I shakily take the fox's forearm and bring it to my mouth. I open my mouth and try to take a bite, but I can't bite down. The smell and taste are already rancid, nothing like the cooked and tender meats from before.
Crimson Iron drips behind the teeth and onto a stunned tongue. I tense, trying once more to bite down, even the slightest fucking bit. Slowly, agonizingly slow, I bite down. The meat is surprisingly tough and the taste.
The taste alone is reason to stop. I try to pull back but also force myself to bite harder. Crimson iron and stringy toughness fills my mouth. Fully closed and only two ways forward, I chew down the meat.
Tears leak from my eyes as I chew again and again until the meat is ground enough to be swallowed. The aftertaste reeks of Death and Iron.
My body tries to hurl the 'food' I just ate and to make sure that I don't, I take a hand and cover my mouth completely. Vomit fills my mouth as it tries to remove the potentially bad food but it doesn't leave.
With great effort, I swallow the acid assaulting my mouth. Chunks and finely ground meat fall back down the throat and back to where they belong.
I look down at the single bite I had taken and the many more I would have to take. Steeling myself and my stomach, I take another bite, and then another, and another.
Slowly over the course of many, many agonizing minutes, I eat the entire front leg. My hands are caked in blood, seeping in under the nails. I can feel the splatters dotting my arms and chest, while the most amount of it is around my mouth; dripping from my chin.
Looking down at the bloody filled mess I've caused, a single thought runs through my head. I fucking hate this.
Turning away from the scene, I settle in under my shelter and somehow fall asleep.
-
The sun and sounds of rustling draws me away from uneventful sleep. Wide awake from the foreign noise, I slowly leave the shelter while looking for the sound. *Rustle… Rustle*
It's coming from the forward-right of me, where I left the fox carcass after my terrible meal. I look that way and see a giant creature, easily eight feet tall with a toad's bumpy skin. It's coming closer to the camp, lured by the smell of blood. I look left and right for my spear before realizing I had left it with the fox, same as that sharp stone.
While thinking of what to do, the creature lumbers itself across the creek's sides and with its right great arm, grabs the fox carcass. I stare on in both fear and curiosity as the creature bites the front half of the fox, bones creaking and crushing as it chews the prize.
It goes to take another bite but then stops. It sets down the latter half of the fox while taking in a great deep sniff while closing its eyes for maximum sniffing(?). I'm filled with confusion before realizing what it's doing. It's sniffing for me. Staying still as possible in some hope that it doesn't notice me. Though with a nose that takes up nearly half its face, that's not possible.
Once the eyes open, they're directed right at mine. We stare at each other in silence, but one thing was certain; I was Prey, and that toad was Predator.