Fever

The forest was sick. Sota was shocked at how quickly it had come on. His favorite nature trail had become withered and bare over the course of just a week. It worried him deeply, so between his work shifts he decided to investigate.

He stopped at the first sick tree he found, gently placing a hand against the trunk to feel what was wrong. He jumped back in horror when the bark underneath his hand simply fell away and turned to dust. This was really bad. Sota continued into the forest, making sure not to touch any of the other plants for fear of hurting them.

The deeper into the forest he got, the worse things seemed to be. The undergrowth crunched sadly beneath his feet. Several trees had grown too weak to stay standing, and now fell across the forest floor. The sight of it all made Sota want to cry, but he kept pushing onward. He needed to find out what happened to this place at all costs. By this point, the forest growth was so thick that Sota could hardly keep track of where the sun was in the sky.

He eventually found what he believed to be the deepest part of the forest. He now had to make a strenuous effort to not touch any of the plant life, as they were all grown so close together. There seemed to be something just a little further up ahead, something that seemed rather out of place the more Sota looked at it. When he reached it, he found that it was a large tree stump, with a diameter much thicker than any of the other trees. The stump was making an eerie groaning noise, as though it were alive. Shaking, Sota decided to touch it.

The stump moved. Sota screamed. The top of the stump rolled over and hissed, covering its ears with two paws.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Sota was quick to apologize in a much quieter voice.

Now that he was close, Sota realized that the 'stump' was actually a fox. The fox covered its head tightly with its paws and groaned again. As it did so, a dead branch fell from a nearby, sickly tree. It took Sota a second to make the connection, but he was quick to realize what the fox's behavior meant.

Sota carried a backpack with him wherever he went. It was filled with a variety of things that Sota needed to have on him, but most important was his prescription migraine medication. Having suffered from migraines for years, Sota knew immediately that the fox was stricken with the same thing. He put his backpack down and dug out the pills, offering one and a bottle of water. Could foxes even take pills? Sota didn't dwell on it.

The fox eyed the pill for a moment, then groaned again and took it without a sound. Sota put everything back in his bag and stood up. He suddenly didn't recognize where he was. Sota frowned.

"What in the hell...?"

A touch of green caught his attention. A small shoot, newly sprouted from the ground, led the way back to the nature trail. Sota hummed to himself.

Strange.