The pups walked away from the cave, following the stream, their usual happiness masked by despair. The rain poured down, drenching their coats.
'We need to find shelter somewhere. It can't be good for us to stay out in the rain like this, and the humans have probably already left the area. We should be safe for now.'
The pups found a hollowed out tree stump that could provide a bit of shelter from the rain. Pulling the rabbit in after them, the three curled up next to each other, pressing against each other as if to preserve their warmth… or to help ease the trauma of the past events. Soon they drifted off into sleep, and it was morning by the time they awoke.
The sun shined down from above, making the dew covered plants sparkle like jewels.
Fern grabbed the body of the rabbit and began tearing into it. Soon all three of the pups were scarfing down the meat, replenishing the energy that they spent dragging it the previous day.
After their meal, Ash led the pups into the woods. They would have to find a better shelter, and they also needed to make sure there were no predators around their new home.
Wandering through the towering trees, the three pups were on high alert. The smallest noise would make them jump in fright, sending them running to the nearest tree.
^I don't think this is how wolves are supposed to act. Wolves aren't even supposed to be able to climb trees!^
After wandering for hours, the wolves still couldn't find anywhere suitable for a home, but they also didn't encounter many living animals. Occasionally rotting animals could be found on the ground. The humans had over hunted the forest to the point that no animals dared to peek their heads from their hiding holes, not even to scavenge the meat left lying by the wasteful human hunting party.
All of the meat was too far spoiled to be eaten by the young pups. Their immune systems were too weak for the dirty, rotting food, and sickness at this time would spell doom for them.
'They are killing everything, but they aren't eating any of the meat! Are they just killing everything for fun? The only things they seem to take from the bodies are pelts, so why kill everything that moves?'
'Also, how did we have so little food back at the cave? Surely the adults could have snatched some freshly killed food left by the humans, right?'
Roth shrugged, but then responded.
^I'm guessing humans killed that adult that went missing a while ago. The others might have been too afraid of getting close to humans, and finding a fresh kill would mean they are too close for comfort. They probably ran whenever they got close to a human.^
The wolf pups didn't have the luxury of hiding, they needed to eat again. After searching for an entire day, the three were once again starving.
The three pups stalked through the woods stealthily, trying to imitate what they had seen the adults do in the past. Their target? A squirrel was hopping around on the ground in front of them. It was watching the forest dutifully, but it couldn't sense the incoming wolf pups. 10 meters… 7 meters… 5 meters…
The wolf pups slowly crept forwards, with Ash in the lead. They moved forward at a snail's pace, stepping carefully so as to not make any noise. The thick underbrush obscured the squirrel's sight and soon it was almost in pouncing distance.
Suddenly, the squirrel sat straight up, sticking its nose to the air. It quickly turned and bolted up a tree before Ash had a chance to react.
'Ah! I need to pay attention to what direction the wind is coming from if I want to ambush something. I guess we won't be eating tonight because of my mistake.
Dispirited, the three pups found another hollowed tree stump to sleep in for the night, curling up and trying to ignore the hunger eating at their stomachs.
The next few days passed in a similar manner. Prey was too scarce, and everything in the forest was on high alert. During the three days, the group of pups was only able to catch a single squirrel when Oak climbed a small tree, discovering a shallow squirrel nest with an unsuspecting occupant.
The meat from one small squirrel was hardly enough to satisfy the growing bodies of three young wolves, and they grew desperate for food, wandering further through the woods each day.
They were unknowingly getting closer to the human hunting party with each passing day.
'Roth, how long can we keep going on like this? If we don't start finding food soon, we are all going to starve.'
^Not very long. We need to find some way to hunt, but everything in this forest is too attentive. Even if we go downwind of our prey and make no noise approaching it, is always seems to notice us before we can jump on it!^
Roth didn't take over their shared body very often, letting Ash have control over it almost all of the time. He wasn't sure why, but he felt content to just be an add-on, an extra voice inside of Ash's mind to provide him company.
'Yea, I wish i had paid more attention to the adults and tried to learn how to hunt from them. We wasted too much time playing around learning to climb trees… well, I guess it did save our lives, for now at least.'
^Well, the adults mostly hunt by chasing prey until it tires out and can't run any further. This won't work for us though, all of our potential food is too small and has somewhere to hide that we can't reach.^
Suddenly in front of Ash, who was lost in his own mind, Oak stopped and went into hunting mode.
Potential prey had been spotted!
A small hog, most likely a baby, was in a little clearing in front of the wolves, its family was nowhere to be seen.
In the face of a fully grown hog, adult wolves might have to back down, let alone the pups, but this one was quite young.
It was large enough to provide a nice feast for them, and while it would be a challenge to take it down, it wouldn't be impossible.
The three wolves spread out, surrounding the hog before slowly converging on it. The pig had no idea its life was about to be threatened, and was calmly rooting around on the ground.
All three of the pups managed to get within pouncing range of the boar without it noticing. As soon as it put its head down towards the ground, the three sprung on it at once.
Ash was the largest of the three wolves, tackling it and knocking it down. Oak helped hold it down while Fern went for its throat, tearing at it, trying to end the fight before it had any chance of running.
The pig squealed, throwing Ash off from his back, but Oak kept it locked down long enough for Ash to join back in holding it down.
The longer the fight went on, the weaker the pig's struggles got, before it finally remained still.
The pups stepped back, admiring their prey with looks of satisfaction on their faces.
'Finally, a turn for the better! This thing can feed us for days!'
The three pups were starving, and immediately dug in, too distracted by their newly acquired meal to pay attention to their surroundings.
A group of humans had heard the squeals of the dying pig, making their way towards the source of the sound.
On their arms, insignias resembling two birds holding an arrow could be seen.