Chapter 1: Prologue
“C’mon, Mom! I wanna see the fennec fox!”
The boy wearing a fennec fox headband didn’t wait for an answer. He just yanked on his mother’s sleeve. Hard.
His mother stumbled, nearly losing her footing as the kid dragged her straight toward the enclosure.
“Okay, okay! Slow down, Eunwoo! You’re gonna rip my arm off!”
Only after he reached the glass did he let her go.
Alongside him were children in costumes who were as eager as he was.
Sticky, cotton-candy-stained fingers smudged the newly cleaned glass as he pressed his nose against it, his face lighting up with excitement
But the moment he saw the interior, his smile dropped.
Inside, a worker was nudging the small fennec fox into a travel carrier.
He stared down at his roughed up shoes, the same shoes he ruined while so desperately rushing to see the fox. He turned around. His small fingers reached for his mother’s hand, giving them a soft squeeze.
“Let’s just go, Mom…”
Groans of despair rippled throughout the crowd. On the flip side, a few exhausted parents secretly celebrated. Finally, we can leave…
He stared through the glass. Dozens of crying faces stared back at him. A bead of cold sweat ran down his temple.
If I lock it up now, I’ll be deemed a monster. These kids will throw a tantrum their parents will never forget. One bad online review about a ruined Halloween and the boss will strip the skin right off my back, possibly feeding me to the crocodiles to save on the meat budget.
The thought of it made his skin crawl.
With a regretful sigh, the worker set the carrier down, walking toward the security door. He swiped his keycard against the door, waving the mob of cranky kids in. “Alright, alright, just a quick look! I have to take him to the hospital, so make it quick!”
The kids instantly lit up, sprinting into the enclosure like a pack of wild animals, their parents chasing after them.
Hearing the commotion, the boy’s head lifted up.
His eyes sparkled with excitement as he saw the crowd hurry into the opened enclosure. He looked up at his mother, who let out a soft laugh and smiled warmly. Together, they followed the rushing crowd.
Once they entered, the worker carefully unlatched the wired gate of the carrier. He grabbed a fresh grape from his pocket and handed it to a little girl standing near the front with a nervous nod.
The small fennec fox stepped out onto the dirt, its massive, oversized ears flicking nervously at the sudden noise of the crowd.
“He’s so cute,” someone whispered in awe.
Feeling his work was done, the worker let out a satisfied sigh. He walked toward the door and leaned against it.
I can live to see another day…
Satisfied, the worker slid on his noise-canceling headphones, scrolling through videos while listening to music he couldn’t live without.
Back to the crowd, the little girl holding the grape wore a bright yellow dress that seemed appealing to the fox.
She edged closer to it, her tiny fingers holding out the grape as she leaned forward.
The fox paused, its nose twitching at the sudden movement. It leaned forward, plucking the fruit from her fingers.
The girl giggled, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
For a few seconds, the enclosure felt calm.
It was almost too calm.
Out of nowhere, the fennec fox’s back legs gave a sudden, violent jerk.
Its front paws ran across the dirt, kicking up dust as its torso thrashed wildly.
The girl held out another grape.
“Look, he wants more! He’s doing a little dance!”
In her innocence, she was oblivious to the danger, seeing the fennec fox as friendly. The surrounding children were oblivious, too. Meanwhile, parents exchanged confused looks, trying to make out of the scene unfolding before them.
Then, a wet, cracking sound echoed from inside the fox’s chest.
The skin over its ribs bulged as the bones rearranged themselves with wet pops.
The kid’s cheers died. The collective breath of twenty people came to a stop.
A girl nearby tilted her head, her fingers tugging at her father’s sleeve.
“Is this part of Halloween?”
The girl’s question hung in the air.
Nobody dared to answer. Nobody dared to move.
It felt like something out of a movie, except it was real.
It’s okay, right? It’s just…it’s just rabies. That only means he will bite us. A little fox bite can’t hurt that much, right?
She clung to the word rabies, a simple term she thought meant an animal was acting mean. It was her only excuse to make sense of the horror—but no normal disease can force bones to rearrange itself the way this one did.
The animal closed its eyes before snapping back open. The familiar dark brown irises were now gone, swallowed by thick, red veins webbing outward from the pupils.
The horrifying sight shook the little girl back into reality. This wasn’t rabies. Anyone could see that.
The girl stumbled back, her sneaker catching against a loose rock as she froze in horror.
Suddenly, the air felt thick, smelling faintly of something rotten and foul.
“Hey, get back,” a brave man’s voice cracked from the middle of the crowd. “Kid, move away from it!”
The little girl didn’t hear him. Her eyes just stayed locked onto the twitching animal, her brain freezing entirely.
One second.
That was all the time she had before it lunged forward.
Its jaw snapped shut on her hand.
The fox didn’t just bite—it threw its entire weight forward, violently thrashing its head side to side like a dog tearing a toy.
The girl’s deafening scream tore through the enclosure.
Her legs gave out as she crashed to the ground. Every ounce of color drained from her face, leaving her ghostly white.
She stared blankly at her hand, watching the red stain her brand-new white shoes. Fat tears formed and streamed down her cheeks. Frantically, she slapped her uninjured hand over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
Around her, the crowd erupted into screams.
What the hell is happening?!?
The same thought drilled through every parents’ brain.
Nearby, the worker kept his headphones on, still scrolling, completely oblivious to the chaos.
Somewhere in the crowd, a tiny baby began to wail, the high pitched crying echoing off the walls.
The fox locked its eyes onto the stroller and bolted toward it.
The fox launched itself off the dirt, its jaw unhinged in midair, aimed straight for the crying baby inside the stroller.
The mother didn’t think. Just like any mother would do, she threw herself forward, slamming her upper body over the stroller like a human shield.
With less than a second to adjust, the fox collided with the woman’s forearm, its teeth burying deep into her flesh.
The animal held on with unimaginable strength, its weight pulling against her as she fought to stay upright.
A sharp painful gasp escaped the woman. Tears blurred her vision, but she only pressed her body tighter over the stroller, shielding her baby with every ounce of strength she had.
Come on, you’ve dealt with worse. Just don’t let go…
Over by the door, the worker finally looked up. His jaw went slack. His chest tightened so hard he couldn’t breathe.
Well, that’s it, he thought, watching his career fly before his eyes. There goes my job. Hello, homelessness.
A piercing scream snapped him back to reality. Seeing the mother protecting the baby while people watched made his body take over before his brain could protest.
What happened? Is she okay?
The worker pushed through the crowd, kicking up dirt as he shoved through the crowd. As he closed the distance, his eyes locked onto the fox.
As he got closer, he saw the fennec fox.
I knew I shouldn’t have let you out! Why didn’t I listen to my brain?!?
He lunged, wrapping his hands around the fox’s torso and pulling back with all his strength to release the animal’s grip.
The creature was surprisingly strong for a fennec fox, its focus entirely locked onto the woman’s arm.
With a final, forceful pull, the worker managed to pull the animal away. He held the creature out at arm’s length, trying to keep it from snapping at his face. The fox stopped struggling for a moment and tilted its head, staring directly at him.
“There, there. Easy now. I believe it’s time to take you to the hospital, hm?”
Despite his calm voice, his heart hammered against his chest. The boss really was going to kill him. He swallowed hard, inspecting the creature. Blood dripped from its muzzle.
Having missed the crowd’s realization while lost in his music, he was just catching up to the crisis.
Seriously, what’s wrong with this thing? Look at the eyes… it doesn’t even look like a fox anymore.
He shifted his focus to the frightened crowd.
“Hey, we need to get everyone out of h—”
The fox didn’t wait.
It snapped its head sideways, its jaws clamping down hard on the worker’s left thumb, breaking the bone instantly.
AGHHH!!!
