This is a draft version of a chapter from John Saye’s book, The Attack of the Atomic Bunny Rabbits!

It had been a while since Maria had been able to get out of the house on her own. Open roads, clear skies, all her people off at various schools. Annie’s child seat was empty.

She rolled down the window and let in what remained of the cool morning air. The radio was buzzing. Pop songs and news bites, and weather every few minutes. Something involving rabbits flitted by one station. No matter where she turned there seemed to be some kind of story involving rabbits.

“I don’t see what the bother is. You can see rabbits in the yard sometimes in the spring.”

She pulled off the road and lined up in the drive-through for the Dino Coffee. She could already smell it in the air. Across the street was a car wash that was usually busy, but today there was only a fire truck and an ambulance there. The lights were on.

“I wonder what happened over there?”

She pulled up a car length and smelled the coffee laden air. It filled her nostrils with the scent of cinnamon, and vanilla, and burning ash. She opened her eyes. Across the street, she could tell that the car wash was on fire. There was now a break in the roof, and smoke was streaming out of the building. Shortly another fire truck arrived.

Standing on its own by the street at the intersection was a single white rabbit.

She turned to look at the Dino Coffee menu, and when she looked back, it was gone.

“How can we help you?” said the voice over the speaker.

“I’m looking for a large mocha stegosaur with cream today,” said Maria.

“I’ll find you one, kill it and have it ready for you at the window, anything else I can get for you?”

“That’ll do it.”

“Thanks very much. See you there.”

Maria drove up to the window. Where did that rabbit go?

“I said that’ll be nine-fifty-three,” said Melissa, who was hanging out the window with her coffee. She was wearing a brown and green apron, a black shirt and a baseball hat with a foam rubber Tyrannosaurus Rex above the bill.

“I’m sorry, here you go, thanks, Melissa.”

“No problem, Mrs. Kelly.”

She took the drink. “Thank you much.”

She pulled away and almost ran over another rabbit who was crossing in front of her, streaking along like a dog.

“What is going on here?”

She pulled around the corner, to get out of the lot and saw three more escaping into the woods by the side of the road.

She sipped her coffee and carried on. Rabbits.

Annie was alone on the playground.

One of the swings was swinging in the breeze. There was a creek in the metal, and she could hear the old playground equipment grinding in the wind. There were other kids around, but no one was there with her. She sat, on a metal duck, with paint that was peeling off its left side, creeping back and forth when she saw the rabbit. It was standing on the edge of the seesaw, up high, with no one on the other side.

Shouldn’t the rabbit push it down?

It sat up there, hovering, and looking all around. No one else noticed it. They were all heading inside. Teachers were calling, but Annie didn’t hear them. Instead, she walked out to the rabbit, in slow steps.

It twitched, and she stopped like a statue.

In a moment, it hunkered down and she resumed, one slow step at a time. She was right upon it. It stood there, rubbing its little eyes and ears, then it looked up at her.

“Hi,” she said. “Can I pet you?”

“Annie,” called a teacher’s assistant. “Come on in, what is that, a rabbit?”

The rabbit looked up and sniffed the air. Its nose twitched like lightning. It looked around, saw the teacher’s assistant, and stood up on its hind feet.

Its eyes blazed, then its fur stood up and turned red with dark patches in a flash.

“Woah,” said Annie.

“Annie, come on back from that rabbit,” said the assistant.

Annie didn’t move.

“Annie, come on dear.”

Annie reached out. The rabbit’s fur was deep red, but it looked soft. She touched it and found that it was soft, warm and luxurious, silky. The rabbit turned and showed Annie its back. She scratched it between the ears.

“Annie!”

Annie turned, hearing the teacher.

The rabbit turned as well. Its eyes lit up like fire, and it screeched as its fur erupted in flame.

Annie fell to the ground and began to run for the teacher.

The rabbit jumped to the ground and ran through the playground, looking for a way out. It found a crack in the fence big enough to get through, and bolted for it, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. It pumped through the crack and shook like a dog trying to shake off the water, but instead shook off the flames that were hugging its body. It darted between trees, and into a line of bushes before the red color faded back to white. A few moments later it was calm, and looking for a nice cool place to hang out for a while.

“Are you all right?” said the teacher’s assistant as she pulled Annie up from the ground.

“It wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“Come on inside.”

“I said I was fine! It wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“I know, come on. Let’s get inside.”

They went in, and Annie sat down to play house with some of the other girls. One boy was there, more interested in hanging out with the girls than the guys.

She watched out the window, looking for it, but could only see the trail of burned grass it had left while it was running away.

While she was persuading the boy to do the dishes in the little kitchen, her father was opening the box in his science classroom.

“Let’s find out what’s in here,” said Destin.

He pulled up the flaps and found a round nest of shredded paper inside. He pulled it apart to find the rabbit down there hiding.

“Come on out. I won’t hurt you.”

He reached in and allowed the rabbit to sniff him a little. Then he curled his hand up under the rabbit’s belly and pulled him from the box. He made sure to support the rabbit’s body.

The rabbit allowed itself to be held, and after a moment seemed okay with it.

“Are you one of those rabbits we heard about on the news little guy?”

The kids were still banging at the door.

“Who’d have thought kids would want to get in here so badly today eh?” he said to the rabbit. He stepped over to the door and opened it.  “Come in, come in already,” he said to the kids.

“Mr. Kelly, you have a rabbit!” said one of them as they entered the room.

Destin looked down, jumped like he hadn’t realized he was holding anything at all and smiled at the kids. “So it appears I do. Now that is interesting, isn’t it?”

He tucked the rabbit, who seemed content to be held like this, under his arm and continued to teach that way.

The kids sat at large black tables, with two students to a table. On each Destin placed a preserved frog for dissection for each pair of kids. Most of the kids sat with their hands on the table for the first few minutes. Then they began to shake their fears and start to do the business at hand. Some did well. Others botched their frogs from stem to stern, but most were average, getting the job done, but not to perfection. One slipped and cut his frog’s legs completely off.

Destin didn’t tell them that the exercise was more of a test of nerves to see if the kids would do the project at all. As the hour was winding down, one of them, long finished with his frog went ahead and said it.

“So, what’s with the rabbit Mr. Kelly?”

“That, my young sir, is a good question.”

The rabbit jumped up to sit on the corner of its box, turned red, and then belched fire like a small dragon into the room.

Arriving at his own school, Mike ran to get away from one of the teachers. He already had a rabbit in his backpack and was ducking for cover to avoid his science teacher, who he knew he’d see later in the day. He ducked into the bathroom, passed the stalls to the last one, got in and bolted himself in.

He unzipped the pack, and there it stood. What was amazing to Mike was just how calm and still, it was, even after traveling around in his backpack like that.

“Hey, little buddy. You’re all right.”

He stroked its fur, which was soft and fluffy for such an ordinary white rabbit. He ran his fingers through the fur. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The fluffiest cat or a recently bathed and dried dog couldn’t compare, and then the red fur. It flashed from white to red, with darker patches that could be black, or maybe a dark crimson.

“Is this when you blow it?”

The rabbit sat still and then nuzzled Mike for some more scratches.

“Why do you turn red like that?”

Its eyes blazed.

Mike’s science teacher, Mr. Phillips, came into the bathroom.

“Mike, are you in here? We’re not just talking detention here you know. I just want to see the rabbit.”

Mike said nothing.

He stood frozen on the spot.

The rabbit’s ears perked up and zoned in on the sound of the approaching teacher.

“I know you’re in here. You may as well come out.”

The rabbit turned, now fixated on the approaching person.

Mike watched it seem to blink off all observation of anything else.

“What are you doing?” asked Mike.

“Mike, is that you?” said Mr. Phillips.

“Don’t come any closer,” said Mike. “I don’t think it’s ready yet.”

“It’s just a rabbit Mike, what harm could there be?”

The rabbit’s fur went from soft and deep red to blazing with a fiery light.

“I think you better hang back Mr. Phillips.”

Mr. Phillips reached Mike’s stall.

“Come on Mike, open up. I just want to see the bunny, right?”

“Okay, well you asked for it.”

Mike opened up the stall, releasing the little metal knob, and Mr. Phillips pulled the door open to see them.

The rabbit was blazing with fire. Smoke was starting to go everywhere. Its deep red fur glistened with fiery light, and its eyes blazed with white-hot fire.

“What the…” said Mr. Phillips as the rabbit spat forth a stream of dragon fire from its mouth.

Mr. Phillips hit the floor, and the shower of flame washed over him and melted the mirrors over the line of sinks.