Waking up 2 days later the Fox had managed to live through his injuries. There was blood everywhere surrounding the Fox, but he was alive.
The Hunger had returned, and was far more unbearable than ever before, unfortunately for the Fox, he still couldn’t move. Alive? yes! Healed? God No!
His injuries were far more concerning than they seemed, yet the Fox is alive, so even with him making it through there is little to be done about moving. Just the blood loss he had suffered rendered him unable to do much more than lay there.
If we get into the rest of the injuries then all that can be said is that he won’t be using that hind leg anytime soon and he should avoid laying on his side as best he could.
‘Tired…. Sleep’
While the Fox has woken up long enough to recognise his continued existence, he couldn’t stay awake for more than that. So once again the cavern falls into silence with only the sound of the sleeping fox and the rustling of leaves from the Black Lily.
Over the next week the Fox was constantly in and out of consciousness. There was very little he could do about this fact. Even so he used this little time awake to attempt to decide his future plan.
‘Eat’
Well, he is a simple one. Currently his only plan he can think of is to eat. The Hunger is the most likely reason for such an event. The Hunger is acting like a nagging mother constantly telling you to get out of bed.
Not that the Fox is able to get out of bed. That is what makes the Hunger worse for the Fox, he can’t appease the Hunger. The only good during this time is the warmth of the sun that comes in from the crack in the ceiling. It even lasts through the night, a very nice warmth.
At the end of the week the Fox finally feel like he's able to move again. Slowly he drags his broken body up so as to gain mobility back. It took a solid 10 minutes but he managed to stand. Now came the harder part, moving without a hind leg.
Luckily the dizziness and the general weakness is gone now, so the walking wasn’t actually that bad. Managing to walk around the cavern a few times, slowly but surely, the Fox started to feel a little proud of its recovery.
Nevertheless he still had one pressing concern that needed to be solved, the Hunger. Still nagging like always he couldn’t wait to get it to leave him alone.
Knowing that the best way to solve the needs of the Hunger was hunting, the Fox got ready to set out for a hunt. As he started to head down the crack he remembered the most important thing. The Wolf! The last time he forgot this he almost lost his life.
‘Danger?’
Not wanting to die he makes sure to check outside the crack to look for the Wolf. Looking around for a while he doesn’t see the Wolf anywhere. There is just one problem, the Wolf’s scent is everywhere and very fresh.
‘Danger’
The Fox’s senses told him that this smell makes this exit a no go, can’t be trying to die again. Knowing staying here would be a waste of time, the Fox turned around and headed back into the cavern.
When he got back into the cavern he looked around for a bit till he found the first crack he had found. Now squeezing through this crack that was already difficult when in good condition, will be quite the task.
Despite the Fox’s lazy bone wanting to kick in, he knew he had to solve the Hunger. Begrudgingly squeezing through the crack, doing his best to ignore the searing pain, he reached the end of the crack and decided to check for any danger.
Well if we talk about danger, the best definition would be the wolf that is currently laying outside of this exit.
‘Danger’
Seeing the very wolf that had almost taken his life last time sleeping just outside of the second entrance, the Fox stopped caring about the pain and started the even more painful task of backing up.
Eventually making it back in the cavern, the Fox decided that today just isn’t going to happen. So listening to his pain filled body instead of the Hunger, he went back to the Black Lily and layed there soaking up the sun that warmed this area.
Falling asleep like most would at this time of night.
Another night passes and the 1st sun shows itself. Waking up due to the light, the Fox decides that it should listen to its hunger and hunt. After once again slowly dragging his own body back up and going to the large crack, he remembers to check.
‘Danger?’
Spending 10 minutes like the day before to check for the Wolf, he sees nothing again. So being the smart Fox he is, he makes sure to check if the Wolf’s scent is around this exit.
‘Danger’
Detecting the scent of the Wolf, while weaker than the day before, still gives off a feeling of danger that he would rather not try to fight with.
Reaching back in the cavern, now annoyed with the Wolf, he once again looks at the smaller crack. After staring intently at the smaller crack like it just killed his family, he finally went towards it to make the trip to check if it was safe there.
Another journey of pain and suffering later he looks outside of the crack. As luck is on the Fox’s side the Wolf is, still right there in front of the entrance asleep…. Yeah maybe not so lucky today.
The second trip of enhanced pain and suffering later, the Fox just lays back in the Fox shaped indent he has managed to form in his recent time here. The day has just started with the 1st Sun and his naps never really last very long. The Fox woke up to see the 2nd Sun about to set.
Figuring that maybe now is safe, the Fox gets up to look at the big crack. Reaching the end again, he looked, saw nothing, he smelled, and the faint scent of the Wolf was there.
‘Danger?’
This time when the Fox smelled the scent of the Wolf it was so faint that his senses no longer gave off a sense of danger. Excited the Fox ran, or slightly faster limped, out of the crack to start looking for some food.
This Hunger has been nagging him none stop, something needs to be done about this! Spending almost all the time till the 2nd Moon started to rise, he managed to find nothing.
Lucky for him though just as he was about to head back because of the imminent rise of the 3rd Moon, he caught a scent.
‘Good Smell! Good Smell!’
He was so excited that he finally caught a whiff of the good smell. Right at this time before he could rush after the smell his instincts took back over and he became serious again.
‘Hunt’
Going back into his hunting mode, slowly prowling and following the scent he reached the source. There beside a tree was a rabbit. The rabbit had no clue that the Fox existed as he sneaked up behind it.
Suddenly as he got closer the rabbit turned his head back towards the Fox, ears raised and alert. Right as the rabbit started to turn the Fox had already frozen solid, making no movement.
The rabbit stayed alert for a period of time before turning back around and lowering its guard a little.
‘Hunt’
The Fox resumed his hunt. Slowly step by step he came closer to the rabbit. He was finally within pouncing range. Slowly and quietly he prepared his pounce.
‘Prey, Easy’
After waiting a moment to make sure the rabbit hadn’t noticed him he pounced right towards the rabbit, claws extended aiming for the neck of the rabbit. The Fox flew through the air showing his prowess in hunting.
The rabbit only now noticing the Fox hears the air behind him and makes a run without even confirming it. Unfortunately for the rabbit it was already too late for it to escape…. Or so the Fox would have hoped. In reality the Fox made his pounce perfect form, the death of the rabbit a sure bet.
There was just one problem. It’s rather hard to pounce without 1 of the 2 things needed to pounce, hind legs. Instead of flying forwards towards the rabbit, the Fox launched himself to the side slamming his still broken ribs against the ground with all his might.
‘....’
The Fox was stunned, from both the pain, and his failure. Unfortunately no amount of shock would bring the rabbit back to the Fox. This “Good Smell” meal had gotten away.
‘Hunt, Continue!’
The Fox wasn’t one to just give up because of one setback. Once again starting his hunt for the “Good Smell” he left the site of the crime, failure, and made his cautious advance towards the “Good Smell”.
This Journey was truly a quick one this time, after a brief time of following the scent the Fox once again found the source of the “Good Smell”. This time there was something the Fox found somewhat familiar.
‘Danger?’
The source of this scent was a flower, a Black Rose. The Fox didn’t take his time to sneakily approach the flower as it can’t run away.
‘Danger?’
Once again he can’t help but ask himself that as when he opened his mouth to eat the rose, there was no feeling of Danger. Hesitating as to believe his instincts, the Hunger suddenly intensified, telling him to eat the flower.
No longer caring, the Fox closed his mouth on the Black Rose. Almost immediately he felt a prick in his mouth, the rose had thorns, but the prick was far from unbearable. The Hunger was far more painful than this small prick of the Black Rose.
Ignoring the painful sensation he felt when he chewed it in his mouth, he managed to swallow the Black Rose. Upon finishing the Black Rose the Hunger was noticeably appeased.
‘Safety, Return’
The Fox then turned and started to head back to the cavern, he had already started to consider this safe haven to be his home…. Also he doesn’t remember where his burrow is, he got rather lost in the forest upon his first escape and it's been too long to use his own scent to get back.
Reaching the cavern just before the 3rd moon, which makes the land reach freezing temperatures, rose into the sky, he decided to rest. He went towards the middle of the cavern and layed next to the Black Lily, satisfied by the sun keeping him warm as the 3rd moon came out, the Fox fell asleep.
Well I finished the next chapter, but I have to admit. I really went on the comedy side for this chapter. I feel like I will end up making much of the recovery period comedy, but I will definitely have some more serious chapters soon.
Anyway, hope you are enjoying the book, I'll try to get some regular updates that can fit in with my school life going, well at least I plan to. One can hope right?
