Depraved Lullaby

Chapter One.

"ZIRA!" Kuruka's voice strained above the squalling intensity of battle. All around her, wild dogs were tearing into flesh, and her pup was not within sight.
All-out war had ravaged their land without mercy. Kuruka had, for several months, held livid disagreements over who had a right to the hyena clan's territory. It seemed that there had been some confusion about whether or not the painted wild dogs were within their rights to take the land, and it all had fully come to a bloody head.
It was a massacre.

Zira, however, had not gone deaf to her mother's cry. The cub let out a wail to her as she fled from her hiding place among scraggly bushes, willing her paws to carry her quickly and safely over the hills. If she could only run fast enough, she could make it...
"Mother!" She called back tearfully.

It was then that the young hyena felt a paw slam down hard against her back, and she fell with a sharp yipe, her legs crumpling underneath her uselessly with the opponent's immense strength.
Without hesitation, the cape dog ducked his head to make an attempt at clasping his jaws about her vulnerable throat, but Zira writhed. Making her voice well and heard, the pup screamed and thrashed, paws making well-placed attempts and efforts to knock away her captor.
Try as she might, though, Zira knew quickly enough that she was just too small to free herself. That truth came in the form of searing pain and blinding heat as she felt fangs rip through the sensitive flesh of her ear, tearing out an entire piece. Blood cascaded from the wound among many others to soon form on her body from the ordeal. She was not going to make it.

I'm going to die...! Zira thought to herself in horror, faced now with the full gravity of her situation. No one was coming to save her, and those jaws were inching closer to her jugular as everything seemed to shift into slow motion...

⋆⁺₊⋆ 𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆

Zira woke with a start, finding herself momentarily floundering on the ground. Looking around, she found only several other hyenas sleeping nearby or keeping a watchful eye over those otherwise unguarded.

But it wasn't her clan.
Not her original clan, anyway.

Shaking herself off, the adolescent gave an exasperated huff. It had been seasons since the painted dogs had taken away her clan — Since the night they had slaughtered every one of them, apart from herself. Settled with an undoubtable and rather unshakable survivor's guilt, Zira had never understood why it was that she'd been spared in the end when so many others were not; only recalling the lead dog's authoritative bark to have her released and claim a triumphant victory. Nonetheless, she'd taken that opportunity, of course — Fleeing with what little of her life she'd had left in pursuit of... Well, wandering herself into a great starvation. A painful, bleeding, and weak starvation of infected wounds and feverish illness.
That was until Shenzi found her, at least. The then young and inexperienced matriarch had found Zira on a patrolling mission and taken her in with little hesitance; she was welcomed and nursed back to health without much questioning.

Zira scanned the horizon of their cave — an ancient elephant skeleton that provided ample room for most of the clan. Outside, she could already see dawn's light filtering in through the cracks in bone and gaps of natural decay. As she inhaled, the air felt stagnant and musty as ever.
Making a vain attempt at shaking away the remnants of her past for the moment, the hyena stepped over one of her sleeping denmates on her careful journey outside. She gave a glance to Ed and Banzai, whom were standing guard, then continued onward with intent.
On mornings like this, she usually secluded herself. She sat among the many crevices and cliffs, paws picking their way cautiously to avoid being impaled by stray bone shards in the ground. Tiredly, she lowered herself so that she lounged with front paws hanging off of one of the shortcliffs and stared out over the distant plains.

There was peace here for the moment. It was a bittersweet peace — One where hyenas struggled to find substantial prey while other occupied lands lived harmoniously.
It made her sour.
A fury gnawed at her gut like it did on most days. She wanted more than anything to right those wrongs, and had said as much openly. To be banished to the far corners where none dared venture was a sickening, unjust situation. It should have been justified to rip open the throats of those occupying rulers in retaliation. She would have been more than happy to do so.

She was broken from such thoughts after only minutes when a familiar face fell in beside her, sitting quietly. Kimya, one of her clanmates, had come to join her, watching the sunrise.
At first, neither said anything, and scarcely exchanged a glance. Zira bit her tongue, itching for a sharp comment to send the other running back to the hole he'd crawled out of.
I don't need your pity. Her inner mind snapped in aggravation.
It seemed just that whenever she secluded herself these days, Kimya had to be there, making his eventual arrival to sit in silence like some sort of irritating sentinel. They rarely spoke a single word to one another, yet here he was, constantly following her around. It made her fur bristle and her skin crawl.

To her surprise, however, he spoke that morning, making no eye contact.
"I heard Shenzi talking to Banzai last night."

Intrigue sparked faintly in the back of Zira's mind, and she couldn't help but lighten her expression some as she looked to Kimya.
"About what?" She questioned. She hoped that the mutt wasn't just making a dull attempt in conversation — That he actually had something notable to offer.

"She said she was meeting up with someone," Kimya elaborated. "Someone called Scar. She told Banzai that she's thinking about bringing him around to the clan. I don't know who he is — but you didn't hear it from me."