Great Bear Wilderness in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold and blood and flame

the quicker girl races off, and urias waits one, two, three seconds before he's off too, feet beating against the ground, lungs alive. the rest of the herd screams and scatters, but their target, flailing and moaning, does not. it takes one, two, three leaping strides for him to catch up. the girl has her teeth inches deep in the armpit. blood sprays from a nick in an artery.
he buries his teeth in the shoulder of the elk, opposite to scylla. the crunch of bone breaking makes him wince inwardly, but he does not let go as he tears chunks of flesh and muscle apart, as the old elk continues to scream and as its eyeballs roll endlessly in their sockets in misery and pain.
a hoof grazes his side. if he'd been an inch to the side he'd have several broken ribs.
the thought of such danger fills him with breathlessness. he bites down harder. the elk is beginning to die, slowly but surely, as its flailing tapers off into a silent struggle.