Permafrost Hollows Fight or flight

Tapeesa had forgotten some things about the rape. It was impossible not to; one didn't come back with their mind intact from something that graphic. She could not have answered what direction they came from or what the color of their eyes had been - they'd been warped into evil, twisted beings in her dreams. But there were some things that Uki would never forget. 

She could not remember when she first felt their presence. Idly, she'd been considering the pine trees - wondering why exactly they needed such vicious cones if their needles were inedible - when she first felt her hair stand on end. 

Tupilaq had paused, casting a wary silver eye over her shoulder. A soft sound had left her, a chuff, if there was any there to hear it.

Silence.

The girl had turned slowly, ears flattened with discomfort. The empath could sense a presence at her back but made no further move to turn, only picking up her pace as her heart began to pound. 

Snap!

She'd whirled then, at the sound of a branch broken underfoot only to be locked in the gaze of two beasts - descending upon her like a vulture on a carcass...

When Tapeesa felt her hair stand on end, she didn't think; she reacted. 

The tundrian, completely forgetting the fungi, scrambled away from her perch by the stream on shaking legs. She abandoned her mushrooms, unable to see the male watching her on tiptoe from the brush. 

"English! English!" They jeered between rotten teeth, salivating at the sight of Tapeesa broken at their feet. 

Cowering and half-hunched with panic, the girl practically dove into the long grass nearby, covering her head with her forepaws. Her silver eyes flickered wildly, lips twitching as if ready to bare her dire fangs at any second.