• Two foxes ran through a forest at top speed. Barking could be heard and a gunshot was fired. It nicked a piece of wood and practically cut it in half. The two foxes looked at each other once while running. Like a telepathic conversation only they could hear. More barking was heard and that only pushed the foxes to run faster. They ran through a giant pile of leaves, which sent them rushing into the air. A terrible screech was sent whirling through the air.
    One of the foxes looked back and saw the other huddled on the ground. It scurried over to its partner and nuzzled its snout.
    'Please, you have to get up.' A female voice said softly.
    'I...Can't. It hurts. My leg. I stepped in a trap.' A deep-albeit hurt-voice replied.
    The standing fox walked over to the other foxes leg and examined it. It shifted the leaves off of its back leg and noticed the blood. Its eyes widened at the sight, and it started gnawing at the metal of the trap. The fox on the ground was trying to move his leg to help, but it wasn't working very well. It only ended up hurting more.
    The other fox continued chewing and pulling at the metal. It was starting to panic. Frantically, it chewed harder, faster, and tried to pull it off with its paws. Nothing was working. The trap clamped tight onto its partners leg.
    'Stop. You know it won't work. Please, just leave now. You'll make it. And take care of our daughters. You have to get out of here before the hunter comes.'
    'No! I can't. I won't. You're coming back with me. And you'll be able to see our kids grow up wise and beautiful!'
    Tears threatened to spill from the fox’s eyes. It frantically scratched and pulled at the trap. It knew it was worthless to try, but it just couldn’t stop. It had to set free its partner. Another resounding bark was heard. The fox was panicking now. It knew trying to get the trap off was hopeless, but it still didn’t want to leave. But it had to if it wanted to take care of its kids.
    ‘Go!’
    Tears were now pouring from its eyes. It tried to leave, but its legs felt like jell-o under its torso’s weight. Its legs moved slightly but it jumped when a bullet whizzed past its face. It didn’t have time to mourn over the sudden lost of its mate, but was now running as fast as it possibly could. The hunter wasn’t following but it knew it couldn’t stop. If it did it would most likely go running back to its dying partner.
    It slowed down to a fast walk when in its sights was a cave. The entrance was quite small but it managed to squeeze through the opening. It crawled through the small tunnel until it reached a wide opening. Popping its head out of the hole, it looked around the cave. Its tears still dripped from its eyes, and it smiled widely when it saw two small, furry things over in a corner.
    The fox finished crawling out of the hole and walked over to the sleeping forms. It nuzzled its kits faces with its snout.
    ‘Don’t worry my children. You shall never die as long as I watch over you. Alas, I must send you some place safer. This is for your sake.’ The female voice said.
    The fox grabbed a chunk of each of the baby’s fur into its mouth. Tears still falling, she crawled through the small entrance and started running deeper into the forest. It knew that some people came down this way, and it was determined to stop them.
    Once that all too familiar dirt trail came into view it started running faster. The sound of a car going over clumps of rock and mounds of dirt could be heard. It jumped over a log and onto the road. The car came to a sudden stop, back lashing the people in it that weren’t wearing seatbelts.
    The fox, still holding its small children, stood in the middle of the road. Breathing heavily it started walking toward the car. Its eyes had a pleading look in them. The people in the car were all silent as they watched the fox come closer and closer.
    They didn’t know what that fox was going to do, but when it jumped onto the hood of the car and stared through the windshield at them, it almost felt like they could feel the sadness in its eyes. The fox laid the kits onto the crook of the hood where the windshield met the car. Before turning around and running back into the forest, it looked back at them with a look in its eyes that was scary, yet all the while sad.
    Once the fox was out of view, the people in the car all got out and looked at what the fox had left behind. Still, none spoke. Not even when the driver lifted the two foxes off the windshield and into the car. And not even when the baby fox’s held a shimmering tear in the opposite eyes.