Hushed Willows refraction;faction;ultra-action;hunter;interest;bullet;market;

and then a big dark shadow appeared. well, no—dark. . .and light, too? like a mix of mum-shadow and shadow-thing, and totally unfamiliar to him. he gaped at its approach, and squirmed away when the muzzle drew near, whimpering and trembling. he even peed a little; he felt it trickling down his rear legs, though he couldn't put a name to the sensation just yet.

it was just. . .so close!! why was it so close? nobody but mum-shadow and shadow-thing, and his smelly siblings, got this close. were there more big things like this? would he ever know them by any other name?

cam stared at the thing with round, fearful eyes, waiting for its next move. golly, he wouldn't have made such a grand escape if he'd known what lurked just outside the den!