Shot

• Eva Taylor, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2021

I slowly slink out of my family’s den, greeting my fellow fox mothers who live near my usually graceful partner, me and our fluffy little cubs. They are still new to the world, and like all the pups we know, still need to be fed by their parents. Normally, my partner hunts and brings back food, but he is very ill, unable to walk. The result is that we have had to switch places, him caring for the pups, and me finding food. I try my best, but it’s hard, especially in winter when some animals are hibernating. Perhaps I’ll try to find some fruit that isn’t hidden under snow.
I’ve just sniffed out some berries that seem reachable when a familiar but weirdly different sound reaches my ears, which prick up. I stand, alert and wary. It sounds like the footfalls that we are accustomed to hearing, deer, rabbit, our own kind, but different. Louder. Heavier. These footsteps come from a large creature. More than one. And they're coming closer. Observing the beautiful, white forest around me, I seek out a place to hide.
Silently, I crawl behind a bush, just as the first creature appears. Strong legs, a swishing tail, a long face, wearing gear. And on top of them are strange animals sitting with their legs on either side, controlling the first creatures with the gear, and their front limbs hold long objects.
I can’t figure out what they are.
Then I realise. Men. The deadly animals riding captured horses used as slaves. My father was murdered by these evil creatures. My mother warned me to never, ever go near them, the dangerous animals with killing machines called guns.
I can’t stay. I have to flee, warn the others if I can. But the only way I can run is away from home. I don’t have a choice, so I dash away as stealthily as possible. However, the men detect the movement, and within seconds, they are after me, urging on their poor horses with words and pain. Oh, how cruel, how evil, how malicious. I hear thundering bangs, and assume that they come from the gun, the tool for murder. I’m still running for my life, now in a darker, unknown part of the forest. I only hope I can lose them under a low hedge or something, but they are gaining on me, them and their innocent horses forced to assist with the killing. I hear another bang, then a whistle, right next to my ear. In the second it takes for me to acknowledge it, something hits me, sending an excruciating pain through my whole body.
I just have time to pray that the cubs can survive with just one parent before I am shot again and the world goes dark.