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

2. Deep End

// gore mention, blood, injury, death

It almost felt as if Bad was floating in water.

He wasn't scared or worried. Just floating in water, breathing the fresh air on top of the reflective water that hid more secrets than the darkness itself.

The world was so calming. Everything was still as Bad floated in what he assumed was water. He felt his eyelids close seeing the skies clear up to the sky blue.

"Bad!"

As soon as Bad opened his eyes again, he was in the snowy lands. The cold trying it dig itself through his clothes. He lifted his hand to see his white parka sleeve protecting his arm.

Then he saw another figure soon come into view. He was obviously a kid. Maybe preteen. He had black hair, blue eyes with black scleras, black to ash-brown pointy ears on both sides of his head, and he was wearing an oversized varsity jacket that was black and white with a flame symbol on it, blue jeans, and black running shoes.

"Bad! Get up! I didn't know I would hit you so hard with the snowball," The boy looked guilty.

The rabbit cross smiled as he got up and pat him, "It's okay, Sapnap. I'm okay."

Sapnap's ears were pulled back from obvious guilt, his tail was slowly tucking in between his legs, and he occasionally licked his lip nervously.

Bad knew Sapnap was a coyote cross. Bad knew that Sapnap could go berserk one day and kill him because of their role as prey and predator.

He knew this.

But, that didn't stop him from adopting Sapnap. He only knew the boy for a year. Bad knew he can't keep trying to raise him.

Carnivores can't keep being on a vegetarian diet, if Sapnap continued eating Bad's diet as Bad didn't know how to hunt for fish or any rodents correctly, he'd eventually be too weak to fight other crosses if he had to.

Occasionally, they'd be lucky to find any stuck or already dead fish or rodents for Sapnap to eat, but, Bad can't gamble on Sapnap's diet.

Bad wiped away the snow that still stuck to his hair and ears, getting up on his feet.

He looked at the ravenette, "Hey, Sapnap. Let's continue looking for some shelter, okay? The night is about to set."

Sapnap's ears went back up as he smiled with his canines showing, "Okay!"

The duo started walking in a direction they randomly chose. The coyote cross holding Bad's hand as they walked.

Bad could feel something watching him. It was a spike in his instincts as he looked around. It didn't take long till he saw a deer.

This wasn't part of the memory.

Full animals don't exist in the world anymore. The only way that Bad knew about full animals or full bloods as textbooks said, was because of books. Nowadays, they're extinct. Except for fishes, and rodents.

This deer had both of his antlers broken. One more damaged than the other. He had a darker nose while having various colors of brown, dark mocha, and white cream swirled for his coat.

He was standing next to a bird. A bird that wouldn't have survived through the years of the cold apocalypse. Having blue exotic feathers that had white and yellow as accents on his face. He was just perched on a nearby tree.

Suddenly, Bad couldn't feel Sapnap's hand anymore, a feeling he, unfortunately, has gotten used to. Then, Bad felt the saddening familiarity of fear. Not just fear, but the feeling of being hunted. They always say that familiarity was good, but familiarity wasn't what Bad was used to in terms of good.