The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 18: Kyle

-Kyle’s P.O.V-

I could hear its erratic heartbeat as its huge, puzzled eyes scanned the area for the unseen threat. It knew I was there –call it a sixth sense if you will- so all its senses were in overdrive and the skinny legs that it balanced on were bent, ready to spring into a sprint at a moment’s notice.

The light brown deer was average size, with a slight limp in its left leg making it easy prey. I lay in wait roughly ten metres away, taking every step with the utmost care. My tail was tucked between my legs and my belly brushed against the soft earth, making no movement whatsoever. With my nose bent to the ground and my ears pinned back to my skull, I was poised and ready to pounce. I was reliving what I had done so many times before, and I was a master of the skill. Hunting came as a second nature to me and with my speed and strength there was no prey that I couldn’t catch.

I carefully lifted a delicate paw off of the earth and stretched it out a foot in front of me, placing it back down on the spongy ground without a sound. Every few seconds I would repeat the movement, slowly moving forwards at a snail pace, but keeping my eyes trained on the victim. With a careless swish, my tail brushed against a twig in the uncontrollable anticipation and excitement I had bottled up. The slightest noise did not go unnoticed by the animal, and its thin ears pricked up at the sound. Its eyes zeroed in on where I was prowling, and my nose twitched as I smelt the fear that radiated off of its tiny body.

It was now or never. My muscles tensed milliseconds before they sprung up with my pounce. I launched my body through the short distance that separated us and made a beeline for the nearest limb of the deer. Already predicting my move, the deer jumped lithely out of the way of my outstretched jaw by mere inches. As soon as it had spurred into action, it took off into the forest at a dead sprint and fled for its life.

I was on its trail in seconds, powering my legs to surge my body forward at an incredible pace. The deer was easily within reach, but where was the fun in that? Wolves enjoyed the chase, but I enjoyed toying with my prey even more. As the deer attempted to veer to the right, I drove it back to the left and steered it in the opposite direction.

The deer’s hooves pounded on the forest floor and little pieces of dirt flew up and into my eyes. I shook my head to rid the stupid particles from my vision, but by then I was falling behind in the race. The prey had already covered fifty metres ahead of me and I desperately needed to catch up. A low growl escaped my muzzle and I took off after the deer. By now my mouth was watering and I had grown tired of the game that I was playing. I just needed to sink my teeth into one of its legs and it would end.

The deer never left my sight, no matter how far ahead of me it was. Its movements were not thought through, and it clearly had no idea where its legs would lead it. All it knew was to flee from the blood thirsty predator that was stalking it.

I was catching up to it, but soon we were heading towards a major obstacle that I did not intend to come into contact with. I could hear the flowing stream gushing through cracks in the ground and the slosh of water as it coursed through the river bed. The deer obviously knew what it was doing, for it took a running leap and sprung over the five metre gap that separated both river banks. Without faltering, it continued sprinting away into the forest, growing smaller and smaller until it disappeared from vision.

I stood alone on the river bank, staring forlornly at the empty space that until recently held my prey. But I had to keep hunting the deer; the urge to kill was too strong. To give up the chase would be mean to my inner wolf, and it angered me that the deer had escaped so easily.

With that last thought, I took a run up and attempted to jump over the large body of water as well. However, my body was not as slim and weightless as the small deer, and gravity took hold of me before I could touch back down on solid land again. I splashed loudly into the river and struggled with the strong current. It took a lot of energy and muscle to power through the pressure of the flowing water, and I only just reached the opposite bank in time. Hauling my body out, I collapsed on the earth in exhaustion. It took a lot out of you to wade through water, especially in wolf form.