The Hunt

The Hunt

            I padded softly, quietly through the woods. Leaves and twigs crackled underneath my feet, muffled by my fur. I stepped gingerly over a branch, careful to not step on it. I sniffed the air, and smelled my brothers, sisters, and friends in the air to my sides and behind me. We were moving perfectly synchronized, a well oiled machine meant to kill.

            I stopped quietly, and pricked my ears. I heard the rustling of wind through the trees, the soft and gentle babbling of a stream, and mice moving through the leaves. But it wasn’t wind, water, or mice we were looking for. I felt the wind pushing playfully against me, meaning we were down wind. I sniffed the air, and smelled my pack again. But there was something else, something more appetizing.

            It was a deer! I started running through the woods, my pack behind me. We never made too much sound, hardly a noise was made besides the quiet growling that some of us uttered. We came upon a clearing, I saw a deer, it didn’t see me yet. My heart was pounding, I came to the clearing, but I was on a ledge.

            I lept, and time seemed to stand still. It seemed like hours were going by when it was seconds, and I was slowly moving through the air towards the deer. The wind shifted as I leaped, it smelled me, turned towards me, and right as I was upon it it bolted. My teeth missed it by a hairs width, and as I hit the ground I started running.

            The rest of my pack had already jumped behind me, and followed my lead. The two directly behind me came up so they were even, and diverged to either side of me, with one third following one and one third following the other. That left me with four wolves including myself. I knew they trusted me with everything, and I trusted them.

            We pounded on, not caring what noise we made now. I let out a loud, blood curdling howl that would shake the very foundation of the deer, knowing what it was dealing with. I saw it up ahead, dodging through the trees and jumping bushes, trying everything it could to escape.

At this point the other two would be at least side by side with it, since they had taken easier paths. We were almost caught up to it, when it bolted to the right. We turned and followed it, leading it right into the other group. I knew we were up wind from them, so the deer wouldn’t be alerted to their prescence.

We came upon the other group, and they all turned towards it. The deer tried to turn left, but it was too slow. I jumped on it first, going for the throat. The rest of my pack that was with me quickly jumped on it, and the other third got here shortly after to join in. We tore it apart, and when we were covered in blood we let out another howl, this time a victory howl. A howl to rock the rest of the woods to their cores, to know that there’s a deadly force among them, that will tear them down.