Living On Borrowing
"How could this happen!?" Sam muttered to himself as he navigated the titanic landscape that was a kitchen countertop. The human's eyes frantically scanned for a place to hide from the predators that pursued him. Though he didn't have much to work with, he found a small space between a large chrome toaster and the wall. Nearly falling over in an effort to change direction mid stride, Sam made for the toaster. He scrambled to get into the small gap, pressing himself as far back as he could. After a few tense moments passed, he sank to a sitting position and hugged his knees to his chest.
"I'm going to check the kitchen!" A distant female voice called out.
Sam's heart began to flutter about in his chest as the thought of one of those giant creatures searching for him nearby made him uncomfortable to say the least, not a small feat as there was very little that unsettled him. Broken bones, dislocated joints, explosions, even gunfire hadn't been able to phase him... but this was a whole new ball game. He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps entering the kitchen as one of the creatures set into the task of searching the kitchen.
"Where could you be hiding?" The owner of the voice mused as she moved about the kitchen. With each passing moment the human's worry grew as he heard his pursuer opening cabinets and moving bowls as she searched the kitchen. "I know you must be terrified of us, but we won't hurt you. We just want to know more about you, that's all."
Sam remained silent as he tried his best to control his breathing. He wasn't sure if her hearing was that good, but he didn't want to the chance that it wasn't.
A muffled shout came from another room in the house. The giant in the room with him sighed before calling back, "No luck yet!"
The human withdrew to the confines of his mind wondering what he missed. At some point there must've been something he missed. Obviously she'd noticed him... but when? She played it off so well, pretending not to notice that he was there until she could get everything in place to catch him. She'd even enlisted the help of her friends. It had happened so fast, initially he'd made his daily run to the breadbox. He slipped in through the little crack where the door didn't quite close all the way. He unfastened the tie with care and great effort to access the bread, tearing off a few small pieces to eat before replacing the tie to the best of his ability and returning to his hole in the wall. He looked both ways and made sure it was safe to return. He left no traces behind, and yet he found his hole had been crudely sealed by a cardboard box the size of a house. At first it seemed to been bad timing and coincidence, but it was a bit too convenient for Sam to be so naive so as to believe such a notion. Chills ran down his spine as his eyes teared up when a large shadow fell over him and eclipsed the artificial lighting from above.
"Wow... he really is real..." a male voice noted in disbelief.
Sam turned to face the shadow, time seemed to slow as he stared up at a giant fox. The fox though, shared humanoid traits with Sam. He stood upright and was clothed in grey cargo pants and a plain green t-shirt. A canine snout protruded from his face while pointed fox ears poked out atop either side of his head. As befitting a fox his fur was colored as such with orange being the dominating color. The underside of his chin, muzzle and neck were white while the ends of his hands were black. His fur was a little unkempt, but he stood with confidence and he seemed to be the type that kept in shape, though not to an overbearing extent.
Sam remained silent and frozen in place until the fox began to inch closer. Rather than wait to see what his intentions were, he opted to run. He scampered off away from the giant creature and rounded the corner where he skidded to a stop once again to find another titan looking for him, this one being a raccoon. Though she had her back to him at the moment she was the only one he recognized as the house was owned by her. She wore a pink tank top and a pair of loose fitting denim jeans. She had shoulder length black hair and a cream colored muzzle. Just below the waistline of her jeans was a long furry black and brown striped tail that swayed in a relaxed manner as she scanned the living room with her hand raised to her muzzle as she tapped a finger to her chin in thought. Two wide, pointed ears covered in black fur sat on top of her head. She was rather slender in form, her muscles well toned and her fur groomed to match. Sam started to back away from the Raccoon when the fox came barreling around the corner.
"Shelly, he's behind you!" The fox called excitedly.
The raccoon froze and turned to face the small human. Time seemed to stop as her teal eyes locked onto him the black 'mask' of fur around them seemed to highlight her eye color. The fox held his ground behind Sam to block his escape while the raccoon crouched down and moved closer to make an attempt at grabbing him. Sam knew that he only had one chance to get out of reach, and it required perfect timing.....
This story will be followed by several installments and is currently my primary focus outside of my novel projects...