the fox

i pad over to the river and take a drink. its been a long day, and i'm now far from my pack. i stay alert, listening for the hunters i know are present. after i drink, i look back the way i came. my pack has forced me out, and so i must find another. winter is approaching, i can smell it in the air. the smell of fresh snow is strong. the geese overhead are flying south, and i long to go with them. with no pack, it will be a hard winter. i will have to look hard, for myself and my unborne pup. the pup. the reason i am forced out. the pup was not the alpha's therefore, it, and i with it, cannot stay. i travel onward, as far south as i can. i want to be able to stay as warm, and to find as much food as possible if i am to live this winter. the hunter's dogs follow me, silently. i smell them though, and make sure to stay as far downwind as i can. it eventually grows to be night. the dogs go home, and i am free to travel. and travel i do. i nearly fly over the ground, running as fast and as far as i can. i find an empty cave, and i stop and rest. i need to find food, but the dogs and hunters are back, so i must wait. and watch. the dogs come closer to where i am hiding, they seem to have caught my sent. i silently slip out of the cave and run like the silent winds. the dogs give chase. i run fast, but they are faster. they are fresh, and have had a decent meal recently. i am still tired from running all night, and have only eaten some grass, and that a few days ago. i am surrounded. they bark and the hunters come. i am caught. they place something around my mouth. surprisingly, they do not kill me, even though it is late fall, and the season for killing. instead, they cage me up, and take me with them. i am placed in some human contraption, in the dark. i can smell deer in with me as well, and the smell makes me go wild. i try to get at the deer, but the thing makes it so that i cannot get at it. i cannot bark. i will not be eating. we stay at the human camp for a few more days. each day, i hear the hunters go out, looking for something else. each day, i try and get get out of that thing so i may get at that deer, but each time, i fail. eventually, i give up, and try and conserve what energy i have for surviving in the cold and dark. the hunters must have eventually given up for we move after some days. i am taken out of the dark and into the bright sunlight. i am no longer in the forest, but surrounded by humans and noise and smells. two humans seem to be talking. they are gesturing towards me, and the deer a lot. the hunter leaves, and we are left with the other human. we are taken in another contraption, but not as far. we stop, and they lead the deer out while i remain, waiting, and still in the dark. a while later, we move again, this time for a lot longer time. eventually, we stop, and i am lead out. i am led into a building, where many humans live. it is warm in the house, and i smell delicious meat somewhere in the house. i try to yelp, but i still have the thing around my mouth, and cannot. i begine to have hope that maybe me and my pup will be able to survive. the man who brought me here leaves, and i am left with many humans looking at me. they talk, and eventually i am led back outside. the thing is taken off my mouth, and i try to run to the meat i smell. a man catches me, and i am forced back into the thing around my mouth and tied to a tree.