An End to Crime
This was the result of a writing exercise.
The news had spoken so much about the threat of war that no one took it seriously any more, but it distracted attention from people like her. The farm house was isolated and old. The storm miserable as it was had covered her tracks, and taken out the phones. It also covered her sent and any slight noise she might make as she entered the barn. Tonight she would sleep in the barn and tomorrow see what the house had to offer.
This barn was like every other barn, drafty and cold. If it was like most barns in flat country it would have a cellar, and with only a little looking she found the entrance to the cellar and the light. This would be a good place to spend the night in some comfort. Her fur and coat would keep her comfortable through the night, and the curing hams would feed her. She could not stay here long, even with the storm it wouldn't take her pursuers long to find this place. But that would take several days, and she would be long gone by then. In the mean time she could get a good night's rest and some traveling money.
During the night she awoke to a distant, thump-rumble that repeated two or three times. The second one took out the lights.
In the morning she listened as the farmer and his sons came to the barn, started the generator, and began their chores. Nothing unusual, but something was missing.
By lunch time she had counted about six in the family and recognized them as pigs. Not by habit, but species. That would explain the immaculate nature of everything, and ended any ideas of getting physical with them. Pigs weren't dirty, but they were irritable, and as a fox she had no wear near their strength. Better to just stay hidden until the storm blows it's self out, and quietly leave.
The second day and the storm continued to rage. The bothersome absence was explained by a conversation she heard in the barn above her. All the chickens had died during the first night. The cold probably, but they should have been alright in their coop.
The third day only the boys came out to the barn and their conversation suggested the parents were both ill with something, and the dogs didn't come with them. The wind had stopped but it was still too cold for travel on foot.
By the fourth day most of the cats were not right and the boys sounded scared, they spoke of how Grand Pa had died and Ma and Pa were getting worse and now all the dogs were dead. The weather remained cold.
The next day no one came to the barn until the generator quit working. Then a teenage girl came and fussed with it a short while before giving up and returning to the house. With the storm past it was time for the fox to move on, but not before checking out the house and barn for anything that might be of help. When she came out of hiding in the caller the two horses whickered at her from their stalls. She ignored them at first, to search the barn for anything of value that would be easily carried, but the horses continued to whicker to her. To get them to be quiet she climbed up to the loft and pushed some hay down to them. In the process noticed that they had no water. Thankfully the water hydrant in the barn still worked. With water and hay the horses quieted down. While she was at it she fed the cow to keep it quiet.
"Help me." The fox nearly bolted at the sound of the young woman's voice. "Everyone is sick, I can't wake my parents, the phone still doesn't work and I don't know what to do."
Experience told the fox it was time to leave, but try as she might she couldn't just leave this girl to her fate. If she had lived a 'normal' life the fox would have had children of her own about the same age as this young pig woman asking for help. Together they finished the chores. Inside the house both parents had died during the night. They buried the parents and grandpa in sandy soil too dry to freeze. A month later the women buried the younger brother next to his parents. The older brother survived but didn't really recover. He could tell the women what to do to put in a crop but could not help much with the work.
Eventually the radio stations came back, and life slowly found a new normal. The brother and sister never asked the fox who she was or where she came from. She never told them and no one ever came looking for her.