And for this one, we have a little intro for the next couple of stories. Fun, fun stuff awaits!

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October 21st, Sometime After All The Other Nonsense

Late, bordering on midnight, Sam stepped out of the house for his nightly trip to the outhouse. He'd always found the concept of an outhouse unappealing, but by some minor miracle, the outhouse outside of his and Lyna's place had plumbing. They asked no questions, chalking it up to another baffling architectural choice done by the people that founded the town. Anyway, he enjoyed the small ritual of doing his business out in the cool night air, so made sure to indulge whenever he got the chance.

He scratched his bare chest as she shuffled over to the tiny, outdoor water closet. Another temperate night, he didn't even bother putting anything on besides his pajama pants. It was the dead of night, who was going to see him? His ear perked up, hearing the snapping of a twig in the treeline at the edge of the property. He thought nothing of it. The woods always teemed with life, so hearing something walking around wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

Shutting the wooden, latched door behind him, he did his business, savoring the night's breeze at it blew through the minuscule gaps between the fir slats that made up the walls. Finished, he readjusted the waistband of his soft, cotton pajama pants. He pumped the head of the hand sanitizer bottle he'd taped to the wall, making sure to clean himself well enough before leaving. He took a deep breath, satisfied with another job well done. He swung the door open and stepped back out into the open air.

The second both feet landed in the grass outside, Sam heard a snap. A tight, lashing feeling circled around his ankles and pulled him hard onto his back and away from the outhouse. Too stunned to even react, he only managed to hang on tight to his waistband as the snare dragged him along the ground. He yelped as the rope hoisted him up into the air some several yards away from the outhouse, tethering him to a thick branch even closer to the treeline. His arms dangled as he swayed gently, utterly stupefied at what he'd just stumbled into.

Sam's ears stood on full alert as he heard a pair of footsteps slowly approach from behind. Truthfully, he was only in a mild panic. This had happened a couple times before, and while the ensuing predicaments were never ideal, they were also never anywhere close to catastrophic.

Thus, imagine his surprise when, feeling a pair of paws gently grasp his waist and rotate him slowly, he came face to face with Hannah Matz.

“Oh... hi?”, Sam said, a mix of hesitation and confusion in his voice, “Hannah? What... uh... what are you up to?”

“I'm here to collect the debt you owe me?”, Hannah said plainly, her brow furrowing a little as if Sam should have known the answer, “Remember? I told you I was coming by.”

“No. I don't remember that at all. I don't remember you... saying you were going to hang me from a tree...”, Sam offered, “And, debt...? Could you elaborate?”

“Elaborate debt?”, she asked, “It's when you owe someone something that they let you take.”

“No, please, I know what debt is...”, Sam shook his head, starting to feel light-headed, “Just... what are you saying I owe you...”

“I keep letting you take vegetables from the farm for free, and you do something for me in return.”, Hannah explained a deal Sam had never heard of, “I talked about this with you. No. Wait. I talked about this with Lyna, I just assumed she told you.”

“Well, oh god...”, Sam muttered, the blood starting to fully rush to his head, “I think you made a bad assumption there. She probably thought you'd talked to me about it, too. Can you get me down, please?”

“Well hold on, sorry...”, Hannah apologized. She gathered something up behind her that Sam couldn't quite perceive. He heard her shake something large out into the air. She turned back to him, having produced a large, burlap sack, “I'll get you down but I have to put you in the bag.”

“No. No you don't.”, Sam countered, “I'll just... come with you, for fuck's sake. You don't need to put me in a bag.”

“Wow, language, okay...”, the wolf chided, seeming actually somewhat perturbed, “I definitely have to put you in the bag now, Laurent was right...”

“Oh... oh, great... dumb son of a--”, Sam's complaints were immediately muffled as Hannah slid the lip of the sack over his head and pulled it up his suspended, inverted body. She drew it further upwards, tying a rope and cinching it around his ankles. Almost all of him covered up, she cut the rope tethering him to the tree, sending him hard to the ground with another, this time muffled, yelp. He groaned and squirmed in the bag, his bunny feet scratching at the ground to try and right himself.

Satisfied enough with the capture, she hoisted the bagged rabbit up and onto her shoulder. He would protest and squirm, but he had a job to do now. Off to the farm, where he'd be very much put to use and work off the vegetable debt he'd accrued. A little indentured labor couldn't be that bad, right? He'd do some hard labor and go home, what could Hannah possibly put him through that'd be any worse than what he's been through before?