9:26

Oh my head. Where the hell am I? Gah, I can’t get my eyes open. I can’t… I…

The armoured dirigible poured fire on his position. The trenches through what was once a manicured urban park made running for it impossible and the only route open to safety led down hill toward the heaviest explosions. But there was open water there and hope.

He raised his head again and shrapnel from exploding trees whizzed past his ears. A sharp stinging sensation in his shoulder made him realize he’d been hit. From a bleeding gash in his arm he could smell better days, the addictive scent of citrus wood and fabric softener. It was time to make a run for it.

Leaping out of the concrete bunker he raced down the steep hill. The incline increased as he moved towards the massive crump holes that separated him from the placid lake and he moved faster and faster, soon hurtling out of control towards the looming wooden wall made from logs and twigs and mud. He wasn’t going to make it over and he wasn’t going to be able to stop. The pain in shoulder flared hotter and hotter and was joined by a searing burning across his stomach as the raging fire on the hillside engulfed him and hid the cool water, that last glimpse of safety, from his view. The headlong charge turned into a tumble and soon he was careening off his feet towards the haphazard palisade that soared hundreds of feet up in the air.

Just before he struck he bounced off the massive bundle of rabbit and beaver skins, all baled up for shipment and he was swallowed whole into their stifling and suffocating softness. No matter how he struggled he couldn’t escape and the burning pain threatened to send him into oblivion. He was trapped, bleeding and close to death and he couldn’t move, couldn’t help himself, couldn’t change the outcome.

He smashed his tail against the glassy surface of the water as one last final warning and turned to face his doom. He’d protected the others as much as he could. It was time to end it. With one last burst of strength he threw the web of hides aside and surged to his feet. The unbearable pain flared and he opened his eyes…

To see a very concerned and slightly frightened young face peering down at him.