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Chapter 16: An Accident

The high beams of Michelle's car illuminated the two-lane road. Dark corn fields encroached ominously on the narrow lighted path as if preparing to engulf the street. The moonless night was only illuminated by the occasional distant lights of houses huddled at the ends of long gravel driveways. Michelle was a gray squirrel, and she was on her way back from the grocery store. After a busy day at work, she had picked her children, Albert, five, and Julie, three, from daycare and returned home only to find they were out of bread. The grocery store was only a ten-minute drive away, so, after they had eaten a meal of spaghetti and walnut ballswithout bread and she had given them their bath and put them to bed, Michelle had decided to make a nighttime run to the grocery store. It was only a ten-minute drive down the duchy highway, and there was no one around aside from her nosey neighbor, Janet, across the street. Michelle suspected the elderly beagle watched their house through binoculars, but she knew she was harmless. Still, she felt anxious to get home as she sped down the dark highway.

Suddenly, a dark object--Michelle couldn't quite identify it--burst from the corn field and into her path. Panicked, Michelle swerved to avoid it, but she turned the wheel too sharply and almost ran off the opposite side of the road. She overcorrected and lost control, her car careening into the ditch beside the corn field. Her seatbelt caught her, but she felt a crack and a sharp pain in her chest. The stabbing pain caused her to swoon.

Michelle hazily registered flashing lights and the sound of a siren. How'd they get here so fast? Had she lost consciousness? Moments later her door was yanked open; she gasped in pain as she tried to twist herself to look out the door. At least one of her ribs was probably broken. Strong arms extracted her from the car. She looked up at the person carrying her to see a wolverine in a darkly colored paramedic's uniform top. Another wolverine was holding open the back of a white van-style ambulance; the light from the inside allowed Michelle to see that his uniform was dark green. The second wolverine pulled a white stretcher part way out of the ambulance for the first wolverine to lie her on, and then they pushed the stretcher inside and shut the doors behind her.

Inside the ambulance, an unusually small red fox in a white lab coat leaned over Michelle with a needle-topped syringe. "We're lucky we got to you so soon. I'm going to give you an injection for the pain, but it may make it hard for you to focus. Don't worry; we'll be there in no time." The fox took her arm and brought down the syringe.

"Wait! My children are at home alone! Someone needs to look after them and tell them where I am!"

"We can take care of that," the vixen assured her. "My house is at 2327 on Route 321."

"Got it. We'll send someone to check in on them." "Thank you," she breathed.

The fox nodded, "We'll take care of everything." She reached back toward Michelle's arm with the syringe. "This may sting a bit."

The needle picked into her vein, and she felt a slight burning sensation as the fox injected the contents. After a few seconds, she began to feel hazy and her surroundings began to swirl.

The fox stroked her hand down Michelle's cheek and ran a claw across the underside of her chin. "You're in capable hands now."

***

When Michelle regained consciousness, she found herself tightly tied to a metal table.

Bright lights shone down from the high ceiling and the acrid scent of antiseptic filled the air. Michelle heard a door close, she tried to lean her neck up to see. Sharp pain shot through her chest, and she lay her head back down.

A moment later the vixen in the white lab coat looked down at her. "Just hold still. Two of your ribs are broken. What's your name, Dear?"

"Michelle Wickle."

"Do you have any allergies to any medications, Michelle?"

"No."

"I'm going to need to operate, Michelle. Tell me, can you feel this?" She jabbed her

finger into Michelle's ribs, and Michelle yelped in pain.

"I'll take that as a yes. Excellent, I certainly would be terribly disappointed if I started

cutting out organs only to find out you couldn't feel it properly."

Michelle gawked at her, "Is that some kind of joke?"

"No, I'm perfectly serious. I want to make sure you get the full experience; it's less fun

otherwise."

The vixen's nonchalant manner both baffled and terrified Michelle. "But don't you, don't

you have to take some sort of oath!?" Michelle protested.

"Ah, excellent question! Yes, as a medical professional, I most certainly would be bound

by an oath not to harm you. I applaud your quick thinking, very refreshing. Fortunately, I'm not a medical professional and therefore not bound by any such oath."

Michelle felt a pit open up in her stomach, "Th-then who are you?"

"You can think of me as your hostess if you like. You are going to be my guest for a short while, and I'll do my best to keep things engaging."

Michelle's mind swirled with confusion. What was going on? She'd been picked up by an ambulance, and now the fox that had been inside was casually talking about cutting her up. She felt sick with dread. "I don't understand," she murmured weakly.

"Don't you? And you seemed so sharp with that oath question," the vixen remarked disappointedly. "Let me spell it out for you. I want to see how many organs I can remove before you kick the bucket. Bootsy doesn't think I'll manage more than four, but I'm determined to prove him wrong. Does that make sense to you?"

"This is all for some sick bet!?" Michelle cried in horror.

The fox smirked patronizingly, "The bet is more of a bonus, Dear." She ran a finger down Michelle's belly, and Michelle flinched and tugged futilely at the tight bonds.

Tears began to well in Michelle's eyes, "Please!" she wailed. "I have two children! I'm all they have in the world! If I'm dead, they won't be able to take care of themselves; they're too young! Don't condemn them to die of starvation or exposure!"

"Shh, I won't do anything of the sort. Would you like me to bring your children in to see you before we begin?"

Michelle froze. Anger boiled up through her fear and dread, "You beast! Keep away from them! I'll never tell you where they are!"

The vixen smiled at her patronizingly again, "But you already did, Dear."

Michelle's anger was replaced by soul-crushing horror. I did. She stared at the fox, mouth part way open. She was unable to speak for several seconds; her heart and stomach felt sick with dismay. "Please, no," she whispered weakly.

"Come now, you ought to reassure them before we begin or at least say a final goodbye," the vixen advised. "They're a bit anxious, and they've asked to see you. Should I tell them you don't want to?"

Michelle didn't want their last memory of her to be that she refused to see them. She had to tell them it would be alright to comfort them even if she knew it was a lie. "Bring them to me," she choked.

The vixen left, and Michelle heard the door shut again. A few minutes later, she heard the door close again and, fighting to withstand the pain, she craned her neck up to see. The fox was walking toward the table with Albert and Julie. Albert, whose ears hardly came to the fox's knees, was walking in front whilst the fox was carrying Julie easily in her left arm. Michelle had been holding onto a tiny shred of hope that the fox was lying about having her children, and her heart sank as that hope died. Tears began to run down her face, but she tried to smile to reassure Julie and Albert.

"What's going on, Mom?" Albert asked worriedly.

"Mommy had a little accident, but everything's going to be okay, Sweetie," Michelle lied. "The nice doctor is going to give me a little operation, and I'll be out to see you soon."

The vixen shook her head, "Tsk tsk, lying to the poor dears." She looked down to address Albert, "Your mom isn't going to make it, I'm afraid. You might get to see her again soon if there happens to be an afterlife, I suppose." She turned back to Michelle. "I'd like you to pick one of them to stay. The other I'll send off to live with relatives or a nice foster family, but I want you to pick which one."

Michelle gaped at her in horror. The vixen was asking her which of her children she wanted to die with her. She looked from one precious child to the other. How could she choose?It would be monstrous! I can't do it! "I-I won't do it; I won't choose," she choked.

"No? Then I'll let them choose." The vixen looked from Albert to Julie. "Which of you wants to stay with your mom, and which of you wants to go live with someone else?"

"I want to stay with Mom!" Albert answered.

"I want to too!" Julie cried.

The vixen shrugged, "It seems they both want to stay. Let it not be said that I refused to

consider my guests' wishes." She reached her right hand into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a scalpel.

No! "ALBERT, RUN!" Michelle screeched.

Albert started to dart away, but the fox tromped on his tail to stop him. She bent down and swiftly ran the scalpel across his throat. Blood gushed out of his neck, and he collapsed to the floor. He twitched a few more times and then lay still as blood pooled around him.

Michelle sobbed, "Albert. Oh Zeus, why?"

"Mommy!" Julie screamed in fear.

Michelle's gaze was wrenched away from her dead son. The vixen was reaching her

sharp-fanged jaws toward Julie's neck. "Please don't! I choose her! Let her go!"

The fox turned to regard Michelle coldly, "If only you'd made that decision a minute ago."

The fox grabbed Julie's neck in her jaws, lifting the tiny squirrel out of her left arm. She gave a quick shake of her head, snapping Julie's neck, and dropped her body on the floor next to her brother's.

"You really should have picked one when I offered," the fox chided. "I was in a merciful mood, very willing to let one go."

Michelle didn't look at her, still staring despairingly at the bodies of her precious children.

The fox sauntered back over to Michelle, stepping over the motionless bodies and pool of crimson blood. She brought the scalpel to Michelle's belly. "Are you ready to begin your operation now?"

"Do whatever you want to me," Michelle muttered despondently. "You've already taken everything from me. I'll welcome death."

The vixen gave her a thoughtful look then looked back to her children's bodies. "You know, you're right. Killing you now would be much too merciful, and I'm not in a merciful mood at all anymore. I'll let you spend some time contemplating which of your children could still be alive right now. We'll finish up with your operation tomorrow." She turned and trotted out of the room, hopping over the bodies on her way to the door.

The door closed behind her, leaving Michelle alone with her despair.