Inspired by true events…
I felt the ground tremble before I heard anything. I perked up, frozen amongst the trees. “Tanner?” I called to my brother, who minutes ago had been collecting acorns on the other side of a big oak. Nothing. I had been absorbed in my own good fortune, had been staring at my collection of beautiful, ripe acorns, and hadn’t noticed him walk away. I was on my own.
The jingling was the first sound to pierce the silence of the forest, a sound like nothing wood, leaves or stones can produce. The giants. I looked up and saw them in the clearing up ahead, two big, hairless creatures, walking upright on their hind legs! As they walked they were shouting, their booming calls frantic and desperate. The jingling was getting closer. I looked towards the sound and saw it: the Golden One. The vicious beast was coming towards me, unaware of my presence. It would only be moments now. There was no time to wait for Tanner. I looked around and found a hollowed out log a ways down the hill. I yelled for my brother one more time – “T-A-A-A-ANNER!” – and made a run for it.
The second I started running, a great roar rose up between the trees. Branches snapped. Logs splintered like broken bones. She was coming for me. The chase was on. About ten strides from the rotted mouth of the log, I caught a flurry of yellow out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t going to make it. “If the Golden One catches your scent, your only hope is to outsmart her.” Tanner’s words flashed in my mind, and I darted to my right, towards the oncoming beast. It worked. She froze, shocked at my brazenness, and lost her momentum. I turned back, ran a few more paces, and launched myself into the belly of the old tree.
I stood there, catching my breath, for what felt like hours. My hazel colored fur camouflaged me against the rotten wood, but I knew she could smell me, even if she couldn’t see me. I quieted my breathing and her panting echoed throughout the hideout, the stench of death on her tongue seared into my nostrils. I wasn’t safe.
I had been still for a minute when the roof above me caved in. I dove out of the way, barely avoiding the beast’s gnashing teeth. I moved back the way I came, flushed out of my flimsy hiding spot by the predator. I ran towards the daylight, could see the open forest floor splayed out in front of me, and I knew I could lose her somewhere among the bushes and burrows this side of the great river. I could even climb a tree if I had to.
I closed my eyes, leapt from the hole, and felt my paws land in something slimy. I opened my eyes to a world of darkness. I was in the beast’s mouth! I was just small enough to squeeze between her rows of sharpened teeth, and as she thrashed in anger I was flung back and forth. I thought she might swallow me whole.
I lost consciousness after the fifth time my head bashed the roof of her mouth, and when I awoke she had spat me out into the blinding light of morning. I felt like a young pup, fresh from the womb and bewildered by the world. I looked up and saw one of the two-legged giants staring down at me. I wondered: were they friend, or foe? Their calls were growing louder, urging my attacker towards something I couldn’t understand.
When she came for me again, I knew it was over. I was tired. I’d covered more distance in five minutes than Tanner and I covered in entire days of scavenging. I was all out of tricks. I caught my breath, and listened to her doing the same. I was in a clearing, surrounded by dry, packed dirt and completely exposed. About twenty paces from me was a patch of ivy, which I knew could provide some cover. I took one last deep breath, tapped into what strength I had remaining and took off.
No sooner had my paws left the ground than I felt the earth move and I knew she had launched herself at me, covering my twenty paces with one of her own. I shuddered, bracing myself to be crushed by her jaws or torn apart by her claws.
My violent end never came. I heard one final, guttural shout from the giant and felt no teeth pierce my hide, and no paw break my back. I reached the ivy, darted amongst the leaves and dug out an old burrow I’d spent some time in the previous winter. I was about to crawl my way to safety when I hesitated. I had to know. I turned to take one last final look at the would-be killer and my heart skipped a beat. She was restrained by the giant, who was holding her roughly by the neck and shouting in some unknown tongue: “DAISY NO!” I turned and slipped into the earth.
I was a friend after all. I was saved.
The young chipmunk pups sat in a circle on the warm floor of their home, their faces aglow in the fire’s shadow. “Tell it one more time, Grandpa!” Constance, the youngest, was tugging at her grandfather’s fur. “What did the Golden One smell like? I bet she smelled like Topper after a hot summer day in the bogs!” All the little ones started shrieking. “Ew-w-w!” Topper hadn’t bathed in months.
The old chipmunk smiled, surrounded by the youngest of his kin, and pulled Constance onto his lap. “She smelled even worse, if you can believe it,” he said, relishing the horror on their young faces. “Tomorrow night I’ll tell you about the size of her paws!” The room shuddered with the sound of a dozen tiny screams. “Oh, and one more thing,” the grandfather said, turning towards Constance. “The Golden One’s name was Daisy.”