Redhawk Caldera The Dance at the Gym

The scent of blood was everywhere... some of it hers, a lot of it Bronco's.  Fennec's growl turned feral and Bronco's call registered too late.  She was on a one track goal now... shove this thing to the ground.  Pin it, end this.

But it moved again.  Someone had shouted 'no'.  Alyx?  She felt her stomach twist with overwhelmed frustration.  When it came to a fight that was one on one, Fennec knew that she could at least track her opponent.  When it came to a multi-angled one like this, she just.... couldn't.  She couldn't worry about them.

End this now.

She threw herself on it one more time.  It was preoccupied with the easy prey in it's jaws and did not attempt to dodge, so Fennec's adjusted aim hit home.  She tore at  the back of its neck and her teeth bit in deep.  The cat yowled and presumably released Alyx... its back was defenseless, and with three of them, even an easy meal would kill it in a matter of moments.  But Fennec didn't let go.  Instead she pulled the animal sideways and tried to leverage herself over it to hold it down.

In doing so she learned a very important lesson that had gone unheeded the first time. The cougar's claws hooked into her underside, low on her ribcage, and began to tear downwards.  It was only by sheer luck of the terrain, something that Fennec's move failed to account for, that she fell sideways off of it and landed heavily on her uninjured side. The powerful hind claws lost contact just before they made contact with her softer underbelly in a move that, without a doubt, would have eviscerated her.

She staggered to her feet and snarled as shock and fear overwhelmed any rational course set before her.  Fight and you die.  Run and you die.  So she did neither, and instead bared her teeth to join Bronco's show of force.  She'd never been that consciously close to dying before and she was vividly, terribly aware of it.