Kip sniffed at yet another flat-faced skull before irritably kicking it out of her way.
The further she wandered through this city of ruins, the more remains of these strange dead animals she encountered. The one-eyed vixen glared at the cracked street ahead of her that was nearly covered by bleached white skeletons laying in pieces. The towering skyscrapers encircling her sagged and leaned against one other, threatening to come crumbling down at any second. Green grids of overgrowth grew along the seams up and down the sides of every rusted structure.
And of course, nearly every surface trembled with orange butterflies
With a twitch of her white tail tip, the grown fox continued her way, stepping over fallen lampposts, shuffling under the dirt-covered carcasses of old cars, and creeping past a menagerie of old shops, the windows of which had been smashed to pieces and their wares raided long ago.
Her stomach gnawed at her, and her ribs stuck out beneath a dull red and sagging coat. Kip couldn't recall when she'd last gone to sleep with a full stomach.
But her ears perked up at the pitter-patter of a tiny, racing heartbeat beneath the rusting wreck of a nearby overturned car. Kip dropped low to the asphalt, eyes fixed on the tiny skittering shape beneath the car. Just when she was about to pounce, a tabby cat dashed out of hiding and snapped up a mouse from under the car.
The fox let out a snarl of frustration. She attempted to give chase, but her lamed leg gave out on her after only a few paces. She could only watch as the cat dashed off with her prey in its jaws.
But then the wind changed, giving the fox a change of fortune. It carried the tantalizing scent of blood—a fresh kill. And it was something far more substantial than a mouse. Kip's mouth watered. She certainly wasn't above stealing someone else's prey for once.
A trail of paw prints in the dust marked Kip's trek through the city as she limped after the scent, following from the street, past a toppled rotating glass door, and it into the spacious atrium of an enormous building—the remains of an old shopping mall.
She stepped lightly across the checkered marble floor, minding the bits of glass scattered everywhere. What had used to be a bustling mall was now an interior jungle. All kinds of animal scents mingled together and Kip opened her maw and tasted them all on the roof of her mouth. The sounds of animal calls reverberated from the repeating floors that loomed above her. Some vines lost their grips on the brass railings they clung to and fell, their leafy reaches swinging back and forth above her as she skulked past, head and tail down. The scent of blood only grew more pungent. More delectable.
Even with all those distractions, the vixen couldn't ignore the scent markers of a fox—a young male by the scent—that were everywhere. She was trespassing in another fox's territory. But she was just passing through...She'd just grab a bite to eat and then she would be on her way. He'd never know there was an intruder in his city.
Kip let out a gasp at a find. A few pinpricks of blood dappled the floor. Fresh. Still warm. And Kip ravenously lapped the specks up, despite there being hardly enough to even taste.
The fox licked her chops. Somehow, her aching stomach felt even more hollow. There were more droplets ahead of her. A line. And the famished fox followed that line to a defunct water fountain—now a drinking pool for all kinds of animals. A great, twisting tree grew from the center of the pool. The tops of its leafy branches stretched taller than the second story floor as they soaked in the sunlight from the shattered skylight. Kip slapped her forepaws on the marble edge of the fountain and lapped at the water, startling a school of chubby tadpoles. Fortunately, she didn't have the fear of water that other animals succumbed to.
Her heart sank when she caught sight of a horrid animal in the water. Kip stopped drinking, and the pool's surface stilled, giving her a better look at her reflection.
She sagged her shoulders at the sight. Kip was not a beautiful creature. Her left orb of an eye was scarred pure white like a full moon. She'd grown lanky and long-limbed. And her pelt was patchy and thin. It certainly wasn't plush enough to keep her warm for the upcoming Winter. She shivered just looking at herself.
Something dripped in the pool from above, making all the tadpoles hide amongst the old coins at the bottom. Red spirals spread through the water like red ink. Kip looked up to the tree branches. The twisted carcass of a whitetail deer stared back—a leopard's kill.
Kip's heart pounded. She pivoted her ears. The leopard wasn't around. It had left its meal unguarded for her to take. The fox couldn't believe her change of luck!
It was an easy leap from the marble lip of the fountain to the tree's roots, and a dangling hooved limb was an easy reach for the scrawny fox. Kip braced herself against the tree's trunk with her good forepaw and stood on her hind legs, grabbing the deer's leg in her fangs.
Tearing the limb from the carcass, however, was a challenge for the starved creature. And she practically dangled from it while trying to tear the limb away.
"I'd be quicker than that, if I were you."
Kip almost lost her grip on her meal in surprise at the voice. With her mouth full, she twisted as best she could to get a look at the intruder.
A silver fox sat up on the edge of the fountain with the plushest tail Kip had ever seen on a fox wrapped daintily around his forepaws. The huge snowball of the white tip of his tail bounced against marble while he observed her.
Kip froze—caught red-pawed. This fluffy fox's scent matched all the markers. Yet he didn't make a move to challenge her. Instead of flashing his fangs, he tilted his head to the side in curiosity at the weird dangling fox. His orange eyes glimmered in amusement. A smirk spread across his dark muzzle.
"I—Ehm..." Kip uttered around a mouthful of fur. "Is i' ohay ib I 'ake this?"
The silver fox squinted and cocked his head to the other side, making his ears flop about. "What?"
Kip spat out her morsel and pressed her burning ears flat against her head sheepishly. She pointed a paw at the limb.
"Is it okay if I take this?" It'd been a while since she'd last spoken. She hadn't seen her own kind in some time.
"Well, your mouth already touched it. Be kinda gross to give it back at this point."
Kip didn't need to be told twice. She turned back to her dinner and wrapped her jaws around it, giving the deer's leg another shake to dislodge it.
"Besides," continued the male as he scratched at an ear with a hind paw. "That's not my kill, anyway. You'd have to ask the—"
Both foxes yipped when the entire tree lurched under the weight of something heavy landing on it from above. Kip's eyes swiveled to the tree-top. Her blood ran cold.
The leopard had returned to its meal to find a scruffy fox thief with its dinner in her mouth. The enormous cat hissed, brandishing fangs larger than Kip's head. Its rank breath ruffled the fur of her face. Muscles bunched beneath its sleek, spotted hide.
In a panic, Kip ripped the limb away from the deer just as the cat pounced. The fox cleared the pool in a single bound. Her bad leg ached from overuse. Fortunately, the plush coat of the silver fox cushioned her landing.
The two foxes landed on the tiled floor in a tangled heap. The leopard landed with a thunderous thud a tail's length away, its claws leaving behind jagged gashes across the floor. It reared its head back and unleashed a roar that made every animal in the jungle scurry for cover.
"Run!" cried the silver fox as he dashed away.
"Mm-hm!" agreed the red fox with her mouth full. She hobbled after the male's tail toward the exit of the mall with the enormous roaring beast in hot pursuit.
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