caged, unable to escape

This was originally written for my English assignment as an environmental fable. But I'm proud of it and we need to do something before there is nothing left.

Day 9

Number Four was right. More had come. The creatures brought with them weird-looking monsters of a wide range of different shapes and sizes. Despite their physical differences, they all had one similarity – all were bigger than us.

Number Four was young and inexperienced unlike Number One, but he had proved himself to always be right. He told us they were dangerous. He told us they could kill us if they wanted to. He told us if we didn’t move away fast we would be nothing but meat and bones. We were stupid and ignorant. We didn’t listen to him. We even sent him in. Thankfully, those creatures had bigger and better plans though. They would only kill us if we got in their way. They had shown, by demonstrating using Number Four.

I turned my head away from the scene. I had never seen something like this before. Maybe the older generations had but they were long gone.

I subconsciously cleaned my canine teeth. We had to move elsewhere. I turned towards higher ground and more trees. Hopefully there was more meat up there. Here, meat was scarce.

“We should move,” I said. The others did not look at me, but they understood and silently complied to what I said. There were only three of us left. Number Four’s death was a warning of the danger these creatures could bring. We could not risk another.

Day 28

I clutched my paws over my ears as the deafening noise echoed through the trees. It was probably the result of the creatures’ plan. Whatever they were doing it was loud, it was noisy, and it was driving meat away from us and the trees. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t the creatures. It was their monsters. Even the lions’ roar could never compare to this roar that came from their mouths.

Number Two was back from hunting and from the way his shoulders were slumped, I could tell he was unsuccessful. We all could. We all sighed dejectedly. That only meant one thing. We had to move further away from those creatures and their monsters. Meat was running further away from us and without it; I doubt we would be able to live for long.

I got up on my feet, but I had no energy. By removing my paws from my ears, I could hear the noise more clearly which only made my head feel worse. I strolled lazily away from the noise. I felt tired but I had to remain strong because between me and Number Two, we knew that Number One was the weakest  and most fatigued out of all of us. We felt guilty towards Number One for always moving, constantly putting his body under strain. We had moved a lot already. And now we had to move again.

Day 42

I watched as he lay there, motionless on the ground covered in leaves and branches. Number One was the oldest. It was much easier for him to live on his own than with the rest of us. It was hard to keep up together like this, especially for him.

It was inevitable. Even without the creatures, he was old and fatigued. He probably knew this would happen. We all probably knew that sooner or later, this would happen. With no meat and being constantly on the move, at his age, it was only a matter of time that this happened.

I turned to look at Number Two. His eyes showed nothing. They never showed anything. He kept everything to himself. But there was something in his eyes I had never seen before, a flash of something dangerous - a flash of fury and anger.

I retreated away from Number Two, understanding that he may need this moment to be with him a little longer. Number Two was usually emotionless, never letting whatever it was that he was feeling on the inside to be portrayed on his face. That was until now. But this reaction from him was to be expected. He and Number One knew each other much better than the rest of us ever did.

Day 55

Our first instinct was to move away before we were killed. Now, we were slowly approaching our territory again. The area was perfect for us to live in and survive, until the creatures came and drove us out. They did nothing but threaten us with the monsters they brought with them.

Meat was still scarce, but for some strange reason there was more near where the creatures lived than anywhere else. When we first started to head back, Number Two had reverted to his normal self ever since Number One was gone. When we were close to our territory, he finally spoke in what seemed to be years.

“There are fewer trees,” he noted in a nonchalant tone. He didn’t sound like he was worried but I knew that he was. He had a point. There were fewer trees. Fewer trees meant less meat.

Number Two had come back with some meat and dumped it on the floor. Eagerly, we both tore into the meat and ate. It was less than what we would have preferred, but it was more than what we had eaten these past few days. It satisfied our hunger to a certain extent until the meat was nothing but dried blood and tiny pieces of flesh on discarded bones. This was good. This was better.

While we may be closer to our predators, we were at least closer to meat as well.

Day 71

I licked my mouth again. Number Two was off on another of his hunts again. I waited. It had been a day now. While Number Two loved to hunt, he didn’t take too long in fear of the rest of us starving. Why had he not returned yet? Why was he still not back?

I took a few more steps towards the clearing which stood out against the trees. Whatever the creatures done, they had destroyed our territory. What were once trees was now a sea of brown dirt and barriers. The creatures communicated to one another in loud, commandeering voices. Some were standing on the dirt. Some were inside their monsters and talking to each other casually. They couldn’t see the danger their monsters would make.

I surveyed the scene. The creatures still looked like they were carrying out an important plan. The monsters still looked terrifying and threatening. But despite all the action in the scene, my eyesight caught something distinct in contrast to the brown and the many different-coloured monsters. The tiny glimpse of orange in the far distance made me freeze.

I narrowed my eyes. It was definitely orange.

Day 84

I eyed them carefully. There was meat. They were threatening. They were bigger. Bigger pieces of meat. They were stronger. Stronger pieces of meat. They could be meat.

My eyes narrowed. When one of those creatures walked past, I leapt up from my hiding spot while letting out a ferocious roar. They turned to me and their eyes widened. With my paws out, they fled in panic away from me. They had no plans of killing me; they were scared of me.

They ran away, just like meat did. They were meat.

Maybe I could get rid of me. Maybe I could drive them out. Maybe I could eat them, just like what I did with meat.

Day 103

This was not my territory. It was nowhere remotely near. I looked around and there was nothing here. There were trees but they didn’t look the trees that I knew of. I saw rocks of varying colours. Why were there those rocks?

I also saw the strange creatures; pointing and looking. What were they doing here? Hadn’t I already gotten rid of them? Hadn’t I already driven them out? Hadn’t I already eaten them? I leapt up to them curiously. What did they want?

They did not jump back, only continuing to point at me as though in awe of my presence. Their eyes didn’t widen. They were not scared of me. I reached up to touch them, to show them how scary I could be and how frightened they should be. They were not running away in panic, just like meat did.

My paw touched a barrier. I pushed against it. It was hard to break. I pushed against it again. It was impossible to break. I pushed against it harder. I couldn’t break it.

I could never touch them. I could never be scary. I could never be intimidating. I could never find meat. I could never go back.

One by one, we are falling down.

One by one, we had all fallen down.

Stop destroying the environment before it’s too late, before everything turns to dust.