The Lone Rogue

1

(Unedited)

My breath came out hard and fast, being squeezed harshly back and forth through my lungs. My feet ache as my bare paws trudge through the snow relentlessly, my throat hurts from the cold winter air entering through, I ignored it easily already used to it and somewhat relishing in the pain, a sign of life, to remind me I am alive, that I'm still here. My paws push the snow away with their sheer size and force, like a beast, somewhat possessed with the thrill of the cold.

I turn my big head, looking back slightly I see the four wolves from the pack's land I had intruded on. They are fast, But I am faster, after three years of surviving in the wild I had become one with it and learnt to use it to my advantage rather than look at it as an obstacle. Being a female is nothing but a label, if anything an advantage to deceive those who believe they can cause damage, like the cocky young wolves behind me who believe they are able to catch me. I easily out run them, my pure midnight fur appearing as only a blur to the untrained human eye, I know that it once was something beautiful and silky, as if I was meant to be something else except a wild animal something beautiful, instead it is caked with dirt, blood and scars.

As though out of nowhere, another grey wolf jumps out in front of me, I am caught off guard and stumble slightly. With no hesitation I steady myself ready to attack. Assessing the now five wolves I conclude that I cannot keep running without confrontation, I must eliminate these wolves quickly, before the rest of their obviously weak and oblivious pack come to realise a rogue has intruded upon their pack lands. They now surround me growling and bearing white teeth. Immediately I bend my head low to the ground, my fur and tail up, letting out a deep growl showing them I won't back down. Without warning I whip to the right, head low and rip a chunk of the wolves throat out, his jugular vein along with it. Before they can register what had happened I move to bite the leg of another wolf, he howls in pain and falls to the ground, I silence him as I crush his skull within my jaws. The next three are on the forest floor and dead within seconds, without a second glance I sprint in the direction of the border.

Though I could fight of many wolves at once, I cannot fight a whole pack and certainly not without filling my stomach.

With food on my mind and instincts to survive I push hard to get out of pack lands and find somewhere to hunt. The winter has been harsh and my body that had once been filled out with muscle had depleted, my ribs prodding out dangerously. I am an animal, my main concern is to survive and even thrive off the wilderness around me, to trust no one. I must stay strong and continue to search for food in this barren land. The animals have gone into hiding with the cold and winter making predator numbers lower. To survive you must be strong and work with the wild, become one with it and rely on nobody.

Coming to the edge of a clearing I crouch behind the brush, careful to make no noise. Through the cover it provide's I wait for any sign of life, instinct preparing me for the chase, for the kill. After what feels like hours, though I know its a lot less, hunger making me fidget, I finally spot something. A small rabbit hops out curiously from the forest looking for food, completely unaware of its fate, and with the last bit of energy within me I burst out. The rabbit's head lifts up in alert noticing me, it sprints away, fighting for its small life, putting all the effort it had left into escape, although it was not enough, winter had taken its toll and I was able to clamp its small bones in my jaw, within seconds its warm blood was dripping into my salivating mouth. I stalked over to the base of a tree and dropped down next to it with my kill. Even with the one thing my mind had been on for days within my grasp I did not let my guard down, I devoured the rabbit whole within minutes, all the while my ears perked up and listening for any threats, other rouges, they can come in groups, nothing like a pack though as they work together for their own benefit, the winter can be unforgiving and a group provides more chance of survival, something we all fight for.

After allowing the food to digest in my stomach I am up once again, on the move, always moving as to avoid capture from a pack or anyone willing enough to venture into these woods. I get up, my body protesting with the movement. Descending from the mountain range I had been on I slowly make the journey down grudgingly, it is safer here but food is scarce and I am forced to search new land.

As I walk further into more uncharted land I discover different sounds and smells good or bad I do not know. All I know is that I can't go back, in the years I have spent in the wild this is the most jarring winter I have encountered. I had experienced more, death than ever, but not by my own hand, this was mother natures doing, even maybe the moon goddess. I had seen body's of not only deer and other animals, but also wolves, the week ones who weren't able to find food, those who has been exiled from their packs and they had always been sheltered, relying on others to help them, and instead they had been punished for their mistakes by something that doesn't care for their innocence or naivety, mother nature and her cruel reality. And as I come closer to the edge of the forest, closer to the loud noise and intense smells I see people, what looks to be a small town. There are groups of them, small children clinging to their mothers hands and pointing to things in the buildings. Big machines roll around on hard ground in some kind of organised form and people come out of them, blissfully unaware of the beasts that may lurk in the woods around them, smiling and laughing. Children shriek for attention, partners press their faces together, and machines make loud noises when they nearly collide. How do they look out for danger, they do not seem to care, do they have people on patrol, do they make these loud noises to attempt to scare things away. Is that why the children shriek, it must be a warning.

The sight of the cramped spaces and so many people unnerve me, reminding me of the past, the yelling and grabbing and pushing. I know that these are humans, their bodies are week with no muscle, they are small and a werewolf standing next to them would show just how inferior of a species they really are. The thought of werwolves in this amount makes my stomach knot and I pay attention to the think scar on the side of my hind leg. I close my eyes and shake the thoughts away.

The sun begins to lower heading behind the moutons in the distance from which I had came from. Snow starts to fall from the sky and I can feel the temperature begin to drop. I need to find a place to sleep for the night. I trek as far away from the town as I can before it gets too dark. deciding that I will not be able to find a warm enough place to sleep for the night and instead I curl up next to a tree trying to conserve as much warmth as I can for the night ahead of me. Leaning my head down and closing my eyes I keep my ears perked up and alert, ready for any danger that might dare come within distance of me.

I wake with a start, my eyes wide and alert. The sky is lit up by the moon glowing brightly on the land below. I look across the snow filled woods only to see lights in the distance, they move around one in front of the other in the night each revealing a machine like the one I saw earlier, they must be traveling on a hidden track I haden't seen before, I lift my nose and identify werewolves within the machine, without hesitation I get up instincts telling me to avoid them, hoping they have yet to notice me.