Blackfoot Forest sick cycle carousel

Being rather inexperienced when it came to hunting, and being so focused on her pursuit of the fox... around that tree trunk, then another, then under the snapped weight of another and around one more... Zombie wasn't paying attention enough to notice the signs that would alert her to another wolf's presence. All there was in the world was herself and the fox, predator and prey—and, of course, the great hunger that drove them all.

She was filled with rage. Once, not so long ago, she had lain down in the wide meadow just outside this forest and waited for death. It would be a relief from the hunger she had felt all her life. In death, she would abandon the world—it would no longer abandon her. Somehow, all of that was changed by the female called Jinx. The young wolf that had bid her to fight, not die. The young wolf that had demanded a blood oath in return for unwavering loyalty and protection.

And Jinx had gone.

The fox darted around another tree trunk, and Zombie snarled in rage at that and at the thought of the leader that had abandoned them. She flew around the tree's base in pursuit, only to find herself seconds away from crashing into someone.