Quickly, while you still can

( @Finley @Somnia maybe?)
Tempest was happy. Last night had been amazing, she laughed just thinking of it. The peppered fae was gnawing on the carcass of a rabbit, a couple days old but still good enough to satisfy her hunger. As she chewed thoughtfully, she thought of Mikael and Elwood. She had had feeling for the gentle brute at one time, but those had faded. They were just friends. Mikael, on the other hand...

She buried to remains of the rabbit for another time, her hunger sated. She then sat up and let a melodious howl slip from her throat, in a bid for company.

You called? ^.^

Somnia had been nearby, trying to find some food of her own when Tempest announced her need for company. The grayscale wolf paused in her tracks, trying to decide whether to keep hunting, or go to Tempest. The later one won, and her paws carried her to Tempest.

"What's up?" Somnia questioned, tail wagging in a friendly manner.

Tempest stood and wagged her tail in friendly greeting. "Hi Somnia" she greeted the fae warmly. She walked forward and smiled at Somnia before speaking.

"Last night was amazing. I think I really like Mikael." she told her eagerly, tail wagging. She smiled again, before asking Somnia "Wanna go explore or hunt or something?"

Tempest was full of energy from last night, she felt like she would burst. She spun in a quick circle, eagerly awaiting Somnia's reply.

Tempest voiced her opinion on Mikael. He was alright, as far as Somnia was concerned. She didn't have anything against him, it would just take a few more encounters to form more of a friendship. "Glad you two are getting along." She said with a smile. Although the grayscale female wanted to get the Counselor trade, which required problems to be present, it was a good thing in itself that problems weren't present.

As for doing something, "Yeah. I'm up for hunting anytime! Maybe we could find a rabbit warren and chase them out, eh?" If Tempest really wanted to explore, Somnia wouldn't mind switching to that, but hunting came first out of the two.

Tempest quickly agreed. "Know any good places?" she asked, tail wagging. She wanted to do some sort of hunting.

It was left upon Somnia to come up with a good hunting place. "There's a little bit of a forested area around the eastern border. You want to check there?" An area with trees seemed to be the best place to check, rather than wide open slopes where the prey would be more vulnerable to predators.

Tempest nodded. "Lead on" she said to Somnia. She stood, alert and excited.

At Tempest's words, Somnia started walking towards the location. It wasn't too far away, so the journey was quick when taken at a slow trot. When they reached the wooded area, she halted. She then scented the air, trying to pick up the scent of any prey. "You smell anything?" Somnia asked when she failed to scent anything.

Tempest pointed her muzzle toward a a medium sized shape moving slowly through the underbrush. She stalked closer, and realized it gave off a strange smell. One of sickness. She wrinkled her muzzle and turned to Somnia, wondering what to do.

The smell definitely wasn't a good sign. When Tempest looked at her expectantly, Somnia said, "I don't know about you, but I don't want to risk getting whatever it has by eating it. What is it, anyway? It looks to big to be a rabbit." She then took a step back, giving the creature some room. It could be dangerous if it was diseased. Not because the two wolves couldn't handle it, but because some diseases could be transferred just by being bit.

Tempest took a couple steps forward, contrary to what Somnia was doing. The creature was red, and as Tempest got closer she realized it was a small coyote. She was about to tell it to get out when it turned to face her. She gasped. It's eyes were wild, rolling in it's skull. Its mouth was foaming, and upon seeing Tempest it growled and charged, only to stumble and fall a couple feet away. Tempest slowly backed up, calling back to Somnia as she did, not taking her eyes of the maddened creature. "Somnia? It's a coyote, and I think it's rabid."

(I thought some drama would be exciting.)

Not exactly sure where Lake Rodney is, except it's on the 'far side' of the Caldera from the discovery threads. I don't know which side is the far side. X_X

SHIT! This wasn't good! "Tempest, get the fuck away from the rabid coyote!" It was quiet as to not draw the coyote's attention, but the urgency was there. Another thing that went through Somnia's head that she didn't voice was, I don't want to have to kill you if you catch rabies. It wouldn't be a good thing if anything caught rabies from it, wolf or not. If it found a victim there would be more rabid creatures near their home, which meant that they not only had to get it to leave, but they had to kill it to prevent the spread of rabid creatures.

"We have to kill it, but we can't get close, which means we need to indirectly kill it, get it to drown itself or something." The nearest lake would be Lake Rodney, the lake near the one edge of the caldera. If they could get it to give chase, they could lead it to the lake edge, make a sharp turn while the coyote didn't have time to stop, so it would continue running and run onto the ice. The ice wasn't strong enough to hold the coyotes weight. Somnia knew that from when she fell in herself. Now it was a matter of whether to involve other pack-mates or to do it themselves. "Tempest, see if you can find another wolf or two. I'll stay here and watch it."

Tempest quickly backed away from the thing, which had suddenly jolted and started to shake. Somnia gave voice to her thoughts, and Tempest trotted a distance away before lifting her muzzle in worried and urgent howl. She called for all the members of the Caldera she had met so far, wanting someone to get here quickly.

@Peregrine @Elwood @Finley @Ashton @Mikael @Grimm

When Tempest's urgent howl went up, Elwood was quick to respond to it. He flew down the mountainside, accelerating when his paws hit flat ground. The trees blurred around him, until both Tempest and Somnia came into view -- along with the reason for the alarm.

A rabid coyote paced nearby, panting and slobbering a short distance from his friends. Elwood slowed to a halt next to the two females, his yellow eyes fixed on the crazed animal. "What's the game plan?" he murmured in a low voice, watching as the coyote twitched and jerked uncontrollably.

Mikael was dozing in the morning sun when an urgent howl rang through the caldera and for a moment, Mikael didn't know who had called but it was familiar. He rushed down the slope, dodging trees until he cleared into the open space and saw the owner of the howl.

As well as a dangerous, slobbering, rabid coyote.


Suddenly understanding the full reason for the alarm, he joined the small group planning.

Rodney is to the Northeast of the Caldera :)

Had Fin not heard the girl's call from much earlier, she might never have arrived in time to be of any use when the second call for help came up. She had been meandering her way lazily across the Caldera to see what was up, nothing else having been all that intriguing enough to distract her. But at the sound of urgency and fear, she had picked up her pace to make an excited beeline straight for the caller.

When she came upon the scene, she was not alone. A few had already gathered, all of their faces pointed towards a coyote while it seemed to have a seizure for their enjoyment. Fin cocked her head and slowed as she joined the crew next to Elwood. "Drown it," she said simply as she stopped, "Lure it into the water, bash it on the head and hold it under till it stops twitching." Without getting bit... she added in her mind, confident that everyone already knew that little tidbit. She glanced to her sides at her packmates to see what they thought of the idea.

As contrary as it was to the young doc, he didn't think he'd be gettin a howl from the gal he met on Caretaker basis, but turns out, she was calling. And it sounded pretty urgent.
Well, there goes the chance of sleeping in, today.
Yea, yea. It's for a good reason, I'm sure.
Ain't that what ya say for all the babes?
Just shut up and run.

So run, he did. Kicking into lightin mode, he zoomed from his home, straight pathing the retro journey to the callout.
There's something in the air,...
"Don't take what doesn't belong to you."
Huh?,...wait,..no...no...hell no...
"It didn't have to be this way."
It's not. It sure as he'll better not be...
"Death."

Ashton skidded to a stop, this time managing to not face plant into the floor, but it was nothing short of rugged. Ignoring the sight of everyone else, his eyes fell upon Somnia.
However, without budgin, he addressed the party, breaking his stare between the rabid mammal, and his girl.

"Is there anyone who's been bitten? Anyone? Bitten, or scratched?"

If his nightmare was comming to life,..that just might be Death's way of saying 'I told ya so.'

Thanks Stevie! :D I'm also gonna say, if no one minds, that out of the two types of rabies (One paralyzes and the other makes animals vicious,) it has the type that makes it aggressive.

Somnia turned around for a moment when the scents and sound of new arrivals came. Tempest had managed to conjure four of the other Caldera members from their daily tasks. That meant there would be a total of six of them. She snapped back to watching the rabid creature as it demonstrated its madness for them.

An eyes focused on the coyote, ears focused on the others, Somnia answered their questions. "No, no one's gotten bit, and I plan to keep it that way. The game plan would be what Finley said. We have to get it towards water, and Lake Rodney would be closest. The ice should be thin enough for it to fall through if it steps on the ice. Getting it to chase us to the lake and making a sharp turn before it can stop should achieve that. But, the lake's still a ways to go, and I don't want to take any chances with its stamina somehow being greater than one of ours. So even if it ends up unnecessary, I want us to take turns having the coyote chase us one on one, so that none of us tire and fall victim to it. Since there are six of us, each of us can cover one-sixth of the distance from here to Lake Rodney. I can cover the first sixth, Tempest second, Elwood next, then Mikael, Finley, and lastly Ashton, who can cover the last sixth and run it onto the lake by making a sharp turn.

"Anyone not agree with this or have questions? I can delay the coyote before Ashton gets into place, to make sure I don't start running until everyone is ready. Ashton, you'll just have to let out a howl to let me know when you're in place. If you don't have any questions, get into place! And make sure you're in the open so that the runner before you can see you!" That was a lot of words. Hopefully no one disagreed with them, for the rabid coyote was looking eager to start too. It took a step forward, foam falling from its mouth. Somnia took a step back, careful not to run and trigger any chasing reflexes in the creature.

"Be safe everyone." It was a whisper to herself that no one else could hear. If anyone caught the disease during this, Somnia would never forgive herself.

Oh, and I purposely put the order of the wolves in our posting order to make things progress easier! ^.^

Tempest nodded to Somnia and whirled around. She touched her muzzle to Mikael's side briefly, and loped away to her position. She stopped when she could just barely see Somnia, and stood calmly in the snow, all senses on high alert.

Elwood wasn't the only wolf to respond to Tempest's call. Within just a few minutes, there was a small group assembled. Mikael, Finley, and Ashton had joined them, all with various comments about the situation, but it was Somnia that took the lead. Following Finley's suggestion, she laid out a plan for them to follow, each of them assigned a specific task. Elwood nodded his understanding, then pivoted and loped to his position.

Somnia would be first to run with the coyote, followed by Tempest, and then it would be the Beta's turn. He measured out the distance carefully, keeping an eye on the rabid creature while he did so, then paused and waited for Somnia to put everything into motion.

aw crap! Sorry @Mikael I swear I checked if it was my turn, I'm just a dumbface :(

Ashton was the last member to arrive, and suddenly it seemed that their little party was complete. Somnia instantly took charge of the situation and gave them a run down of exactly what needed to be done and how they would do it. The dominant beta in her rose in protest at the girl's bold move at jumping to the lead, but Fin's better sense told it to ease up. This was a dire situation and no time to fuss over rank. Besides, before she'd ever been named beta, she likely wouldn't even have noticed the "insubordination". She was just being bitchy that day, I suppose.

Finley being an unfortunately simple-minded and independent creature could not make any sense of the plan Somnia pulled together. The need for them to assemble some sort of relay race seemed overly complicated and unnecessary to a wolf who'd gotten herself into far too many scrapes with dangerous characters to count. She'd rarely ever needed someone else's help to get herself out of trouble, so the thought of all six of them working on taking out this one little sickly coyote struck her as absurd. Overconfidence and an innate need to show off before such a large crowd of her peers told her that she could easily take on their enemy, especially since it was suddenly looking even tinier and more helplessly frail than ever. It was probably a good thing so many were around to keep the wild beta in check at that moment, otherwise the Caldera would soon have two scrawny rabid things to contend with.

But no one complained, everyone instead just moved into their positions, and so the bold beta did the same. Fin cantered past Elwood to pause a good distance away and then turn and wait, pondering over all the ways she saw this going wrong and wondering even then if she shouldn't just spring forward and take on the rabid coyote herself. She was too far away at that point to be able to reach it before Somnia put her plan in motion, however, so she tempered her impatience and settled in to proceed with whatever came next.

We skipped Mik?



Ash gave a swift headshake to the greyscale girl, his analyzation of the rest of the pack members complete. After everyone broke off besides him and Somnia, he looked dead at her, all the concern he could put in his serious emeralds being displayed from his heart, he spoke across the distance that seperated the both of them.

"I'm just letting you know, Som, if you catch this, I'm hitting bottom floor with ya, babe. Because I damn sure ain't lettin' you suffer alone."

And with that, the handsome golden teen gave her a swift lick to her cheek, and parted ways, heading inconspicuously to his spot, and praying to Death Himself, that he would give him more time.
With a firm footing in his ground base, the hippie let up his muzzle, and gave the bark-howl that signaled he was go.

@Finley *sadface* :) It's all good and yep, you guys skipped poor Mikael... Meanie poos!

Mikael watched the gaunt, twitching form of the coyote as the instructions were passed and a plan was hastily, but carefully, concocted. There was foam gathering at the edge of the coyote's muzzle, wide eyes that were filled with insanity and pain rolled in it's head and it seemed fit to dash forward at any moment, wreaking a terror upon them. If it bit any of them... Despite having two healers nearby, himself and Ashton, there would be very little they could do. Any animal, once rabid, had all their options narrowed down to two choices. You either died from the rabies, or your pack killed you where you lay.

It was the most humane option of any other.


He nodded to the instructions relayed to him and returned Tempest's soft gesture, allowing swift paws to carry him to his position, as he waited for the inevitable chase about to occur.

Everyone seemed alright with her plan, and quickly departed. Now, all Somnia had to do was wait for Ashton's call, and then run. However, the rabid coyote didn't feel the need to follow those terms. The movement of the departing wolves must have riled it up a bit, for it made a shaky lunge towards Somnia. She jumped backwards. Somnia tried not to move away too far, for she didn't want it to chase her before they were ready.

The rabid coyote took a few steps forward, and Somnia took a few steps back in the direction of Tempest. What wasn't long at all seemed to take hours, and all the while Somnia was trying to avoid getting close enough to get bit. Finally, Ashton's howl went up. Somnia took off.

Was the coyote following her? Somnia slowed a little and looked behind her. Turns out it was, but just had a bad start. She sped up, adrenaline and terror fueling her. The creature could run pretty fast with being in pain and madness.

Before long, Tempest came into view. Somnia quickly caught up to the girl, and ran a little ways in front of Tempest for a few seconds, to make sure the coyote's attention switched to her. Then, she veered sharply to the side, ducking behind a few bushes. Tempest and the rabid coyote flew past her.

She stood still for a few moments to catch her breath. But then, Somnia took off again, following Tempest and the coyote from a distance. She was also to the left side of them, running past trees and bushes that would keep her out of the coyote's sight, should she even manage to catch up. This was her plan, so she was going to make sure it worked without anyone contracting the disease.

[size=xx-small]Oh shit, sorry for making you all wait![/size]

Feel free to write, i am writing my post. She just leads the coyote to Twiggy, and nothing to exciting happens