Wild

Chapter 33

"Hey Wilbur, we're getting near now"

The loud words sank into his mind, rousing him from the peaceful dreamless sleep he was having. He let out a quiet sigh, mind trying to catch up to what was happening. He was moving very quickly, in a somehow not too rough motion.

Wilbur slowly cracked open his eyes, brain stalling as it tried to remember where he was. Green, passing in a blur, Great ancient logs, fallen and moss grown, were jumped over with ease. They flowed through the land as if they were made for it, not a single hesitation in the movement.

Oh right, he was on a fox. The memory was enough to fully wake him up, eyes opening all the way to take it in. He was leaning on someone, their back to be specific. His forehead rested next to their shoulder blade as he slept.

He pulled back intently, remembering who it was that was leading the fox. A blush lit up on his face, embarrassment seeping in. Fundy just sent him an amused look back, having the audacity to even laugh.

But eventually the fox man's words sank in, realizing what they meant. They were almost there! Almost to his brothers! He looked out excitedly now, taking in the land around them. He was somewhat familiar with it, having surely passed through it in his travels.

It was a much more dense forest compared to the birch trees, heavy vines hanging from tree limbs overhead. It had more trees too, forcing the fox to leap over and under the roots.

It was a wonder he had fallen asleep at all, given how shaky the ride was. Just goes to show how tired these last few nights had made him, the nightmares not helping

But that hardly mattered now, he was almost there! The trees had started changing, thinning out and leaving more grassy areas. They must be at the forest's edge now. And just as he thought it, the fox proved him right. The swift creatures jumped over the thick log ahead, springing into the air before landing with a skid on the now gravel ground.

Sun beamed down on them, suddenly so much stronger without the tree canopy. The fox below them had stilled, frozen looking straight ahead. Wilvur squinted against the sun, seeing they were on one of the many human roads now. But what really caught his attention was the looming shadow just a few feet ahead.

He heard Fundy gasp quietly when he spotted it, Wilbur soon following. A human stood just a few feet away, looking just as shocked as them. They fell into a standstill, both too shocked to move.

What was really odd was that Wilbur could have sworn he had seen this human before, somewhere long ago. Maybe he borrowed it from his house? He had done that to many houses. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, maybe it was one of the houses that was already occupied by a borrower? He usually didn't stay long enough to remember the human if there was another borrower.

But he didn't have time to wonder, seeing fundy kick down as gently as he could to the foxes side. And then they were moving again, dashing down the gravel road at top speed. But it bugged him a bit, not remembering. Where has he seen a human with a flame symbol on their shirt?

"I'm not sure if he spotted us," fundy spoke up after a minute, "but we should be fine. No way to track borrower not locked to a house"

Wilbur nodded in agreement, that's exactly why Nomads survived so long. How were you supposed to track something so small that was constantly moving through all of the wildlands.

The fox suddenly veered off from the road, taking a much smaller path that Wilbur hadn't even noticed. It was still a human path, only made out of dirt and years of being trodden on.

The fox raced up the path, ducking under and over anything in its way. It moved like the wind, swiftly flowing through any obstacles. Within seconds they were up the path, and into what must be human land.