Redhawk Caldera Suicide

She wasn't thinking straight as she pelted across the borders of the caldera, making a beeline up the familiar slope she hadn't traversed since the previous fall. Wildfire was a little bit out of her mind at the moment, in no way equipped to cope with what had just happened to her, to make sense of or process it. Instinct and muscle memory compelled her to reach desperately for the love, familiarity and intrinsic comfort of her Redhawk family.

Abruptly, she stopped, halfway to the rendezvous site, as if she had run into a brick wall. The scents of her parents, godparents and brother filled her nose and suddenly fear choked her. Still partially out of her head, Wildfire spun to begin racing back down the hill, the back of her neck bearing the marks of teeth and blood matting her hindquarters.