Get To The Water!

• Hendrik Viljoen , Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2021

I was running from something behind me. It was terrifying, something smouldering was chasing me, I had to warn my family. It was like playing tag but I was always running. When I arrived I found my whole family had left so I kept running. The thing was coming closer as I ran I realised that I should warn my friend. I ran to his den as fast as my legs could carry me. I quickly warned him about the scorching thing chasing me. We ran together, as smoke burned our lungs, we urged each other on.
After a while, our legs felt like they were going to fall off. We ran past less fortunate animals that were scattered on the ground like leaves. I kept a lookout for my family but all I saw was the blazing fire around me. My legs were screaming and my lungs fought for oxygen. I needed to rest but I knew if I did it would swallow me up and I would die a horrible death. My friend looked like he was going to collapse in exhaustion but he picked up the pace. I struggled to keep up but I managed. It came closer but we kept running. Soon I felt that I should just accept my fate and let it swallow me up but my friend kept urging me on. I decided to try to outrun the scaring fire. Sparks were raining down on me with a sizzle. We saw a big kangaroo that was slumped next to us.
While I was running I thought about all the other unlucky animals who hadn’t made it as far as us. After a while we heard a big sound from a truck “nee naw nee naw” we saw a big blast of water from the truck but it was no match for the massive fire. I made sure that I kept my long fox tail off the ground. I looked next to my friend. But he wasn’t there! I screeched to a stop and looked behind me I saw him lying there on the ground. I went back to him. When I arrived there he didn’t move a muscle, I checked if he was breathing. But he wasn’t. I couldn’t just leave him there to burn so I flung him over my back and ran to the river. It was hard to run with the extra weight but I knew that I had to keep going.
Just when I thought I wasn’t going to make it I saw water. I charged towards it and when I arrived, I saw my family there. We were overjoyed to find each other and we cuddled up. I almost forgot about my friend. We buried him near the coast and mourned for him. We just finished the burial and then it started to pour with rain. All the fires went out. We went to find our den hoping that it had survived the fire.