be.
Live!" R. Bach