“Ahhh!!!OWW! OWW!! What theeee- OW! OWWWW!”
THUNK! THUN-THUNK THUNK BooOOM!
Barely registering the morning sun, I felt the wind rush out of my lungs as I made a final solid thump against the ground. My consciousness began to fade as my entire body screamed in pain. I could feel my heart beating crazily, threatening to burst out, but at the same time, it gradually felt more distant. Even the gravel that poked into my underside felt numb as my vision began to darken and narrow and…what…a …way to…wake…up….
“Vixen! “VIXEN!!” ”…just let me pass out in peace. I tried to-ah…I’m not getting up soon. I need at least a few minutes to recover. Ignoring the varying sized cuts and scratches that lined my limbs; the much bigger injury was the pure shock from the fall. Although I had managed to land back first as well as the slow the fall, in exchanged I had my flailing arms and legs smashed against multiple branches, bringing them down along with me. Their cushioning effect was minimal, but I was just glad none of them were toxic considering even basic healing spells might not work and we weren’t even able to use magic here…-yellow eyes!
Reigning in my analytical thoughts, I willed my sluggish eyelids up, opening my eyes again, searchingly gazing up for the-UHG!
THUMP
I felt my breath leave me again as something heavy landed on my stomach. Even though my stomach was nearly empty, I still felt the urge to regurgitate bile as I felt a familiar acid coming up into my throat. I forcibly swallowed it as I reopened the eyes I had shut in reflex from the pain and what I saw before me was….
…a pair of yellow eyes-belonging to a…fox. It had a maroon pelt, the fur a dull sheen. Its body was about half a meter long, and its tail was another meter long, sweeping from left to right in a slow, but paced manner. Even through my numbed and cold feet, I felt the slight tickling sensation as its tail brushed over them. I could feel its heat passing though it’s paws into me. Its mouth was curled up as if sneering or smirking at me; while it’s yellow eyes kept staring at me, expectantly as if waiting for something to-…could it be? I though back to what seemed like the distant past, almost as if I was looking at another life, and thought back to when I still had a family and- a single tear rolled down my face.
Stolen story; please report.
“…Suticat?” I slowly reached out my hand towards its snout. The fox on top of me had greatly changed compared to the little fox in my memory. It was bigger, and messier. But there shouldn’t be any other foxes in here. The fox remained still, and as I finally brought my hand close enough to touch it, it opened it’s mouth and…
…bit me. 1*
“Get away from her! SHOO!” Finally registering the sound of snapping branches, I noticed Shiara and Sarra wildly waving some branches at the fox. I couldn’t see their faces due to the foxes back blocking me, but even I could hear the fear in their voice. There was no way an animal wouldn’t. The fox let go of my arm, turning around to face them.
KCRRHH!!
I could feel the vibrations from the snarl in my stomach. Its tail had turned somewhat stiff, having stopped it’s sweeping motions, some of the fur sticking into my facial orifices. That hurt. It was time to end this farce. Gently rising and ignoring the minimal residual pain, I pushed Suticat off before gently wrapping my arms around him.
*2
“Vi-Vixen?!”
“What are you doing? Wait your arm-”
“I’m fine. He was just getting a little emotional at our re-union.” So they must have seen my teary eyes and my arm being bit and thought that Suticat was eating me. Play biting my arm and licking it was one of his bad habits. I hadn’t managed to stop him from doing it even after two years of looking after him.
“He? Reunion? Do you know him?? Is he your magic summon- or just a pet??! Is that why you introduced yourself as protected by the fox totem??!!?”
“Ah-he-he just bit your arm again.”
“Calm down. It’s fine.” I stroked his head left to right with my other hand. It was the signal I had developed to get him to let go of my arm. “And Sarra, one question at a time. To answer your last question, yes, you could say he is why I said that.” Well, only one of the reasons. ”Anyways, where’s the fish we had before. Can you two go grab it? I’m still a bit sore from the fall, so I want to rest a bit longer here. Seeing as we haven’t eaten anything and are all hungry, let’s just cook up the fish and eat it here. I’ll introduce everyone over food.”
“Ok sure, but what about yesterday’s tiger? What happens if it comes?”…Shiara is adapting really quickly to this environment.
“Hmmm…. it should be a nocturnal predator. Also, this little guy’s a coward. He wouldn’t show up here if there were any monsters lurking nearby, and his sense of smell is excellent. We should be fine.”
“Ok, well Shiara, help me up the tree then. We left the fish on the third branch right? We’ll leave you two to your reunion then.” With a cheeky smirk, she dragged Shiara back to the tree.
Ignoring her, I thought about our current escape path. I unconsciously patted his fur as I thought about the past and planned for the future. Ahhh, if only I had a comb and we weren’t on the run. The act of brushing Suticat down was always a nice calming activity for me. I hugged him again, realising he might be the only family I had left. I had no idea where my brother was, or if he was even still alive. Mom and Dad…. had sadly… with everyone else in the village…and even Rachael... –I need to visit that hill. It would only be a slight detour.
Wiping my face with my arm, I renewed my determination.