Stuck living under

Looking at the particulate drift by, Frederick rested in his home. Not particularly hungry, nor was he bored, he sat and watch the school of minnows zipping around.

"Why are they out there? Don't they know that they're exposed? It's not safe."

Just then, a shift in the current took place. The minnows took off, leaving not a trace, not even their scales.

Having a sense of dread grow in his stomach, he flicked his tail, huddling up against the back wall of his abode as best he could.

Preparing for the worst, he never expected what would happen next. A five headed hard-scaled worm kept dove in after in, almost sniffing their way towards his direction. Though they lacked eyes, noses, and mouths, they eerily inched their way closer towards him.

Claws ready, open to snatch down upon the invader, Frederick prepared for the worst. The largest of the bunch swung off to the side, taking the group with it, leaving the smallest head's neck vulnerable to a piercing pinch attack. Slamming down with all his might, the five heads all reacted at once. They were so shocked that their necks spasmed as if they were struck by a bolt of lightning. So intense was the pain, but undeterred from their initial task, they retaliated the initial assault.

Not having mouths with which to open, the five reared around and extending their necks, pressing their heads against Frederick's back wall, before pulling him closely into their abdomen. With barely any room to fight back, he could barely pinch, let alone open his claws, but that didn't stop him from trying, as he had sunk the needle like part of one of his claws deep into its chest.

"If it bleeds, I can kill it!"

Retracting their adversary from his quarters, Frederick's eyes were opened to the real size of his opponent. The five heads were but a mere extension of his imprisoner. In truth, they were part of a much larger being. No, they didn't have five separate brains with which to bicker over who's making the decisions, but of one gargantuan, colossal, giant, who's strength could shift the entire landscape that was Frederick's home.

Out of fear and awe, Frederick froze and remained still, and in the blink of an eye was removed from his watery abode and disdainfully tossed into a large white column filled with still water.

Dazed and confused, he didn't know what to do, but with the adrenaline still coursing through him, he tried to get his bearings as quickly as possible.

"Barney! We got a new one here!"

"Really Sammy?"

Gaining focus, two more of his kind walked towards him.

"Who are you?" He was weary, and still tried his best to give a threatening display. Having won many a mating season, he knew that he had the strength to compete, but now he was lacking in proper coordination.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Barney raised his claws up, but kept them closed, "easy there partner. We're not here to harm you. We all ended up in this predicament just like you."

"What is this place?"

"We all call it the dunk. Cause' we were all dunked in here."

Too weary to talk anymore, let alone hold up his claws, Frederick collapsed.

"Gather your strength," Sammy told him, "you'll need it soon. Real soon."

Though what strength he could gather was very little, as the dunk was sloshed around in every direction. In choosing not to resist the movements, he drifted along with the water and the rest of its inhabitants as he drifted off to sleep.

After several minutes of continuous sloshing the dunk remained firm in its position, the water started to settle, the dirt began to sink to the bottom.

"You there! Come here," a voice rang out to him.

"Huh?" Still new to the current ongoings of their situation, Frederick crawled over to one side where the whole group was together. "What's this?"

"Sorry about before there, pal," Barney waved his antennae at Frederick. "Hope you got enough shut eye, but how'd you like to leave this place along with the rest of us?"

Not really attached to his first home, Frederick thought about the prospects of dwelling in a nicer stream, underneath a more secure rock, one where titans wouldn't be able to reach him at with their five headed worms.

"Yeah, I'd like that. So, how are we going to do it?"

"Well first, take a look," Barney gestured up behind him. There they saw another crawdad flicking its tail, trying to rocket itself out of the dunk. "See? Travis can break the surface of the watuh, but can get higher than that. This thing is abnormally tall and the water's abnormally small."

"What else is new?"

Sammy butted in, "Well, there's an abnormally large number of us in here. If we all stack atop of one another claw to tail end, we might be able to climb out."

"Climb? Really?"

"Think about it," Barney said, "the first will be last and the last will be first. That means the 1st person on the bottom here, will hold things nice and tight for the rest of us, and the first person to make it to the top of the cliff, will hold on so that we can make a ladda' going the other way until all of us have left this miserable place. There's definitely more than enough us. If we wanted to, we could have two ladders. Are you on board?"

"Sure, but what if I'm not?"

Just then, the titans servant plunged beneath the water's glass ceiling, shattering its vibrancy around it. The whole community began to panic. Some darted away, others remained still, and a few raised their claws to fight. Alas, it was all in vain.

"HELP! HELP ME!" As a member cried out in bloody murder. Looking on, they saw how utterly helpless they were as their friend was lifted from the water, and stabbed with a sharp, shiny, proboscis.

Shocked and stunned at the crawdaddity, a few said their condolences, meanwhile others scrambled together wanted to get this escape ladder done immediately.

"Does that answer yer' question?" Barney eyed him.

"Oh, without a shadow of a doubt. Let's get this thing underway."

"Alright!" Sammy clacked her claws, "Evacuation plan assemble! Antennae up everyone! We're going to hold on to one another, tail to claw, for this ladder to work out! Being the two largest crawdads here, Barney will hold down the beginning for us, and-," she turned and whispered to him, "what your name again?"

"Frederick," he whispered.

"And Frederick will grip the top of the cliff! Start a line in single file, and the person nearest to the top will send a signal asking to send Frederick up! This whole plan hinges on their grip strength, everyone! Ready?!"

CLICK!-CLICK!-CLICK!-CLICK!-CLICK!-CLICK!

Doing as she bade, it took no time at all for the group to become organized.

"Come on, pinchers! Let's get climbing!" Barney took his position, and waited as he grabbed and hoisted the 2nd crawdad up by its tail along the wall of the dunk.

Slowly, but surely, the plan was working, even once they got past the surface of the water. Eventually they almost got to the cliff edge of the dunk. Turning around, the topmost crawdad signaled to the others with several clicks of his claws to send up Frederick.

"You're up, buddy," Sammy waved. "Get climbing."

And so he did. Sure, he's been out of water before, and it wasn't particularly uncomfortable as long as his gills remained wet. Once, he got to the top, he reached a bit farther than he was used to in his old age, and held on tightly to the cliff's edge.

Having followed up behind him, Sammy climbed atop of him, waving her tail in his face saying, "I'm over the edge, quick, grab on. This is how we start making the ladder down to the other side."

Trusting in her confidence, he gripped her as she dangled from the other side. There was still a small line that hadn't climbed yet, but eventually they all dangled down the side of the edge.

Once the line was no more, they were just beginning their extraction of the ones still in the dunk. With a glimmer of hope in his eyes, Barney began to ascend as the fruits of his labor, combined with everyone else's, were starting to shine through and pay them all back.

Until...

Foom.

"Oh no." Frederick seized up.

FOOM.

"No please."

FOOM!

Surprised at their eloquent plan, the giant had paused in confusion. Not thinking that such lower lifeforms could perform such a complicated tasks, especially for not being a eusocial species. Making haste, it walked around towards the other side of the dunk. Witnessing the ladder extending downwards, it sought to scoop them all up, throwing them back inside the bucket.

"LET GO OF ME!" Frederick shouted, shaking and contorting his body in all kinds of ways.

"FREDERICK, STOP!" Barney yelled. "WHAT ABOUT THE PLAN!"

"FORGETT THE PLAN! WE'RE ALL SITTING PEBBLES OUT HERE!"

Contorting his body relentlessly he eventually broke hold from the crawdad holding him. Not wanting to get left behind along with the rest of the group, the trailing crawdad yelled, "SEIZE HIM, BARNEY!"

Clambering his way up as fast as he could, Barney gunned for Frederick. If he could just manage to hold onto the tip of his tail, their ladder wouldn't be in vain.

Climbing overtop Sammy, Frederick and her witnessed as the worm swept up the outgoing ladder, and realized that they'd be shoved back into the bucket. Not wanting to end up back where they started again, he flicked his tail off of Sammy as she rolled over the cliff due to the loss of weight holding down her tail.

Falling into the chest of the five headed worm, Frederick prepared to strike at the beast, until, "Fred'Rick! Wait!" Sammy waved a claw at him.

He hesitated for just a second as he caught a glimpse of her from his eye stalk. Not one to ever second guess himself however, he shot out his claw and sunk his vice grip into the largest of the worm's necks, strangling the beast.

Not knowing what to do, Sammy instinctively grabbed at its underbelly, trying to hold onto something.

Yelling out in pain, the giant stopped its current task, dropping crawdads in and outside of the dunk. Jerking its arm vehemently, it tried to free itself of its miniature assailants.

With one final lunge, Sammy's and Frederick's grips loosened enough that they were sent flying into the lake.

Sploosh!

Sinking down to the depths, the cold refreshing water knocked Frederick to his senses faster than anything else. Not knowing the layout of the land, he called out to her, "Sammy! Sammy where are you?" Flicking his tail, he darted around the area trying to desperately find her.

"Fred?" She answered weakly. "Fred? Is that you?"

"Sammy? Oh my claws! Are you all right?"

Eyeing him wearily, she asked, "Why? Why would you do that?"

He paused, "What- What do you mean?"

"Fred. The plan was working, everything was all going well. We would've escaped just fine."

"Yeah, but look at us now. We're back in the water, and not that pitiful place anymore! We're free! We get to live anywhere we want in here!"

She sighed, "You know, Fred, I had friends there? I had family there? Now, I might not be able to see them again. I've been in that dunk for well over three suns now. Sure, it was hell, at times, especially not knowing when you might be next, but we at least cared for each other."

"Really? Oh, Sam, I- I didn't know."

"Of course you couldn't know. I wouldn't expect you to." She looked off into the distance, checking her surroundings. "You know what Barney taught me, Fred?"

"No? What's that?"

"Once he said, that 'we all live in dunks. Some are just larger than others.' A dunk is a dunk, but it's who you have with you that makes it livable. Didn't you use to have anybody living with you?"

He thought back to all the times he's gazed at the minnows and bunked with an occasional mate, but never had he really gotten to know anybody. "No, I- I guess not."

"Well, get used to it staying that way. What you just did proved to me that I can't trust you. Seeing as you've potentially just got everybody else killed."

"Yeah, but I saved you."

"Saved me? You were part of the plan just like everybody else. We're all integral parts. Yet, you were so focused on your own self-preservation that you forgot about those that helped to preserve your own life. It wasn't 'if I can't get mine then you don't either.' It was 'we only have each other.'"

"Well, we have each other now," he stepped forward trying to place a claw on hers.

She flicked her tail, swimming backwards. "No, Fred. You have you. Goodbye." With that she fluttered off into the darkness of the lake, never to be seen by him again.

Overridden with guilt, his posture shriveled, and he searched for a rock to crawl up underneath. Unconsciously he stayed in the shallows, hoping for the end to come for him. Yet, sickness and old age never did.

...

"Legend has it that if you go on down fishing at Reed Water lake that it's best not to bring any crawfish with ya' for bait. Not because the little buggers like to hide underneath rocks, making it easier for ya' pole to get snagged. Quite the opposite actually."

"Oh yeah?" One set of bright eyes stayed at the old man in the rocking chair.

Another asked him, "really grandpa?"

"Yep, they say that every person's who's tossed a mudbug in there reeled up a line with no hook on it at the end."

"You mean?"

"Yup," he took a sip of his iced-tea, rocking back and forth, "lines been straight cut off."

"Wow! How do you know this?"

"Cause," he waved open his hand to them, "I got the battle scars to prove it."