The forest of now

          The forest, as spacious and vast as it is, homes a multitude of different creatures. Among these creatures is the Red Fox, as quick and clever as it is sly, who is awakening from his home near the edge of the forest. The fox stretches and yawns as it groggily begins his day. He moves his head slowly, scanning the surroundings.
          The fox sniffed the air bringing with it a delightful aroma like none he had ever known. "That aroma is simply wonderful. I wonder what it could be?" The fox dashed through the forest nimbly dodging the terrain.
          He came through to a large open area that gave its space to a multitude of strange structures surrounding the area. The fox searched around, but failed to find out where the earlier aroma had originated. Feeling out of place in the strange habitat, the fox made his way back to the forest.
          The fox quickly halted as he heard a loud noise coming from behind him. He turned and saw creatures unknown to him speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. Another one of the creatures began to charge at him with something in its hands. The fox quickly jumped the barriers placed around the structure and hurriedly ran for cover into the forest. He bolted along the same route as before, but in such a state of panic he couldn't think to dodge everything.
          The fox stopped beginning to heave as his panic wore. He began looking behind him for the creature. The fox tread slowly the rest of the way back to his den,  stopping now and then, contemplating about the creatures. The fox couldn't stop pondering about the creatures and where they may have came from.
          "So you've finally met the creatures have you fox." The fox looked up and found a feline sitting comfortably in the third branch of a tree no more then a few feet away. "It took you long enough to find them." The feline jumped down and circled around the fox. "May I infer as to what those things were?"
          The feline chuckled as she sat a paw in front of the fox. She ran her tail along the fox's lower jaw. "To be totally honest I haven't a clue. No one in the forest does. They came during the sweltering heat of the days long and endured through the cold of the long nights. They have gone through this change a few times now. The flowers have started to come back and those creatures seem to get more active as the days grow longer."
          He looked towards the direction of the creatures habitat. "What has become of the lake, or the feeding grounds? I followed a scent thinking I was heading towards one of them." The felines ears dropped and she turned to look at the fox. "You poor obtuse fool. That is where they started." The fox perked gave a questionable stare "started? What do you mean?"
          The feline shook her head holding a paw on her forehead "Listen, you're clever, but that will not help you in this matter." The feline started to walk away only to glace back at the fox. "They use us to add to their own skin and kill us without regard. Please, do not be fooled by their tricks. I bid you a good morning." The feline quickly went out of the fox's sight as quickly as she went into it. The fox sniffed around and stretched as he made his way back to his den.
          Only after walking a short distance the fox's stomach began to growl. The fox wondered around a bit and spotted a rabbit off in the distance. The fox moved in closer and saw that it was flailing around strangely. His stomach began to growl again; the fox brushed the thought off and crept to about five feet away taking cover in a bush.
          The rabbits movements did not seem natural to him so he stepped back a bit. He flinched as he heard a loud noise coming from one of the bushes. The rabbit ceased to move as one of the creatures appeared, holding something within his hands. One end of the object had smoke exiting from it. The creature passed the rabbit and picked up another fox whom fell numb by a tree. He chuckled as he wiggled the bloody and lifeless fox in his hands.
          The fox started away as fast as he could, hearing the loud bangs coming from where the creatures were. He cringed as something struck his left front leg causing a small grazing wound. The fox ran till he could no longer hear or see the creatures. The fox sighed as he laid down tired, hurt, and still confused about them. "What are they? He killed that other fox from so far away. That creature instead of eating him just appeared to have fun with his corpse."
          Jumping as he heard something plop beside him the fox had become tense. The feline jumped down from a tree and nudged a meal towards him. "You can relax now little foxy, you're safe for now. Go ahead and eat it, I've already had one." The fox sniffed it and began to tear at the flesh wildly. "It's real, unlike that other one that you saw." The fox stopped, some blood dripped from his muzzle, and perked his head up to look at the feline.
          The feline rolled her eyes and patted the fox on the head. "You really believed that one to be real? It was a decoy that you almost fell for as that other poor sap did." The fox quickly finished the rest of his meal and began to lick the blood off his mouth. "I have a question for you cat. Why are you helping me? You've always been known to stay away from everybody, even within your own species."
          The feline squinted, glaring at the fox, but only for a second. "Because I just happened to feel like it. You couldn't of had any knowledge of them, nothing that would say to stay away from them. You were near helpless so I thought I should help you live for the day." The fox slumped his head and lowered his ears. "I've never seen them before, but how if they had been here as long as you've said?" The feline sighed and looked up at him. "They had slowed their population growth through the cold, and it is not until recent that they have started to venture further from their homes."
          He arched his back and stretched out his body, moving slightly towards the feline. "Thanks for your kindness, but what can we do about the creatures?" The feline ran her tail along his lower jaw and snapped it at him. "Fool don't you get it? They kill us just for their amusement, they can kill us before we're even close to them, and they never ease up on the fact that they have us beat." The feline began to saunter off.
          "Thing is if we were going to do something, the chance is lost to us now. I feel as if this will be our last meeting on good terms. Farewell for now." The feline exited again as quickly as she did before. The fox looked down and pondered only one thought. 'If the chance is lost then tell me how we are still alive?'
          As time had past dusk set over the skies for a time. Still feeling restless about the problem with the creatures he paced back and forth till his legs began to feel weary. He heard a twig crack and he rushed into cover.
          His head was up enough to allow him to see. Two creatures, whom held paws, walked into the open area of his home. They rested underneath a tree about thirty feet away from him. The fox managed to get near them without being heard or seen. 'Great they are talking some of their gibberish,' thought the fox as he moved behind their tree.
          Puzzled as he heard screaming from both of the creatures he saw them starting to run around as insects crawled all over them. The fox couldn't help but to laugh at their expense. He walked away and decided to go grab a meal while they 'played' together. The fox easily grabbed a meal and began to walk back momentarily stopping to think about the frantic creatures. He chuckled at the thought and grabbed the rest of his food.
          The fox ate the rest of his meal outside of his home. Looking up for only a split second he noticed one of the humans passed out inside of his den. The fox looked at him puzzled as to how it ended up there. It's skin seemed red and swollen, but the fox didn't know why. He licked the blood of his mouth and walked over to his den. He felt sorry for him so he began to help him out by pulling at his collar.
          When he got the creature halfway out a bright light was shun in his eyes. He gave out a loud yelp as a sharp pain struck his side and he was cast away. He dashed as quick as he could with a limp oh his right looking back for just a second. A few of the creatures were staying as the rest began to run after him.
          The fox began to run as fast as he could making any sort of distance that he could between him and them. The fox felt something tear into his left leg and immobilize him. He began to thrash around only causing the wounds to get deeper and feel like his leg was coming off. He looked up and saw the feline in a tree not far away. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion as the feline lowered her ears and her tail slumped downward. He looked behind him and saw one of the creatures running at him as there was nothing he could do.
          He closed his eyes, and as his consciousness faded to black, he fell still.