3. Lost Security
It had been many months since Red had departed from his old home. The seasons had shifted twice and it was now the middle of autumn. Red had travelled south to the river before turning west and following its flow for many miles. He moved at a brisk pace and didn't stop until he was sure he was well out of his father's territory.
Initially he had found being independent very difficult. No fox should be out on their own at his age and with such limited survival experience. In fact, the only experience he had to draw upon was a single solitary lesson in hunting. The rest of life's lessons would have to be learnt the hard way, via bitter experience.
Red had grown in size and was now equally as large as his father without having fully reached adulthood. He had become a very impressive looking animal, with both strength and cunning beyond his years. During his journey so far he had encountered many obstacles, roads, cars, towns, farms, but had always managed to overcome them taking only minor knocks. Although these would be described as trivial to most well-travelled foxes, Red due to his age saw them as mammoth achievements and proof that he didn't need anyone else's help to survive. A final test still awaited him though, as of yet he had not experienced the full cruelty of man.
As far as companionship went on his journey, there was none. Red had barely spoken a word since leaving his home, this suited him for a while but as the months dragged things started to get a little boring. To keep himself occupied he'd devise intricate and sometimes bizarre games to play. Probably the strangest, at least for a fox to perform came to him one day whilst watching a family of squirrels running up and down their tree.
How do they do that? Red thought to himself craning his neck upwards to look, and why can't a fox do it, doesn't look too hard?
That was it his mind was made up, he'd occupy his time learning to climb. The benefits were huge and the possibilities for trickery were endless, the thought brought a smile to his face.
For the next month Red divided his time between climbing practice and continuing to follow the river. Climbing had turned out to be much harder than he had initially thought, his respect for squirrels jumped up a notch or two. Eventually he had devised a feasible way to get into some of the lower branches. By running flat out and leaping onto the tree and then following up with some frantic clawing, he could haul himself into branches that were up to ten feet off the ground. This was good enough, he figured it should give him an edge when hunting or trying to protect himself.
As autumn began to draw to a close Red found himself on the doorstep of another town on the banks of the river. It was late evening and all was quiet, he felt an icy blast of wind buffet him. Winter had begun to arrive and Red knew he would need to find somewhere to shelter until it was over.
He studied the terrain on his side of the river, there looked to be a good-sized wood off in the distance just beyond a few fields, bracing himself against the wind he made his way towards it. Red reached the wood on the cusp of the next morning having stopped to hunt along the way. With his stomach full all he wanted to do now was sleep. Taking a quick look around it was obvious there were no empty earths nearby. Looks like I'll be sleeping up on high again today! he thought looking up to the trees. Red had slept on tree branches several times during his long journey, actually finding it quite comfortable. He climbed up into a large oak tree and immediately fell soundly asleep on one of its thick branches.
Red awoke to the sound of an alluring voice in the air. Blinking the sleep from his eyes he looked to the ground. It was another fox, a vixen. Just sitting looking up at him totally bewildered by the sight she was seeing. "What on earth are you doing way up there?" she said inquisitively.
Red didn't know what to say, he hadn't spoken for so long that the words just wouldn't form in his mouth.
"What's the matter can't you talk?" the vixen said cocking her head to one side.
"Of course I can!" replied Red aggressively.
"Someone certainly got up on the wrong side of the…branch this morning," said the vixen as she started to walk away "I'll leave you in peace."
"Wait, I'm sorry, it's just I'm not very good at this," Red called after her.
The vixen turned to face him again. "Not very good at what exactly?"
"This, talking," Red replied gesturing to his mouth "it's been a while since I did it last."
"You know you can't tell," the vixen said with a smile "I've never seen you around before, what exactly brings you here?"
"I followed the river," said Red as he pointed a paw in the direction he entered the clearing from "it seemed like a quiet place to rest."
"It's really not, you shouldn't linger here," answered the vixen.
"It doesn't seem dangerous, it's so peaceful," Red explained looking around.
"And you didn't stop for a minute to ask why?" said the vixen, a shocked expression on her face.
"No, should I have?" said Red.
"Yes of course, well, unless you're not afraid of the hunt," replied the vixen.
"I'm not afraid of anything," Red said, with a mischievous grin on his face.
"How old are you?" the vixen asked.
"Old enough," replied Red "why would that matter?"
"You seem a little young to be out on your own," said the vixen "where's your family?"
Red shrugged his shoulders as an answer.
"Like that is it?" continued the vixen.
There was a sudden blast of a horn some distance away through the trees, both foxes turned and looked in the direction the sound had come from.
"What's that?" inquired Red.
"The hunt, and they've picked up a scent," replied the vixen as she scanned the horizon for movement.
"A scent?" asked Red.
"You came from the river that way?" the vixen pointed a paw in the direction of the horn and the river Red had followed. "I'm sorry, it's yours," the vixen sighed "we need to run now, the longer we wait the more likely they will catch us."
Red dropped from the tree and onto the ground next to the vixen. "It's me they are after, you should go," he looked her in the eyes "what exactly am I facing?"
"A pack of vicious hounds, stirred on by a group of merciless humans, all hell bent on your destruction," she summed up.
"Well, that sounds not terrifying at all," he said sending her a warm smile. "Go quickly!"
"Please don't let them catch you," the vixen took a final glance at Red and then disappeared deeper into the wood.
"Probably be what I deserve," Red whispered under his breath.
By now the barks of the hounds rang clear in the air, they were close. Red began to limber up, he could ill afford his legs to cramp up now. He needed to be at his peak if he stood any chance of coming out on top today. A plan had begun to form in his mind, it was clever but would involve as much risk to himself as to the hounds, a gamble he was more than willing to take.
It took another few minutes before the hunt came into view. Red counted twenty hounds and five humans on horses all weaving their way through the trees, it was now or never. Red began to bark loudly, once he was sure he had their attention he turned and sprinted out of the wood looping around as he did, recrossing the fields he had travelled through the previous evening. He stole a glimpse back, the hunt had just emerged from the wood, quickly realising that their quarry had doubled backed they had turned and followed. He had gained a bit more of a lead during their time amongst the trees, whether or not this lead would hold across the flat land was another story however. Red pushed himself harder than he ever had before, he had to win this. His stamina was holding there was no tiredness in his body. His breathing was controlled and regular, all the signs were pointing to him reaching his goal.
Finally, it came into view, the town, his goal was mere minutes away. The barks of the dogs had become a lot louder as the chase continued over open ground. The gap had begun to close. Soon Red could almost feel the hot breath of the hounds on the back of his neck, they were practically on top of him. At that point something changed, Red could guess what it was, he'd been banking on the very thing happening. The humans had called off the chase, the hunt had taken them far too close to the town. But there was still a problem, ten problems to be exact. Half of the hounds were in such a crazed state that they ignored their master's commands and proceeded to follow Red into the depths of the town.
The outer streets were relatively quiet and the pursuit went on unhindered. Red made a beeline directly towards the town centre, he was going to need human assistance to get out of this fix. Eventually he came flying out onto the town's high street. There were humans everywhere, both sides of the road were teeming with them. He started to pick his way through the mass of legs on his side of the road, behind him less than ten meters away the hounds began to do the same. It's not working! Red thought to himself.
The people on the pavement had now noticed the animals and were scattering, Red was going to have to take more drastic measures. At the nearest opportunity he leapt into the road and ran headlong towards the oncoming traffic. Cars and trucks swerved left and right trying to avoid the eleven animals now bounding up the main thoroughfare of the town.
Red eventually reached the end of the high street, it terminated at a construction site where the beginnings of a bridge over the river was being built. Red had trusted to luck when he jumped into the road and it held. He came out of the ordeal without a scratch. The same could not be said for the hounds. Three of them had been hit by traffic whilst in the road, their hunting days now firmly over. Three more had been spooked by the loud noises of the traffic and had bolted in random directions forgetting all about their quarry. The remaining four, although now quite a bit behind, had managed to stay on Red's trail. Red had stopped to catch his breath at the river's edge, thinking he had escaped. It only took one bark to shatter that illusion, the four hounds had found him.
"Great" muttered Red to himself. He didn't even turn to look, he knew all too well what was behind him. Getting to his paws he started to run again. Wearily Red ran along the riverbank, constantly looking at the churning water before coming to a stop again at a small wooden pier. He began having flashbacks to the time he fell into the river near his home, he started to panic. Red knew he only had two options, either wait for the dogs to catch him or throw himself into the water and hope. His mind screamed at him to stay out of the water, the fear of what happened last time was intense, there was no mother around to save him this time. Red felt himself start to hyperventilate, the anxiety at getting in the water again was too much. A cacophony of dog barks rang out in the air, they were on him, it snapped Red back into control of himself again and he threw himself forwards into the river. The water currents were merciless, pulling him around like a leaf in the wind. It took almost everything he had left to fight against the forces of the river and get to the opposite bank, once there he was exhausted. He knew he had to keep going though, at least until he found a place to hide. Limping away from the river Red set out towards a small copse he had noticed on top of a steep hill. By now the hounds had reached the point at which Red had crossed the river, they were unsure if they should follow and started to argue about it.
Red meanwhile had made good progress towards the copse on the hill, walking was very painful now. If the hounds made it across the river his chance of survival was minimal at best. Eventually he reached the cover of the trees and collapsed keeping his eyes fixed on the river. The minutes started to pass, each one that went by boosted Red's confidence that he would not be followed. Then his heart sank, two of the dogs emerged from the riverbank and started to make their way directly towards his position.
The few minutes rest the dogs' arguments had given him had done some good. Red was confident that he could manage one more burst of action before his body gave up. He started to back up to the rear of the copse. Suddenly he noticed that the hill he was on essentially had no rear slope, it was just a sheer drop at least thirty feet down. Red sighed, he had only one option left and that was to face the hounds in a fight.
It took the pair of hounds longer than expected to climb the hill, both were clearly tired. They knew exactly where Red was hiding from his scent and decided to spread out to attack from both sides at once. The dog attacking from the right got to Red first. Instead of waiting for his accomplice to arrive the hound decided to attack straight away and charged Red as soon as he was in full view. Red didn't move, he could see that the dog hadn't noticed the sheer drop that he was practically sitting on. Right at the last second just before the hound was about to strike, Red flattened himself to the floor. The dogs front legs clipped Reds back, this coupled with his unstoppable momentum caused him to go head over heels straight down the drop. The hound landed with a thud and never moved again. By this point the second dog had arrived on the scene, watching its companion die angered it greatly. Things were finally a little more even.
Red had to wrap this fight up quickly he didn't have the stamina for anything more. He turned and ran in the direction the first hound had come from, the second hound chased after him thinking he was going to try and run away again. That was not Red's intention at all, he aimed directly for a large tree at the edge of the copse. He leapt on to it and dug his claws into its trunk. Red turned his head and looked down. Once he saw that the hound was within a meter of the tree he pushed himself backwards and released his grip. Red landed on his paws directly behind the hound, he wasted no time and jumped at the dog. The hound was caught completely unawares by the move and was knocked sprawling. Red knew he didn't have the energy left to pin the dog while he killed it, so he decided to do the next best thing. While the hound was still stunned, he grabbed hold of one of its back legs in his jaws and wrenched it back at an angle it shouldn't be able to move in. There was a sickly cracking sound and the dog cried out in pain, Red let go and backed off. The hound started to whimper and lick at it's now broken leg. Red thought better of hanging around and he slipped away at the fastest possible pace he could manage.
Once he reached the bottom of the slope leading to the copse he looked around for somewhere he could rest. The only other cover in the area besides the copse was a lone tree in the distance, it would have to do. He painfully made is way there, at every step he just wanted to collapse. Red knew that if he let this happen in all likelihood he would never get up again. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but the reward was well worth it. Just next to the tree was an earth, it had a strange wooden plank over it but Red was just too tired to care about what that might mean. He staggered inside. As he cleared the threshold something on the floor made him trip. There was an almighty clang and a gate fell across the earth's entrance. A stark realization hit Red, he was trapped.