The Struggle for Survival

by Michael Maynard

The young fox scrambled behind the dustbins as fast as he could. Badniks were attacking again. Apparently, Robotnik had heard that Sonic was in the Metropolis Zone, and his reaction was an all-out attack on his own city. Dash ducked amongst the garbage, hoping to be safe. He hadn’t been here long, only a couple of weeks, so he had got lost quite quickly. During the chaos he had lost his family, and had people tripping over him…

He heard a clanging noise from the bins behind him and span round to see a Trooper Badnik aiming it’s weapon at him. He closed his eyes and waited expectantly for what was about to happen to him…

He heard a gunshot, which made his body jerk suddenly. He opened his eyes and searched for the bullet wound he was sure he had felt, but found nothing. Dash looked at the Trooper as it fell to the ground, then turned around to see his savior… another fox stood, wearing a blue fleece and baggy jeans and holding an EggRobo gun.

“Honestly, these Troopers are so low. Even attacking kids…”

Dash stared, too stunned to say anything, checking his body over again, and sniffing the ketchup smeared on his tail to make sure that it was in fact, ketchup.The older fox grabbed Dash by the hand and began to pull him away from the alley, leading him to safety.

“Come on, kid. Let’s get you out of the Zone.”

Dash looked around, dazed, as he was lead out of the battleground, past the debris of fallen Badniks and civilians. He thought of his parents… were they all right? Did they get out safely? Dash wasn’t paying attention to what was happening, and before he knew it he was in an area surrounded by sandbags, being checked over by doctors and the fox that had saved him was talking to a female squirrel and a male cat. Dash turned to the doctor.

“Who is that fox what brought me here?” he asked.

But the doctor was already checking the next civilian that another person had rescued. He looked back over at his hero, just in time to see the three of them running out into the smoke, searching for more survivors… He thought over what had happened again, and considered following them to look for his parents… that is, until he saw his mother…

© Michael Maynard 2001