The Heartbeat of a Rabbit (and a wolf) ¡ soothalo

1. Dear, Rabbit

//blood, injury

There was something Bad always struggled with. And it was finding enough food. Finding shelter wasn't difficult to him, he was able to survive in the harsh, almost never-ending, weather.

Maybe to others, it wasn't that hard as almost everything in the snowy terrain was edible to them, but little to none of it benefitted Bad.

Worse part, he had to look out for predators; as being a rabbit cross (or hybrid as some would call it) didn't help him. Every predator cross he'd come by would always try to eat him.

Predator crosses were no-good, dirty, bloodthirsty meat eaters that did nothing but hunt prey crosses to consume.

Despite their biological need, Bad hated predator crosses. No matter if you were a wolf, a fox, a coyote, or whatever, predator crosses are never a good sign.

He'd never let a predator cross get to him, never again.

The snowy terrain wasn't forgiving either. The winter fog always obscuring whatever was behind it, the snow was cold and hard, it felt almost like iron in certain regions, and it almost never stopped snowing.

Due to the apocalypse's winter, the trees and plants didn't grow in the regions Bad was in. So, Bad was stuck on eating tree bark, and nuts for time being. He never knew his next meal, or when he'll eat.

He'll just forge on whatever he could find.

Bad continued walking, seeing all of the semi dead plants and trees. Most of the trees were either, already scavenged, chopped down, or burnt. Though, Bad saw a couple trees that were somehow growing in the winter apocalypse.

He quickly took his pocket knife from his leg holster, and jabbed it into the tree. Cutting away the outer bark to get to the inside of it. Quickly cutting the part he could chew on and storing it into his parka's pocket.

Along with the bark, he grabbed a few small branches, and tried to look for some nuts. He didn't want to waste his energy digging into the whatever layers of snow.

Nothing in this world was forgiving. And Bad wasn't going to let it push him down.

Bad quickly put away his pocket knife back in its holster and continued walking forward. He had to keep on going, until he could find a safe enough shelter.

The rabbit cross perked at a sound, immediately drawing his sword from the holster that was strapped to his back. He took a defensive position immediately, pointing his sword at anything and stand low level with it, looking side to side before walking in the sound's direction.

He saw a river that wasn't frozen by the winter. He even saw some fish swim by, occasionally jumping. Bad reassured himself, hoping his nerves would let him breathe for once.

Bad returned back to his original route, putting away his sword in it's sheath. He continued walking, making sure his breathing was quiet. He needed to hear everything despite his heartbeat's loud thumps.

He smelt something that was different from the river's water or the earthy scent of a tree. It definitely wasn't nature, but it wasn't unnatural either. Almost a homey scent, somebody has been here before. Whether it was recent or maybe two months ago, Bad couldn't tell.

The rabbit's footsteps were crushing the snow underneath him until he felt his foot go a little too deep, and suddenly, his vision went white with a loud SNAP.

Bad didn't know he had his eyes closed before opening them to the blinding white of the snow he had just stepped on. Then, Bad saw his ankle stuck in between metal jaws and slowly getting bloodied.