He ran as fast as his paws would allow, his little heart was pounding with fear. He's lost. It was a bad idea to leave your mother far away. He needed to obey her. He doesn't know where to go. He doesn't know what to do. A little bear of burgundy color and gray eyes was in the middle of dark, tall trees, he looked around in fright while wolves howled in the distance. It's going to get dark soon.
"Mommy!" He was shouting, he was calling his mother. "Mommy! Where are you?! I'm scared..."
Then a bear crying was heard. He was desperate, he didn't want it... However, his sadness was immediately interrupted by the crunching of branches behind a tree that was behind the cub. Raising his ears, Chris turned his head towards the big old tree. Who could it be? What if it's his mother? Jumping up and already overjoyed, the cub ran towards the tree. That's just the one who came out to him, turned out to be his mother at all. A tall man with a beard and a menacing look was holding a gun in his hands, which he later lowered when he saw a baby bear.
"Well hello, little cub," the man said, trying to be affectionate, which really scared Chris. The cub took off and ran back when the hunter began to approach. The hunter only smiled at this and followed him with a calm step.
Exactly fifteen minutes have passed. It seemed that Chris would never stop running, but still an obstacle stood in his way: he saw... Traps. One trap in front, the second trap on the right, the third trap on the left. There were animal traps all around, it was a good thing he didn't fall into them himself. The cub didn't have time to think about how to escape, he just decided to jump over these traps to escape, which he began to prepare for: he pressed his body to the ground, folded his paws, lowered his ears. He jumped forward resolutely, when suddenly he felt something grab him by the scruff of the neck in flight.
"Don't you dare run away from me, kid, there are only traps around," the man said, roughly holding the bear cub, who tried to escape and wailed plaintively. Chris especially tensed up when the hunter went somewhere.
Less than an hour later, a small house with a barn began to be seen. The man, holding a lantern in his other hand, headed for the barn. Opening the door with his foot, almost knocking it out, the hunter went to a large cage at the end of the barn. There was a booth in the cage, and there was hay on the floor. There didn't seem to be anyone there. He threw a cub into this cage and as soon as he closed the cage, he went back to the exit. While all this was happening, Chris heard the plaintive sounds of animals from cages that were in this very shed.
The cub whined plaintively, trying to get out of the cage: he gnawed the iron mesh, beat his head. "We all have the same problem, don't be dramatic," Chris raised his ears and looked at the cages, when suddenly his gaze fell on the cage in which the male fox was sitting. "Who are you? And what are you all doing here?" The bear cub asked an unfamiliar fox in a trembling voice. "An innocent child.." it was heard from another, distant cell in a female voice. Ignoring this, the fox answered Chris.
"We are all caught here by this man for one purpose - our skin.
"Wait, what?"
"He holds us and kills us day after day"
"But... Why is he doing this?"
"It's obvious, kid. For fun. He is amused by our suffering. It's like a tag..."
To say that Chris is shocked is to say nothing. "And you didn't try to get out of here?"
"We tried. But he still caught us."
Then there was silence, which was diluted by a quiet bear crying. No one could do anything. All is lost.
"Yes, mgm. I caught a bear cub with beautiful fur." The hunter was talking on the phone, telling how his day went, "He has a bard color of wool, which will be a good carpet."
"It will be a small carpet," the interlocutor said, to which the hunter replied: "who said I'm going to make a carpet out of it now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't it clear? I will fatten him up and wait for him to grow up so that I can kill him and get his skin. I will sell his meat, and the skin will be my carpet."
"This is an interesting idea. And what are you going to feed him?"
"I don't care what I give him as food. Okay, let's talk tomorrow, I want to sleep after this stormy day."
After these words, the man dropped the phone.
Chris fell asleep from stress. He slept next to the booth on dry hay, curled up in a ball of burgundy wool. A radiant morning came. It's a pity it wasn't fun. The calm and silence was interrupted by the sound of the barn door opening. The animals that had just woken up began to shake pitifully and fearfully and whine plaintively, feet in heavy boots were walking along the wooden floor of the barn, which were heading towards the cage with the cub. The man opened the cage and threw the meat to the cub, which woke Chris, who looked at the hunter in fright. "Eat this, I won't bother with food for you, mat," and with these words, the man closed the cage and left the barn.
"Is this..." "Yes, I guess..." Two animals in cages whispered to each other, starting to finish eating the meat left over from yesterday in their cages. "I'm so hungry..." Chris whispered with a tremor, running up to a piece of meat, starting to eat it. The meat tasted strange, unusual and unusual. "How do you like the meat?" The fox asked the cub.
"I've never eaten meat like this, it tastes strange."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know what?- "
"This is the meat of your relatives, kiddo..."
Everything was buzzing around, Chris didn't hear anything or anyone. His paws trembled as he walked away from the meat in horror. Tears began to flow from his eyes.
"You shouldn't have told him that," said another fox in the next cage.
"Yes, I'll be there soon." The hunter was talking on the phone with the same person he talked to last night.
"Don't forget to take those animal skins."
"How can I forget my main item? Haha!"
"How is that cub in the cage?"
"He seems to eat meat, but he may suspect that I am feeding him the meat of his relatives."
"It's better not to give him bear meat on a permanent basis, it's also harmful."
"It shouldn't affect his skin, and don't get into my business, I'll deal with it myself." The man laughed, about to leave.
Chris doesn't remember how much time has passed. Time flew by too fast... He began to get used to the taste of bear meat gradually. It was still painful for him to eat it. Here comes another morning. Another animal disappeared from the cage, which was probably now a stuffed animal in the hunter's room. The shed opened and the same man appeared. It's like he's coming on schedule. Chris was hiding in the booth.
"Hey, carpet." The man entered the cage and threw the meat on the floor. "Breakfast." The hunter was about to turn around and leave the high cage, when suddenly Chris ran out of the booth and ran out of the cage at full speed, and then out of the barn.
"You little freak!" The hunter exclaimed, rushing out into the street and grabbed his gun. He looked ahead, Chris headed straight for the woods, but he wasn't far away yet. He took aim and then a shot was heard, he almost shot the bear's paw, but Chris deftly dodged, but did not notice a large tree root at all, about which he tripped and rolled down the hill. He fell into the bushes with thorns. He tried to get out immediately and accidentally injured his ear, and now blood was oozing from the wound. He was almost out of the bush when he suddenly felt someone's strong hand on his scruff.
"I'll kill you very soon, don't worry, carpet." The hunter went back to the barn, holding Chris by the scruff of the neck.
That cage again. Chris was crazy about this enclosed space, the darkness and the monthly loss of animals from cages. Yesterday, the fox who was the first to speak to him disappeared from the cage. He knew that he would soon disappear from the cage, but he was not eager to give up.
Months have flown by, maybe even years, no one knows this. Animals were still disappearing from the cages, but new ones were also being added. A small bird flew through the gap left on the roof. She flew to Chris's cage and crawled through the net. "Did you call them as I asked?" Chris asked the bird without emotion, to which the bird nodded. "Good job. Now, open the lock on this cage." After the order, the bird flew out of the cage and sat on a small castle. She began to pick at the key cylinder with her sharp beak. Five minutes later, she managed to open the lock. She flew back into the cage, and the lock fell on the floor of the barn. "Thank you." Said the bear.
Chris stuck his head into the booth and took out a bag of seeds. Opening the bag with his claws, he poured them out for the bird as a reward. The bird started pecking at the seeds. Chris stood up on his hind legs and walked to the cage door. He clenched his fists and kicked the door with all his might, it seemed that it was about to fall off. "I can't believe I spent almost all this time in you." The bear came out of the cage. The sleeping animals were awakened by the sound of someone walking past their cages and lifting the hooks on which the cage doors were held. After opening the last cage, the bear went to the barn door while the other animals were coming out. "Wait, bear? Did you open the cages for us?" The emaciated coyote climbing out of the cage asked Chris, to which Chris remained silent. He turned to all his fellow prisoners and looked at them with his gray and serious eyes.
"We are not going to leave without taking revenge on this man. We have to punish him."
There was a deathly silence in the barn. Everyone was silent and looked at each other.
"You're right." A gray fox came out to Chris with a wounded face, and then he turned to the other animals, "we must not leave him unpunished. If we don't get him now, he will continue to hunt the same as us."
"You're right! Let's teach this man a lesson!" The skunk exclaimed, and other animals joined him: "Yes, I'm with you!" "Let's kill him slowly!" "Let's eat his eyes!"
The gray fox turned to the bear. "Lead us, Chris."
The hunter was sitting in his chair and watching the news on TV. His calm was interrupted by animal sounds from the street. "Damn, probably dogs again." The man got up from his chair and went to his room. The window was open, which was strange because he doesn't remember opening the window. This alerted him. He took his rifle and a flashlight, then hurried outside. After the hunter left, he went to the barn.
"What the?!" The man screamed when he saw that the barn door was open. Looking in, he found that all the animals had disappeared completely. "ARGH! some bastard let them out of their cages!" The man ran out into the street and was about to turn around to the house, when suddenly a lot of animals got in his way. A whole pack, where there were foxes, wolves, skunks, coyotes and other animals that he wanted to put on meat or stuffed. "What..." The hunter pointed a gun at the animals and was about to shoot. Only now, after repeated attempts, he realized that his gun was not loaded. "Where are my bullets?!" He exclaimed, immediately noticing two raccoons in the middle of the crowd of animals who seemed to be holding bullets and teasing him. The man dropped the gun.
"You little..." He spoke through his teeth. The animals moved away from the middle, letting someone pass. The same bear that he once caught in the forest as a little bear came out to the man. He has hardly changed, except for the damaged ear and the appearance of some bright spots on his shoulder. Everyone fell silent, and so did the hunter. A whole minute passed like that. The silence was interrupted by Chris's low growl. He whispered to the animals, "Revenge."
The animals rushed at the man, who screamed in pain from their bites on the body. He tried to fight back and almost tore one wolf from his hand, when suddenly he felt that someone jumped him. It was Chris. The man fell to the ground, and Chris grabbed his throat. The hunter screamed in pain and suffering, the animals ate him alive. Gradually, the man's screams subsided, they became hoarse, and then stopped altogether. Chris wiped his mouth with his paw, stood up on his hind legs and walked out of the crowded animals that were gnawing at the man. He turned around, looking at the animals that were eating their captor, some even wagging their tails. The bear looked at the moon and the stars. He could have gone mad. He hadn't seen the beautiful night sky above his head for a very long time. He immediately felt that someone pushed him. He saw a wolf holding a hunter's severed hand in its mouth. The wolf put a human hand next to Chris, and then said, "Thank you for saving us and convincing us to take revenge on the hunter!" One of the wolves eating the hunter howled, then other wolves joined in. Chris was silent, but he was smiling sincerely, he was pleased. He started eating human meat. Human meat... It's so delicious. With a taste of victory.
Their victory celebration didn't last long. They noticed that cars were approaching the house. As a result, all the animals ran away.
"I still feel hungry." Chris walked among the dark trees, human meat was not enough for him. And he himself is quite tired from running. After walking around, he noticed a little bear cub. It seems that he is lost. He got lost too... But those were his problems. Chris ducked, it was difficult to see him because of the dark night, but he accidentally touched a knot that broke.
"Mom?" The cub turned to Chris, who stopped waiting and attacked the cub: gray, bloodthirsty eyes full of hunger and savagery. This is all the bear cub saw before Chris fatally wounded his neck. Blood was oozing from the wound, the bear cub was no longer breathing, and Chris, sitting next to him, was eating it, growling greedily.
As a result, he never got rid of the habit of eating his relatives. He mostly hunted cubs because he wouldn't have been able to handle adult bears. Sometimes he was more lucky and he attacked people who were going to the wrong place and at the wrong time. This time Chris came out closer to the road where cars drive. Chris was just curious, he wasn't afraid of people anymore. Maybe. His gaze immediately fell on the trash can, which he literally saw for the first time. He walked around him and knocked him to the ground. "It's a strange thing. It stinks." He winced at the smell of rotten food he smelled when he knocked over the trash can. His curiosity was interrupted by a sharp pain in the abdomen, and then a sharp craving for sleep. "What the?.." Chris looked at his side, saw a dart there, and then two people went to him. This is all he managed to see before he fell and fell asleep.
The bear woke up in something cramped and square. Outside, it looked like it was already morning. He felt something unusual: everything was shaking. Only then did he realize that he was now going somewhere in the car, being in a box. "I shouldn't be here!" Chris started running around the box, hitting its walls, but it looks like the box was attached to the car with a rope. "Why can't I get out?! Where am I?!" No one answered his questions. He just had to wait to see what would happen next.
After a couple of hours, Chris felt the car stop. Finally. He got up and looked through the crack of the box into the street. Squinting his eyes, he saw a large sign with the words and then read it.
"Discount zoo... hm..."
