Wyld Fire

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Hello, hello, and welcome to New Story Day! Today, I bring you a continuation of Wyld Life! It's been a further two years since the completion of Doctor Wyld's research project, and it's early in the evening one warm spring night: time for her to be waking up.
Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Brook

A finger traced Brook’s muzzle, tickling at her nose and teasing her chin. After a moment, a faint, pungent smell started to get stronger, and Brook put her hand up, grabbing the wrist attached to the hand. “Put that mint in my face again and my paw is going up your tailhole.” She opened her eyes and scowled at the face of her mate, Bunker.
Bunker snickered, flopping back on his tail and throwing the sprig of mint out through the open den entrance. The raccoon flicked his ears, then scratched behind the left one for a moment before speaking. “How’d you know what I was going to do?”
Brook yawned, wrinkling her nose as she sat up and scratched at her chubby belly. “I could SMELL it the second you brought it in here. Why did you even HAVE it?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Thought it’d bring luck?”
“Yeah, right.” Brook looked around, and her ears perked in momentary panic. “Bunker, where are the cubs?!”
“Relax, they’re down at the crossing with Hopper, playing. They’ve been up since before sundown, so I told them not to wake you.” Bunker leaned onto his hands and crawled on all fours into the bed of leaves with Brook. “It’s just you and me right now. We could do anything we wanted to. We could-”
She put her hand up over his muzzle to block the kiss he tried to plant on her cheek, then snickered. “We could go join them. That sounds like fun.”
Bunker pouted and put his arms around Brook. “But BROOKIE! It’s been AGES since it’s been just us without the cubs! Can’t we just enjoy it for a LITTLE bit?”
“Enjoy it?” She teased, pressing her nose into his cheek for a moment. “Enjoy it, how?”
His eyes lit up. “We could SNUGGLE! We could roll around in the leaves together, make smoochies… make MORE than smoochies…” He hinted playfully, groping at her rump.
She snickered. “It’s not even mating season! What’s gotten into you?” She swatted at him teasingly.
He grinned and rolled to his back, pulling her up on top of him. “I dunno. Just in love with the prettiest raccoon in the forest, I guess.”
She giggled and kissed his cheek, snuggling into him for a few moments before getting up. “I wanna go check the drop box tonight.”
Bunker sat up and watched her bend over to brush some crumbled leaves out of her fur, frowning. “You haven’t checked the drop box in months. Why go now?”
She shrugged, turning back around to face him. “I dunno. I just feel like there’s something there. Probably just my imagination, honestly.”
“Want me to come with you? We can bring the cubs and make it an outing. I’m sure they’d find it thrilling.” He reached down and grabbed his toes, rocking back and forth on his rump as he spoke.
She shook her head. “You know I don’t want them that close to the road. It’s safer if I go alone.”
“Well… okay. But before you leave, can you do me a favor?” Bunker put that little lopsided grin on his face, looking up at her playfully.
She smirked and shook her head. “That depends. What favor do you need?”
He pointed behind her. “Face that way for me.”
She rolled her eyes and turned around. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”
“Now touch your toes.” Bunker put a little snicker in his voice.
Brook scoffed and spun around to swat at him playfully. “Oh, you dirty little- get over here!” She jumped at him, tackling him and pinning him to the ground before planting a smooch on his nose.
He grinned up at her playfully, returning the smooch on her mouth. “It was worth a shot. One of my favorite views of you, right after this one.”
She smiled at him, closing her eyes and burying her face in his chest for a few moments before standing up and walking over to the den wall. She stuck her fingers in a hole and undid the latch there before lifting down part of the wall, revealing a secret compartment behind it with a small computer, a couple of books, and a small transmitter. She opened the computer and started transferring files to the removable drive attached to it. “Do you want me to request anything? Any human snacks you’d like, any supplies we need?”
Bunker squealed happily and sat up. “Cheesy twists! Let’s have them bring some cheesy twists!” He thought for a few moments. “Maybe some vinegar, too. We can use it to preserve some food for winter. Pickling isn’t GREAT, but it’s something different from having everything dried. And salt. We can use it to preserve some fish, for when the river’s too frozen to break through.”
“So practical of you. All right. Vinegar, salt, and cheesy twists. Anything else?” She typed in his requests, then glanced up at him.
He shook his head. “I can’t think of anything.” He paused. “No, wait, some medicine, just in case. Aspirin, ibuprofen, maybe some bandages. I’d rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.”
She looked at him for a few moments, then nodded. “I’m just going to put, ‘first aid kit.’ That’ll have all that stuff, disinfectant, burn cream, insect sting relief, and maybe a few other things that might come in handy.” She turned to type into the computer.
Bunker jumped up and walked over to her, looking over her shoulder. “What all are you putting on there? It looks like there’s a lot of stuff.”
Brook shrugged. “Just stuff. My journal, letters to friends and family, that kind of thing. I figured, if I’m going out to the drop box anyway, I might as well send this stuff out. After all, we don’t go out that way very often.”
“I guess that’s true.” He kissed her cheek, watching her shut down the computer and take out the drive, hanging it around her neck.
She put the panel back on the wall and turned to kiss Bunker’s cheek. “I’m off. When I get back, we can head over to Pevensie’s clearing. I wanna get some of those buckeye nuts that he’s got before they’re gone.”
“Buckeyes?!” Bunker wrinkled his nose. “But they’re gross! Completely inedible, even!”
She chuckled and walked outside. “It’s not for EATING, you goof. I’m going to make soap out of them.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know, there is such a thing as TOO clean.”
“Tell me that when you’re covered in fleas and I won’t snuggle you.” She giggled. “I’ll say bye to the cubs on my way out. Make sure they get some breakfast. I won’t be too long.”
“Bye, Brook.” Bunker tilted his head to watch her tail bob as she walked. “I hate to see you leave, but BOY is it a good view when you go.”
She laughed and waved at him over her shoulder as she walked away. “Behave yourself, or I’ll tell Heather where your little hiding hole is!”
“You wouldn’t dare!” He called back after her, then snickered and turned to his chore for the day of weaving a few strands of herbs to hang dry.

[Amazee Dayzee]

That is one way to know that Brook means business when she threatens to reveal your hiding hole to get you to compose yourself and stop acting like a fool. I have no doubt that she will spill it so better be on your best behavior.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 2: Drop Box

After momentarily pausing at the crossing to say goodbye to her cubs, Brook started walking downstream along the river. The hike was familiar; she’d done it dozens of times, starting when she’d first arrived here in the forest three years ago, just a scientist in the body of a raccoon, coming to study the behaviors of wildlife as one of them. It felt like a lifetime ago; she’d had a different name and a different body, and had only planned to stay two years. She’d barely made it a full year before deciding to stay forever.
The walk took an hour in the moonlight, and Brook felt a little guilty about enjoying the peace and quiet- she’d chosen to have cubs, had WANTED them, but now relished every moment away from them she could get. She supposed that didn’t make her a bad mother; after all, everybody needed a break once in a while; but it made her FEEL like a bad mother.
The not-so-distant sound of a car passing drew her attention back to the present; she could see the road a few dozen yards away through the trees. A single street lamp glowed overhead, marking the spot where she had first entered the forest. She followed the line straight back ten feet with her eyes until she spotted what appeared to be the stump of some long-dead tree. On closer inspection, though, the roots barely broke the surface of the ground before abruptly cutting off, giving away that this structure was not naturally made.
Brook walked around the outside of it until she found a lone branch hanging low over the ground. This, she grabbed and pulled down. It clicked, then levered downward as the mechanism released, and a section of the stump’s remaining bark swung outward to reveal what almost appeared to be a shed inside. A single box of supplies was waiting for her, as well as a small package that seemed like it had gone through the mail. She picked up the package, then hesitated and flipped a switch on the inside wall of the shed to activate the transmitter built into the structure before plopping down on the ground to pick at the tape holding the box closed.
After a few frustrating moments, she gave in and used her claws to slice the tape, pulling the box open. Inside, she was surprised to find… herself. Her old face, from when she was human, smiling up at her from a glossy book cover. “About the author” was written just below in ornate script, followed by a blurb that was almost entirely an exaggeration. Brook frowned at the book and flipped it over to the front side.
The book declared that its name was “Wyld Romance,” and featured an artist’s rendering of two raccoons sitting on a tree branch together, holding hands while watching a sunset. Her old human name was listed at the bottom of the cover. She looked in the box and found a letter. The contents of the letter were short and sweet: “Brook. A publisher accepted your book with just a few tweaks to the title. Proceeds from its sales have been forwarded to the foundation, to be used for any supplies you may request. -K.”
Brook frowned and set aside the box and the letter, flipping through the book idly. She could remember having written it based off her experiences during her first year here in the forest, but she had forgotten all about it in the meantime. Forest life made civilization feel like it was on the other side of the galaxy, and she hadn’t thought much about her old life once she’d left it behind.
After a few moments of flipping through the book, she set it aside and pulled the box of supplies around in front of her. It was a little dusty, and had clearly been sitting in the shed for a while, so she hoped that whatever was in it was still good. She sliced the tape with her finger and opened the lid to peer inside.
Inside the box was a shipment of standard supplies: herbs, salt, iodine tabs, and a few other essentials, as well as a packet of cheese twists, Bunker’s favorite junk food item. She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Oh, Bunker’s going to LOVE this.” She packed everything back into the box and added in the box with the book in it, then stood up and took the removable drive from around her neck. She placed it on the shelf in easy view, double-checked that she had turned on the transmitter, then stepped out of the shed and pushed the door closed. It clicked shut, and the branch popped back up into place to indicate it was locked.
Brook started to pick up the box of supplies, then hesitated and turned toward the road. She set the box down and walked over, pausing at the edge of the tarmac to check for cars before stepping over the line onto the smooth, stone-like surface. She hesitated, then walked toward the middle of the road and turned to look in the direction of town. She could see the lights dimly in the distance, almost a three day walk on her little legs, or fifteen minutes by car. For the briefest moment, she considered staying there, at the shed, and waiting for morning, when someone would come by to pick up the drive she’d left behind and turn off the transmitter. She could get a ride with them back into town, to the Institute, and retake her human form.
Then she shook her head, shaking the thoughts out. There was nothing for her there; her belongings had long since been cleared from her storage shed and sold to fund her discretionary funds, an account set up in her name to make sure she had any supplies she needed. Her career had been officially wrapped up. She had no home, not enough money to get any, and very few friends or family in the area.
Plus, she reminded herself, if she left, she wouldn’t be able to see her cubs or Bunker anymore. That thought filled her with sadness; she didn’t want to leave her family behind, but she sometimes missed life in the city. It was hard, living off of scavenged plants and fish, but it would be a lie to say she didn’t enjoy it. Every meal felt genuinely EARNED when she’d had to forage for its ingredients herself.
A distant rumbling rapidly grew nearer, and a pair of lights appeared over a hill not too far away. Brook gasped and ran back to the edge of the road, barely making it off the tarmac before a truck roared by. She poked her head out of the brush and watched its tail lights fading toward the glow of the city, then took a deep breath and returned to her box just outside the disguised shed.
It wasn’t heavy, and she was able to lift it easily, hefting it to her shoulder before starting to walk the familiar path again, back upstream along the river. As she walked, she hummed a little tune; while the supplies would be nice to have, she was most excited for the box itself. Cardboard was at a premium in the forest, and supremely useful. She was already thinking of all the things she could make with strips of the material: Kindling for a fire, bedding that would last longer than leaves, lengths of cord that could be used for various projects from drying herbs to keeping things tidy, and, of course, if she left the bottom part intact, it could be used to hold supplies for storage.
When Bunker’s Crossing appeared ahead, Brook grinned and picked up the pace, eager to see her cubs again. She couldn’t see them still playing in the crossing, but that wasn’t surprising; the water was cold this time of year, and she had been gone nearly three hours, so they had likely gone back into the den to warm up and have some lunch.
When Brook’s Falls came into view, the sky darkened a little, and Brook frowned up at the clouds that had drifted over the moon. They didn’t look like they were bringing rain, but it did make it harder to see, even with her night vision, when the moon was obscured. She smelled the marker marking the edge of her territory and called out merrily. “Bunker! I’m home! I brought some supplies!”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I sure hope that nothing bad has happened to Bunker or their kits while Brook was away doing what she had to. Have to say after reading the ending of this chapter it does feel a bit ominous.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Admittedly I may have intentionally stalled on revealing the kits to raise the reader's interest and make it more exciting, and it's entirely possible I'm not sorry.

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Chapter 3: Raccoon Kits

“Mama!” A squeal of delight sounded from the den, and the cover popped open, revealing a tiny raccoon. He had green eyes and an unusual spotted pattern across his knees, which were hard to see while he was running full-tilt at Brook, his arms outstretched in preparation for a hug.
Brook giggled and set the box she was carrying aside, squatting and throwing her arms out to catch the flying cub as he plopped into her chest with a squeal. “Hickory! My baby! Did you miss mama while she went on her errand?”
“I did!” A second voice sounded a moment before a second kit joined the hug pile, burying her face into Brook’s chest with a happy chirruping noise. Her yellow eyes were squeezed shut, but when she opened them and looked up at Brook, her heart-shaped eye mask- inherited from her mother- unsquished to show the glittering moonlight reflected off the yellow orbs.
Brook kissed her nose. “Well, mama missed you, too, Chicory. Wanna help Mama carry her stuff inside?”
“Yeah!” The two cubs grinned and let go of Brook, rushing over to surround the box. Between the two of them, they managed to lift it and start clumsily carrying it over toward the den. Brook grinned after them, then frowned when she saw the third kit pouting over by the den’s entrance. She walked over to him and scooped him up into a hug, giving him a squeeze. “Hey, Dunker. What’s the matter? You look kinda grouchy.”
The kit’s brown eyes stared up at Brook for a moment, full of barely-contained tears, then looked away. “Daddy made me get out of the water. He says it’s too cold to stay in there all day.”
“Awww.” Brook kissed him on the nose. “I thought you looked a little dry. Don’t worry, we’ll get you all warmed up, and then maybe later this aftermoon we can go back in for a little while before bed.”
The tears immediately dried up, and Dunker’s ears perked up. “Really? You mean it?!”
Brook chuckled and playfully nibbled at the kit’s belly. “I said we’ll see. That’s not a promise, got it?”
The kit squealed with laughter. “That tickles, mama! Stahp!”
“You know, I told him no more swimming today. Traitor.” Bunker’s voice sounded behind Brook, and then his arms wrapped around her from behind. He kissed her neck and nibbled at her cheek. “I see you found something in the drop box. Anything good?”
She turned to hug Bunker, letting Dunker slip down to the ground to run off and look inside the box with his siblings. “Oh, not really. Just a basic supply drop. Salt, oil, spices, that kind of thing. Oh, they sent a copy of my book. Apparently they finally managed to get it published.”
Bunker’s eyes squinted, and he stared at Brook intently. She giggled and rolled her eyes at him. “Yes, they sent you some cheese curls. You better hurry, it looks like the kits found them.”
Bunker squeaked and turned to dive toward the precious bag currently being divvied up among the three kits. Brook laughed as she watched, then turned when she felt a gentle tug at her tail. The fourth kit from her litter looked up at her quietly, and she smiled, scooping her up into her arms and pulling her into a hug. “Hey there, River. Mama didn’t forget you, don’t worry.” She looked up and rubbed her thumb along one side of the kit’s asymmetrical mask, clearing a bit of dust out of the kit’s hazel eyes.
The kit smiled at Brook quietly, then leaned in and hugged her. “I missed you, mama. I don’t like it when you go away.” Her voice was soft and quiet, easily lost in a mix.
“Aww.” Brook kissed her head and held her close with a smile, rocking her gently. “It’s okay, mama always comes back. Doesn’t mama always come back?” She didn’t mention that she had considered not coming back; the kit’s clinginess made her feel even more guilty for even having had the thought.
“Mama always comes back.” River repeated quietly, nodding to herself and giving Brook an extra squeeze just for good measure. Brook squeezed her back gently.
“You wanna go get some of Daddy’s snacks?” Brook whispered to the quiet kit, pointing at Bunker holding the bag up above his head and struggling to keep Hickory from climbing up him to get at the coveted rare treats.
She shook her head. “No. Those are Daddy’s snacks. He doesn’t like to share.”
“Yeah, Daddy’s pretty greedy sometimes, isn’t he?” Brook giggled. “He just doesn’t get to have that kind of snacks very often, so when he does get them, he likes to make them last.”
“What’s that?” Brook turned her head to look at River, then followed her gaze to her book lying face-down on the ground next to the box of supplies, discarded for lack of edibility.
“That’s a book. You’ve seen books before. Mama has some in her secret wall.” She looked back up at River.
River shook her head, then slid down Brook’s side to get to the floor. She picked up the book and looked at it intently for a moment, then turned it to face Brook and put her finger on the face of Brook’s photograph. “No, THAT. What’s THAT?”
Brook sat on the floor and waved her arm for River to sit in her lap, and she took the book from her. “That’s your Mama, a long, LONG time ago.”
River stared at the photo, then looked up at Brook for a moment, then shook her head. “No. That’s not mama. That’s a THING.”
Brook chuckled. “Well, that THING was your mama. That’s a human. I’ve told you about humans, haven’t I?”
“THAT’S what they look like?” Hickory’s voice sounded in Brook’s ear as he scrambled up her back and peeked over her shoulder to look. “They’re so ugly! Where’s its fur? Why’s its chest so big? What are those things all over it?”
Chicory leaned over from the side to peer at the book. “Ewww! It’s only got fur on its head! Why’s it so LONG?”
Dunker climbed into Brook’s lap, squeezing in next to River and poking at the book. “That’s Mama? What happened?”
Brook chuckled. “That is a very long story that we will tell you when you’re older. What’s important is Mama’s here now, and she’s never going to leave you.”
Bunker walked over, pouting over his now-empty bag of cheese twists, and stole a peek at the book. “I do like you better this way, over that way.”
Brook smiled and stood up, walking over to the secret compartment and opening it to stash the book for later. “You know what? I like me better the new way, too. The old me was too stuffy and boring.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I really do like the banter that is going on between Brook and the other characters in the story as I think its engaging to the story! I am really happy that Brook acclimated to being a raccoon so well and that she chose to change instead of being forced to!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 4: Improvements

Brook laughed as she held the bucket aloft, walking along next to Bunker with the cubs walking behind them, scattered around in the nearby brush as they followed the invisible path. “Bunker, at least wait until we get them HOME to eat them all!” She pulled the bucket out of Bunker’s reach, preventing him from taking another chestnut from inside.
Bunker pouted. “But they’re so TASTY!” He reached toward her, stepping closer to try and get his hand inside the bucket anyway.
Brook snickered and swatted his hand. “They’re for SUPPER! You’re the one that asked me to make chestnut stew!”
“But why do I have to carry the nasty ol’ buckeyes?” Bunker hefted his own bucket and scowled at the nuts inside.
“Because if I let you carry the chestnuts, there won’t be any left by the time we get home!” She laughed, then turned aside. “No, no, Dunker, sweetie, you can’t eat that. No, that’s no good-” She started walking toward the kit, brushing the mushroom out of his hands and scooping him up. “We’ll find some better snacks along the way, okay? That one will give you a tummyache.”
“I have snacks!” Chicory exclaimed proudly, running over to Brook with a fistful of leaves clutched in her hand, a few purple blossoms still sticking out.
Brook giggled. “You sure do. You’re great at finding the good stuff, aren’t you? Did you know that’s your daddy’s favorite?”
Bunker knelt to pick up Chicory and tried to steal one of her leaves. She clutched them jealously to her chest. “They’re MINE favorite, too!”
Bunker pouted a little bit, then grinned and kissed Chicory on the nose. “Awww, you’re too cute to stay mad at, you know that?”
She grinned and stuffed a leaf in his mouth. He grinned and chewed on it before kissing her forehead. “Thanks, sweetie.”
Brook frowned and glanced around. “Hickory? Where are you at, hun?”
“I’m in a tree!” Hickory shouted down at her.
Brook gave a panicked squeak and looked up at him. “What the- stay right there, Daddy’s gonna come up and get you!” She turned and took Chicory from Bunker, balancing her on the opposite hip from Dunker.
Bunker sighed, stepping back and looking up at Hickory to be sure which tree he was in before walking over to the trunk to start climbing. “This kid’s gonna get me killed one of these days, I just know it.”
Once Bunker reached Hickory and started bringing him down, Brook gave a quick glance around. “River?”
“Here, mama.” The kit’s quiet voice sounded behind her, and she felt a pair of tiny hands grab onto her tail in that familiar way.
Brook smiled and turned around to face the little kit. “Of course you are. You’d never scare mama. You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”
She nodded with a smile. Bunker got back to the bottom of the tree with Hickory in tow and groaned. “Okay, let’s get home before any other kits try to get me hurt.”
Brook chuckled and dangled both buckets on her elbow, perching a kit on each hip. “Okay, let’s go.” She waited for Bunker to scoop up River, then resumed walking. They had already been almost home, so it was only a short time before the big tree that housed their den came into view.
Dunker squealed happily and wriggled free of Brook’s grip, sliding down to the ground and darting off toward the river. Brook’s ears perked, and she called after him. “Dunker, no swimming until a grown-up can be with you! Remember the rules, paws only!” She set down Chicory and rushed off until she could see the river’s side, watching Dunker sit down next to the river and put his paws in. She sighed in relief that he was obeying, then turned and kissed Bunker’s nose. “Do you mind keeping an eye on them? I need to get dinner going on the stove.”
Bunker kissed Brook back and smiled. “Okay, okay. Don’t get those nuts mixed up, okay? Buckeye soup isn’t nearly as good as chestnut stew.”
Brook gave a giggle. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any buckeyes in supper.” She gathered up the buckets and took off around to the back of the tree, on the opposite side from where the entrance was. There, some new additions to the den had been added since she’d first moved in three years ago.
A floor made of packed river mud filled out an area in between a semicircle of stones that had been built up to a small countertop, using mud and sand as the mortar. The countertop itself was made of discarded cooler lids salvaged from abandoned campsites. At the edge of the countertop was a small wall made of baked clay, to keep the plastic safe from the stovetop; a broken propane stove had been disassembled to donate the burners, which had been set into the stone, and a small wood-fired oven installed underneath, so Brook could cook over it.
She bent down and plopped a few sticks and part of a log from a fallen tree into the stove, then looked around and grabbed the book of matches out of its jar, grunting when it was empty. “Bunker!” She griped, plopping the buckets down and stomping off to a fallen log that had been dragged to span the river just upsteam from the falls. She hopped up and walked across it to another fallen log, crouching to lift the cover off a hidden den there and going inside.
Neatly organized supplies stood on improvised shelves made of discarded tent poles, tarp pieces, strips of wood, and whatever else they had found, lashed together and carefully covered to keep everything dry. Brook opened a waterproof box, one of the few items in there that had actually been made for what it was being used for, and removed a fresh box of matches, then grabbed a slightly dented cooking pot while she was at it and exited the den again, waving at her kits across the river before crossing the homemade bridge back to her kitchen.
She dropped the pot on the stove and struck a match to light the fire, giving a satisfied nod before turning to the bucket of chestnuts. She started shelling each, tossing the shell in the fire and the meat into the pot, listening to it as it slowly started to sizzle. After the bucket was empty, she tossed in a cluster of dried herbs and took the bucket down to the river to fill it. A tiny tug at her tail let her know she was no longer cooking alone, and she grinned, turning to the kit that was standing next to her on the water’s edge.
“Oh, hello, River. Did you wanna come help mama make supper?” She scooped her up and kissed her nose.
The kit nodded her head and pressed her face into Brook’s chest. Brook chuckled and carried the kit and the full bucket back to the stove to add the water to the pot. River leaned over to peek into the pot, and Brook grinned, giving her a kiss. “What else should mama put in the stew? We have some nuts, some herbs…”
River gave a shy little squeak and pointed at the river. “Fish.”
Brook chuckled. “Your favorite, huh? Okay, one big, juicy river cod coming right up.” She started walking toward the river with the kit perched on her hip, going upstream from where the other kits were playing in the water so she’d have some chance of catching something. It was quick work to snatch a fish out of the water, a skill she’d been practicing since her arrival, and she eagerly held it up for River’s approval. River nodded and held on as Brook started back to the kitchen to start breaking it down. “It’s a good idea, kiddo.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I do like that Brook is a very attentive and loving mother and is so in tune to what her kits need. Now I just have to stop mistaking them for otters all of the time though the last part of this chapter where her son wants fish isn't helping matters.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 5: Swimming

Brook hefted River on her hip and stirred the pot one last time before grinning. “Good, now we just let it simmer for a while. Wanna go in swimming, kiddo?”
River hugged Brook and shook her head. Brook chuckled. “Well, I wanna go swimming. So how about I just hold onto you, and we’ll just go and stick our toes in the water?”
“Okay.” She mumbled into Brook’s fur. Brook chuckled and walked downstream toward where the other three kits were playing and Bunker was supervising. As she approached, she noticed Bunker intently watching a specific spot in the water, and she didn’t need to look around to know exactly what was going on. “How long has he been down this time?”
Bunker nodded at the spot. “Almost two minutes. It’s very impressive.”
As if on cue, Dunker popped to the surface, sputtering for a moment as he shook the water out of his face, looked around to get his bearings, then grinned up at Bunker. “How was that, Daddy?”
Bunker clapped his hands enthusiastically, feigning excitement for the sake of his cub. “That was EXCELLENT, Dunker! You stayed under for a long time!”
Dunker grinned, then looked around at his siblings. Hickory was sitting on a rock halfway to the deep part of the river, his focus on kicking his paws out into the current and holding them out while the water rushed around them. Chicory, however, had her eyes locked on a school of minnows that was swimming around in a calm area of the shallows, her eyes glinting hungrily.
Brook waded out and stood next to Chicory, shivering a little in the icy water as she followed the kit’s gaze. “What’cha got there, Chicory?”
“Fishies.” Chicory pointed, not taking her eyes off the tiny silvery bodies.
“Yeah? What kind of fishies?” Brook squatted to get a better look.
Chicory’s fist darted into the middle of the school and came out of the water clutched firmly. She flipped her hand over and showed her catch to Brook happily. “Little fishies. See?”
Brook stared at the trio of tiny fish flopping around in Chicory’s hand, then grinned. “Oh, I see. Tiny little fishies. Too tiny to eat. I think you better put ‘em back and let ‘em grow a little more.”
Chicory lowered her hand down into the water and watched the tiny fish scatter into the rocks on the river bed, looking for hiding places. “Bye-bye, fishies!”
“Bye fishy.” River agreed quietly from her place on Brook’s hip. Brook smiled over at her, giving her a little squeeze before standing up again.
Hickory splashed his way over, peering into the water. “I don’t see any fishies!” He glared accusingly at Chicory, who seemed no longer interested in him and was now investigating a flowering bush on the edge of the river.
Brook giggled and walked over to Bunker. “Have they been behaving themselves?”
Bunker shrugged. “For the most part. I think they’re getting hungry. Chicory keeps trying to catch fish. I saw you fishing a few minutes ago.”
She nodded, reaching up to slick back River’s headfluff. “Yeah, River asked for fish in the stew, so I went and grabbed one. I’ll probably toss in some wild tubers in a little bit. In the meantime, maybe a snack is prudent.” She looked around thoughtfully.
Bunker pointed over into the corner of their territory. “I could take them over to the chicory patch.”
“Yeah!” Chicory ran over, splashing wildly with her paws as she did so.
Brook giggled. “No, they can’t just have sweets for snacks, they need something nourishing. I think I saw some whitecaps over in Hopper’s Grotto, you could run and grab them some of that. Maybe a few for the stew, too, to thicken it out a bit.”
Bunker nodded. “I could do that, yeah. That could be good.”
“Oh, and grab some kindling and bark chips, too. I wanna fire up the smoker. We can start smoking some fish and other preservables so we can save them up for winter.” Brook reached up to kiss Bunker’s cheek. “You can use the bucket we used for the chestnuts.”
Bunker gave his goofy little grin. “Ooh, am I gonna get to see you setting it up?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll think about it. I might make YOU do it so I can watch.” She swatted his rump as he walked off, then grinned and watched his tail sway as he jogged over to the kitchen to get the bucket.
Once he was out of sight, Brook grinned and turned to the kits. “While Daddy’s gone, what should we all do?”
Dunker put his hand high in the air. “We should go SWIMMING some more!”
Hickory bounced excitedly in place. “Let’s climb some trees!”
Chicory waved a branch full of flowers through the air. “I wanna EAT!”
River hugged into Brook and buried her face in her fur. “I just wanna be with Mama.”
Brook grinned and kissed River on the head. “Okay, how about this. We all go back to the den and get all dried off and cozy while we wait for Daddy to bring us back some snacks?”
Three of the kits gave up a general raucous cheer and started charging the den, while River quietly nodded her agreement into Brook’s chest. She smiled and stroked River’s back quietly as she started following the kits. She watched them as they paused outside the den to shake off, spraying water all over the place, then threw open the den’s cover and rushed inside. She chuckled and followed them in, pulling the cover back into place before turning to look at the kits.
They had settled on the ground in a semicircle in the part of the den reserved for eating, their backs to the rougher wall where Bunker had dug it out to make the den bigger once the kits had come along. She smiled and sat down next to them, letting River down. She stood there momentarily, looking around at her siblings, then climbed into Brook’s lap.
“I wanna sit in Mama’s lap!” Hickory cried out, jumping back up to his paws and rushing over.
“Me too! Me too!” Chicory shouted, climbing back up and joining him, pushing and shoving both Hickory and Dunker in an attempt to get at the coveted extra space in Brook’s lap.
Brook laughed and tried to stop the bickering. “Hold on, settle down, everybody. How about this, River can sit in my lap now, Dunker can sit in my lap at supper, Hickory at storytime, and Chicory at breakfast in the morning. Sound good?”
The kits paused and looked at each other before unanimously giving a nod and retreating back to their spots.
“Good. Now, Daddy should be back any minute with some snacks. We’re going to eat them, and then we’ll lie down and have a little nap while Mama goes and works on supper. Then, if we’re all really good, we can stay up and watch the sunrise before bedtime. Sound good?”
Hickory’s ears perked, and he bounced in place a little. “You’ll let us stay up all the way to sunrise? Really, really?”
“Really, really.” Brook assured him with a smile.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Such a nice chapter and I like how Brook is really attentive and caring to her kits here because not many parents are like that. It was nice of her to give them the option to stay up if they wanted to but I am thinking they might end up falling asleep before that. LOL

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 6: Hopper

Brook hummed to herself as she approached the smoker with her bucket in hand. The smoker was a cylinder made of stones and mud; a door made of a discarded tent bag stretched over a frame of sticks was attached via two tent stakes embedded in the mud. The whole setup bordered the kitchen, facing the same portion of packed mud flooring. She swung the door open and glanced down into the hole that served as the bottom of the smoker to be sure it was clear of debris before dumping the contents of her bucket down into it.
She set the bucket aside and knelt to spread out the mix of bark chips, twigs, and small pieces of wood, spreading it to fill the entire bottom of the hole.
A voice behind her spoke, startling her. “And how’s the forest’s favorite ex-human today?”
She gave a startled gasp and spun around to face the rabbit standing behind her with a grin on his face. She couldn’t help glancing down at the extra toe on his left paw before meeting his gaze. “Oh, good morning, Three-Toes. I’m fine, how are you?”
The rabbit grinned at her. “Oh, I’m pretty good. I’ve just been watching my favorite show. You’d like it, it’s about this raccoon couple and their four adorable kits, they have all KINDS of stuff going on.”
“Oh, ha, ha.” She swatted at him playfully, then looked around. “Shoot, did I dump the book of matches into the smoker?”
“No. You dropped ‘em.” Hopper grinned and held up the little cardboard booklet. “It’s why I came over.” He tossed it to her.
“Thanks.” She caught it and started picking out a match. “I noticed you didn’t give the normal warning. Are we turning into Bunker now?” She snickered, turning toward the smoker again.
He laughed. “I don’t know, I thought we were good enough friends that I didn’t need to do that by now. I watch your kits for you when you need a break, even. They call me Uncle Hopper.”
She giggled and lit the mix at the bottom of the smoker, then stood back to let the fire spread to the whole pile. “I’m just teasing. Of course it’s fine. Although I do still prefer you don’t sneak up on me. There ARE still predators around here.”
“Right, right, of course.” He glanced at the smoker. “You smoking something?”
“Yeah. We just got a fresh case of salt, so we’re gonna smoke dry some fish and store it for winter. It’ll be better than being stuck eating dried herbs and fruit reconstituted in boiling water all season. Not sure how much we’ll be able to actually dry in this thing before it gets too dry out to risk the fire, but we’ll do what we can and hope it lasts.” She put her hand over the smoldering bark chips at the bottom of the pit and frowned. “Hmm… seems a little on the cold side. Maybe I should add another bucketful, just to be safe.”
Hopper shook his head. “No, give it a little bit, remember? Last year, you almost started a fire by adding too much, too early. It’ll warm up as it smolders.”
She put her ears back in embarrassment at the memory. “Oh, right. I remember that now.”
Bunker jogged over to them with a goofy grin plastered on his face. He had about a dozen prepared fish tied together in pairs using some tent string draped over his shoulders. “I got the fish ready. Hi, Hopper.”
“Oh, good, I was just about ready for them. Here, give me the first one, and pass them to me as I need them.” Brook reached her hand out, and Bunker passed her the first pair of fish, holding them by the cord. The fish had already been gutted, salted, and cleaned, and Brook turned to the smoker, carefully wrapping the tent string twice around one of the sticks embedded in the top part of the smoker, then adjusting it so the fish dangled at different heights before reaching for the next one and starting the process all over again.
Hopper leaned back against a tree and watched for a few moments. “I don’t get the hype with eating the fish, personally. I tried it once. Made me sick.”
Brook paused, flicking her ears. “Of course it did. Rabbits’ digestive tracts aren’t designed for- OW!” She jumped back, hopping on one paw and rubbing the other one, shaking a few hot cinders out of her fur. She stomped on them to put out the fire, then scowled at the smoker like it was the structure’s fault she had stepped into it.
Bunker chuckled and stepped forward to hang up the last pair of fish himself, making sure none of the fish were touching before he closed the door and turned to Brook. “You okay?”
She nodded grimly, sitting on the floor and turning her paw to look at the pads. “Yeah, it’s just a small burn. It’ll be okay. I’ll go and soak it in the river for a few minutes later.”
Hopper glanced around. “So, where are the kits? I don’t see them playing.”
“They’re taking a nap.” Bunker looked up from checking over Brook’s paw, then turned to face him. “We walked all the way to Pevensie’s meadow and back earlier. They were pretty worn out, even before they went in swimming for a little while.”
“Ah, yes. Nothing like a long walk to get kits in bed so daddy and mama can get some work done.” Hopper chuckled, patting Bunker on the back. “How’d you get them to agree to a nap?”
“We told them they can stay up to watch the sunrise.” Brook shrugged. “It’ll be fine. They’ll love it.”
“If you say so.” Hopper laughed. “Midsummer’s night is coming up soon. You gonna get the kits up and to the meadow on time to watch the fireworks?”
Bunker grinned. “Well… We were thinking of just letting them sleep and we’d carry them most of the way. It’s easy because they’re small and light still.”
“But it’s gonna be harder next year. They’re already starting to grow up.” Brook put her ears back and frowned. “My little babies. Remember last year, they couldn’t even talk? And now this year they carry on full conversations. Chicory can even forage for herself and find edible food correctly most of the time by now.”
“Well, you knew going into it that raccoon kits grow up faster than human kits.” Hopper rubbed her arm tenderly to console her.
“I know… but that’s TOO fast.” She pouted and started back toward the river, limping a little on her burned paw. Bunker and Hopper followed her.
“Well, if you want, when they grow up, we can have another litter.” Bunker offered playfully.
She turned and swatted at him. “If you can wait THAT long. You’ve been all over me every chance you can get lately.”
Bunker smirked at her and grinned. “What can I say? You’re pretty hot. I love how squishy you are.” He poked at her belly.
Hopper snickered. “Do I need to leave you two alone?”
Brook lowered her paws into the water and sighed happily as she sat on the riverbank. “No, Bunker’s not getting anything from me tonight. Besides, it’s a great night out, why don’t you come stargaze with us?”
Hopper grinned and sat down next to Brook as Bunker took the other side, and they all looked up at the starry sky together.

[Amazee Dayzee]

A really beautiful chapter and I thought that it was very well-written! Excited to see where we are going to be heading next!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Well the site's been down for literally a week but let's not let that stop the story from continuing!

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Chapter 7: Campers

Brook was awoken in the mid-afternoon by voices outside. She groggily crawled out from between Bunker and the kits, walking toward the entrance to the den to listen.
“This place is great! Birds are singing, the river is babbling, and, best of all, there’s no cell signal! Let’s set up the tent just over there, across the river on the other side of that fallen log.” One voice chattered happily.
“And how are we gonna GET across the river from that fallen log? I highly doubt that it’s going to hold us AND our gear.” A second voice chimed in crankily. “It looks half rotten.”
“The river’s not THAT wide, we can jump across! Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” The first voice sounded.
“I left it back at home with the good mood I had before you dragged me out here.”
The first voice made a grunting noise. There was a rustle, and then the first voice spoke again. “See? Easy. Here, toss your stuff across, and then it’ll be even easier for you to get across.”
There was another bunch of rustling, and then a splash. “Aww, my SHOE!” The second voice complained. “That’s gonna be wet all week now!”
The voices were getting too quiet to hear now, so Brook lifted the cover off of the den, squinting in the sunlight, then slipped outside and carefully dropped the cover back into place. She looked around and, sure enough, there were footprints -human footprints- leading right past the den. They had trampled some of the plants nearby, including some poison ivy that Brook had planted to try and deter predators. She frowned. What kind of camper walked right over poison ivy?
After a moment, she walked off in the direction the voices had gone-right over the fallen log bridge- and paused when she got to the other side. She could see the humans bustling around in a clearing not too far away, and she frowned. It was two young men, somewhere between seventeen and nineteen years old. One was sandy blonde, and the other a brunette.
The tent that one of them, the brunette, was struggling to set up looked brand-new, as did the cooler the other one was hanging from a tree. She stepped closer, keeping herself hidden, and watched. One of them was decked head-to-toe in brand-new hiking gear; boots that barely had any dust on them, cargo shorts, and a hat. A hiker’s backpack was nearby, leaning against a tree.
Once the one in the gear finished hanging up the cooler- not nearly high enough, it was actually at a convenient level for bears to pick through at their leisure- he turned to the other one and grinned, taking off his hat and crouching to help pull up the tent. “Isn’t this great?! Just us and the great outdoors, all alone together for a whole week!”
The other one, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, grunted. “Yeah, anything to avoid coming out to your parents, right?”
The first one huffed, pausing midswing as he hammered in a tent stake. “I TOLD you why. As soon as they find out, I’m gonna be cut off and banished from the home. I wanted to finish high school first, at least. Maybe college, too.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re lucky you’re cute.” The tent finally cooperated, and he stood back to look it over, then glanced up at the rapidly setting sun. “This is good enough for now. We’ll set up the rest of the stuff in the morning. Did you bring, like, some sandwiches or something that we can eat cold?”
“Nah, man, I only brought stuff we gotta cook. I also got a foraging book, and look!” The decked-out one dug in his backpack and held up a book. “An instruction manual for camping!”
“That’s great. I think I’ll go to bed hungry today.” The brunette pulled a sleeping bag out of the backpack, tore the tag off and threw it on the ground, and crawled into the tent.
“Aww, come on, babe, don’t be like that!” The other crawled in after him.
Brook turned and crossed the bridge back toward the den, frowning up at the fading sunlight as she thought.
As she entered the den, a pair of hands grabbed at her leg. She looked down and smiled, scooping up River and giving her a hug. “Hey, sweetie. You awake?”
“Me too. The rest of them are still sleeping.” Bunker sat up and looked at her. “You snuck out. What’s going on?”
“Campers. Just across the river. They walked RIGHT past the den.” She walked over and sat next to him, setting River in her lap. “I went over to spy.”
“We’ve had campers nearby before. Granted, that’s a little closer than usual…” Bunker leaned into her and kissed her cheek. “But I don’t suppose they’ll bother us too much. They’ll usually be asleep long before we would need to go over there.” Besides, maybe they’ll leave something useful behind when they leave.”
“I doubt it. Everything is brand-new. They’re clearly amateurs. They walked right through the poison ivy.”
Bunker groaned. “Ugh… They’re going to attract every predator in the forest, aren’t they?”
“Probably. They only hung their cooler about eight feet off the ground.” Brook rolled her eyes. “Heather is going to love the free snacks.”
Bunker was quiet for a moment, then looked over at Brook. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We keep an eye on them. Try not to attract attention our way. Hope they don’t do something stupid like die out here or burn down the forest.” Brook rolled her eyes. “I honestly didn’t need all this. The kits are gonna want to go check it out as soon as they find out about it.”
“Well, that’s not happening.” Bunker gave a firm nod. “They’re staying on this side of the river until the humans are gone.”
“That’s gonna be… a week, I think they said. Probably spring break at the schools. They’re both pretty young.” She stood up. “I’m gonna go fishing, see if we can find some breakfast. You check on the smoker, make sure it’s still burning and add a bit more fuel. We need those dried fish if we’re going to make it through the winter.”
Bunker nodded. “I can do that. I’ll keep an eye on the kits that are here if you’ll take River with you.”
Brook nodded back, then took River’s hand. “Come on, let’s go see if we can catch some breakfast.”
River quietly walked along with Brook, and Brook smiled down at her as she walked over toward the river. As she crouched at the river’s edge, she glanced up in the direction of the campsite with a frown. There was a gentle, steady glow coming from over there- glow sticks, she guessed- that indicated that the humans were still up and about, but not moving around. She frowned and turned her attention to her task, staring at the water and watching for any fish swimming below the surface as the moon slowly rose up above the horizon.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Glad that we were able to get back to this story after the site has been crashed for so long! Will be looking forward to taking a look at where we are heading now!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 8: The Problem with Humans

Brook waded out into the river, pausing to look back at River. The kit was sitting on the banks, right where Brook had left her, fidgeting with a stick and watching Brook. Brook smiled at her, then turned her attention to the water, peering down into the depths in hopes of a tasty trout or carp.
After a few moments’ investigation found the river empty, Brook turned back to River and smiled at her. “Hey, kiddo. Mama’s not seeing much in here today. Should we go downstream a little bit?”
River nodded and stood up, bringing her stick. She’d woven some pieces of grass around it in little knots, and waved it around like a flag as she walked downstream alongside Brook, with Brook wading in the river and River walking on the dry banks.
When they arrived at the next fishing spot, River waded out and grabbed onto Brook’s tail, quietly watching her as she fished. Brook didn’t mind, not really; it was somewhat reassuring to know that her presence was appreciated. She glanced over her shoulder from time to time, smiling at the cub as she located a small group of grouper and snatched one out of the water, holding it firmly in one hand while she prepared to snatch another with the other.
“What’s that, mama?” River’s quiet voice drew Brook’s attention, and she turned to glance at River before following her gaze upstream a ways to an eerie green glow moving along the river. She frowned and squinted at it.
“It’s a human. There’s a couple of campers not far from our den. Leave them alone, and they’ll leave us alone.” She turned and snatched up the second grouper, then waded out of the river with River still holding her tail.
“Humans are like fireflies?” River tilted her head curiously, squinting at the glowing spot.
It took Brook a moment to puzzle out what the cub meant. “Oh, no, no, it’s not like that. They have a device- it contains a chemical reaction that luminesces without generating any heat or…” She trailed off, looking down at River’s confused face, then smiled at her. “They have a thing that glows. It’s not coming from their body.”
“Oh.” River twisted to look again as she followed Brook back toward the den. Brook was trying to rush without making it obvious that she was rushing; she didn’t want to risk the kits being spotted by the campers. She didn’t think the campers would intentionally cause harm, but as clumsy and inexperienced as these particular campers were, she didn’t count out that they would ACCIDENTALLY cause harm.
Just as they reached the den, River gave a little tug at Brook’s tail. “The humans have fire.”
Brook frowned and looked in the direction of the camp. Sure enough, there was a flickering orange glow coming from across the river. “Ugh…” She turned and went inside the den, plopping the groupers on the floor. “Bunker, I need to go across the river again. Those idiot campers started up a fire and I need to make sure they at least put some rocks around it and cleared the immediate area of anything flammable.”
Bunker frowned and looked over at her from his evening cord weaving. “Oh, dear. That’s not great.” He reached out his arm. “River, come over to Daddy. Mama needs to go back out.”
River hesitated, then quietly ran across the gap from Brook to Bunker, hugging into Bunker’s leg and looking back at Brook with her ears held back. Brook smiled. “Don’t worry, kiddo, mama will be back in a couple of minutes.”
Bunker scuttled across the den to pick up the fish that Brook had tossed aside. “I’ll get these prepared while you’re gone.”
Brook nodded her agreement, then turned and left the den, hurrying over to the log bridge and bounding across. Her eyes flicked around, looking for the telltale glow of the glowsticks- as far as she could tell, the two campers were wearing them clipped to their bodies, so finding the glowsticks was as good as finding the campers.
She spotted one down by the river, just upstream from where she’d first tried fishing with River, and the other weaving through the underbrush not too far from that spot. She scoffed and moved forward into the campsite. “Morons. Left the fire completely unattended.”
When she saw the fire pit they were using, she scoffed again and snorted. “Are they TRYING to burn the forest down?”
The fire pit was a single pitiful ring of stones that didn’t even fully cover a full circle around the campfire. There were weeds and grasses dangling dangerously close to the fire; it looked like they hadn’t tried to clear the area at all. She got to work, yanking out weeds and tossing them away in a wide berth around the fire until there was nothing that might catch in the close vicinity.
That done, she stomped down to the river and gathered up an armload of river rocks, stomping back up to the fire and starting to build the fire ring a bit sturdier. Ideally, she would have put the fire in a hole to further cover the walls, but it was too late for that, so she did what she could, building the wall of stones around the fire two stones thick and at least three or four tall, packing them with mud to hold them together. It took several trips down to the river, and she had to keep an eye on the glow sticks, growing even more frustrated with the humans the longer they left their fire unattended.
She went to their camping supplies and dug in the hiking backpacks until she found a collapsible bucket. This, she marched down to the riverside and filled with sand before walking back up to the fire pit and plopping it down next to the fire, but not too close so as to be at risk of melting or growing too hot to handle.
Once she’d made the fire pit relatively safe, she turned and looked around for any other hazards that might end up affecting the safety of her kits. Finding none, she snorted and turned to look at the nearest glowstick. It seemed to be getting closer, so she retreated from the fire’s glow and crouched out of sight, watching. The blonde human entered the campsite, stared at the improved firepit, then glanced over at the other glowstick on the riverbank, shook his head, and had a seat on a collapsible camping stool, poking at the fire with a stick.
Brook bristled, glaring at him from her hiding spot, then turned and walked back across the log bridge toward her den, pausing momentarily to glance back and make sure she wasn’t being followed. She heaved a heavy sigh and let herself back into the den just on time to receive a kiss from Bunker. “How’d it go? You were gone a while.”
Brook looked around. Bunker had set up the candle heater and was using it as a stovetop, cooking the filleted fish atop the ceramic flowerpots. The cubs were quietly playing in the corner and didn’t seem to have noticed her return yet.
She sighed. “Those boys are going to get us killed. They didn’t do the most basic of fire safety steps. I built them a proper fire ring and made sure they had some sand to put out the fire, but since they had left the fire unattended, they didn’t see me. I doubt they’ll notice my tracks either.”
Bunker grumbled and hugged her. “Well… maybe they’ll leave early.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

This was a lovely and profound chapter of the story you posted and I am glad that you shared it with us and are continuing to take us on this journey with Brook! I like seeing her trying to make sure the forest doesn't burn down to keep it safe for her kids!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

This chapter was meant to be a weekend cliffhanger but the site crashes ruined my timing. Oh well, enjoy anyway!

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Chapter 9: Disaster

Arguing outside woke up Brook. “I just want you to tell your parents we’re dating! How hard is that?”
“I told you! I told you SO many times! I can’t! They’ll kick me out!”
“It’s FINE! You can crash at my place until high school is over! My parents are cool with it! They like you!”
Brook grumbled and rolled over, muttering to herself. “Break up, he’s terrible for you.”
“Say somethin’?” Bunker mumbled drowsily.
“Campers’re arguing. Again.” Brook groaned and pulled him in for a snuggle. “Diurnal people are so inconsiderate.”
He grunted confirmation and pulled her close, pressing his muzzle into her neck. “At least they usually wait until late afternoon to wake us up. Not much earlier than we would normally get up anyway. And they leave in two days.”
She gave a cranky snort. “Yeah, but I wanted that last hour of sleep.”
He snickered and kissed her. “Well… maybe so, but I don’t think we were gonna get it anyway. I can feel little paws kicking me in the ribs.”
“Mmm. Revenge at last.” She sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking around to see which kit was awake. She grinned and put her arms out as Dunker climbed to his paws and ran to her.
“Humans are LOUD.” He complained, burying his face in her chest.
She chuckled. “I know, they aren’t very considerate of us night-dwellers, are they? We’ll wait for them to go away, and then we’ll go out and get some breakfast, just you and me. Deal?”
The kit nodded eagerly up at her. Bunker chuckled and reached over to ruffle his ears. “What, no hug for Daddy?”
“No. Only mama gets hugs.” Dunker hugged tighter into Brook. Brook smirked at Bunker over his head.
Bunker pouted a moment, then grumbled. “Ugh, that hurt my feelings. I’m gonna cry now. A-boo-hoo-hoo. Boo-hoo.” He rubbed his eyes like he was crying, pausing after a moment to playfully peek out at Dunker.
Dunker giggled and ran over to Bunker, giving him a hug. “Don’t cry, Daddy, I was only joking!”
Bunker grinned and hugged Dunker happily. “Oh, good, I love hugs.” He wrapped his arms around the kit and rocked him back and forth a few times before suddenly scooping him up and blowing raspberries on his belly, causing the kit to squeal in laughter.
Brook giggled. “You’re gonna wake the other ones up.”
“Right, right.” He set Dunker down and patted his backside with a grin. “All right, go with mama. Daddy will be right here, waiting for you to come back.”
Dunker nodded eagerly and grabbed Brook’s hand. She paused at the den’s cover to listen. The arguing from the campers had gotten distant, and the sounds of insects had started back up again, so she opened the lid and let herself and Dunker out.
“Okay, bud, what do you want for breakfast?” Brook grinned down at Dunker. “Mushrooms? Tubers?”
“FISH!” Dunker exclaimed happily, pointing toward the river.
Brook chuckled and started walking that way with a grin. “And I suppose the opportunity to swim first thing in the evening has NOTHING to do with that choice?”
Dunker giggled, trotting along beside her. “I like to swim.”
“I know you do. You’re a regular fish yourself.” She looked lovingly down at her kit, and he frowned back up at her.
“I’m not a fish. I’m a ‘coon. Just like Mama and Daddy.” He thumped a fist on his chest proudly.
She laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry, mister raccoon. My mistake. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. No swimming this early in the evening. We’re just out looking for breakfast. You can put your paws in, but no swimming. Okay? We’ll go swimming later tonight, I promise.”
“Aw.” Dunker made a sour face and looked up at her. “Why?”
“Because Mama’s gonna be fishing, and I don’t want you to fall in while my back’s turned and get washed away by the river. Mama would miss you if anything happened to you.” She leaned down and kissed his nose.
He screwed up his face and wiped his nose on his arm with a pout. “I’m a GOOD swimmer! I don’t need a grown-up to watch me!”
Brook chuckled and paused at the water’s edge, bracing herself for the cold before wading in. “I know you are, but just humor Mama, okay? I don’t want you growing up TOO fast. Stay here in the shallows while Mama goes and looks for breakfast, okay?”
“Okay…” He groaned like she had given him the most inconvenient order ever given to anybody ever, then stuck his paws in the water and sat on the banks, watching her.
Brook smiled at him, then turned and waded out into the water, staring down at the depths to see if any of the river’s denizens would volunteer themselves to be her breakfast today.
It was a few minutes before anything presented itself, and she quickly snatched up a decently-sized catfish before she noticed the shift in the campers’ yelling. Whereas before, they had been yelling angrily, now they sounded frantic. She frowned and glanced over at the campground. They had set up their campfire for the night, based on the orange glow coming from that direction.
Except something was wrong. Brook frowned. The glow was too bright, too CLOSE. She sniffed the air- smoke. Too much smoke. The breeze turned warm, then hot as the bright color of the fire quickly grew closer. It only took Brook a few moments to realize what had happened, and she dropped the catfish back into the river, turning and staring back toward the den. Could she make it?
A quick glance told her that no- she had seconds, not minutes. She could already see flames licking at the foliage along the river’s edge, quickly brought closer by the wind, driven directly toward her. Her eyes darted to Dunker.
“Dunker, sweetie, mommy changed her mind. Get over here. NOW!” She snapped, quickly putting her hand out for him and looking around frantically for someplace safe. The fire grew closer still; she could feel it scalding the side of her that was facing it.
She scooped up the kit and held him to her chest. “We’re going to go swimming, right now. We’ll do your favorite thing, okay? Deep breath, and hold it as long as you possibly can.” Brook frantically searched the river nearby and snatched up a rock, as big as she could easily hold in one hand, then sucked in a deep breath and jumped into the deep center of the water, letting the rock drag her and Dunker down to the bottom of the river just as the bright orange flames roared overhead, leaping across the river from treetop to treetop on the other side.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Yeah that isn't good now that the fire is spreading rapidly. While I am sure Brook and her family will make it they will probably need to find a new place to live because the forest definitely isn't going to be inhabitable after this.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 10: Burned

Brook gasped for air, coughing up a mouthful of water as she sat up in the shallows of Bunker’s Crossing. She looked around frantically, spotting Dunker floating face-up against the shore and rushing to him. “No no no no…” She mumbled, putting her ear to his chest to listen for his heartbeat, then holding him up to her chest and smacking his back firmly with the flat of her hand until she heard him gasp in a breath and throw up water all down her back. She gave a sigh of relief and plopped down into the water for a moment, holding him and closing her eyes for a few moments, savoring the feeling of him breathing for a few moments before letting reality crash back in on her again.
She opened her eyes and looked around her. Bunker’s crossing was a few hundred yards downstream from her favorite fishing spot; she assumed that she and Dunker had been washed down here after she’d lost consciousness and dropped the rock she’d used to weigh herself down.
Nothing green remained in sight. Brook put her ears back and stood up, pulling Dunker in to cradle him against her chest as she turned on the spot, looking around in horror.
The air itself was thick with steam and smoke, blocking out distant views and making it hard to breathe. The fire had burned through smaller plants- weeds and flowers and leaves on the trees- in seconds, charring the bark on all the trees and leaving the ground crawling with tiny tendrils of red crawling along what was left- vines and roots and the woody stalks of some plants, wilted and laid on the ground now. Some of the trees burned still, and Brook could almost imagine some of the others bursting back into flame the second a breath of clean air got pushed in by the wind.
The river sloshed, reluctantly releasing Brook’s paws as she stepped onto the shore, gasping in a little pain when her pawpads sizzled and released a bit of steam as she stepped on a still-burning ember. She tried to keep low as she walked back upstream toward the den, doing her best not to breathe too much of the smoke.
Without any of the landmarks she’d come to take for granted- bushes she’d planted or patches of weeds that she knew- it was hard to tell which tree held the entrance to the den nestled under the roots. She tried calling out. “Bunker! Help me find you!”
Something smooth cracked and shattered underpaw, and Brook paused, taking a step back and looking down. She crouched and felt for the edge of the glassy object, picking it up and putting her ears back as she looked at it. It was one of the solar panels that powered the den- not much, just a heater in the winter, her little computer, and occasionally a light. She frowned and looked up in the canopy, spotting what was left of the array, still smoldering high above, and tracing that tree straight down.
Her ears perked when she spotted what was left of the den cover, burnt to charcoal, sitting next to the den’s entrance. She surged forward, hefting Dunker up to her chest again to stop him sagging and running inside. The cover crumbled to dust in her hand. “Bunker! Kids! I-” She trailed off when she found the den empty.
Brook’s eyes filled with angry tears, and she dropped to her knees, sobbing. The roots and bundles of herbs that usually dangled from the ceiling were gone, leaving nothing behind but dangling bits of soot and charred plant material. Her hands squeezed Dunker’s body, clutching him tightly to herself as she let out the fear and panic that had been building up in her chest since she’d noticed the fire starting.
After a few minutes of crying, Brook noticed Dunker’s hand slowly flexing and unflexing in her fur. She quickly dried her tears, hoping her eyes wouldn’t look puffy. She couldn’t let Dunker see her crying. She needed to be strong, for him. Once she was ready, she forced a smile onto her face and gently lifted Dunker off of her chest.
“Hey, bud. Are you awake?” She brushed some ash out of his fur and tried not to show that her paws hurt from the pads being burnt, or that her heart hurt from- she shook the thought off. She couldn’t think of that, not right now.
Dunker gave a weak little groan and put out his hands, squirming up to hug back into Brook’s chest. “That wasn’t the fun kind of swimming.”
Brook patted the kit on the back, holding him and rocking gently. “No, it wasn’t. I’m sorry.”
The kit sat back forward after a few moments and looked around. “What happened? Everything’s all burned.”
“There was an accident, kiddo. The campers’ fire got out of control.” She squeezed him again.
“Where’s Daddy? And bubby and sissies?” Dunker looked around, his eyes wide and his ears back.
Brook pulled him back in for a hug, squeezing her eyes tight to stop the tears from flowing anew as she tried to think of how to tell him that they weren’t going to be coming.
“They’re not here.” The kit added, his voice muffled by Brook’s fur squishing into his face.
Brook paused, then opened her eyes and looked around the den. He was right; there was no sign of Bunker or the other three kits. If they had been here when the fire had torn through, they would be PRESENT- the fire hadn’t been hot enough to reduce anything completely to ash, let alone bone, so there would at least be BODIES if the fire had claimed them. “You’re right, kiddo, they’re not.” She stood up and looked around again, checking one more time for any sign of them.
“Where’d they go?” Dunker pressed, looking around.
Brook checked the floor to be sure it wasn’t too hot, then carefully set Dunker down, walking over to the wall and pulling off the secret compartment. It was a little singed around the edges inside, but it didn’t look like the fire had had time to get inside before it had burnt itself out, at least down here. “Well, your Daddy and I have a spot where we said we’d meet, if anything happened, and it wasn’t safe here anymore.” She picked up the emergency signal beacon and flipped the switch, making sure the light started blinking before hanging it around her neck.
“Where’s that?” Dunker stood where she’d placed him, watching her bustle around, looking for anything usable. Finding nothing, she scooped him back up again and walked back out of the den, flinching as the hot ground burned her pawpads.
“It’s… far away. It’s going to be a walk, especially now that the forest is burned.” She looked around, then started toward the river. “We’ll walk along the river. The water will protect our paws, and provide protection if the fire starts to get hot again.” She looked around at the still-burning trees all around them, then sighed. “WHEN the fire starts to get hot again.”
She arrived at the river, wading in and groaning a little as the cold water soothed her burned pawpads. After a moment’s standing there, enjoying the cooling sensation, she set down Dunker and took his hand. “Come on, walk with Mama. We have a long way to go.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

For someone that was once a scientist I have to say that Brook was kind of being imbecilic when she believed that her family was reduced to ash after the fire tore through the forest as she should understand the fire was NOWHERE near hot enough for cremation. But I guess it can be forgiven as she was in a panic and forgot about the logistics about it all. Its pretty obvious to me that nobody in her family died thought they might have gotten burned.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 11: Wasteland Survival

Walking through a burning forest with a kit was hard going. Brook tried to stick to the river as much as possible, but there were places where there were no shallows, or the stones on the bottom of the riverbed were too sharp for Dunker’s paws, or the burning of the forest had put debris in the way, and Brook would have to pick up the kit and hold him to carry him around through the burning ground nearby. Her paws were sore from where her pads had been burned; she couldn’t walk as fast as she normally did.
During one long stretch of walking, the sloshing of tiny paws behind her suddenly stopped, and she felt a gentle tug on her tail. “Mama, I’m hungry.”
Brook stopped walking and turned around to look at Dunker with a quiet smile forced onto her face, then squatted in the water to get closer to his level. “Yeah, we did skip breakfast, didn’t we?”
She looked up at the moon. It was nearly midnight already; she hadn’t noticed just how much time was passing as she focused on traveling downstream. After a moment, she looked around, desperate to find something, ANYTHING, she could feed Dunker. The water was no good; it was so full of soot and ash that it was staining her paws and her tail black even as she squatted there. There was no way she’d be able to find any marine life with enough certainty to catch it.
“Um… here, sit on this rock.” She reached toward a rock on the riverbank, then flinched when it was hot to the touch. “No, in the water, actually. Right here, in the shallows. Mama’s gonna go and see if she can find something for you to eat, okay? Stay here, I won’t be far.”
She waited until Dunker obediently took a seat where she had indicated, then stepped out of the river. The water on her paws sizzled as it quickly cooked off on the embers of the forest grasses, and she found herself wondering why they didn’t seem to have cooled any since the fire had initially roared through here.
She wandered a short distance from the river, looking around, desperate to see something, anything, that looked like an edible plant she recognized. She thought maybe she could find some nuts; their sturdy shells wouldn’t have burned that quickly, so maybe some nuts had survived, and she could pluck them up and crack them open with a rock for Dunker to eat.
She wandered as far as she dared from Dunker, staring around intently, but found no such luck among the charred remains. All the smaller plants had burned away; most of the trees were still crackling and releasing smoke. It was very hot; the heat and smoke burned at Brook’s eyes and lungs as she squinted around.
Finally, she spotted a cluster of stalks sticking out of the ground that looked vaguely familiar. It was hard to tell with the leaves burned off, but she thought it might be the remains of a tuber that grew commonly around the forest. She stumbled over to it and squatted, yelping when her tail sizzled momentarily against the ground and lifting the appendage up. After a few moments, she took a deep breath, staring at the remnants of the plant and hoping she was right before digging her hands into the soil, trying to ignore the burns it earned her as she dug out the thick underground stalk.
It was smoldering a little, clearly still burning somewhat. As she tugged it free of the ground, she found that it was a sad, scrawny example of the plant she had thought it was, and gave a weak smile. It wasn’t much, but it was something. She stood up, holding the plant tenderly in her burned hands, and walked back over toward where she had left Dunker, stepping back into the water and crouching to wash the root off in the polluted water. It felt nice on her hands.
Dunker’s pawsteps sloshed toward Brook, and he put his hands on her hip to peek around her. “It’s little.” He observed quietly.
Brook smiled over at him and sloshed her way back over to where he had been sitting, having a seat herself and pulling him into her lap. “I know. Mama’s sorry, it’s all she could find. Here.” She placed the singed vegetable into Dunker’s hands. “Eat up. Maybe we can find more on the way.”
Dunker looked down at the tuber, then back up at Brook for a moment before he broke it in half and offered some to her. “Here, mama. You need food, too.”
Brook blinked, feeling a little touched that her son had thought of her needs, but pushed it back toward him. “No, no, Mama’s okay. I’ll take some of the next one. You eat it.”
Dunker looked down at the vegetable again, then back up at Brook before he started eating. Brook gave a heavy sigh and leaned back, putting her hands in the water to soothe the burns on them.
She kept an eye out for any signs of anything approaching as Dunker ate, grateful for the chance to rest yet aware that they couldn’t stay for long. The smoke had started to burn her throat, and it was gradually becoming harder and harder to breathe. She suspected that the remains of the fire were preparing to flare up again.
Dunker finished his food quickly, not that there had been much food to begin with. “Done, mama.” He held up his empty hands to show her.
Brook smiled and kissed his nose. “Okay. We have to get moving again, okay? It’s not much further.” She gently set him back on the riverbed and stood up, reaching down for his hand.
He took her hand and started sloshing along next to her. After about fifteen minutes, he suddenly spoke again. “Mama, you have owies.”
She looked down at him and noticed him examining the burns on her hands. “Oh, Mama’s just fine. It’s just a little burn. It barely even hurts.”
He leaned in and planted a kiss on her hand next to the burn. “I’ll kiss it and make it better.”
Brook smiled. “Thank you, kiddo. That feels so much better.” Her ears perked when she heard the distant sounds of sirens. They were almost there.
Dunker let go of her hand as they drew close and covered his ears. “Mama, what’s that noise?”
She turned and scooped him up. “That’s the humans. They have big machines full of water that they’re going to use to try and stop the forest from burning. Come on, it’s only a little bit further to where Daddy should be waiting.” She stepped out of the river and started walking, as quick as she could on burned paws, uphill. Since she wasn’t already on the path, it was a struggle to get out of the steep riverbank, especially carrying Dunker, but she managed, her eyes lighting up as she approached the fake tree remnant that marked the drop box.
As she approached it, however, her joy faded. Her jog slowed to a stop on the thankfully cool dirt game path as she approached the drop box and found nobody there waiting for her. This area seemed to have been at the edge of the fire; some of the foliage was wilted, but still somewhat alive. The green was becoming gradually more vibrant in the slowly-rising sun. She walked around the drop box, her ears going back and panic rising in her chest. “No. No, no, this can’t be right. He’s supposed to be here. Maybe… maybe we got here first? But no, he left first, we would have… or maybe they couldn’t get here, they’re somewhere else out there.”
She slumped to the ground, leaning back against the drop box with a sniffle. She was struggling to hold in her tears.
When she placed her weight against the drop box, however, it clicked, and she frowned. That had sounded like the latch catching, but it shouldn’t have been open. Unless… She hurriedly placed Dunker down and jumped back up to her paws, looking up and grabbing the low branch that was the release switch, tugging it down. The side of the drop box swung open and revealed Bunker inside, asleep and filthy, with the other three cubs curled up against him, all sound asleep.

[CunningFox]

These last few chapters gave a great sense of destruction and heat. Nice work.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Now that Brook knows that Bunker and her other children have survived the fire hopefully she will begin to get her wits about her and not jump to the worst case scenario like she has been doing. She can go back to her analytical mind and start realizing that the horrible outcomes that are going through her mind aren't really possible and she can start to check things out instead of being on the verge of bursting into tears.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 12: Bunker’s Story

Bunker grinned and tilted his head as he watched Brook’s backside leave the den, then grinned and lay back into the bed of leaves, putting his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling happily. “Bunker, you managed to land the hottest coon girl this side of the forest. Maybe even this side of the mountains. How DO you do it?”
He grinned and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, a pair of yellow eyes was staring back down into his, the tiny muzzle they were attached to nearly brushing his forehead. “Where’s Mama?”
Bunker chuckled and sat up slowly, giving Chicory a chance to move her head out of the way before he could bonk into it with his own. “Mama went with Dunker to find some breakfast. She’ll be back soon.”
“I don’t WANT fish.” A second voice complained, and Bunker looked over just on time to watch Hickory climb over River to get to his lap. River sat up with a sour face, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she glared after Hickory.
“I never said anything about fish.” Bunker gave Hickory a tickle on his belly, snickering playfully as the kit squealed and giggled out a protest.
“Dunker always wants fish ‘cause it means he gets to swim.” Chicory climbed into Bunker’s lap and leaned against him.
“Oh, is that so?” Bunker chuckled. “Well, I guess we’re having fish anyway, then.”
“Aww.” Hickory pouted and looked over when River climbed in between him and Chicory.
Bunker threw his arms around the three of them, giving them all a big group hug, before sliding them off onto the floor and standing up. “Mama gave us a chore to do while she’s out finding breakfast. Come on.”
The kits followed Bunker outside and around to the smoker, where he popped open the door and peeked inside. “Oh, looks like it’s pretty much burned out in there. We’re probably gonna have to get a new fire started when we add more fuel in.”
“There’s fire.” River’s quiet voice chimed in, and Bunker nodded an agreement, poking at the smoldering ashes in the bottom of the smoker with his toe.
“Yeah, a little bit. Probably not enough to spread, though.”
“No, there.” Bunker looked down, then in the direction River was pointing. He looked over and gave a panicked shout; the whole forest seemed to be on fire, and the fire was spreading rapidly in his direction.
He looked around frantically for cover, then looked over at the smoker. Without much time for thinking, he bent down and snatched up all three kits, clutching them to his chest and stepping inside the smoker into the smoldering ashes, pulling the door shut behind him and bracing his front with the kits against the inside wall, shielding them from the outside with his body.
Dying didn’t hurt as much as Bunker had thought it would; it was really hot on his back, like his fur was being seared off, but overall it didn’t really hurt all that much. He found himself hoping that the kits would be able to push his scorched body out of the way and climb over him to get out of the smoker. Maybe he would be perfectly cooked, and they could eat him in order to survive if it became necessary.
After about a minute, the burning heat faded to a general a-little-too-warm, and Bunker relaxed a little. Any second now, he would wake up in the place where well-meaning but a little naughty raccoons went when they died.
Except it never happened. And his paws were starting to feel like they were burning. Really badly. “OUCH!” He jumped back, trying to kick the cinders off of his paw, and fell on his rump to a chorus of protests from the three cubs in his arms.
“Sorry, sorry, Daddy was… oh.” he looked around with his ears back at the devastation around them. The fire had burned through the leaves and smaller plants in a few seconds, leaving only the sturdier plants still burning. The trees were taking a while to burn, and some of them had gone out completely but would almost certainly reignite later.
“What happened?” Hickory looked around with wide eyes.
“Daddy doesn’t know…” Bunker mumbled, looking around. It looked like the area Brook had insisted they clear when they had built the smoker was what had saved Bunker’s life; there hadn’t been anything to burn nearby, so Bunker had only gotten scalded from a distance. He was sure a good portion of the fur off his back was melted. “But we have to go. It’s not safe here right now.” He turned toward the log bridge across the river, only to find it gone, and sighed, making a quick decision. “I’m going to try to carry you three as far as I can. We’ll meet up with Mama at the drop box, just like we planned. I had something in the storage den that I thought we could use to make it easier, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to go that way right now.”
He turned and started jogging. Instead of using Brook’s path along the river, he wanted to take his own path, which was quicker and more direct, but led through the path of the fire. “Try not to breathe in too much of the smoke, okay?”
River hugged into Bunker’s chest and buried her face in his fur. “Is Mama okay?”
He was quiet for a moment, jumping over rocks and burnt logs that he had played around his whole life. None of it looked familiar anymore. “I don’t know. She was outside when the fire hit. It’s possible she escaped… somehow. But we have to go. We can’t stay. It isn’t safe.”
He had to slow from a jog to a brisk walk after a few minutes, quickly growing tired. His arms were sore from holding the kits; they weren’t as small and light as they used to be, and he was also battling burns on his paws from standing in the embers inside the smoker, and on his back from having it exposed to the fire. He was tiring quickly, and not having to carry the kits would certainly help reduce the drain on his stamina, but the ground was still smoldering, and he didn’t want to risk injuring their paws.
His persistence paid off; he made it to the dropbox in only about double the time it normally took when he went on his own. This close to the road, the fire seemed to have not fully burned everything. Leaves were still steaming and wilted, but cool enough that he could sit down and let the kits go. He rolled onto his back, giving a happy groan when the cool leaves on the ground cooled the burn on his back.
“I’m hungry.” Chicory complained, looking around them and walking over to examine what was left of a bush a little more closely.
“Me, too.” Hickory plopped down on the ground next to Bunker, frowning when River chose to sit next to him and hold onto him like she so often held onto Brook.
For the first time, Bunker had a moment to think about Brook. Had she made it out? He didn’t know. If she had, this was where she would come to look for him. They had agreed on it ages ago. “I don’t have any food. I’m sorry.” He paused, then turned and looked up at the dropbox. “Well… actually… There might be food in there. Mama was here a couple days ago. Let’s see.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

It is interesting to see Bunker keeping a composed demeanor about him when the forest is burning down around him and he has to worry about the three kits that he has with him and keeping them safe. I assume that it comes more naturally to him since he has been an animal all of his life so he has the instincts meanwhile Brook was formerly a human.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 13: Safely Endangered

Brook rushed forward into the drop box, setting Dunker on the ground inside quickly before dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around Bunker, kissing him furiously on the cheeks and forehead. “Bunker! Bunker, I’m so glad you’re here, I was so worried! You weren’t in the den, and we couldn’t stay, and-”
“Mmph what who-?!” Bunker interrupted drowsily, opening his eyes. It took him a few moments to wake up enough to recognize Brook, and he gave an exhausted, relieved sigh and threw his arms around her. “Oh, thank Gaia you’re all right.”
Brook gave a little sobbing laugh and squeezed Bunker tight, then sat back on her rump and pulled Dunker into her lap, leaning against the wall of the drop box. It was hot, but not so hot that it burned. It kind of felt good, actually. “I was so scared…”
She took a moment to look over Bunker. He seemed to have the same burns on his paws as she had; maybe even worse, actually; he was dirty, covered in soot and ash, but he seemed mostly unharmed. She sighed in relief. “We walked up the river to get here. I kept hoping we would see you, but… obviously, you made it here.”
He nodded, taking her hand and looking at the burns on them. “I carried the kits through the forest and jogged here. I didn’t want to spend any more time than I had to around the smoke and fire. How did this happen?” he gestured at her hand as he asked.
She pulled her hand free. “I… Dunker got hungry. I had to find him some food. The only thing I could find was tubers, and I burned my hands a little digging them up. It’s fine, it barely hurts anymore.” She looked outside; it was nearly daylight by now, and she could see heavy clouds of smoke rising for miles over the treetops. At least the air in this general area seemed relatively clean. “How did you survive? Everything was burned, EVERYTHING.”
Bunker put his ears back and gestured to the cubs. “We were checking on the smoker like you asked when the fire spread toward us. I panicked, picked them up, and put them inside the smoker. Blocked the entrance with my body. I… honestly didn’t think I was going to survive, but I had hoped… well, I thought if mud and rocks could keep heat IN, it could keep heat OUT, and the kits would be fine.”
She hugged him again, frowning as she noticed that his back felt weird. She pulled him to lean forward a little and looked at his back; the fur was scorched and burned, completely bald in places, and she frowned, letting him go. “Does that hurt?”
He shook his head. “No. Well… a little, but not much.”
“Mama.” A voice at Brook’s elbow drew her attention, and she looked down to find River pushing a crumpled, mostly-empty bag of cheese twists toward her. “We saved you some.”
Brook smiled and pulled River into her lap, showering her with kisses. “Thank you, sweetie. That was so nice of you.” She glanced up at Bunker. “Where did…?”
Bunker blinked, then pointed up at one of the shelves, where a small box was resting. “There was a delivery here from when you came up here a few days ago. There wasn’t much in it that was edible on its own, but there were a couple bags of cheese twists. The cubs were hungry, so I gave them one and told them we didn’t know how long we had to make it last.”
Brook sighed in relief. “At least they ate SOMETHING. Did you turn on the signal when you got here?”
Bunker shook his head. “No, I was waiting for you. I see you grabbed the emergency beacon from the den.” He pointed at the beacon hanging around her neck.
She nodded, looking down at it. “They’ll probably notice when they come in, in the morning, that I called for an emergency pickup. I doubt they have twenty-four hour watch on it anymore, not after all this time.”
“Knock, knock.” A voice sounded at the doorway. Brook looked up, and her ears perked. Three-toes Hopper was standing outside, soaking wet. She didn’t know when it had started raining, but she was thankful for it. The water would help put out the fire before it spread further or got worse. “Hopper! You made it! Come on in, it’s… well… it’s shelter.”
The hare smiled and stepped forward into the dropbox. “It’s perfect. Hey, I’m not alone, though, and I don’t think everybody’s gonna fit inside.”
Brook’s ears perked, and she scooped up the kits in her lap, standing up and limping out of the dropbox to see who all was there. Outside, she saw dozens of friends and acquaintances: Heather the bear; Pevensie the pine marten; Treebeak, the woodpecker that used to live in the canopy above Brook’s territory; it seemed like half the forest was here, dozens and dozens of displaced animals. They were all dirty and tired-looking, sitting and resting all over the area.
“There’s so many. ALL of these animals lost their homes?!” She gaped at how many were there.
Hopper nodded, looking around at everybody. “It started with just me, following your tracks when you headed up the river. I bumped into one person, then another, and before I knew it, most of us were heading out here, to safety. Most of us wouldn’t have known where to go if there hadn’t been someone to follow. The forest is everything most of us have ever known. With it burned, we don’t know how to find safety outside of it.”
Brook looked around at everybody, then set River and Dunker down on the ground. “I think I’m going to turn on the signal and let them know we’re here, and we’re waiting for rescue.” She turned back to the drop box and flicked the switch, watching the tiny light blink for a moment. She wasn’t sure why she had expected something to happen right away, but of course nothing did. It seemed kind of anticlimactic.
She looked around and spotted all four of her kits, sitting in the wilted grass, enjoying the last of the bag of chips that River had offered her. “I guess we just… wait now?”
Bunker put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “We’re safe. We just have to wait for them to come and get us, and then whatever happens, we have each other.”
She smiled and leaned into him, closing her eyes and letting his fur brush against her face. “Yeah, we have each other. And most of our friends made it out just fine.”
Hopper inserted himself into the conversation. “And that’s a lovely sentiment, but they’ll probably only send one van. That’s definitely not enough for everyone. Is there any way we can send a message through and warn them that we’ll need more?”
Brook frowned, thinking. “Well, the emergency beacon has a built-in two-way speaker, but that’s only useful if they let us know that they’ve received the message so we can talk to them.”
She’d barely finished saying so, when the beacon around her neck suddenly gave a loud, high-pitched beep, and a voice started speaking out of it. “Doctor Wyld? Doctor Wyld, this is the Institute. We just got in. We saw the news, and we’re sending a van right away. Is everybody okay, is anybody hurt?”
Brook blinked, startled for a moment, before she grabbed the rod from around her neck and fumbled for the speak button. “This is Brook- I mean, Doctor Wyld. We need veterinary assistance and evacuation for…. Fifteen, sixteen… I don’t know, a LOT of animals. Send as much as you can. And food, a lot of us haven’t eaten in a while, and it’s been a bit of a night.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Kind of a depressing chapter I have to admit especially with seeing how badly injured Bunker is while trying to get out of the fire but it could be worse. I am hoping that the casualties in the forest are minimum or there were none at all since that is going to make the chapter even more dismal because I know there are other injuries.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 14: The Institute

The vet gently spread an ointment over the bottoms of Brook’s pawpads while he calmly recounted her test results. “Minor burns on the hands and feet, tail, and knees, abrasions on the paws and lower legs, signs of smoke inhalation and fatigue, but no major injuries. I think you’ll be just fine, Doctor Wyld.”
“And my kits?” Brook’s ears perked, and she glanced over at where a tech was entertaining the kits with a flashlight.
The vet chuckled. “You two did a good job of getting them out of there. None of them have any serious injuries. Minor smoke inhalation, that’s it.”
Brook sighed in relief. “That’s good to know.” She started to slide off the makeshift exam table, but the vet stopped her. “Whoa, now, hold on, little missie. You aren’t walking anywhere with those burned paws. Let me get you some bandages first.”
Brook grumbled, but held still while the vet bandaged up her paws. Once he was done, he finally let her down to the ground. “Okay, try not to walk around more than you need to for the next few days, okay?”
Brook nodded, then walked over to collect the kits, taking River and Chicory by the hands and gesturing for Hickory and Dunker to follow her. “Thank you, Doctor. We’ll let you get to other patients now.” She took the kits out of the makeshift tent and paused outside, looking around.
The parking lot of the research institute had been converted into a makeshift triage ward. Tents had been set up, and other shelters had been made by stretching tarps between parked vans. The forest animals were waiting in lines while dozens of vets, pulled from their usual practices for the emergency, looked each of them over and treated any injuries. Volunteer workers distributed food and water to the displaced animals, and Brook made her way toward that line.
River squeezed Brook’s hand and looked up at her. “Mama, where’s Daddy?”
Brook frowned and looked around, trying to spot him in the crowd. Bunker had been taken to a different line earlier due to the clearly more severe burns on his back. “I’m not sure, hun. We’ll find him once we get you some food, I promise.”
The bustle and chatter had Brook’s head spinning, and she tried to keep herself calm while she waited in line. River and Chicory behaved themselves, since she had them by the hands, but the boys started to get restless, eventually ending up chasing each other in circles around her as she gradually found her way toward the front of the line, despite her repeated calls for them to stop. She knew that the kits were just coping the only way they could; it was the middle of the day, when they should have been in bed, and they were hungry and tired and probably scared, but she felt completely overwhelmed and out of control.
When she arrived at the front of the line, the worker smiled kindly at her. “Carnivore or vegetarian, love?” She indicated the two serving trays in front of her. One had a vegetable casserole of some kind, and the other had a meat-based version.
Brook groaned and let go of River’s hand to rub her face tiredly. “Uhh… can we just… two of the veggie, two of the meat, for the kits… water for everybody…”
The worker started to dish up the portions, then frowned at her. “And for you, hun? You must be hungry, too.” She urged gently.
Brook paused, blinking over her hand. She hadn’t even considered what she would like for herself. “Oh… I… uh… the… the meat for me, I guess…”
The worker smiled at her and resumed dishing up the portions, setting them on a tray so Brook could carry them easier. “Hey, you’re doing great, okay? It must be hard trying to take care of four little ones by yourself.” She added five bottles of water to the tray and passed it to Brook. Brook found her eyes watering up a little, and she shook her head, blinking the tears away quickly.
She smiled at the volunteer, giving her a thanks as she made sure all the kits were with her and started walking, trying to find a place to sit to distribute the food. The boys laughed loudly and chased after her, tackling and tickling each other. She gave an exhausted sigh and settled down against the fence. “Come on, kids, who wants meat, and who wants veggies? Let’s settle down and have some lunch…”
There was a brief argument over the portions, ending in River and Brook taking the vegetarian portions and the other three taking the meat ones, and the cubs settled in around Brook to eat. Brook started opening the bottles of water and passing one to each cub before taking a sip herself and groaning appreciatively. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she had gotten until she’d wet her throat.
For five minutes, while she ate, she was able to relax and focus on her food. The noise seemed more distant for the briefest of moments, and then suddenly Hickory grabbed her arm and started shaking it. “Look! It’s Daddy! Over there!”
She looked in the direction he was pointing and nodded with a smile. Bunker was in the food line, a bandage on his back, looking all over for them. When he spotted them, Brook gave a wave, and he waved back with a smile.
“That’s right, kiddo, it’s Daddy. He’s gonna get some food, and then join us, okay?” She smiled and ruffled his ears. “Sit back down and finish your food. I know, it’s not what you’re used to, but at least it’s something in your tummy.”
Hickory nodded and sat back down, picking up his styrofoam bowl and scooping out some more of the food with his fingers, ignoring the spoon. She didn’t scold him; after all, they didn’t have silverware back home, so why should he know better?
She frowned. They didn’t have ANYTHING at home. Not anymore, anyway. It was all gone, all of it. She put her ears back at the thought, her eyes starting to water as thoughts and worries flooded her mind. Fortunately, she had to stop and return her attention to the present when Dunker decided he was still hungry and tried to steal some of Chicory’s food, which started a fight.
“Children, children, please…” She sighed, exasperated, as she pulled them apart. “Mama is very tired, please don’t make me do this right now…”
Bunker finally arrived and sat down with them, setting his food aside and pulling Dunker into his lap. “There’s no reason to fight. Here, Daddy will share a couple bites of his food with you, no need to steal your sister’s…”
Brook sighed in relief and leaned against Bunker, laying her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. “Oh thank Gaia you’re here… finally… what did the vet say?”
Bunker took a bite of his food before answering. “I had a few medium burns, but nothing severe. I need to leave the bandages on for a few days and then go see them again.”
She nodded her understanding. “I’m so tired… Did anybody mention to you when they’re going to get some sleeping areas set up?”
He shook his head, mumbling through another mouthful. “No, they didn’t say. We can go ask when everybody’s done eating, if you like.”
She nodded, pulling her ears back and taking a deep breath. “That sounds nice. Maybe they’ll let us use my old office for just… a couple hours or so.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Even though what had happened to the forest and all of the animals is really sad this was actually a really great chapter to read! I am sure that Brook will figure something out about what to do next.

[CunningFox]

Why didn't Brook talk to the campers about their fire?

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Why didn't Brook talk to the campers about their fire?

You're a teenager camping in the woods. You have no idea what you're doing. Suddenly an angry wild animal approaches you. What do you do?

[CunningFox]

Why didn't Brook talk to the campers about their fire?

You're a teenager camping in the woods. You have no idea what you're doing. Suddenly an angry wild animal approaches you. What do you do?

Yeah, good point.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm hoping that what Ginga is implying is that they will run away screaming and try to get Brook to back off by threatening her with a sharp stick. I need these to be the teenagers who are dumb but mean well and not the type that will hunt down a mother raccoon and make her mate a widower and her kits grow up without a mom.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 15: Refugees

Brook struggled to keep her eyes open as she ushered the cubs along the hallway. “Come on… please, no running around. Chicory, sweetie, that’s a fire hose, not food. Hickory, please don’t climb that. Dunker…” She looked around until she found Dunker cradled in Bunker’s arms, fast asleep. She smiled at him, glad he was able to sleep but also a little jealous.
After a moment, she turned to look back at River, holding her tail and looking up at her with those wide eyes of hers. She smiled back at her. “At least you’re behaving yourself, huh, River?”
River gave a little nod, tightening her grip on Brook’s tail as Brook corralled the two troublemakers around a corner, scanning the room numbers. “Let’s see… they said room 17-B had been set aside for sleeping quarters…” She skimmed the door numbers and paused at one. “This one. Hickory, Chicory, I need your attention. We’re about to go in here. This place is for sleeping. I need you to be very quiet so you don’t wake anybody up, okay?”
Hickory jogged back over to Brook and nodded, while Chicory stuffed something into her mouth and nodded. Brook sighed. “Chicory, what was that? What have you got?” She reached down to try to get the foreign object from Chicory. “Spit it out. Spit it… where did you even FIND an eraser?” She tossed the rescued implement into a nearby trash can and turned to open the door. Gentle snoring came from inside, and Brook quietly ushered the kits in. Bunker closed the door behind them, plunging the room back into darkness.
Once Brook’s eyes adjusted, she looked around. The room was full of mismatched cushions of all varieties- couch cushions, seat cushions, pet beds, bean bags, bed pillows- and a lot of loose blankets. There were a half dozen creatures already there, curled up with claimed blankets like little burritos, but with them wrapped up, Brook couldn’t tell if she knew them. She grabbed one blanket out of the stack and guided the cubs along to a beanbag in the far back corner that was big enough for the whole family.
Bunker laid Dunker out on the beanbag, settling in next to him and waving to Hickory and Chicory to get them in next to them. The two laid down obediently in a line with Dunker, and Brook turned to River. After a moment, River let go of Brook’s tail and crawled along the beanbag to lay down next to her siblings. Once everybody was settled, Brook crawled in next to them, snuggling close into River and tossing one end of the blanket to Bunker, who used it to make sure everybody was covered and tucked in up to their chin.
Brook smiled and was about to close her eyes for the well-needed rest when the door to the room opened up again, and a voice called out in a stage whisper. “Doctor Wyld? Are you in here?”
Brook considered ignoring the voice and pretending she was already asleep, but then the voice called out again, a little louder, and the person calling started coming in, disrupting the other sleepers and getting a grumpy call of “Shut the door, you’re letting in all the light!”
“I’m here. Wait outside, I’ll be just a moment.” Brook called back, grumbling and scooting out from under the blanket. She kissed River on the head. “You get started sleeping. Mama will be back in just a moment.”
She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness again before making her way over to the door, being careful not to step on anybody as she moved. She slipped through, opening the door as little as possible and closing it again behind her. She stood facing the door for a moment, blinking away the light blindness, before slowly turning around to face the ferret in the hallway.
“Hello.” She mumbled, barely meeting his gaze.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your sleep, Doctor Wyld, but we need to discuss how we’re going to relocate all these refugee animals. We don’t mind giving them checkups and food and a place to rest after all that horrible business out in the forest, but they can’t stay here indefinitely. We need to find somewhere else to put them. And as they’ve all pretty much indicated you as their representative-” The ferret trailed off when Brook interrupted him.
“Look, Mr. Milton, can we at least wait until I’ve had a chance to rest? I’ve been up for twenty-four hours. I’m dirty. I have burns on my hands and paws. I lost my home. I THOUGHT I lost three of my kits and my mate. I had to walk through a burning forest to get here. I am EXHAUSTED, and I just want to sleep.” She started out trying to sound angry, but by the end of the monologue, she was in tears.
Her knees buckled, and she dropped, scrubbing at her face with half-closed hands. She was frustrated at breaking down, and wanted to stop, but she couldn’t force the tears to stop flowing. Her ears went back, and she sniffled, trying to dry her eyes.
After a moment, a hand rested on her shoulder, and she glanced up at the ferret, who was eyeing her with concern. She shook her head. “I’m okay, I’m just… I’m tired, so tired… it’s all gone… my home, everything. Just… gone.” Her voice cracked, and she felt herself starting to cry all over again.
He patted her shoulder with a sigh. “It’ll be all right, Doctor Wyld. Your family made it out okay. Nobody was seriously hurt.”
She nodded and sniffled, trying again to gather herself. “I know, I think I’m just overly tired.”
“Do you need anything? I mean, our resources are stretched pretty thin right now trying to take care of everybody, but I can try to get something-”
“No, no.” Brook interrupted, finally managing to pull herself together and dry her eyes. “Thank you, I think I just need a good day’s rest. I’m sorry for breaking down on you, it’s just been one of those nights. Well… days, I guess. Both.”
He patted her shoulder. “Tell you what. You go back to sleep. I’ll get my people looking for potential drop-off spots for the refugees. We’ll compile a list, and you come and find me once you’ve gotten some rest. Okay?”
Brook nodded quietly, picking herself up off the floor. “Okay, let’s do that. Sorry again. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“That’s perfectly all right. You’ve been through a lot today. I should have been more considerate.” He patted her back. “Go on back in. I’ll get my people on that.”
Brook nodded and slipped back through the door, shuffling her paws to avoid stepping on anybody as she made her way back to where her kits were already asleep and slipped back in under the blanket.
Bunker’s hand fumbled under the blanket until it found hers and gave a gentle squeeze. She looked over at him, and he mouthed a word at her. “Okay?”
She nodded and squeezed his hand back, then rolled to her side and closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Hopefully Brook will feel a bit better when she gets a bit of sleep though I am sure it won't be as much as it could be considering the fact that her home is completely gone because of some idiot campers. But at least she will have more energy and can problem solve a bit easier.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 16: Relocation

It was nearly two days later when Brook found herself sitting around a board room table with a bunch of stuffy guys in suits. River and Chicory were on her lap; she’d left the boys with Bunker for this meeting. A projector flashed images of proposed relocation sites for the forest fire refugees.
“I think the preserve is a good place to send them. It’s already set up, there’s plenty of food there. It’s perfect.” A man said, using a remote to flip the projector to an aerial image of a fenced-off area. Brook couldn’t see how far the fence went, but she assumed it wasn’t more than a few miles around.
“I say we put them up in the wildside center. Put ‘em to work and make them EARN their meals. No more freeloading.” Another, gruff man interjected, and there were a couple people murmuring their agreement.
“The western landscape is nice.” A third man took the remote and pulled up an image of a sparsely treed area. “We could drop them all out that way and let them fend for themselves.”
Brook listened to them argue for a while, watching their slides and suggestions. After a while, Chicory started fussing and fidgeting. She was bored; she wasn’t used to sitting still and having loud voices argue about her fate. After a few moments of trying to get her to hold still, Brook leaned forward and grabbed the legal pad in front of her, showing her how to work the pencil and giving them both to her. “Here you go, sweetie, draw mama something.” She watched Chicory slide to the floor with the notepad and lay down on her belly with it in front of her.
After a few moments, she realized that all the voices had stopped, and looked up to notice everybody staring at her as if just realizing she was there. She clutched River closer and put her ears back. A few seconds of silence passed, and then someone spoke up. “Why is there a wild animal in here? Someone call security.”
A bunch of voices murmured in agreement, and then a pantsuited woman stood up and cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, if you please. This is no mere wild animal. The raccoon you see before you is Doctor Sarah Wyld, leading wildlife behaviorist. She is probably the most qualified person in this room to decide the fates of the refugees. She also happens to be the person the refugees selected as their spokes…coon. It’s thanks to her so many of the forest’s inhabitants managed to make it out.”
There was a muttering, and then Brook cleared her throat, trying to get everybody’s attention. Once she had at least most of the businessmen’s attention, she spoke up. “Thank you. I am Doctor Wyld. I’ve been living in the section of the forest that burned down for three years now, initially as part of a research project and later as a mother.” She paused to look around, then spoke up. “None of the proposals I have heard would work. Not as is.”
There was a bunch of angry chatter, and Brook put her hand up to regain their attention. “These areas you have are nice. Some of them are better than others. But you’re forgetting that you have the entire population of a whole forest out there. If it was just five or ten or even just fifteen animals, sure, you could just drop us out in a preserve or in some new growth forest, and we would probably be just fine. But these areas already have a population they have to support. You can’t just drop another whole population into the preserve. It’d wreak ecological havoc. The reserve would be barren in weeks under those conditions. And- where’s that remote?”
Someone passed Brook the remote, and she flipped through to the new growth forest she’d seen, with the sparsely dotted trees. “And this place here- this place looks like it’s going to be a good place to live someday, but not if you just drop a bunch of animals there. You have to give the ecosystem time to develop. There’s nowhere for anybody to live here. The trees are too small to support dens inside the hollows, there’s no space for burrows, there’s no cover to hide from predators, there’s not even a fully developed floral ecosystem.”
The room was quiet for a few moments. The woman spoke up. “So what do you suggest, Doctor Wyld?”
Brook sucked on her tongue for a moment before answering. “We split up the refugees. Some to the reserve, some to the Wildside Center, some to these other locations. Spread them out to reduce the strain on the ecosystem.” She picked up River and held her as she stood up in her chair. “The fire has already been put out. Most of the older trees will probably survive and recover. By next spring, the forest should be ready for some of the residents to start moving back. So, come spring, we give them the option. Not everybody will want to return, and that’s to the benefit of the forest’s recovery.”
The second man, the one who had wanted to put all the refugees in the Wildside Center, spoke up. “But placing and then replacing all those animals will take a lot of money. Where’s the profit in all that? I say we just leave everybody where they are and let the forest recover on its own.”
Brook shook her head. “There’s not money in it, and there isn’t supposed to be. The land that was burned was a state park- that was part of the reason why that area was selected for my research project three years ago. I needed an area with minimal interference from human culture. Being a state park, it’s the state’s responsibility to maintain the land in its natural state as much as possible. That means stewardship of the flora, of course, but it also means helping the fauna population if they need it, as well.”
The man scowled at her, but didn’t argue with her. Either he couldn’t think of a retort, or he thought it beneath him to argue with a raccoon. Either way, Brook had a seat, glancing down at Chicory on the floor, happily scribbling away on the legal pad.
“Thank you for your input, Doctor Wyld.” The woman in the pantsuit said, then looked around the table. “The expert’s suggestion is to split the refugees into each of the possible locations so as not to overtax any one ecosystem, and then offer to restore them to their original territory once the forest has started to recover. All in favor?” She raised a hand.
Brook looked around at all the other raised hands, her ears perking. It was hard to tell if it was more than half of the people in the meeting. “All opposed?” The woman asked. Hands went down, hands went up, and Brook looked around some more. It was really close, for sure.
“The count is sixteen yes to fifteen no. The motion passes. My people will begin preparations and begin dividing the refugees for delivery to their new temporary habitats. Doctor Wyld, any further thoughts on the matter?”
Brook nodded. “While dividing up the refugees, care should be given to which species are sent where. Be mindful of the landscapes in the areas you’re sending them to. Beavers need lakes and rivers, where mink need open territory. Predators should be split as evenly as possible to the densely wooded areas, and almost not at all to more sparse areas. It’s not just about getting animals into a habitat, they have to be put into the RIGHT habitat, or they won’t do well at all. You have to remember, we’re foragers. We need familiar surroundings in order to survive.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

They should at least let Brook be able to have some say in where some of the animals are going even if she doesn't know them personally. Because she probably has a better idea of which animals will thrive in which locations since she had been living in the forest for a while.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Just because there's no power at my house doesn't mean there's no upload!

------

Chapter 17: Options

“They use the pool to help test subjects relax, and to test certain effects of the technology. And for staff parties. I think they said it’s in here.” Brook opened a door and smiled through it at the small pool inside. It was only about a foot deep, but the kits cried out gleefully and ran into the room, three of them immediately jumping in and starting to splash around.
Bunker smiled and took Brook’s hand, leading her into the room. “I’m glad they said we could use it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dunker dry for so long before.”
Brook smiled and sat on the edge of the pool next to River, who had sat down and was soaking her paws. “I think it’ll be good for the kits to have a chance to play after everything that’s happened. They can play, and we can talk while we keep an eye on them.”
He nodded and took a seat on the other side of River, patting the kit on the back as he surveyed the pool. It wasn’t enormous, about ten feet square and a solid foot deep across the whole thing, more of a wading pool than a real swimming pool. The cubs seemed to like it, splashing and laughing and shouting at each other gleefully.
Brook lowered her paws into the water with an appreciative groan. She’d only gotten her bandages off that morning, and the cool water felt exceptionally delightful. “So… the meeting this morning.”
“The meeting this morning.” Bunker repeated, kicking his paws a little in the water. “How’d it go?”
Brook shook her head. “The board is being run by bureaucrats. They were trying to find the profit in putting us, all the refugees from the fire, in new homes. Fortunately, the chairman was on my side. I think she’s the governor or something. She made sure I got a chance to speak and took my side against the others when they were looking for a way to profit off the fire. I was able to put them on the right track.”
Bunker rolled his eyes. “Humans and their obsession with money. What did they decide to do?”
Brook kicked a paw for a moment, watching Dunker sit down on the bottom of the pool and lay back to be completely underwater. After a few moments, she answered. “They’re going to split up the refugees. They have six or seven places picked out where they can send us. The old zoo. A nature preserve. Places like that. Then, in the spring, they’re going to offer to let us go back, once the forest has started to recover from the fire.”
Bunker nodded and leaned into her, careful not to crush River between them. “Sounds smart. You don’t sound happy.”
She shook her head. “We’re never going to see most of our friends again, are we? They’re going to end up in different resettlement locations, maybe forever.”
Bunker gave a sad nod. “Yeah, that’s a possibility. It’s just something that can happen when you live in the forest.”
“I know, I knew that, but… well… it didn’t feel real until just now.” She sighed and splashed her paw out and into the water. “I don’t know, having Hopper next door has been a godsend. What are we going to do without someone we trust nearby to help with the kits, or help pick up the slack preparing for winter?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know what we’re going to do. But we’ll make it work. Maybe we can move into the city, become city coons. Take up residence under someone’s porch, eat cheesy twists twice a week.” He kissed her nose.
She chuckled. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
“Famished. You know they’ve been feeding the daywalkers three meals a day? We only get two at night.” He rubbed his belly.
“Well, humans are diurnal. They have a hard time remembering that nocturnal people exist. I’ll talk to them. Maybe they can leave some stuff out for us.” She reached over and squeezed his hand.
Chicory sloshed over and tugged on Brook’s paw. “Mama, there’s no fish in this lake.” She pointed at the water accusingly as if the lack of fish was a personal assault on Chicory’s sensibilities.
“There isn’t?” Brook grinned, pretending to look in the water. She slid down into the water and started walking toward the middle. “Here, fishy, fishy, fishy.”
Chicory giggled and followed her. “No, Mama! There’s no fishy here!”
Hickory ran over and took Brook’s hand. “Mama, come swimming!”
Brook giggled and let Hickory lead her to the middle of the pool, where the three kits gathered around and started splashing her. She giggled and splashed back with her hands, playing with the cubs for a few moments before returning to River and Bunker on the side. “Hey, River…” She squatted in the water to get eye level to the cub. “Don’t you wanna play?”
River shook her head. Brook frowned and put her hands out. “Wanna let Mama carry you? We can walk around for a minute?”
There was a pause, and then River put her arms up for Brook to pick her up. She scooped her up and started walking slow, calm laps around the pool. “Hey, what’s the matter? Talk to Mama. You don’t wanna play, you barely eat.”
River turned and hugged into Brook, burying her face in Brook’s neck. After a few moments, she mumbled something, and Brook frowned. “I can’t hear you, hun. You need to speak up.”
She lifted her head and put her mouth closer to Brook’s ear. “I wanna go home.”
Brook put her ears back and sighed, kissing her on the head. “Mama wants to go home, too, but it’s not possible right now. Home is… well, it’s not good right now.”
River gave a little whimper and buried her face in Brook’s neck again. Brook patted her on the back with a sigh and walked a couple more laps of the pool before sitting down next to Bunker again and leaning into him. “What are we going to do? The kits don’t understand what’s happening. River’s homesick. I think the boys think we’re on vacation. At least Chicory’s having a good time.”
Bunker laid his head on top of Brook’s. “We could make it feel like a vacation for longer.”
Brook paused, then lifted her head and looked at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Well… you said the old zoo was one of the places they suggested for refugees. Maybe we can volunteer for that.”
She chuckled, then kissed his nose. “I doubt they have a habitat set up for raccoons, and they aren’t going to set one up for just a few months.”
He shrugged. “There’s another option. We could relocate ourselves. They can’t hold us here against our will. We could just take the cubs and leave. Set up a temporary den somewhere nearby, and then hitch a ride back to our territory in the spring.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am sure that there are some places nearby that would be just perfect for a raccoon family to stay in for a while. They might even want to stay there in the new den because there is nothing left of the old den.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

That wraps it up for this story. Brook, Bunker, and Co. WILL return... eventually. In the meantime, we'll be starting a brand-new story with some brand-new friends on Monday. Thanks for reading!

-----

Chapter 18: Three-Toes

The parking lot at the Institute was buzzing. Vans were lined up in front of the building as volunteers guided refugees to their assigned places. It had taken nearly a week of coordinating, with Brook being the go-between, but every refugee had been counted, marked down, and assigned to one of the drop positions according to the abilities of the land to support more of their species.
Now that the day to send everybody off had arrived, however, Brook was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t needed, of course; all the organizing had been done, and they just had to follow the plan. Nobody really missed her or her family as they lingered at the far end of the lot, near a hole in the fence, saying their goodbyes.
“I’m gonna miss you, Three-toes.” Brook hugged the rabbit, putting her ears back and squeezing her eyes shut as she held him for a few moments.
He tolerated the hug, then gently pulled away. “It’s only until spring. I’ll be back then, even if I have to walk myself there. Ten months from now, we meet up at Brook’s Falls. No matter what.”
“It’s a deal.” Bunker put his hand out to shake Hopper’s. Hopper grinned and grabbed it, pulling him in for a hug.
Bunker slapped Hopper on the back, then released him. “Gonna be a busy ten months without you helping watch the kits.”
“Sorry about that.” Hopper shrugged meekly. “I’m gonna miss ‘em.” He turned to the kits, who were standing nearby. River had tears in her eyes. “Hey, kiddos.”
After a moment, River ran forward and hugged Hopper’s leg, sniffling. “Don’t go, Uncle Hopper! I’ll miss you!”
Hopper crouched and hugged her, motioning for the others to join. They moved forward like they had been glued together, rushing into his arms and hugging into him. “I’m gonna miss you, too. You be good for your Mama and Daddy, okay? Uncle Hopper’s gonna see you again, real soon.”
Hickory whined a little. “You don’t gotta go! You could stay with us!”
“Aww.” Hopper ruffled Hickory’s ears. “I know, you wish I could stay. But the bigger a group, the harder it is to find a place to live in the city. It’s better if we split up for now and meet up again later. Don’t worry, ten months will pass sooner than you expect.”
Brook glanced over at the parking lot. The crowd was starting to thin out; vans were filling up, pulling off to go to their destinations, and being immediately replaced with another van going to the same place. “We don’t have a lot of time. It’s starting to get pretty quiet over there. Say your goodbyes to Uncle Hopper.”
Chicory presented a flower to Hopper, holding her ears back. “I give you this flower, so you ‘member me. It’s also food, so you don’t get hungry.”
Hopper smiled, holding the flower and giving Chicory a hug. “I love it. Thank you.”
Dunker ran forward and dove into the hug, throwing his arms around Hopper and nuzzling into his belly. “Who’s gonna teach me to cannonball if you’re gone?”
Hopper chuckled and pulled him in one-handed, stroking his back. “Aw. I’ll just have to teach you when we meet back up again, won’t I? Don’t you go learning without me.” He released Chicory and Dunker and turned to Hickory. “Hey, Hick. Wanna gimme a quick hug goodbye?”
Hickory stepped forward and hugged Hopper. “I’m gonna climb the biggest trees I can find just to see if I can see you from the tops.”
Hopper smiled. “Just be careful you don’t fall or get stuck, okay? I want you in one piece when we meet back up again.”
Hickory nodded and stepped back, sniffling a little. Hopper barely had time to turn to River before she collided with him, squeezing him and holding her ears back as she nuzzled into him. “Bye-bye, Uncle Hopper.”
Hopper stroked her head and planted a little kiss on it, smiling. “Bye-bye, River. I’ll see you around, okay?”
She nodded, but didn’t let go. He smiled. “One last lucky foot, and then I have to go, okay?” She nodded again and backed up.
Hopper lifted his lucky paw, the one with the extra toe on it, and all four cubs gave it a quick rub with their hands before he put it down. “See? Now you’re lucky, and nothing can hurt you. For SURE, you’ll be able to meet back up with me. It’s less than a year. That’s not so long as it seems.”
After a long moment, Hopper stood up and shook hands with Brook. “Hey. I know you think that you didn’t actually save anyone. You were just looking out for you and yours, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But without you, most of us would never have survived that fire, and we certainly wouldn’t have survived relocation. Thanks for everything.” He turned and started to walk away. “I’ll see you in ten months, at the full moon! Brook’s Falls!”
“Brook’s Falls!” Brook called back in agreement. “The tenth full moon!”
They stood there and watched as Hopper boarded a bus heading to the new growth forest. He was one of the last ones to get on the vans. The doors closed, the last of the vans pulled out, and the raccoon family were all alone, standing on the edge of the parking lot.
Brook watched the volunteers start to clean up the mess left behind, then sighed and turned to Bunker. “I guess that’s that. It’s just us.”
Bunker nodded and turned to scoop up the nearest two kits, perching Hickory on his left hip and Dunker on his right. “I guess we should get going, then, before they realize that we’re still here.”
Brook nodded and picked up the girls. “Where to? Do you have any field dens hidden here in town?”
Bunker turned and squeezed through the hole in the fence, thinking. “None that are safe enough to stay in long term, or big enough for the six of us.”
She nodded quietly, contemplating their options. “We could take up temporary residence under somebody’s porch, or find an abandoned building. There’s the city park…” She trailed off and put her ears back. “Did we make a bad decision, Bunker?”
Bunker shook his head. “No, of course not. We’re raccoons, Brook. We can survive anywhere. We’ve got this.” He leaned over and kissed her nose.
Brook smiled at him, leaning in and pressing her forehead to his. “Yeah. We’ve got this.” She stood up and pointed with her nose. “Let’s go that way. That end of town is more animal-friendly. They’ll be more likely to tolerate our presence.”
Bunker smiled and followed her. “You know I’d follow you anywhere. Not only are you smart enough to know where you’re going and what you’re doing, but the view is still PHENOMENAL!”
Brook scoffed and laughed, turning and kicking his leg gently. “Bunker! Not in front of the kits!”
He snickered and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Okay, okay, lead the way.”

THE END