6. Lost Focus

Red was happy to discover that the journey to the town was mercifully short. However, due to his current condition he still found it extremely arduous. Red's hunting success rate had now dropped from the ninety percent it was at before his capture to well below twenty percent. This caused him to go hungry more often than not and left him seemingly doomed to stay but a shadow of his former self. However, Red's primary problem was that his mind still raced with unanswered questions about his past, so much so it began to interfere with everything else he did. The most frustrating question of all being, why had he left his old home? Red had no answer to this at all. One image is all he had of his past now, it had come back to him in a dream and every night he would see the same thing. It was the image of a young vixen with one black ear and tears streaming down her face. Red had no idea who she was or what link he had to her, all he knew was that he desperately wanted her to stop crying.

Travelling only at night it took Red five whole days to reach the town. It turned out to be a fairly large town with a church and graveyard at its centre. It had a canal running through it and a river flanking its one side. Preferring not to live inside the town because of the noise, Red decided to setup home in a large oak tree close by. This tree was part of a small wood sitting just on the perimeter of the town. Red would while away the daytime sleeping and thinking amongst the oak trees' leafy branches, and then come nightfall go foraging in the town.

Red found foraging very easy, it was just as Macaw had said, food was literally lying around prime for the taking. Just by simply following his nose Red found enough food to satisfy himself at least twice over every night. He could certainly get used to this kind of lifestyle, but so could many other foxes it would seem. Every time he ventured into the town he would either see or smell the presence of another fox in the area. Red had no interest whatsoever in meeting any of these locals so kept his distance, hiding or moving on whenever there was a risk of being detected. After all Red didn't really know who he was, so how could he ever hope to introduce himself to anyone else? But as Red was about to find out, even the best laid plans rarely work out the way you want them to.

Red had managed to avoid direct contact with any of the locals for three whole months. In this time he had put on weight, regaining his former powerful looking appearance. Apart from the missing sheen to his coat and the sparkle in his eyes he looked exactly like his old self. Reds reclusive run came to an abrupt end one clear moon lit night. He was out on one of his usual scavenging trips. Having just gorged himself on a stash of leftover meat from a nearby bin, Red was just about ready to head home. Moving past the church wall he took his usual route home. After walking a short way along the pavement Red stopped, he could hear something. It was the fast pattering of running animals, Red guessed about three in total. But from which direction Red didn't know, the sound was echoing all around the street making it impossible to pinpoint. Panicking Red couldn't decide what to do, in all likelihood he was going to be discovered if he didn't get to cover, but there was none within reachable distance. This moment of indecisiveness was going to prove to be very costly for Red, he was about to get involved in something he should have stayed well out of.

As Red continued to decide what to do the perpetrators of the noise came into view. Three foxes rounded the corner directly in front of him. They were all running flat out with one fox leading the other two by about five meters. Red now realized it was too late to hide, he had been seen. This left him with only one option, to stand his ground. Sighing Red sat down and awaited the inevitable meeting. It didn't take long for the three foxes to arrive at Red's position. The lead fox had gained a little ground on the two foxes behind him and got to Red a good ten seconds quicker. It wasn't until then that Red noticed the lead fox was no more than a cub, a male born this spring by Red's estimation. The fox stopped when he passed Red and collapsed totally exhausted. Red looked over his shoulder at the young cub, he was shaking and quite obviously terrified of something. The two other foxes had now stopped just shy of where Red was sitting. Red turned his head back to face them wearing a dead pan expression.

"Get out of the way," growled the leader of the two.

"Yeah, get out of the way our quarrel isn't with you," said the second fox.

An icily stern expression came over Red's face. "You've obviously got some sort of bone to pick with that cub behind me, and quite frankly I couldn't care less, but no one orders me around like that!" said Red angrily.

"Is that a threat?" barked the lead fox.

"No, it's simply a fact," replied Red.

"Is it? Maybe I'll be the judge of that," said the lead fox grinning.

With that the lead fox charged Red. As quick as lightning Red raised one of his paws and slashed it in a ninety-degree arc striking the attacking fox as he was about to make contact. Red caught his attacker clean across the neck, nicking the lead fox's jugular with his claws and knocking him off course. The lead fox clattered into the church wall and slumped to the floor bleeding uncontrollably. Looking on the second adult fox was horrified, how had this freak of a fox disposed of his leader so quickly? Hiding his fear he moved in to attack. Red's anger had now reached critical mass and for the second time in his life he exploded with rage. Having forgotten the lesson he had learnt when he killed his brother, Red attacked head on. Before the second fox could work out what was happening Red was on him. The two battling foxes now faced off head-to-head. Each one took hold of one of his opponent's front legs using their jaws, and then proceeded to try and drive forwards. The fight turned out to be totally one sided, not only did Red have the size advantage but he was also so lost in his anger that pain no longer registered. Red pushed his attacker all the way back to the very end of the pavement. Somewhere along the way the attacking fox had released his grip on Red in favour of crying out in pain. Eventually Red drove the fox from the pavement and down the curb. The sudden jolt caused Red to lose his grip. The attacking fox realized he was totally outclassed and didn't wait for a second chance to escape. Turning he fled as fast as his crippled front leg could carry him. Cooling off slightly Red decided to let his attacker escape judging pursuit to be a waste of energy. Turning around Red began to limp home.

"That was unbelievable!" called out the cub as Red passed him by.

Red ignored the comment and continued to hobble onwards.

"Hey! Wait up," continued the cub undeterred as he chased after Red.

Red stopped and sat down, more so for his now aching leg than wanting to hear the cub out.

"What is it?" snapped Red.

The cub sat down next to him. "I wanted to thank you, I'd be dead by now if you hadn't intervened."

"I didn't do it to save you," answered Red.

"Either way I owe you my gratitude," replied the cub "the name's Scout if you're interested."

Getting up Red started to move on again, clearly he wasn't. But still the cub followed, Scout wasn't going to be shaken off that easily.

"Where are you going?" asked Scout.

"Home, nowhere to concern you," said Red.

"I hope you have someone to look after you because with a leg like that survival is going to be difficult," pointed out Scout.

"It's nothing, no more than a scratch, just leave me alone," sighed Red.

"Even if that's so it would still heal quicker with lots of rest," replied Scout.

"What are you getting at?" said Red looking back at the cub with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Come back with me to my family, they will look after you until you can walk properly again," suggested Scout.

Red let out a slow breath. "Will it get you off my back?"

"I promise," beamed Scout.

"I'm going to hold you to that, which way is it?" muttered Red.

"It's this way, come on!" said Scout overjoyed as he led the older fox out of the town.