Lone Fox

Humans

I must fallen asleep because the next thing I know I am being woke up by a bright light on my face.

"She's awake. Back up." There are more creatures here than before. The three original ones are standing in the back trying to see.

I stand up and move back. My foot is still hurting. "She's limping." one of them say.

"Her foot may be broke. Let's get her back to the shelter." Another said. I freeze wondering where they want to take me.

"Hand me the tranquilizer." The one closest is handed some long stick. He points it at me. My first reaction is to growl. I try to walk away from them, but can't.

The one with the stick follows me with the stick. He makes a weird sound and I hear a loud noise. I feel a pain in my haunches and jump. Hitting my head.

I start to run. Not caring anymore about my foot. I feel my self getting sleepy. I haven't gotten very far away. My legs go numb and I fall.I lay there watching the creatures get closer. Then, everything goes black.

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When I wake up, I hear talking again. I am still too tired to stand. I am in some kind of box with a gate on it.

"We can't keep her here forever. And we can't send her back to the wild yet. Her injury got worse when she tried to run away and fell." a tall one said.

"Well what are we supposed to do. My husband won't want her staying in our house." the middle sized one from the tall object, which I think is the house, says.

"I know that your husband doesn't like animals, but I can't be sure anyone would want to take care of a fox with a broken leg. And I don't want to put such a beautiful creature down." the tall one says. What do they mean 'put me down'. They should just put me back in the wild.

The small one, Maddie, appeared. "Please mom. She is so cute." Who's she calling cute. "Plus, it would be amazing living with a fox."

"I don't know."

"Another thing is you will have to bring her in sometimes for check-ups. She will have to keep the cast on for a while. And I can't promise she won't try to harm you." the tall one says.

Maddie and the middle one stare at each other for a long time. I try to stand again. But, my foot won't let me. I can't help but whimper.

They all look at me. "I guess we can take her." the middle sized one says. The small one starts squealing and jumping.

"I'll go get her paperwork." the tall one says as he walks out.

"Thank you mom." the small says, wrapping her arms around the other creature.

They both walk out of the room. I try to keep my eyes open. But I am too tired. I close my eyes and sleep again.

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I wake up in a box, again. I can see out the front just like before. "Welcome home, sleepy-head."Maddie says, leaning forward so that I can see her.

"Don't scare her, Maddie. We don't want her to be scared and attack."the one in the front of this moving object.

"I know, Mom." I stare at them both. Where are they taking me?

"Remember, honey, your father won't like that we brought her home without his permission. I want you to take her out back and put the crate on the porch and then come back inside."

"Why?"

"Your father will have to make her a cage outside." the one called Mom, says. We turn into a small path that leads to the tall object, called house.

Maddie picks up the box I am in and takes me around the house. I look back and see one of those fast moving objects the stole my kill.  She puts me on a little opening looking over the grass opening.

Maddie turns to me and says, "Don't worry little one. I'll be back soon."

She turns and walks away. I curl myself into a ball in the back of this crate. I close my eyes but don't sleep.

I hear a loud bang behind me. I jump and hit my head again. The tall one from before has came outside and is going into the smaller object next to the house.

He comes out a moment later carrying some objects that look like wood and some other things.

He puts the things on the ground. He turns to me. "I hope your worth it, fox."

He looks back down at the objects. He reaches for them and they make a lot of noise. I can't hear anything but the sound of the objects buzzing.

I curl back into a ball and cover my ears. The noise is so loud that I start to whimper.

The noise finally stops. I look outside of the crate. It is almost night time now. I look over at the one, Maddie calls Dad. He is walking back into the object by the house, carrying the things that make the loud noise.

He walks back out and comes toward me. "Come on fox." he says. He picks up the crate and carries me to the thing he just made. He opens the crate and places it in the thing. "Welcome to your new home, fox."

Maddie comes running out of the house. "Is the cage done, Dad?"

"Yep. She can't jump out 'cause it has a roof and she can't dig down 'cause under the blankets and dirt I put wood." he answers her.

"Thanks, Dad." she wraps her arms around him. "Can I stay out with her for a while?"

"Sure. Just be in before dark.  And be careful." he tells her.

"Okay." she turns to him. He nods and walks in the house.

I stay in the crate for a while. "Are you ever coming out?" Maddie says to me. I start to walk out. I look up at her. I take another step and stop. I look at my hind leg. There is a green thing on it. It won't let me bend my leg. I sniff at it.

"It's called a cast, silly. It will heal your leg." I look at the cast. I walk on the cast to the back corner. I lay down on something really soft and warm. "I thought you would like the blanket." Maddie says. The blanket is orange and blue.

I look up at her. She smiles. "Your food and water bowls are over here." She tells me pointing at a red thing and a blue thing. "You don't talk much do you?"

"I would if I knew you." I say. "Why are you keeping me here?"

"There you go. Now if I only knew what you were saying." She stares at me for a long time. "I'm going to call you Storm since I found you after a storm."

"My name is Ivy." I whine.

"I'm taking that as a yes."

"Maddie, time to come in." the one called mom has just came out of the house.

"Okay." She stands up. "I thought of a name for her. Storm."

"Come on." I watch as they both go into the house.

Why does she want to call me Storm. My name is Ivy. Oh well. I walk over to the food and water bowls. The food bowl has weird food in it. I take a bite. It doesn't taste awful.

I walk back over to the blanket. I lay down. I curl into a ball. I lay there for a long time. I finally go to sleep.  I dream of my family again.