Walter's Strange Encounter

Walter sat enjoying the warm spring breeze drifting in from outside and thought pretty normal groundhog thoughts, like how hungry he was. Well, he had been asleep since the weather started turning cold, so being hungry was to be expected. Walter’s nose told him that the grass outside his burrow was coming in, but he also smelled something very different from last year. He would definitely have to investigate that.

Walter tentatively poked his head out of his burrow and looked around, sniffing again for that strange smell and soon finding it coming from the place up the hill where the humans lived. Last year they had a nice garden with some delicious vegetables that he sampled occasionally, but it was too early for that. Besides, this didn’t smell like vegetables, anyway. It was an animal, but not one that he knew anything about. Now, Walter considered himself a fairly brave groundhog, not like Phil who was afraid of his own shadow, so he decided to get a closer look.

Making his way cautiously up the hill, Walter suddenly froze, all of his senses heightened, when he saw the strange creature. It was a little taller than he was with a wagging tail, floppy ears and a dripping tongue hanging out of its mouth. Walter turned slowly, planning a quiet, safe walk back to his burrow when he heard a loud shrieking sound coming from behind him. Turning his head quickly, he made eye contact for a moment, and then the chase was on.

Walter ran faster than he had ever run, ducking quickly back into his burrow and feeling the hot breath of the thing rush in behind him, the entrance too small for the creature to fit.

This was going to be a very different year, indeed.

Note

Written for Flash Fiction 2/2/2020
using groundhog, spring, shadow
299 words