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The sun was just beginning to peer over the top of the rolling hills that dominated the distant landscape when Shadowtail emerged from his warren. He stared around at the beautiful green field that stretched before his eyes. The field appeared to be endless and infinite. Sighing happily, Shadowtail settled himself down on his haunches in the mouth of the warren and gazed out at the rising sun. Shadowtail cut an impressive figure with his white fur being stained orange by the softly glowing light. The sunlight illuminated everything that its long-fingered rays could reach: the mountaintops, the green field, the trees that surrounded the warren. Shadowtail basked in the warm glow and a sensation of happiness filled the whole of his little rabbit body.
By now, the sun was making its rapid ascent into the sky. The sun had almost completely cleared the tops of the mountains, and the blinding beams of light stung Shadowtail’s eyes, making him blink. He wasn’t used to this kind of harsh light but he enjoyed it anyway. Grinning to himself, he retreated back inside the warren where all the rabbits were curled up in their dens, fast asleep. He had only been gone an hour or two when suddenly...
VROOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!
A terrible noise started up out of no where, shattering the peace and quiet of the day. The noise was so awful and so torturously loud that a family of field mice, who had been nibbling on some dandelions, turned on the spot and bolted in terror, as mice usually do. They ran away so fast that they did not have time to see three gigantic cars screeching to a halt and disturbing the turf of the beautiful green field.

Although the rabbits had not actually seen the cars, the news that humans had been on their turf did not go unheard for long. That very night, which was a clear one with a full moon, the rabbits were feeding in the field and heard the news.
“What a fine night!” said Shadowtail, who was holding court in the middle of the field, surrounded by rabbits. The others nodded in agreement. “I think there will be a gorgeous sunrise tomorrow,” he continued.
“You love the sunrises, don’t you?” a rabbit named Ivy remarked. “You’re always talking about them.”
“Why do you even like the sunrises?” asked another rabbit named Cotton. “They’re so bright!”
“Yes, they are bright. But they are also beautiful!” replied Shadowtail. Then he noticed the others rolling their eyes. “Great fluffypaws! Do I need a reason for everything I do?!” he snapped. The other rabbits looked slightly weary, too used to Shadowtail’s occasional outbursts to get offended by them.
“Is there anything wrong with watching sunrises?” he demanded.
“No, Shadowtail. Just calm down,” said a rabbit named Basil, who was Shadowtail’s most trusted advisor. “All we really meant was that it’s extremely odd for a rabbit to be out in the daylight.” Shadowtail glared at Basil, who held his gaze.
“Well, we all know I’m eccentric,” he said. “I thought that’s why you chose me as your leader in the first place. Because I was different. And tough.”
The rabbits fell silent for a minute. Suddenly, a loud bark from right behind them caused them to turn their heads so fast that their necks became sore. Looking around, the rabbits spotted a large and beautiful collie running towards them as fast as she could.
“Steady now,” said Shadowtail to the others, for all the rabbits had tensed up. “It’s just Coral.”
“Coral!!” cried Basil as the collie drew closer and the moonlight revealed her to be the rabbits’ good friend from the farmhouse nearby, Coral. “Announce yourself sooner next time and we won’t have to suffer from neck injuries!”
“I’m sorry, Basil!” panted Coral, slowing to a halt right beside Shadowtail. “But I came here as fast as I could. This can’t wait.” Indeed, her countenance expressed great agitation.
“You have some news for us?” asked Shadowtail, looking slightly worried.
“Yes, Shadowtail,” replied Coral, and then, suddenly loosing all self-control, crumpled to a big fluffy heap. “There were humans here this morning!” she cried “As soon as the sun rose, they came here in those big awful monsters that are forced to carry them around. They- they are going to build a road! A road for those monsters to use. Right through this field!” All the rabbits gasped, and Basil actually fainted right then and there.
“No!” shrieked Shadowtail. “No! It can’t possibly be! How did you even hear this?”
“I was out with my owner,” began Coral. “We were taking our usual morning walk, when suddenly, we saw three monsters pull up on the field. Some humans and a black lab got out of them. When we went over to see what was going on, I struck up a conversation with the dog. He told me that the people in the monsters were called ‘builders’ and they were going to build a road right through here. I was so shocked! I am so sorry!” Having finished her narrative, Coral hid her face in her paws and gave in to her grief, while all around her, the rabbits stood stock still, staring at each other. Basil was still out cold.
“The humans are coming back tomorrow,” said Coral in a muffled voice. “And are going to start work. They were just inspecting the land today.”
“Are you certain that these humans are going to build the road here? Is there any way we can stop this from happening? You are the closest to the humans, Coral! If you can’t help us then no one can! We can’t have a road here! Don’t you remember Crispin, our old leader? He was killed, Coral! Killed on a road after being hit by one of those monsters. And then there was Poppy, Silver, Clover, and Dandelion after him! A road, here!” Shadowtail ended his speech with a helpless look around at the rest of the rabbits.
“I remember you telling me,” said Coral sadly, “I know you can’t have a road here. From what that dog said, he seemed pretty certain that they were going to build the road.”
“But can you stop the humans from building the road?”
“Well... I- I don’t know. There might be a way.”
“WHAT?! What is it? Tell us!”
“Well, the encounter was a strange one. I’m still uncertain about it. When I was talking to the lab, I told him that you couldn’t possibly have a road built right through here. I asked him if there was any possible way to stop the road being built, since if there wasn’t, it would most certainly endanger all of your lives. The lab thought for a minute, then beckoned me over to one of the monsters. At first, I hesitated, but he assured me that it would be alright. I followed, and he led me over to one of the monsters. A little female human was sitting in the grass by the monster. She was very small, probably a child, still. She looked up as the dog came over to her, and she welcomed it with a little cry. She hugged the lab and and then spotted me. She looked at me in a curious way, and then held out her hand, speaking in a soothing voice. For some strange reason, I felt like I could trust her. I felt that if she spoke, I would understand every word that she uttered. And this is not just because I live with humans. No, she was different. So, I cautiously came up to her, and then, my prediction came true. She spoke and I heard her words loud and clear inside my head. She said, ‘There’s a good girl. Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to say hi.’ I was thunderstruck. I knew it was stupid, but I spoke back to her. ‘You can understand me?’ And then, she said, ‘Yes.’ Instantly I asked her why I could understand her and she could understand me. ‘Why are you talking to me?’ I asked her. ‘I’ve been able to communicate with animals ever since I was a little girl,’ she answered me. ‘It’s my special ability.’”
The rabbits all stared at Coral as she concluded this fascinating tale, their mouths hanging open. Never, in all the years that rabbits had been alive on the earth, had they heard of a human communicating with an animal. Never.
“Wait a second,” interrupted Basil, and everyone jumped. No one had realized that he had woken up. “You met a human who can talk to ANIMALS?”
“It appeared to be that way,” answered Coral.
“Well, then, am I the only one who realizes that this solves EVERYTHING?!?”
“How?” asked Shadowtail, looking glum. “How is a human who can talk to animals going to help us?”
Basil stared at his leader incredulously. “Seriously, Shadowtail? You don’t see it?” Shadowtail’s blank look was enough of an answer. “Well, Coral, and some of the Messenger Rabbits can find that human again and ask her to stop these... builders from building the road.”
“I don’t know, Basil,” said Coral, uncertainly. “The human looked very small. She didn’t look like she was old enough to have an impact on what the older humans thought.”
“Well, it’s the best chance we have of making sure we don’t all get slaughtered by monsters!” shouted Basil. “Do you have another idea?”
Coral said nothing. She was deep in thought.
“Okay, Basil,” she said after a minute. “I’ll give it a shot.”
“I’m coming too,” declared Shadowtail. “And I’ll take three of the Messenger Rabbits. Lilac, Basil and Ivy, are you with me?”
“Yes!” shouted the three rabbits that he had mentioned.
“Okay, then!” shouted Shadowtail in return. “Lilac, Ivy, Basil, you should get some sleep. Coral, we will meet you at dawn, and see if we can make these humans see sense. We cannot let them build this road!”

The next morning, four rabbits and a collie were lying in wait for the monsters, hidden behind some bushes, trying to steel themselves for what they were about to attempt.
They did not have to wait long. Very soon, with deafening roars that nearly made Lilac and Ivy go tearing off for the warren, and did make Basil faint again, several monsters screeched to a halt on the field. This time, the three that Coral had seen the day before were accompanied by the biggest monsters any of them had seen. Soon, the roaring died away, and humans poured out from the interior of the monsters. Shadowtail hit Basil hard in the stomach to make him wake up, and Coral scanned the crowd of humans for the little human she had talked to. She spotted her within minutes, and ran to her, wagging her tail and barking.
The rabbits held their breath as they watched the little human hug Coral. For a minute, human and collie just looked at each other. Then, Coral turned her head to the general direction of the rabbits, and the little human looked up too. Then, she slowly began to walk towards them.
“Steady,” whispered Shadowtail to the other three. “This might be our only chance.”
The little human was very close to them now. Suddenly, she opened her mouth and spoke.  “I understand from what Coral told me that you need my help,” she said.
Ivy’s mouth fell open, as did Lilac’s. Basil just fainted again. Shadowtail, however, got right to the point, as he usually did.
“Yes!” he said to her. “We need your help. These humans are going to build a road right through this field, which we can’t have happen. We’ve lost four rabbits to a road before, and to have one here, where my warren is, would mean certain death for all of us. Please! If you can, you are our only hope for our survival.”
The little human had been following his every word. She nodded. “I understand,” she told Shadowtail. “But I don’t know how much power I will have in convincing my father to not build the road. I’m only 9 years old, which is very young for us humans, and if I tell him not to build the road just because there are rabbits here, he’ll think I’m making it up.”
“I see,” said Shadowtail.
“But I’ll try!” insisted the human. “I will try! I will go to my father right now!”
She left, and approached one of the larger humans. Shadowtail could see that they were deep in conversation. But then he saw the larger human shake his head at his daughter, and walk away. The little human turned her head and her helpless gaze met Shadowtail’s. Shadowtail saw defeat in her eyes, and suddenly, his thoughts were racing.
“Basil,” he began, then seeing Basil had fainted yet again, he turned to Ivy instead. “Ivy, listen to me. In order for some things to happen, there must be sacrifice at some points. What I am about to do is extremely dangerous, but it might help save the warren.”
Ivy’s eyes widened. He knew exactly what Shadowtail was planning. “Shadowtail, no! You can’t! There must be some other way! Shadowtail, DON’T DO THIS!” He shouted the last three words, but Shadowtail had already touched his nose to his companion’s head in a sign of farewell, and hopped away.
To the end of his days, Ivy was never quite sure what happened next. All he knew was that when the monsters roared to life again, Basil woke up in time to see Shadowtail standing right in front of one of them. Basil had run, screaming, to Shadowtail’s aid. But the next thing Ivy saw was his leader and the leader’s trusted advisor lying on the ground in front of the monster, completely motionless. He heard the humans calling out, the little human screaming at her father, Coral and Lilac sobbing around him, his own yell that seemed to echo around the field. He, Coral and Lilac had run down to Shadowtail’s side. In death, Shadowtail looked very small. He was a shell of the rabbit he had once been; a tough and headstrong leader. Ivy had let his tears fall freely onto his leader’s fur. He let his tears blur his own vision.
And the road? Well...
The road was never built.