Aurora winced and looked away as Marissa swallowed the decaying rabbit. "I highly doubt that that was a good idea," she said. "You may end up sick later, and I already have a pup to care for... one who seems to be dying. I'm beginning to regret picking him up in the first place. What are we supposed to do with him once we get to the den, anyways? It's not like we can feed him. So what do we do?"

Bo looked away in shame. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so old... I'll have to repay my debt to you anyways, so I'll go hunting for all of us later. I live right around here and know a place that might have a squirrel or two if we're lucky.." He finally looked at the pup for the first time; it was a small, sad thing. He wished he could think it was going to make it, but he wasn't that optimistic.

He looked back at Aurora and Marissa. "How did you two even end up in this sad excuse for a forest, anyways?"

"Yeah, I don't think it was great either... on the plus side, I'm not going to be eating for the next three days or so."

Marissa thought Bo's offer was sweet, but there was very little chance that he could follow through with it. She'd help with the hunts anyway, she needed practice working with a pack anyway.

"The puppy... I don't know. I'm not sure if we can save him. If he's in too much suffering, we should put him to sleep." It pained her to say these words, since killing youngsters completely went against her grains of morality. But then so did watching them suffer.

"I've been alone for... a year? Two summers now?" She said somberly. "These parts of the forest are new to me. I've always kept on the move, trying to get as far away from my original pack as possible. In short, I think it's a fairly silly idea, since they might not even exist by now. I've just been steadily running away anyhow - and hence, I have ended up here. What about you? You look a little young to have left the safety of your parents already"

Aurora finally grew tired of carrying the pup around, and called for Gut to stop. Exhausted, she dropped the pup onto the ground, and flinched when his head bounced. As she stared at the white-coated little one, a sickening feeling of dread welled up in her chest. He was dead. As she looked down at him, she saw that his chest was not moving. He was not breathing. He was dead. She slumped to the ground in defeat. Beside her, the dead pup's body was beginning to stiffen. She sighed.

After a moment or two of silence, she called out to Gut, "If you're going to eat him, at least take him away from here so I don't have to watch. And try to be quiet about it."

With that, she stood up again and continued on her way through the trees...

It was with a critical eye that Gut judged the gray female, for a scant moment he pondered offering the pup to another as a gift into good graces. But the ghost of blood's taste, the phantom sensation of succulent meat upon his tongue ceased any such generous thinking. Quickly Gut stalked to the pup, corpse still on the frigid forest floor and already growing colder. A quick swipe of his jaws hoisted the carcass into his mouth. Gut was happy to obey the female this once and take his prize a small distance away, behind a tree, to begin his small feast.

Greedily he tore the flesh from the pup, Gut would need his strength. Whether that strength be to hunt with the pack or to hunt them was yet to be known.

The fact that Aurora had been carrying a dead pup on her back was haunting. How long had he been dead and she hadn't noticed? She shivered, shoving the thoughts away before they made her remember what was being done to the pup's body right at that moment. Why she had allowed Gut to take the pup she did not know, other than that it was a waste if they just left the body to rot. And at least then if Bloody ever came back, it would be one less thing for the two males to fight over. She sighed. Damn males and their sense of pride. At least Gut wasn't arrogant, though she still didn't fully trust him. She'd just have to wait and see how all this turned out.

It was a violent move as Bloody ran as fast as he could and smashed the force of his body against the fox as it attempted to flee. The fox fell a few feet away and scurried to stand again. It was in those few fragile moments that the large white wolf jumped on it and in a quick motion ripped its throat out. Blood shot out of the fox onto Bloody’s face and the cold ground.

Bloody huffed and let the crazed feeling settle down. This hunger had definitely taken a toll on him even though he wouldn’t admit it to himself. He took the vibrant orange creature within his large jaws and began trotting towards the others.

He looked at some of the passing trees and somewhat regretted not marking his scent on them. He wasn’t in an official pack yet though, so there was no point. He missed his old pack and being an alpha, but he would have to put that behind him now and focus on surviving. Whether he would stay with these wolves or not for the long term was still in the air, but for now, it would do. He imagined the look on the little pup’s face once he seen the fox meat. Bloody smiled. He couldn’t contain the small bit of happiness he felt for helping the small one.

After a little bit of time he returned to where the small group of wolves had been. He looked around and noticed they were all gone. *Frowns* A little singe of doubt about whether or not they had left him filled his mind. He set the fox down. He probably shouldn’t have carried it by the neck where it was most messy. His snout was covered in blood and with the cold air hitting it, his nose was running. Even with all this fur he was bound to get sick.

He smelled around the area and caught the scent of the wolves all headed in one single direction. He picked up the fox and began to gallop along the path. Soon he caught sight of familiar wolves. “I caught some dinner. It won’t last long but at least we will be okay for a day or two.” He said with the fox hanging in his mouth. He looked around for the little pup, but didn’t see him. /Maybe he is finally awake?/ he thought. “Where is everyone heading? And where is the young pup?”

Bo looked at Marissa. "I've been around this area for a quite a while. My last pack succumbed to starvation and, well, let's just say I could've wound up like that poor pup...." He trailed off sadly. Just as he had finished his purposely brief explanation (not feeling like mentioning the months he spent in his den, stealing food from campers and trashcans to survive), he saw the scary white wolf from earlier approach. He inquired about the pup, to which Bo drooped his tail and flattened his ears. "He didn't make it," he called to the male, noticing the fox he carried. Even though his belly was full, he salivated at the sight of the fresh kill. It took all of his will to resist from ripping it from his mouth and taking it for himself, but he immediately thought of the two females who were much hungrier than he.

Aurora sighed. "As Bo said, the pup succumbed to death sometime earlier, after you left." She did not think Bloody needed to know what happened to the body. She didn't want to see Gut get into a fight just for not wasting a meal. "I... I left the body behind a while ago. There was no point in carrying it any farther. I see you caught a fox. Thank you for doing so. Gut is leading us somewhere warm, only..." She paused, trying to think of a lie to tell Bloody about his whereabouts. "He got tired of waiting for a meal to show up, so he went hunting also. He should be back... Soon." She winced, hoping the menacing white wolf would take her words without question.

Bloody flinched as he heard of the pup’s demise. The fox slipped from his jaw onto the ground. “I..I see.” he muttered. There was a tightening in his chest, a sense of loss. He could feel tears trying to make their way into his eyes but he held them back. /What did I think was going to happen? That I could recreate my life back to how it was? That maybe I could replace ..them…? How foolish was I?... /

He bent down and nudged the fox closer to the group with his snout. “I apologize for it taking me so long. Please eat up, you all need your strength.” His voice had become tired, “Hopefully, Gut, (whom he assumed was the other male) finds something edible soon.”

Bloody walked around in a circle and seemed to be deep in thought. Maybe he should try to be nicer to these wolves? Who knew how long he was going to survive out here. Maybe making some friends before he passed wouldn’t be so bad.

“A warm place sounds nice. I could use some rest. I’ve been up for quite some time.” He gave a weak smile. "I'm also sorry, if I came across as rude. It's been a hard week."

Marissa paced on, trying not to think about the dead cub. Trying so desperatley hard, but Bo's story had the same underlying themes to it. Why was it always the youngest ones that had to die?

"Everything ends eventually..." she said, half to herself and half out loud. Marissa understood Bo's want to be brief over such a sensitive matter - she left out many key events in her own story. "Whether it be a wolf's soul, or the family pack... but eventually, this winter will end too. Then it will be the end of death. And sorrow..." Until the entire process started over again like a never ending loop

Her ears pricked up at Bloody's arrival, and the fresh scent of an unusual kill. Hang on, didn't Aurora say he was going hunting? She could have waited instead of making herself ill with the hare!
Even though his muzzle was splashed even further with blood stains than it was before, the large white wolf seemed somewhat more humane this time round. Marissa even caught herself wanting to befriend him, but she couldn't get the images of his crazed and insane face from moments ago to pass. What had happened to him, had the hunt cooled his temperament down?

She wanted to approach the fox, but didn't want to be the first person to do so. Besides... she could wait a little. A tiny bit longer... could she really?

"What about you, Bloody..." His name still felt weird and ominous to pronounce. "Have you eaten as of late?" Marissa remembered something vaguely in her old pack about an order and heirachy aas to who got to eat first, but it was a very long time ago. Did this situation count as well?

Everyone seemed down about the pup, and the gloomy weather was surely no help. Bloody knew everyone was hungry, but no one was going towards his kill. He tilted his head at the chocolate wolf’s question. The blood in his mouth tasted so good, but his sorrow left him wishing to punish himself further. “I’ll be fine. Go ahead. Eat.” He said to the group. He walked a couple feet away from the wolves and sat with his back to
them.
*stomach rumbles* … /Hopefully they didn't hear that…/
He closed his eyes, planning to patiently wait for Gut to continue to show them the way to this “warm” place. He arched his head up trying to imagine that it was summer again.
The hot sunbeams on his fur..
The green scenery….
His…pups, playing and laughing in the comfort of their den…
Oh, what he would do for things to be like that once again. He felt like howling out, but kept it to himself. No one wants to see a middle-aged wolf cry in howls. He had to keep strong. He wanted to talk to these other wolves, but didn't know what to say. /Better to keep quiet then./ he thought.

Aurora finally gave in, tearing off a chunk of fox meat and hardly chewing as she devoured it. She tore off another, bigger piece and then walked a ways away, so that the others could have their fill, as well. The fox wasn't much, and it wasn't fair for her to take more than a few mouthfuls. She was sure the others were just as hungry as she was. Though why Bloody wasn't eating was a mystery to her. His earlier arrogance seemed to have left him, and now he was just... Depressed, or something. It wasn't healthy. She'd have to think of a way to get his mind off the pup...

Gut lapped up the last bit of flesh he could reach from the bloodied skeleton. After the strip of meat slid down his throat he licked what little else he could from the bones, finishing by licking any excess from his paws and muzzle though a good amount of blood had dried on his muzzle, something that wouldn't be gone until he found some water to wash it out. Such a relief and pleasure, having actual food in his stomach again, he could think more clearly, and unfortunately was now more aware of his undernourished state. The more easily he felt his paws through the absence of hunger, the more prevalent the feeling of slowness, of weight, became.

Nothing could be done for it. Gut shook himself clean of some residual water from the ground, assuming a moderate run to return to the pack. He would guide them to the den, even it was small, it was a show of generosity that they sorely needed, one that would keep him indispensable.

The gray wolf returned to find that the large male, splotched with odd red spots, had returned. Not only that, but the female, the one so eager to throw empty threats earlier was quietly eating alone. Alone. Odd. Odd and disturbing. There was no reason for that meal to be eaten alone, the female was not Alpha, couldn't be Alpha. There was no Alpha yet, thus they should all be tearing into the carcass, sharing the meat by way communal feasting.

Gut coughed out a small snarl to himself through the blood encrusted fur around his maw, this abnormal, unnatural behaviour would see them all starve. Better to have a full pack half-starved than a lone wolf full and fat. Gut assumed a seat a few feet from the female, naturally shying away from the large male, hiding his almost automatic irritation Gut coughed out his ill-pronounced, alien words, "Ready. Lead. Ready?"

Aurora gulped down the last few bites of meat and stood up. She noticed the way Gut was eyeing her. He seemed to be... judging her. But for what reason, she wondered? She shook her head. She could not worry about what he thought of her now. Besides, who was he to judge? She'd let him have his pup, hadn't she? Who was he to stare at her so accusingly? She was not the one who had just eaten one of his own kind without any sort of remorse whatsoever. She was not the monster here. She was the one trying to keep everyone happy so that no unnecessary blood had to be spilt. "I am ready," she replied. "But I don't know about the others. They haven't eaten yet."