Maggie and the Kits, Part III

There will be several more installments. When we last saw Maggie and her rag-tag set of kits, Maggie was leaving to get some food to hold them over for a few days. It was cold, no one really wanted to be out an about, especially the kits. Mom, being mom, provided for her children.

Maggie wasn’t completely certain they would stay put, but she had to trust them. She gave them a motherly glare and another warning about staying put, and then headed out.

The deer were on the move. She had to travel quickly and quite a distance to find a herd. Her homing instincts were good; she knew where the den was. But she had never been quite this far away from it in this direction.

Then she heard a strange noise. It wasn’t something she ever heard in the woods. What was that? It sounded like….an animal. But not an animal she was familiar with. It was distracting her from her hunting, and the deer didn’t like the sound, either. They were moving more quickly away from the screech that was hurting her ears. It was coming closer. She didn’t like this.

She let the deer drift away, knowing she could catch up with them again, or find another small herd closer to her den. She didn’t want to get too far away from the kits. She stood quietly, head cocked to one side, listening to the noise that was getting closer and closer. She couldn’t really identify the sound, except that whatever it was seemed to be crying, and crashing through the underbrush. She realized whatever was making the sound had crossed her trail, and was getting closer still.

She decided it would be a good idea to move away from the noise. She couldn’t quite make out the words that were being bayed; they were still too far away. She decided to put some distance between her and this strange noise, and set off in a direction away from the kittens.

She could cover a lot of ground, but not in a constant lope, so she trotted through the woods as fast as she could, conserving her energy and hoping to hear the sounds fade in the distance. She could tell she was being followed, and she wanted that to stop, so she crossed a creek. She hated getting her paws wet, but it seemed necessary to get whatever it was off her scent.

It seemed to work and she slowed to a walk, but then, there they were again. These animals were relentless. They were close enough now that she could distinguish different voices. All of them were anxious, and all of them were intent on catching up to her. She caught snatches of conversation - “Rover, this way! I smell it!” “Quickly, quickly, the scent is getting stronger!”

She was starting to get worried. What were these things? She picked up the pace, but she wasn’t moving fast enough. She could hear them crashing through the undergrowth not far behind her, so she broke into a run. The noise of their voices was deafening. They were intent upon catching up to her, and then…what?

“Kill, kill, kill, kill.” It was a mindless chant, but it kept the animals behind her moving forward. “Right ahead, that’s our prey, we’ll be rewarded, keep going!”

Maggie was getting tired. She wondered if these animals could climb trees. Her movements were getting slower and slower. She needed to do something, and do it now, before her reserves were completely used up. She saw a nice sized tree up ahead, with a good branch she could sit on. Maybe if she jumped up high enough they’d lose her scent and stream on by.

Maggie reached the tree, and made a mighty leap. She clung to the tree, halfway to the branch, and then hauled herself onto the branch. She was out of breath, but she knew how to be still so she would be virtually invisible to anyone passing underneath.

But they stopped! They circled around the tree, making that horrific sound and leaping up toward her. They looked like…coyotes, which she’d met a time or two, but they had slick fur, and slathering jaws. Their eyes were wild. They seemed half out of their minds. In the back of her mind, she recalled seeing animals that smelled like this with some of the humans who had hiked past her den. What were they called? Dogs?

That’s it! They were dogs! What was a pack of dogs doing way out here, without a human with them? And why wouldn’t they shut up?

The dogs were not going to give up. She could hear them clearly now, although it was all strung together. Something about “We got it!” “We’ll be rewarded!” “Over here, over here!” “Come quick, we got it!” “We’re hungry!” “Give us our reward!” It went on and on.

It seemed like she had been stuck in this tree forever, with these crazy dogs making a racket, barking and howling, all around the base, and all looking up at her with mad eyes. She hissed and growled and laid back her ears, but nothing helped. Her heart was pounding with fear. Would she ever get out of this? Now, after what seemed an eternity, she heard another sound coming through the woods.

Humans!

Uh oh.

Maggie's in trouble. How do you feel? Explore that feeling, and stay tuned for next week's installment.