No Laughing Matter.

Chapter 2

I was awoken from my light slumber by small sharp teeth on one ear and a small cackle in the other. I barely open my eyes and one of the cubs is staring directly into it. I nudge them with my nose and lick their little mohawk. I stretch and slowly rise as Zar falls from my ear and growls lowly his back arched and then he pounces on one of the smaller ones, I give him a growl in warning. He stops and whines before rubbing up to me. They all must see me as a mother figure after the several moons we have now spent together. I know Zar has brief memories of his real parents, but they have known me for a while as I was the babysitter when the hunting parties were out. I have always been a part of their lives but now more so than ever I am all they have.

I look outside and see that it is dusk, I head towards the mouth of our little den and look back at the cubs sending them a mental picture to stay here and wait. We can somewhat communicate telepathically but because of their age I hope they understand and listen. I can't take them with me until I find food because it's far too dangerous. I suppose I could take them and find water? I know there is a water hole around here and my area doesn't have any water-based shifters or creatures, so it is somewhat safe. I cackle at them and they all stop whining and run directly under me and begin to nuzzle my legs affectionately. If they stay under me, we should be fine. We'll just maybe stay in this den for a few days. I'm tired and this smells of the safest place we have come across so far.

I slowly make my way out of the front of our temporary home and sniff the air. There is a scent of big cat and antelope, but they are not fresh, still worrying though. I can't stand up against a pride of lions or a small pack of wild dogs. I can barely go up against a fully-grown antelope. I was never taught to hunt or forage or anything, I was a stay at clan member. I am a small hyena even for male standards. My mohawk makes me appear even younger and that probably still wouldn't stop a hungry predator.

As we are now making our way to the water, I focus on myself and the cubs a quick headcount and we are all still here. I can smell the water after several moments of travel which is even longer due to the small steps I have to make with cubs under me. As we near the water hole I also smell blood, it's old and that's good for us. I called Zar back as he had begun to speed up to stay under me. We arrive and I drink my fill forcing the cubs to also drink even though they want to find the food that is close by. After we have all drank days' worth of sandy walking, we begin to follow our noses to the area of blood. I have been leaving my scent so we can find our way back to our den soon. We can't risk running into anything alive right now, we haven't eaten and I'm still tired from being on this journey.

In front of us is a half-eaten zebra that has flies buzzing around it and the stench of death is thick in the area causing all our stomachs to make loud noises and our saliva to drip. The children run ahead and immediately begin to naw on the remaining meat of the bones of this previously killed animal. I sit back and keep watch until the children have stopped attacking viciously and I move closer and grab a femur bone and begin to make my way through that, halfway I break apart other bones into smaller pieces and spread them out for my cubs. It's easier to think of them this way now who knows what will happen and I have grown very attached to my new cubs. I return to the bones eating them all. Bones, marrow and hooves are all being eaten. Us hyenas are good for that.

We are now all full and happily quenched. I feel proud of myself for the first time in several days and it's a good warm feeling. I found food and water and shelter for my clan. I'm providing for them and keeping them safe. I fear we may have to find another clan though. I don't think I can do this all by myself.

I gather the children again and lick the blood from the places they could reach. We begin the trek back to our new den, everyone now in higher spirits and feeling good. I follow my urine trail and soon we are so close I can see the mouth of our small home. The only problem? I can also smell predators and they are not long gone. Maybe we won't be staying here for very long after all. The cubs can smell it too because they gather together more under me. I reassure them with a quiet cackle.

We enter the den and I scent outside of it just to be safe we move further back into the damp dark hole and gather around each other. We are in a fluffy hyena pile with me on my side and the cubs cuddling into my fluffy navel, my tail surrounding them. I nuzzle each of them so none of them feel left out. The only girl has moved up to under my chin. She is one without a name and I have in my own head deemed her Aria. She's mine now so when she shifts, I will ask if she likes the name.

I settle in and wait until all the cubs breathing have evened out showing they have dozed off before I let my thoughts begin to turn to that of my parents. They were killed long before the elephant attack and I barely knew them, my birth giver was out hunting and was kicked in the head dying instantly and my other parent became depressed at the loss of their mate and ultimately died of depression. That's another difference between us and non-human shifting hyenas, we have mates given to us from the gods. You may never find your mate and then if you are a birth giver people will fight for you or you mate with the strongest to produce strong cubs for the clan. I was raised by all the mothers of the pack like most of the cubs are. Now they are all dead or at least I assume so I got out of that situation before I could check all the bodies, I had to get the cubs out.

Now here we are four hyenas three of which are cubs and one with no real-life experience. I sigh heavily and lay my head on my paws to attempt to get some sleep before we hunt or move again tomorrow.