When my Mother first noticed the fire, she gathered all of the pups together and ran towards the river with us in tow. Running through the forest for the sake of not being burned alive is horrible. I don’t even get to enjoy the wind in my fur, as the fire is consuming all the oxygen it can. I hope we make it there safely so running through the forest can be fun again and not for our life.
Thirty minutes into our run towards the river, we cross paths with a herd of Green Jade Deer. These creatures are called that because they have jade for antlers, a sleek green body with black hoofs and spots. Normally they are hard to spots because they blend into the background of the forest. However, with them being in such a large group and about to cross paths with us they aren’t hard to spot. They basically over run us and almost trample some of my siblings. Mother is doing her best to find an area clear of these massive creatures, by constantly looking left and right. As she was doing that, I see Snickers is about to get trampled, so what do I do? Of course I try to save his sorry butt! But as I’m about to save him, my left hind leg gets stepped on by a Jade Deer’s hoof in the process. Seriously the pain for my leg is enough to knock me out!?!
I’m guessing I blacked out from getting my leg stepped on, because now there are no more Jade Deer around and the fire is even closer to me then it was before. Lifting my nose into the air, I start to sniff around to see where my mother and siblings are.
*sniff* *sniff* *sniff*
Nothing, but I do smell water and that’s the direction we are supposed to be travelling towards or at least where my mother wanted us to go.
Slowly pushing myself in the direction I smelled water from, was a really painful process. I had to take multiple breaks and detours too so I wouldn’t over strain my body and not make my damaged leg any worse! Of course there was a couple whimpers here and there, but what can I say! It hurts really badly.
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In the distance, I can see a body of water. Don’t know if it’s the one my mother wanted us to head towards, but it’s the only clue I have at the moment. Getting closer to the body of water up ahead I notice something… I can’t hear the sound of moving water!?!
Did I go in the right direction? Well it’s not like there could be any other body of water in the same direction as the river right?
Finally clearing the shrubs to the body of water, all I see is a medium size pond with a very steep slope to the middle followed by what looks like a bottomless center. But that’s impossible right? If it’s a pond it shouldn’t be bottomless… at least that’s what I think.
Making my way to what looks to be the shallowest area on the edge of the pond. I slowly wade my body into the water and cling to the edge. Lifting my head once again I start to sniff the air. *sniff* *sniff* *sniff* *sniff sniff* Nothing again. Maybe the river is further ahead? Grrrr, I don’t have enough strength to hobble my way across an unknown distance! Let alone hope for there to be another body of water to save me from the fire that’s closing in on me.
As I watch the fire getting closer from the pond, I slowly slide further into the water so only my head is peaking above the surface and my paws can still touch the bed of the pond. Hopefully I’ll be safe here, I don’t think I can make it to another source of water until my leg has healed up. However, sliding further into to the pond would make it harder for me to get out with a damaged leg; since there is only a steep drop from here. So I shouldn’t go in any further, too bad Fate has other plans. I slip suddenly and to make it an even better plan I’m no longer able to touch anything that remotely resembles the bed of the pond.
Looking towards the direction of the fire, I see a dark smoky looking cloud of smoke arrive before the fire and descends upon the space about my safe haven. Finding it hard to breathe all the sudden, I instinctively start to panic. Moving my legs back and forth erratically, I manage to touch something. However, after touching whatever that was, I start to panic even more, kicking with all my might I try to keep myself afloat and not submerge myself any further. Doing that ever so poorly, I keep at it as much as I can. Not being fully submerged and not having any air to breath while being underwater is far worse I believe. But something completely random occurs….
Something grabbed my damaged leg!
Transitioning from total panic to utterly terrified, I notice I’m being pulled further and further away from the surface of the pond. So apparently the impossible notion of the pond actually being bottomless is true! That doesn’t make any sense at all!! And I’m currently being pulled into it.
Looking up, I can no longer see the light from the surface or the fire and the ‘pond’ is feeling narrower, like if I stretch out one of my free paws I could totally touch the side rock. But before I could even test out my theory or compose any other thoughts, I once again blacked out.