In front of him stood an enormous fox easily three times the size of a normal fox, and next to it a toppled crate with a dead man crushed beneath it. The fox was eating the man's crushed body.
Jack pointed his weapon at it, ready to fire. The fox turned around, its mouth bloodied. Jack hesitated to contact Yumiel. Checking his radio, he looked away for a moment—just enough time for the fox to vanish from his field of view.
Jack put his radio away, thinking it had left, then walked toward the back of the building, finding a whole array of tools, but also corpses visibly torn apart by claws and fangs. Jack understood. The fox was the hunter, and the prey was him.« grrrrr ».
Jack turned around to see the fox a few meters away from him, grabbing his weapon and firing at it. The fox lunged at Jack, opening its mouth wide, showing more than a hundred teeth seemingly razor-sharp.
Jack leapt to the side, dodging the fox's bite, then shot it in the flank, making it flee and bleed slightly. Jack stood back up, swapping magazines and checking his surroundings.
« Great evening—after a crazy hunter, now a crazy fox. »
Suddenly Jack heard a voice—extremely raspy and distorted, something clearly not human, grinding, scraping, like a throat built for growling rather than forming words.
« You… noot… humaan you… weird. »
The voice sent chills down his spine, speaking slowly with strange pauses.
« A talking fox—now that's really something. Let's stop here, you and I won't gain anything from this. »
Suddenly, nothing. Jack stayed alert but, with such a gigantic warehouse, it was impossible to know where it was hiding. He didn't need to look long. Crates fell above Jack, trying to crush him.
Throwing himself to the ground to dodge them, he ended up face-to-face with the fox, grabbing his weapon and starting to fire. The fox reacted by ripping Jack's weapon away and shredding it. Jack pulled out his Glock, shooting the fox in the head, making it yelp. Jack took the chance to stand back up, emptying his magazine.
Once the magazine was empty, the fox lunged at Jack, trying to grab him by the throat, but the fox underestimated Jack's strength. Jack struck it with his left fist, hitting it square in the face and knocking the fox to the ground.
Now it was his turn to lunge at the beast, which he did, but the fox spat a ball of saliva at Jack, who dodged at the last second. The fox took advantage of it to flee again.
Jack looked at where the spit had landed before noticing it was melting the wall it had hit. He wasted no time, reloading his Glock while staying on guard.
« Hrrrgg… hu-maan… you… stroong… M-ME… eat… you… to… beecum… stroonger… »
The voice had become much more incomprehensible.
« I'm telling you, you won't gain anything by killing me—are you butchers or what? Let's each go our own way. »
« … way…? you run… You… no… can… run… rrraagh… prey… is… MINE… »
« Damn fox. » The hidden fox spat saliva balls at Jack, which he dodged at all costs before being charged by the fox, its jaws opening wide.
« You didn't get the lesson? » Jack prepared to punch the fox in the face with his left fist. But this time the fox shut its mouth, ducked down, and rammed Jack with its head before clawing him with its paws, knocking Jack to the ground.
Pulling out his gun, he emptied the magazine toward the fox's head while it defended itself as best it could. Jack managed to shoot out one of its eyes. The fox backed away, then charged again, mad with rage, slamming into Jack as he was trying to get up, sending him flying.
The fox caught him once he hit the ground, shredding Jack's right leg. Jack decided to abandon it, breaking the limits of his right leg and striking the fox with a sharp blow. His leg shattered into a thousand pieces. But the fox flew several meters, crashing against the railing of a pallet rack.
Jack knew the end was near for one of them. He had just lost his mobility. He rushed on his remaining leg toward the fox, which was trying to get up. But Jack kept punching it. Again and again, the fox whining with each of Jack's blows.
Despite the pain, the fox struggled, using its paws to stop Jack from hitting it further.
« I warned you, fox, your end is near. » On the ground, the fox tried to speak, but it no longer had the strength.
Jack pushed through the fox's claw barrage, grabbing one of its paws to crush it. In a burst of animal instinct, the fox struggled even harder, biting Jack's left arm—the arm that was holding it.
« Big mistake. » Jack broke the limits of his right arm, striking toward the fox's face as it bit his left arm.
An animal's senses are far more developed than those of a human. A fox perceives its environment ten times better than a human in the dark, thirty times better by smell, and two to three times better by hearing. Thanks to its whiskers, it can detect vibrations in the air.
So is that why, when the fox saw the attack coming with its one remaining eye, it saw only death? It could feel the air growing heavy, its whiskers trembling, its hearing catching the air splitting as the punch approached.
In a surge of survival, the fox released Jack and tried to run, but Jack still held one of its paws. The fox did everything to protect its head, putting its hip forward. Jack's attack finally struck the right thigh.
The impact was so great that he had to release the paw he was holding, sending the fox sliding across the floor for several meters before it stopped. Bleeding from its mouth, eyes closed. Jack moved on his single functioning leg toward the bodies nearby, searching for intact replacement limbs.
Gathering a few limbs, replacing them, he then walked toward the fox still lying on the floor.
« I told you it was pointless. I can't even eat your brain, you're useless to me. »
Jack knew this because he had already tried it—leaving him nauseated with a massive migraine, bleeding from his orifices. Maybe it was different for a changing animal? But the effects could also be far worse. The risk wasn't worth it, Jack thought.
Yet when the moment came to finish it, he hesitated. The fox sensed the hesitation and let out a small raspy sound from its throat, almost a whisper, a strange mix of trust and gentle submission.
« Get lost. It's only because I like animals—if you were Yumiel, you'd be dead, buddy. »
The fox couldn't move, remaining there, watching Jack leave with its one remaining eye.
Jack sat down nearby, taking a break. « What a shitty night, damn it. Now I just have to gather as much stuff as I can, going back and forth, then meet up with Yumiel. »