A squirrel named Jenny is chased by a pred -- only for the pred to not be what she expected.

Best Case Scenario

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Jenny quickened her pace through the dark streets. She was in trouble.

It had been a foolish mistake. She thought she would have more than enough time to make a quick trip to the store and be back before dark. Turned out she was wrong.

Streets she thought she knew well now looked foreign in the darkening twilight. The buildings cast long shadows along the street, heralding the end of the day. The daytime crowd had already long since dissipated, and now the city began to show new signs of life as the nocturnal citizens began to awaken, opening businesses and brightening neon signs. The once-familiar city had turned into an alien landscape with the setting of the sun, and an entirely new crowd began to wander the streets.

Outside. After dark. Alone. Not a good place for a little squirrel like Jenny.

She had already gotten some disquieting looks from passers-by. A feline licked her lips as she passed him on the sidewalk. A short, stocky badger gave her an odd look as he shouldered past her. A mouse setting up a window display in a clothing store did a double take, then shook her head as she passed.

And now the worst had happened: she was being followed.

She hadn't actually seen the predator yet, but she knew it was there. Every instinct in her body had been honed for this moment, and no amount of civilized living could stamp it out. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. A thick lump settled in her throat. Her ears swiviled, searching for any noise. She had no doubt that something pursued her.

She had a decision to make. Should she keep walking and pretend she hadn't noticed? She was only a few blocks away from her apartment. The pred might balk at the idea of snatching her right off the street -- except that she was outside of her element, and without any friends to protect. The pred might very well be that bold.

Or, she could turn off into a side-street and look for a place to hide. She might even find a fire escape to climb and escape that way. But that also meant that if the pred did catch up with her, she would be even more isolated that she was now.

Her ear twitched; she had definitely just heard a footstep. Not daring to turn around, she let her instincts take over, and she ducked into an alley.

She quickly decided that this had been the wrong decision. She didn't know these back streets during the day, much less at night. Every turn brought her to another identical, narrow alley, with no hiding places and no escape.

She could hear the predator's footsteps clearly now. The pred had become more bold, more sure of the catch. They were getting closer.

Jenny turned a corner and gasped.

It was a dead end. A few trash cans sat next to a back door that was surely locked.

She tried the door anyway. Definitely locked.

She spun around to look for another way out, only to have a body slam into her. Her head banged against the door with a hollow sound, causing the world before her to swim and blur.

She had been too late! The predator had her! Her heart pounded in her chest. She lashed out, but the pred evaded her easily. She blinked, trying to get a good look at her attacker.

Except, as her vision cleared, rather than a cat or wolf, she found herself looking into the face of a rabbit.

The female lapine was barely taller than her, though toned muscles suggested she was likely quite a bit stronger. She had several piercings in her tall ears, and wore a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

The rabbit placed a her hands on the door on either side of Jenny, trapping her there. She leaned close, their noses almost touching.

"You know," the rabbit said. "If I weren't a bunny, you'd already be on a one-way trip down my throat right now."

The rabbit then leaned forward and kissed Jenny on the nose. Without another word, she removed her hands from the door, turned around, and walked off, disappearing around a corner.

Jenny leaned against the door, her heart still attempting to beat its way right out of her ribcage. She clasped her chest with one hand as she struggling to bring her breathing back into a normal rhythm.

What the hell was that?

After what seemed like an eternity, Jenny finally composed herself enough to lift herself away from the door and start finding her way back out through the alleys. She still had no idea what to make of all that, but she was, at least, still alive on not on the inside of anyone else's fur.

She still wasn't sure what had just happened, but she supposed things could have turned out a whole lot worse.