Max and Cody

          

One night, a unicorn named Cody was walking through the woods with his friend Max, the mouse. They were talking about how they wanted to learn how to actually talk in human language, not mouse or unicorn. They were on the way to see their friend, Bear, when suddenly, out of nowhere, cold little drops of water landed on them. Within seconds, Cody put Max on his back and sprinted for shelter. They ended up in an abandoned house. They were sitting in the corner of the house when lightning struck the house!

“Ah!!! Oh my gosh! I can talk!” said Cody excitedly.

“So can I!” shouted Max.

The two friends then went wandering through the woods singing and talking. They were so happy to finally speak.

“Do you think the lightning that struck the house let us talk?” Max asked.

“Probably. Well, lets hurry and get to Bear’s house. He might be worried about us.”

Max and Cody walked side by side silently. Cody was wondering how the lightning had anything to do with talking. When the lightning hit, he had felt an electric shock going through his body. But he thought that was normal since lightning is electricity. Right after it struck, his mouth had gone numb for a few seconds. That’s probably how I can talk now, he thought. I wonder if Max went through that with me?

“Hey, Max. When we got struck by lightning, did you feel an electric shock going through your body?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“And then did you feel a numbness in your mouth for a few seconds?”

“Again, yes. But why?”

“Because I felt that too! That’s probably why we can talk now. Maybe this happened to Bear, too. If not, we’ll speak animal and explain it to him.”

When the two arrived at Bear’s house, they stopped at the front door and made sure they had their plan straight. Ding Dong!

“Coming!” Bear yelled in animal. “Oh! Hi Cody and Max.”

“Hi Bea-.” Cody tried to say.

“Ah!!!” snarled Bear. “How can you talk human?”

“Well, Max will explain it to you.”

“We were on the way to your house when it started to pour all of the sudden. So we went to find the closest shelter and we saw an old abandoned house right around the corner, and we went inside. We were huddled together in the corner and stayed until the storm ended. But, listen to this: during the storm, we got struck by lightning! We felt a shock go through our body and the next thing we knew, we could talk!”

Boom boom!

“There’s something or someone outside! Quickly, hide!” Max said nervously.

“I’m going to go out there. I’m good luck for humans apparently. So I’ll make him go away,” said Cody confidently.

As Cody walked out of Bear’s den bravely, he saw a man. He was a hunter. He had a bow and arrow or some sort of weapon in his arms. Cody walked out of the den so the hunter could see him. As the hunter saw him, he took his rifle out and shot Cody right in the chest. Bear and Max were watching from a window and they were shocked – how could a hunter shoot a unicorn? The hunter struggled to pick Cody up and soon managed, carrying him off. Bear and Max followed the hunter very quietly.

Max jumped into the trunk of the car before the hunter realized. Bear had to stay in the forest because he had nowhere to go, and he was too big to hide.

“Justin: think! Ah ha! I caught a unicorn…” the hunter said, confused. “Luckily I used the tranquilizer, not my gun. Now I’m going to take the unicorn to the lab and experiment on him.”

On the car ride to the lab, Cody woke up. His chest was red from dried blood. He examined the car and the seat he was sitting in. Cody looked behind him and saw Max. He was so relieved that his friend was with him.

“What happened?” Cody asked. “The last thing I remembered was that we were back in Bear’s den.”

“We heard something outside and you went to check on it and you got shot by a tranquilizer,” Max whispered.

“How did you get on the truck?”

“I jumped aboard before Justin the hunter put you down. Now he’s going to bring you to a lab and experiment with you.”

“Why me? What did I do?”

“Well, you are a unicorn.”

“Right. What am I suppose to do now? Oh! I’ll talk to the scientist when we get to the lab. I’ll ask him what he wants to do with me because after all, I can talk human.”

“Ok. Fine with me. But what am I going to do?”

“You can come with me, unless you want to go back. I’m fine with either way.”

“I want to come with you. This is a once-in-a-life chance! And it’s not like anything fun is going to happen in the forest.”

The two friends slept the rest of the three-hour journey until they felt a jerk and the door opened. Cody acted as if he was still asleep and mouse jumped out and followed them into another world. There were potions and needles everywhere! And there were scientists with goggles on and rubber gloves testing potions and dissecting different animals. Cody secretly peeked and saw the most spectacular thing he had ever seen: a real lab. He’d wanted to see a lab but he’d never wanted to be one of the animals that were going to be tested in it and dissected. He wanted to become a scientist one day. But that would not be happening since he probably was about to be cut open.

“Here you go,” Justin said, once he delivered the unicorn to Dr. Smith.

“I asked for a horse! But a unicorn is even better. Thank you,” Dr. Smith replied.

“Wait!” Cody yelled. “Please don’t cut me open. I’m an innocent little unicorn. What did I do wrong?”

“Whoa. How can you talk?” Dr. Smith asked, surprised.

“Well, long story. Oh yeah. Um, I brought my friend with me. His name is Max and my name is Cody. Max is a rat. We have been friends for a really long time now. He can speak human too! Max!” Cody yelled.

“Oh. Hey Cody, by the way, I am a mouse.”

“Right. Why don’t you tell Dr. Smith how we learned how to talk?”

“Ok. So, on the way to our friend’s house, it started to pour all of a sudden. We went to find the closest shelter and we saw an old abandoned house right around the corner so we went in there. We huddled together in the corner and stayed there until the storm ended. During the storm, we got struck by lightning! We felt a shock go through our body and the next thing we knew, we could talk! Oh, and this happened in the forest. And then, we went to Bear’s house and told him that story. Right when we finished, we heard Justin outside so we-”

“Wait, how do you guys know my name?” Justin asked.

“We don’t have to speak human to understand human. Just pointing that out,” Max replied, arrogantly.

“Interesting…” Dr. Smith said suspiciously.

“Anyway,” Max continued, “We heard Justin outside and so Cody went outside to try to scare you off. But instead, you shot him with a tranquilizer! That’s the story,” Max finished.

“So now that you know, can you put me back in the wild?” Cody asked.

“Well, I won’t put you back in the wild, but I won’t kill you. Once I’m done with my tests, I’ll set you free. Deal? Oh yeah, and one more thing, no one can find out that you can speak human. Ok? Only Justin and I know about it. You can still speak horse or unicorn, right?” Dr. Smith asked.

“I can still speak unicorn and horse. But you promise you won’t kill me, right?”

“I will not kill you. But you might feel some jolts or pinches in the next few days. I want to try to figure out how a simple shock made you two talk. And your friend Max is going in the lab, too,” said Dr. Smith. “You guys will share a room together. You will sleep, eat and play in there. We designed it to be like the forest. If you two want anything else, ding me.”

“How do we ding you?”

“In your room, there is a button on the wall. If you press it, it will ding me and either Justin or I will assist you. If it’s anyone else, ignore them, because they can’t know you guys can talk. Got it?”

“Got it.” Cody and Max replied.

“Now, I’m going to go to sleep.” Cody replied. “I’ve been through a lot today.”

“Me too. See you in the morning, Dr. Smith.”

*    *    *

Ding ding. Cody was up bright and early. He thought he had a dream that he had been shot and brought to a lab. But after he woke up, he realized it wasn’t a dream.

“Yes Cody, what do you need?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Oh. I was just wondering if I could have some food. I’m starving.”

“Sure. What would you like?”

“Um, maybe a bushel of hay.”

“Sorry, we only have cooked food. But if you really want hay, Justin can go out and get it for you.”

“Yes please. Thank you.”

“It will take about 30 minutes. Would you like anything else?”

“I’ll take some water. Thank you.”

As Cody waited, he wandered around the room, which surprisingly really looked like a forest. Max was sleeping in a bed made of bamboo leaves.

“Here’s your hay Cody. And it’s fresh.” Justin said.

“Thank you. I’ll eat it now.”

As Cody chewed on the hay, he was feeling a little uncomfortable. He wanted to be at home again, in the forest.

“Are you ready for your first operation?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Yeah. Let me wake up Max.”

“No. it’s ok. Today you’re the one being tested on, not Max. He’s tomorrow.”

“Ok then.”

As they walked through the halls, Cody felt really uncomfortable. He was shaking.

“Dr. Smith, I don’t really feel comfortable letting you do operations on me. You promise they won’t hurt, right?”

“That’s right. We’ve used this technique on many animals before.”

“Yeah I know, but could any of them talk? Did you know 100%  what they were thinking? You understand me since I can talk, but did you know how the other animals felt?” Cody inquired.

“Well no. But they didn’t seem hurt. If it hurts, just tell us.”

“Ok.”

As the day went on, Cody seemed to get more and more worried.

But at night, he wasn’t eating and he had trouble answering questions he knew the answer to. He also had trouble sleeping.

“Hey, Max, is it normal that I don’t feel comfortable with the scientists testing me?” Cody asked.

“Well, I’m not sure. I’ve never been through what you’ve been through, but I will after the day ends tomorrow. I’ll answer your question then.”

“Thanks.”

“One of the tests that Dr. Smith operated on me,” Cody said, “included a lot of wires. They had this weird thing stuck to the end of it so it would stick on my skin, and I saw weird squiggly lines on a computer screen. I think it had something to do with my heart. Dr. Smith was right. It didn’t hurt at all. At first all the lines were about in the same range but then, he told me to run on something called a treadmill and it started to get uneven. Afterwards, I was panting.”

“That’s it?” Max asked.

“Yeah. That was the easier test. Dr. Smith said that along the way, they will get more complicated.”

“Oh. Good to know. Good night.”

“Max, are you worried about tomorrow at all?”

“Actually no. I am looking forward to it.”

“Ok then.”

“Goodnight.”

“Good night to you, too. See you in the morning.” Cody said gently.

The next night, Max came back into their room and told Cody how his tests worked out.

“Cody, I want to go home. I don’t like it here. The tests are scary.”

“I want to go home too. But we made a deal.”

“Let’s ask Dr. Smith how much longer we need stay here.”

“Did your tests hurt?”

“Yes! They hurt like crazy! I felt like I was being eaten by a snake!”

“Oh, really? Ok. We’ll run away.”

The next night, Cody and Max tried to sneak out the back door. Right when they stepped out the door –

“Hey guys, what are you doing up so late?”  Dr. Smith asked.

So close, thought Cody.

“Well, um…Max?”

“Well, we wanted to go get some fresh air.”

“Why didn’t you ding us?” Dr. Smith asked.

“Because we didn’t want to wake you up.” Cody replied confidently.

“Well, we are usually always awake. So don’t be scared to ding us even if it’s in the middle of the night.” Dr. Smith said.

As Dr. Smith walked away, Cody said, “We’ll try tomorrow night. If you can’t stand the tests, we’ll try to run away after lunch, but most likely at night. Does this sound like a plan, Max?”

“Umm… sure,” Max said nervously.

“Now, lets get some rest. We have to plan out our day.”

The next morning during breakfast, Cody dinged Dr. Smith.

“Hi Cody, and Max.”

“Hi Dr. Smith. We were just wondering why we were being tested on and I’m pretty sure it’s not because we can talk. From the first test, I was sure it wasn’t because we could talk. I know that because during all the tests, you never asked my anything about talking. You only asked me about my family and were I came from. And also, why does this have to be a secret? Now spit out the real reason behind these tests.”

“Ok. fine. I want to find out where you came from.”

“What about the rest of my questions?” Cody asked.

“And what do you want of me?” Max squeaked.

“Well I figured that if you were his friend, that you would give me more information. You know, just in case Cody doesn’t give me all the information that I need, I have you!”

“Then why do my tests hurt more than Cody’s?”

“Well, since you’re smaller, your tests hurt more.”

“Oh wow… that’s just great.”

“Why do you want to know where my family is and from? It’s kind of personal. How would you like it if I lied to you when I was really trying to find out where your family is and from?” Cody was furious.

“No not rea-”

“Exactly. All we want to do is go back home.”

“You can go home when we are done with the tests! We made a deal.”

“But we don’t like it here! We want to go! This place looks like home but doesn’t feel like home. Home is the wilderness!” Max screamed.

“I’m sorry, Max and Cody, but you’re staying here no matter what! We have very tight security and I’m going to tell them to keep a very close eye out for a horse with a horn and a mouse on its back. I would say unicorn but no one knows about you guys. Every door that could be used as an exit will be guarded. Now, you guys got me mad,” Dr. Smith yelled as he walked out their room.

“Now it’s going to be even harder to escape,” said Max, after Dr. Smith slammed the door.

“Well, now we have to make a plan, and it better be good. You heard Dr. Smith, now, the security will be tighter than ever!” Cody said loudly.

“Yeah, and our plan has to be good, and sneaky. So, lets get started.”

The two friends stayed up all night discussing what to do and make sure it would succeed. They argued back and forth, with paper flying all over the place. They didn’t agree about anything together. They kept on trying and trying to agree. They tried to escape every day but it didn’t work, running down the halls and looking over the walls. It finally took them a week before they figured out what to do.

“Ok. So, lets refresh our heads,” Cody said. “Max, you’re going to distract however many scientists as you can by screaming, in human language so everyone will stare at you and no one will pay attention to anything else. Then I’ll sneak out.”

“Hey! What about me!” Max yelled.

“Don’t worry! When I slip out, I’ll leave a little opening through the door so you can run out. It’s easier for you to escape than me. I’ll be waiting for you outside. Once you get outside, turn right and sprint to the first bush you see. I’ll be waiting for you there, and then we will run off,” Cody said.

The next day, Max started to scream when he was on the way to his tests. He was screaming ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’. Everyone stopped and stared. Cody was very careful and sneaked out. When Max realized Cody was nowhere to be found, he made a run for it. He ran in circles than in zigzags and finally out the door into the bushes. When the coast was clear, Max jumped up Cody’s leg and onto his back and they rode off into the sunset.

Once Cody and Max were home, they made their way to Bear’s house, but when they knocked on the door, there was no response.

“It’s probably because of Justin and the incident that happened a couple weeks ago.” Max said.

“Yeah, Bear!! Don’t worry!! It’s Cody and Max!!!” Cody screamed.

Just after Cody yelled that, the door opened a crack, and Bear’s eyes popped out.

“Max! Cody! You’re back! And alive. What did they do to you! Did you get tested on??? Did you get hurt??? Tell me EVERYTHING!” Bear said excitedly.

“Ok ok…” Max said.

So Cody and Max told Bear everything.

“Well that’s about it! Well, Dr. Smith and Justin will have good luck, because they’ve seen me, and even though they trapped us and wouldn’t let us go, they’ll be luckier than most. I know we made a deal but I mean seriously, I’m a unicorn! And they shouldn’t be able to just capture animals. Uh… Well, I guess Dr. Smith learned his lesson: never mess with a unicorn,” Cody said.

“And his best friend!” Max squeaked.