Ouroboros Spine nature of life on earth

The way Sialuk's voice hitched made Meerkat want to cry. In fact, tears pricked at her eyes. It was painful enough hearing this information, she couldn't imagine living through it. She blinked hard, the tears falling free, and jammed a fist toward her mouth when a noise somewhere between a cough and a sob escaped her.

Sialuk had invited her to stay here, which might be a good idea. Hopefully there were other survivors and they would find their way back to one another and regroup. But Meerkat couldn't fathom staying in this strange place and waiting. It would hurt like hell to go see it for herself, yet if howling hadn't drawn them out, then perhaps someone needed to go in.

She sucked in a breath suddenly when another realization hit her: the wolves of Moonspear and maybe even Firefly Glen were homeless now. Of course, on the coattails of that knowledge, Meerkat knew she would never be truly homeless. There was always Redhawk Caldera. Bitterly, she remembered how she'd already considered leaving the glen to go there.

But first things first. "I need to go and see," Meerkat said in a voice pitched so low, it wasn't even quite a whisper. "I will call to let you know what I find." Before she could think better of it, she surged to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly as she surged forward and touched her nose to Sialuk's neck, murmuring, "Take care of yourselves." With a final cough, she turned toward ground zero.