The Bones Below | ONC 2023 | ✔️

TWO

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.