Chester Chipmunk's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Chester stood at the hollow oak where his primary cache should have been. The bark felt rough under his paws as he leaned in, confirming what his nose already told him. Empty. All forty-eight acorns, gone. He checked the scratches on the dirt floor — something heavy had been here, something that didn't care about his careful system. He moved to the backup site beneath the roots. The wooden chest he'd wedged there lay open, its brass latch bent back. Broken acorn shells scattered across the dirt in a wide fan. Chester counted them without meaning to. Thirty-six. The creature had crushed a full section while eating. His chest tightened. That was eighty-four acorns total, nearly a quarter of what he'd spent three weeks gathering. A trail of intact acorns led away from the tree, dropped carelessly every few feet. Chester followed it with his eyes. The prints in the soft earth were massive, each one wider than his whole body. Whatever passed through had left deep gouges, tearing up moss and flattening saplings. The trail disappeared into the darker part of the forest where the canopy grew thick. Chester sat back on his haunches and pulled the single acorn from his cheek pouch. He turned it over in his paws, feeling its weight. Last winter, he'd eaten his last seed on day four. This winter was supposed to be different. He tucked the acorn back into his cheek and turned toward the oak groves to the east. The system had failed, but he still had time to rebuild it. He just needed to gather faster.