Tundra+Fictional+Story

=Tundra Fictional Story= An Arctic Adventure

The cool breeze stopped me in my tracks as I headed out for my morning hunt for food. I stopped, sniffing the air with my keen nose. Yes, winter was definitely coming. I could smell it in the air. The sheep and caribou were already migrating south toward warmer weather-I could see the cloud of light fallen snow they kicked up with their large hooves. I was scared of those hooves. They could deliver a major owie if they decided you were annoying them. Continuing onward toward my breakfast haystack (in which I had cleverly stored some grass and other essential plants), I encountered a puddle. Being the curious and very thirsty creature that I was, I stopped for a drink. Bending over the small water-hole, I glimpsed something moving in the water caught my eye; something extremely tiny and quick. I leaned closer. "Hey, if you lean //any// closer, you might as well just jump in." I jumped at the small, squeaky voice jeering up at me from the shallows. At first, there appeared to be nothing there in the water, besides the water itself, that could have talked to me (and let me tell you there are times when the water //speaks.// Not even joking!). But then I spotted the tiny protist that was glaring up at me from the glistening water. There are times when I've been surprised. Heck, my "surprise" birthday last year succeeded in surprising me //so// much that I nearly fell off the cliff my house overlooks. There have been times when I've been surprised. But this, talking to a microscopic organism floating in a puddle, topped my list. "Who...are...you?" I managed to stammer out, recoiling a little at the sheer notion of talking to a protist. "Hey, my name's Bob. And seriously, I'm not that scary." I calmed down and started to warm to the little amoeba. He was kind of cute. "Sorry, I...I have to go. I haven't eaten breakfast yet, Bob, and I'm STARVED!" I drew the last word out for emphasis. I didn't realize how much I needed breakfast, even after only 2 minutes of talking to a psycho amoeba. So I said good day and continued along the cool morning soil. I had always hated walking in the morning, to wherever I was headed, for the reason I was such a target. The tundra was not a safe place for tiny animals such as myself, for there were many things lurking behind every rock and stone. Such as Chief Chuck himself, who was an expert at finding the best hiding spots to scare small creatures like my best friend, Berny the ermine, or me. We were just so...vincible. He could eat us whole in a single bite. I found Berny eating a plump liverwort near the haystack. He grinned a toothy (and liverwort-y) smile at me as I grabbed a piece of grass and the stem of a liverwort and began chowing down. His small, pale green eyes searched me. I think he noticed that i was still shaking all over from my morning encounter. "Are you ok? You seem kinda...well I don't know... just out of it," Berny questioned me as i grabbed another fist full grass to stuff in my mouth. I considered about telling him about my walk over here, but I decided that he might think that I'm a little crazy in the head. I just gave a short, subtle shake of the head and continued grazing, if you could really count eating four strands of grass //grazing.// Once I was so full I thought the rest of my organs were going to get a personal fireworks show, I lay on the grass next to my best friend (and turned against my instinct) and began relating my journey. He listened intently to my tale, nodding occasionally and squeaking out a "Mmmhmmm," every so often. Once I was finished, I waited for his reply. He stuffed more grass into his mouth and said something so fast that, with a mouth //that// full, I could barely even tell he said anything. "Chew...and swallow," I cautioned. Once he had done just that, he smiled at me. "I said, cool." He got up on his stubby little paws and dashed a few feet, then turned toward me. "C'mon, slowpoke, we have to go chase caribou now!" I laughed and dashed off, following my best friend toward the moving dust cloud on the horizon.
 * //Teka//**

I watched Teka run behind me, her little paws making a //thud// on the icy ground. I laughed and ran toward the caribou, following the icy dust cloud that their hooves made. I waited for Teka to catch up once we were within a few yards of the //humongous// animals. "1...5....2....GO!!" We sprinted quickly toward the caribou herd, nipping the spot right above their hooves that they hated. They snorted and pawed the snow, then took off like a lightning bolt, heading for the thin ice covering the lake. Laughing and panting, we watched the caribou fall through the ice. They headed for the bank, still snorting and looking very frustrated.The caribou looked around and spotted us on the dirt laughing and rolling around. they scuffed their hoofs on a large rock and darted towards us. I glanced at Teka who seemed terrified and stared with bulging eyes.I stumbled up, now with a cramp from all the breakfast, and grabbed Teka's paw. she quickly jumped and sprinted ahead of me. "Teka, wait up!" "Hurry, there gonna get you!" Teka said as she looked over her little furry shoulder. "Look, a hole. Quickly get in!" I heard Teka's voice but couldn't see her anymore. I stopped and looked around and all of a sudden something brushed my leg. Jumping around to look at what had touched me I was pulled under into the dark. "Hello?" I asked nervousely into the dark. Teka replied with a great big hug telling me how happy she was to see me alive. In the middle of our reuniting, a deep growl emerged from the back of the darkness. Still holding on to each other, shaking all over, we turned and saw two golden circles in the far back of the hole. "Why hello," came the deep grumbleing voice of Cheif Chuck, the top dog of the Tundra to us smaller animals. "LUNCH TIME!!!" That was all we heard as we ran out of the hole, sprinting for our lives but we didn't get far. Up above us was Cheif Chuck's sidekick, The truck, the eagle. Still running for our lives we made it to a flat grazing ground were the sheep had obviously been at one point, for all the grass was gone. I slowed down as my breakfast was catching up with me. I watched Teka turn around to make sure I wasd still behind him, but he stopped altogether when e saw that i had stopped. "Hurry, come on!" "No, I can't make it, go on without me!" i called to him from behind. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was not about to leave me there to die. so i walked slowly in the direction of a large rock. I knew if I made it I could hide under it. i was still looking up at The Truck though and tripped over a small tree branch. "OOOOOWWWWWCCCCHHHH! Help, Teka I can't get up!"
 * //Berny//**

//**Teka**// I raced over to my wounded friend and inspected his leg; it was definitely broken. I knew he couldn't get up so I grasped his paws and tries to pull him onto my back. But he was to heavy and The Truck dove at the two of us. I dropped him and jumped out of the way. He swooped down and grabbed Berny between his massive talons. Up in the air I could see Berny struggling for his life. He thrashed around, nipping and scratching at The Truck's feet. The sun was slowly setting in the sky and it was glaring down at me, blinding me from the fight. All of a sudden I heard a high pitched screech. I squinted into the sun and saw my friend fall from the sky. I turned away quickly so I would not have to see this horrible sight. THUD!! Berny landed on the ground shaking all over. I rushed to his side too make sure he was ok but once i laid eyes on him I knew his time was near. "Teka...I just wanted you to know that I lo..." Berny said in a small, raspy voice. I reached out and took his hand as it fell to the ground, motionless. Motionless, nothing was moving, my best friend was gone, gone forever. I looked into his eyes and shut my own as I saw the pain and torture in his eyes, but also the love way deep in the back. I just couldn't believe it.... Then a streak of vengence raced into my heart and mind and it overwhelmed my better judgment. I stood up on my back legs and put my paws up as high as they would reach. I looked up at the blueish-gray sky and to The Truck. He found my gaze and stared at me with fierce, deadly eyes. "Why do you have to be like that? Huh?! Why do you have to go around killing peoples best friends? I have known Berny since my first day out of my burrow as a tiny baby pika! Why do you have to be such a bully?!" He stared at me harder and it sent a chill down my spine but that didn't matter now. He had just killed my best friend and I will never be with him ever again! I hated him before but now all I want to do is have him disappear forever and never come back! All of a sudden, I saw a large arctic rabbit rush in and out of the bushes. The Truck looked at the rabbit and then at me. "The rabbit is a much larger meal and I am hungry. So, I will get you later squirt. Be ready to face the darkness." With that he screech and flew gracefully towards the rabbit. I dropped to my knees and cried my heart out. I'll even bet that the bacteria in my digestive track were filling up my stomach with tears. I couldn't bear to live my life without Berny. He was my best friend and I loved him more than the best brother in the world. My life was over. I am going to end my suffering now and find Berny in heaven and we will be angel best friends, I thought to myself. I searched around a stick that was so sharp that I cut my tiny finger. I placed it carefully on my chest. I drew in my last breath.I was about to end myself entirely when a small head popped out of the tufted saxifrage cluster behind me. I froze with fear with the stick still against my furry body. It came out a little farther and I found that it was a polar bear cub. "What'cha doin'?"

I looked at the tiny pika. "Wathca doin'?" I repeated. The tiny creature dropped the stick she was holding and stumbled backwards. She bumped into a white figure on the ground and flipped over it landing on her back. I rushed over to help and found her eyes almost bulging out of her head. "Ple...plea...ple...please don't eat me!!!!" I stared at her funny for a moment and thought this through. "I am NOT going to eat you- I'm a vegetarian, silly. I now I'm a polar bear and all, but I only eat plants. Polars bears don't eat plants, but I like them better than meat." With that comment she sat up and looked at the creature she had tripped over. I saw a tear drip down her fuzzy cheeks. I looked at the white animal and found it to be an ermine. He appeared to have a broken leg and he had three holes in his side. I gasped as I found the connection between the events before. "Let me guess. He tripped and broke his leg, The Truck came and grabbed him but dropped him to the ground,then he died and you two are best friends?" She looked at me and burst into tears. And I'm talking about waterfalls of saltiness.She wailed and I knew exactly what to do. I walked behind her and sat down. I took my right paw and put it in front of her and picked her up carefully and set her down right next to me. She stood up, turned around and buried her face in my thick fur. We sat there for about ten minutes untill she sat down a snuffled. She wiped her face. She looked at me. "My name is Teka and this WAS my best friend Berny the ermine. Without him I have no life and no friends. Except for a phsyco amoeba I met this morning. Whatcher name?" "My name is Goergie and I lost my parents to full grown tapeworms. They actually died yesterday and I have no friends as well as you. Do you want to be my friend?" He looked at me and smiled. I even saw his expression brighten a little. He snuffled again and said,"i would like that very much. Thanks. Can I ride on your back though? It has always looked like fun and that was one of the things Berny and I wanted to do someday." I nodded and she crawled onto my bck and plopped down on my neck. She was so light that I could barely feel her sitting there. I stood up and she gasped. "What about Berny?!" I had an idea so I picked him up and placed him right behind Tika on my back. We walked for about an hour to the place where I had buried my parents. Teka gripped my fur and slid down my shoulder. She landed without a noise on the still frozen and cold earth. She looked up at the sky and snuffled a little. She walked over to where there were two large rocks-my parents gravestones. When I looked at those rocks, the air got colder and the earth was still. Nothing seemed to move, not even the wind blew. I slid Berny off my back and I lay him on the ground. l With my sharp claws, I dug a hole that could fit three ermines and Berny. I picked him up and placed him in the deep hole. Teka stepped closer and hopped into the hole. She reached down and hugged Berny as tight as she could.
 * //Goergie//**

//**Teka**// I stood up again and looked at my lost friend. I was never going to see him ever again. At least I had Goergie as my new friend. MAybe we can be as good of friends as I was with Berny. I climbed out of the deep hole and looked back at my friend ermine. I glanced up at Goergie and nodded. He took and paw full of dirt and placed it over Berny. He continued untill Berny was completely covered. I took the small bracelet of grass off my tiny wrist and tied it around a stick. Goergie took the stick and twisted it slowly untill it was deep in the ground. Berny had made that bracelet for me during the short growing season. All the greenest grasses were growing in the meadows. It lay there on the stick and swayed in the wind. I would never SEE him again he would always be with me in my heart. That was kind of cheesey... But it is true. I would always remember him no matter what happened... Goergie sat down and stood up again. "Come on we need to go. If you saty in one place too long, The Truck and Chief Chuck will find us. Even with my size I am scared of them." I nodded and felt my eyes well up with tears as I looked at the grave. My best friend was still gone, there would still be a hole in my heart the size of Berny. But I knew one day I would see him again. And for now, being friends with a psycho amoeba and a baby polar bear was enough. Georgie nudged me with his massive paw. I wiped the salty tears now running down my cheeks with the back of my paw and clambered onto his back. Holding onto his fur, we galloped away, away from his parents and my friend. I watched the three grave markers recede in the ditance until they were no more then specks on the horizon.

She was sad, I knew that much. Every few minutes I could feel one of her paws let go of my fur to bush away a tear. I couldn't help but sniffle a little with her too. The fact that my parents were gone broke my heart. But hers was probably broken also. I decided right then we needed to do something fun together. I headed straght for the caribou herd that was slowly getting closer. I felt Teka grip my fur tighter. "Where are we going?" she shouted above the rushing wind. "Fun," I cried over my shoulder back to her. "We're going to have fun."
 * //Georgie//**

I watched the two playfully chase the caribou around the ice hole. "That polar bear sure is a good caribou chaser," I thought to myself. Watching the two from the sky was a lot better than watching from the ground. I wished I could hold Tika's paw again though, chase caribou with her and to just be with her. I wish I had the courage to tell her how I felt about her before I died. To tell her that I loved her. I wished she could see me, up here in animal heaven, rather than just imagining me being buried under countless pawfuls of dirt. But that doesn't matter. Now that she had a new friend, everything would be alright. I stretched my wings and flapped them a little before taking off. I knew, even if I went down there to Earth, she wouldn't see me. but maybe she would feel me... I swooped down to land beside her. The polar bear cub had placed her on one of the charging caribou's antlers while he ran beside. I looked at her, and since she was looking at the setting sun behind me, it almost looked like she was looking at me. She peered harder, as if she could realy see me, but I knew it was only a reflection of my wings bouncing off of the glorious sun setting behind me. Tika relaxed and smiled, letting out a whoop of joy and exhilaration, I smiled too. That's what angels are supposed to do, make you feel better. So I looked forward and, even though no earthly animal could hear me, let out a whoop of pure joy so loud that it filled the entire sky.
 * //Berny//**

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