Anyone
The day was peaceful in the glade. It was too cold for crickets or amphibians to sing. Their song was replaced by the chilly whisper of a creek. Sofi stepped cautiously through the ferns, careful not to let them brush too heavily against her fur. She used the noise from the water to sneak across the forest, ears forward, eyes watching for any unlucky small animal.
A small rabbit, its coat fluffed full for winter, nibbled on grasses beside the creek. Sofi waited. She stalked. But, at over six yards away, the smart thing to do was to close in as slow as possible. Hunger drove her forward a few steps too far, and the rabbit noticed her movement.
Sofi launched after it, but it didn't take long for her quarry to blast away and into the thick ferns. Frustrated, the coyote follow the scent and found the burrow it had disappeared into. She dug at it for several minutes before her legs grew tired and her toes cold. She yipped in defeat, a noise not unlike a barking dog.
Sadness began to overwhelm her; a dark cloud covered her thoughts.
Prey is getting harder to come by, even when the pack works as a team, and she feels the known grumble deep in her stomach. It doesn't yet prevent her from her daily activities and once in a while, she'll still wander out of the territory. Even after two of their leaders had been attacked, there is an urgency about not going alone. Unable to find either Lagon or Jazz, she meanders north of the territory into one that leaves a weird chill over her shoulders.
The grove hasn't been a territory she's come across before so she absorbs, attempts to memorize what she can, but eventually a strange bark catches her attention. Root lifts her head instantly, looking forward a few bounds, and catches the scent of a coyote up ahead.
Instantly, her mouth waters and she works her way through the snow covered foliage. She disrupts most in the way of her path but the scent gets stronger and she starts to slow down, calculating her movements to a silent approach. She remembers the first coyote she ran into here, as if he had some place in her pack, and she couldn't help but hope the same very one is only a few more feet away and down for a chase.
Root launches forward.
Hunger consumed Sofi, but she needed to regain her strength before pursuing another meal. Little did she know that she herself was being stalked.
The coyote was a sitting duck, waiting for the world to let her escape its dark grasp. An image of her homeland came to her: an arid prairie, dotted with shrubs and the occasional tree. She was almost glad when interrupted by the leaping wolf.
The last time a wolf had moved toward her, Sofi had nearly been mauled. Thus, fearing for her life, she sprung away from the animal as quickly as she could. She did not get a good look at her attacker, and was not sure she wanted to. To her knowledge, she was not on anyone's particular territory. This was "public" land, open for her to hunt upon. Then again, if the wolf wanted to claim it for herself, the coyote was not about to stand in her way.
Sofi yipped and hollered in fear, tail tucked beneath her, her spine coiled. She could easily be caught; she was far too weak to be faster than any wolf.
When she barges forward, the coyote takes off. She hadn’t expected anything less. Dark eyes narrow in, searching for familiarity and she realizes that most coyotes tend to look alike. At least to her. This one seems smaller, though, narrowed from winter, and even lighter in fur color and she’s surprised by the few seconds it takes for her to jump to the conclusion. Her loping form takes a few large lunges, forcing the little canine forward through the snow before she comes to a stop.
Root’s chest heaves, forcing breath out in front of her face, and begins to pick up a trotting speed to circle her way around. The distance the coyote covered by the time she’d stopped is surprising and she picks up her own speed, darting through the snow once more to close the distance.
Death followed her at every turn. She encountered not a kind word since her arrival. A wolf was lunging at her, bounding forward as if tormenting her with its sheer size and speed. Like a cat with a mouse in its grip, the wolf stopped to allow Sofi to run further, then resumed the chase and closed that distance with ease.
"Please, no!" She yipped in distress.
Sofi could hear the sound of ripping flesh in her mind. For a moment, as she ran, she was certain it was her own. As she turned to look at the wolf, she realized it had only been her imagination. Yet the sound began to replay in her thoughts like a disk caught in the laser's path. Over and over it played.
"Don't hurt me.."
Catching up to the coyote took a matter of seconds but the shrill yip forces her to slow, thundering to a stop in gallops. Perhaps more confused than heartfelt, Root tilts her head and watches the coyote move further away from her. Prey had never yelled at her or begged for their life and the weird game Root picked up a few minutes ago for the chase fed away. The voice is far more feminine than the other coyote she encountered so her chasing had only turned into greed.
Root shakes her head a few times, trotting a few feet forward but she doesn’t expect the coyote to turn around and face her.