Finding Atlas

Hunting Time

  I ran through the forest, weaving through trees, hurdling over fallen trunks. I've never felt so alive! Then I stopped like driver slamming on the breaks. And I whiffed the air, something smelled tangy, savory, and...soft. I started to smell the air again, inhaling deeply, letting the scent fill my nose. Then it hit me, food...Rabbit! I started up again, sprinting as fast as my legs would take me, paws pounding hard on the ground. This was it! I was finally going to get food! I followed the scent, then screeched to a stop, I sniffed the air again, and found out it was about 14 feet away, under a fern-ish shrub, a male, and was shivering with fear. Great just great. I was going to have to kill a hopeless animal, an animal who was trying to just get by and live.

  I trotted up and sniffed the fern with the rabbit in it. "Uh hello".  The bunny squealed" Don't eat me, don't, don't, PLEASE!" I sighed,"I'm not gonna eat you, but I am hungry." " Thank you great husky, thank you for letting me go!"he sighed, then he got ready to hop away. I put my paw over his tail," Uh I didn't say anything about leaving." "HELP!! HELP!! I'm gonna be eaten!!!", he started to squeal again. Oh god, I thought to myself."Look you know this forest right? So you can help me get back home."Oh no man, the humans are faaaarrrr away from here."he sighed. " What! But I didn't run far from home!" "What? Why would you run from your home and humans?" "Look, it's a long story, but I need my humans! Please... just help me...please..." I stood their tail in between my legs and head bowed down. "Well, I could help you for one little favor..." Oh wolf, here we go, I thought. "What is it?" " Protect me from the feral cat." Now this was just weird. I cocked my ears, and panted,"what's that?" "She goes by the name Simonia" "OK yeah! Deal, I'll do it!" "I'll right lets roll".

  It'd been 6 1/2 hours since I found the rabbit, who's name I did not yet know, and I still hadn't had food. We had covered alot of leaps. Then the rabbit turned his head while hopping and said," Oh by  the way my name is Sagittarius." "I'm Atlas", I woofed. "Mice?" "What? How'd you know I was hungr..." "I can tell, you're like an open book, easy to read." "Wait...what are you gonna eat?" "Mice. What else would I eat?" This bunny is freakin' crazy "Umm grass, you know, it's what other rabbits eat!" "No I'm not that kind of rabbit anymore", he said that and looked away... like he was hiding something... "So where are they?" I whined "About, 350 large leaps away..." he snuffled.

  We had finally got there, and at first I didn't see anything but trees and ferns, but then he cocked his head at a big thick fern and told me to breath in to scent them. And let me tell you something, I've never smelled anything as good as fresh live mice in my entire 1 year of life... Sagittarius leapt into the air and pounced on top of a mouse then just ripped into him...while he was alive..."This is good... you try catching one." "Okay..." I crouched into hunting stance, balanced my weight and sprang up and landed on top of a brown field mouse, I stood their on top of it, sad that it's life would soon come to an end... I gently teared it's soft sweet, tangy flesh and it fell still. I ate it until it was just a few scraps and bones, then hunted another one, and did the same.

  After hunting it was beginning to grow dark, me and Sagittarius lie under the giant oak and birch trees, bellies plump and satisfied.