FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

EXT. FLINDERS RANGES - DAY

Kiah and Critter make their way through the Flinders Ranges again, the heat of the Sun blaring down on them.

CRITTER: Can we stop? I need to find a nice cool patch of dirt to bury myself in.

KIAH: No, we're almost there. I can feel it.

Critter SIGHS, and follows Kiah through the brush.

The Family of Yellow-Footed Rock Wallabies is traveling through deep grasses nearby. The baby (Lucy) now has her head out of the pouch, while Wallaby Mum leads. Lisa and Olivia follow beside, while Joey trails behind, searching the area cautiously.

OLIVIA: Why does he keep staring off into space like that?

LISA: I don't know. Probably some dumb male instinct or something.

Wallaby Mum stops and looks back at him.

WALLABY MUM: Come on Joey babe. We don't want you getting left behind. I don't want you turning up like...

Wallaby Mum trails off with sadness in her voice.

JOEY: Yeah. I got you.

Lisa looks back at Olivia.

LISA: If only he would have got Zoe in time.

OLIVIA: Yeah, it should have been him who died instead of her.

WALLABY MUM: Olivia! Don't talk like that about your brother.

JOEY: No. She's right. It should have been me. At least Zoe had something to offer.

Wallaby Mum looks at Joey with pity before moving onward.

OLIVIA: I still don't think my question was answered.

JOEY (To himself): I'm keeping an eye out for danger.

Wallaby Mum notices her kids are still stopped.

WALLABY MUM: Hurry along babes, we should keep moving. I don't like being in the tall grass like this.

They continue.

Kiah and Critter are still traveling, when suddenly Kiah spots the wallaby family through the brush. She stops, flicking her tongue in hunger.

KIAH: Wait. I want to try this. Do you think they're too big? Oh, who cares.

As Kiah gets into position, Critter sits himself down, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Kiah starts wagging her tail, RUSTLING the brush. Lucy looks up from the pouch at the sight of it.

LUCY: Ooh, worm.

Catching Wallaby Mum by surprise, Lucy scrambles out of her pouch, and starts heading for Kiah. Joey suddenly spots the sunlight glinting off Kiah's amulet.

JOEY: Wait! Stop!

At his cry, the other Wallabies stop to look at him. Just before Lucy grabs Kiah's tail, Joey leaps in Lucy's way and snatches Kiah up from the ground. He holds her up by the neck, and Lucy dives back into her mother's pouch in terror. Kiah struggles Joey in Joey's grasp, trying to bite back, but Joey holds her in just a way that she can hardly move.

LISA: A snake!

LUCY: Oh no, it ate me.

KIAH: Let me go! Or I will eat you whole!

OLIVIA: You can't do that. As you know, Yellow-Footed Rock Wallabies are endangered.

KIAH: I don't care! They're going to be even more endangered when I'm done with you! And the rest of you will be completely mortified.

Critter remains in the brush, watching this confrontation.

WALLABY MUM: Joey, put that thing down before it bites you.

KIAH: Joey? Seriously? Was that the first name you thought of?

But Joey doesn't answer, captivated by the amulet on Kiah's neck.

Suddenly, Joey has a flashback of the Serpent leaping at Zoe, the flash of the amulet, and Zoe's limp body.

JOEY: This is the... The amulet. You...

OLIVIA: The one that killed our sister! Our baby sister!

KIAH: What are you talking about? I did nothing of the sort. Though with how you're treating me, I certainly wouldn't mind doing so to you.

As she says this, the amulet FLASHES. Joey gives a CRY as ENERGY IS PULLED OUT OF HIS BODY AND INTO THE AMULET, transferring into Kiah. His fur begins to pale, his skin begins to sag.

And Joey drops Kiah to the ground before more harm can be done, weakened. Kiah, startled by the amulet's power, recovers quickly, and starts to slither away in a rush. But before she can get anywhere, Lisa picks her up.

OLIVIA: What was that?

LUCY: It be all whooshy and... wowwy.

Joey struggles to his feet, Wallaby Mum rushing to his support.

WALLABY MUM: Are you okay?

JOEY: Yeah. Whatever she did, she didn't take much. (Snapping at Kiah) Was that what you did to my sister?

KIAH: I did nothing to your sister!

JOEY: Don't give me that! Some snake used whatever that thing is to kill my sister, and given that you're the snake wearing it, it must have been you!

Kiah looks down at the amulet in shock, then back up at Joey, regaining herself.

KIAH: Let me go! Just because I'm a snake doesn't mean I'm a monster! I found this amulet, and it's mine to keep. If you have a problem with that, then too bad!

Critter looks away from the confrontation, and sees the Outback stretching before him. He is about to step away to freedom when-

LISA: We have to murder it before it does any more harm.

Critter comes to a stop.

Olivia picks up a rock.

OLIVIA: Here, we can smash its head in with this.

Critter looks back at the situation and SIGHS.

Lisa takes the rock, but as she does, Critter leaps onto Lisa's face, expanding his beard with a HISS before she can react. Lisa gives a cry and drops Kiah.

CRITTER: Kiah, run!

Before the wallabies can recover from their shock, Kiah dashes away into the growth. Critter jumps off Lisa's face and scrambles after her.

Joey makes a move to follow, but his Mum holds him back.

WALLABY MUM: Leave it. At least no one was hurt. What we need to do is get out of this grass before anything else comes out at us.

Wallaby Mum starts to lead them away, but Joey takes one last look in the direction that Kiah and Critter took.

EXT. FLINDERS RANGES - DAY

Kiah and Critter continue moving until they've made a good distance, and then they begin to slow down.

CRITTER: Oh yeah, I'm so fierce. You saw me you know.

Finally, they come to a stop, and Kiah turns to face Critter.

KIAH: Run?! Seriously?

CRITTER: Yeah. What else would I...Oh.

Critter turns his attention the Amulet around Kiah's neck.

CRITTER: So... That thing... Why did it do that?

KIAH: I don't know. I just... When it did what it did, I felt stronger, almost as if... I was getting younger.

Kiah turns away and continues moving, deep in thought. Critter stays where he is.

CRITTER: You owe me, you know.

Kiah turns around.

KIAH: What?

CRITTER: A life debt. I saved your life, so you serve me now.

KIAH: Sorry to inform you, but snakes don't do life debts.

CRITTER: They- You don't?

KIAH: Nope. By saving me, you just proved how loyal of a pet you really are. And now that I'm still alive, you're doomed to follow me forever. Now, let's go or I'll assume we stopped for a lunch break, and I think loyal pet sounds like a really good substitute for homicidal wallaby.

CRITTER: Homicidal yourself. Fine, I'm coming.

With that, they continue onward.

EXT. FLINDERS RANGES - DAY

Joey and his family continue through the grass until they come out onto harder ground and stop.

WALLABY MUM: Rocks. We should be safe from that thing here. Let's look for a cave.

JOEY: We might be safe, but that doesn't mean everybody is.

OLIVIA: What are you saying?

JOEY: That snake should not be allowed to roam free and cause more harm. I'm going after it.

WALLABY MUM: What!?

Before anyone can stop him, Joey takes a step back toward the edge of the rocks, and looking off into the distance, hops back into the grass.

WALLABY MUM: Joey! Come back here!

But Joey ignores her, continuing back the way they came.

WALLABY MUM: Joey!

She hops forward, but stops at the edge of the grass, looking down at her daughter in her pouch. Joey turns back to face them.

JOEY: I'm only the dumb male anyway.

And with that, he turns away heading into the distance, his family YELLING after him.

EXT. BEYOND FLINDERS RANGES, VARIOUS LOCATIONS - MONTAGE

As they continue to travel, the path for Kiah and Critter becomes more dangerous.

A Wedge-Tailed Eagle swoops down from the sky to scoop up Kiah and Critter in its talons.

Joey wanders aimlessly through the Outback, looking for signs of Kiah, but finding nothing.

As the Wedge-Tailed Eagle flies through the sky toward its nest, Kiah swings herself around in an attempt to strike at the predator. She misses, but the Eagle, taken completely off guard by her attack, drops its prey with a SHRIEK, and Kiah and Critter CRASH down in a nearby tree.

Shaken and bruised, but unharmed, Kiah watches the eagle fly away, flicking her tongue at the disappointment of a lost dinner.

Joey is hopping along some rocks when he spots a Wedge-Tailed Eagle in the sky. He runs for cover under an overhanging cliff.

On a cliff side trail, barely wide enough for their bodies, Kiah and Critter have to leap over a gap bridged by two tree branches. Critter misses on the jump to the second branch, and Kiah has to drop down, catching him in a loop of her body as he plummets past. She releases him at the apex of the reverse swing, and throws him onto the other side of the trail. She lets go of the branch herself and flies forward to join him.

Joey hops aimlessly along some cliffs. He stops to look around, but finds no Kiah.

EXT. BEYOND FLINDERS RANGES - DAY

Critter sees a RUSTLE of movement in the brush, and heads toward it, a look of hunger on his face. Kiah spots Critter leaving, and looks toward the RUSTLING. In an instant, she springs forward ahead of Critter, and wrestles down another Death Adder.

KIAH: Leave my Critter alone! He's my prey.

DEATH ADDER: Whatever. I'm not that desperate.

The Death Adder gets up, and heads back into the brush. Kiah faces Critter.

KIAH: Now you own me a life debt.

CRITTER: What? No! You can't expect a life debt from somebody when you won't even give one yourself.

KIAH: Oh, well I can't let you abandon your customs just because I don't observe them.

CRITTER: Forget it.

KIAH: Oh well, being my pet for life will just have to be good enough for me then, you compromising... whatever.

With that, Kiah heads on. With that SIGH of exasperation, Critter follows.