Feral (bxb)

The Call

Orange eyes

I heard the sound. The command. The order. We were at war, I understood that at least; to kill the fanged humans. The howl echoed throughout the forest that I called home and across the whole country. We were all being called to arms, all being commanded to go to a certain area, ordered to converge on the royal pack lands. I pulled away from my kill, licking my muzzle, cleaning it of blood and letting out an annoyed huff. I had no choice but to follow the call, despite what I was. I looked down at the small deer I had killed, it's bones were almost picked clean, but I would need a lot more food to get me to the royal pack lands.

I guess I'll find something more filling and substantial on the way. I went to the closest drinkable water source and drank more than my fill. It would take many days to reach my destination. I would have to trek over hundreds of miles. I let out a breath of annoyance and started on my not so merry way.

My territory itself took hours to leave. I had managed to gain a lot of land for a lone wolf such as myself. I had a choice of all the food that lived on the land, all the fresh water and all of the dens I had fought tooth and claw to get it, scars littered the skin under my dark fur. I had drove off packs, rouges and even some ferals. It was my land, my home, and now I had to give it up. Years of hard work just gone. There was no guarantee that I would survive the war and even if I did it didn't mean that my land would still be mine when I got back.

I ran for days. Taking a break when I needed to. I tried to avoid humans and their densely populated areas for the most part. On day four I think of my trek I could smell a moose nearby. I was hungry. Only snacking on small animals like bunnies and martens, I was starving. I put my nose to the ground and sniffed in short bursts, letting the scent flow into my nose. Hmmm. Its close. I stalk the animal for a short while, sniffing the air to keep the scent, seeing where it is heading. I finally catch a glimpse of it. It's a large male, older. It's eating grass in a small clearing, facing to the side and slightly away from me. Perfect. I silently run up behind it, my large paws muffled by the damp soil and my thick fur.

If it want my first strike to count I really needed to aim precisely. Me taking on a such a large animal alone is risky and the chances of a single wolf taking down a moose is low, but I've been alone all my life, I've learned how to take down such a beast by myself. The wind is in my favour so it hasn't noticed my presence yet. I stalked around a little to the side and locked onto the spot I needed to bite; the jugular vein. I licked my lips in anticipation and sprung, latching my jaws around his neck and clawing with my front paws. Shredding flesh, muscle and the vein I was aiming for, the most important thing I've learned about taking down a moose is not let go. No matter how they thrashed, if I let go they could get me with their antlers and kick me with their powerful legs. I dug my teeth deeper and continued to lacerate with my claws and the animal slowly bled out, weakening, and eventually falling. As soon as it was low enough I reached up and ripped open the throat completely, cutting off its oxygen and it quickly died.

I eagerly tucked into my kill, it always tasted better after working hard for it. Killing bunnies had become easy, one snap of my jaws and crunch, done. Killing an animal such as a moose was challenging and exhilarating. I gorged myself on the large animal, feasting like it was autumn; eating until my stomach was fit to burst, like it was the last meal I would be getting in a long while.

After I had picked clean the moose as much as I could I left the other critters to finish off the bits I could no longer fit in my swollen stomach and sniffed out some water. Filling my stomach even more before finding an empty and unlived in cave to rest in. I could see why it wasn't occupied, it wasn't the best, the sky peaked into the cave through gaps in the rock but it would do. It was mid spring and it wasn't going to rain tonight or tomorrow, not that I minded the rain.