Luna led the cubs in a playful dance beneath the falling snow, snapping at the fluffy white flakes as they floated down to the earth. She savored the looks of joy on her children’s faces, the youngest lolled her tongue in glee. She understood her place in the world, her life was for her children. She would do anything to protect them.
Eight nights had passed since the salmon feast. They had returned to the river every day since. On the first morning, ice had begun to form along the banks. The water was frigid, and only five or six fish had been caught. As the days went by, the ice crept further across the water, until the ice completely shielded the fish swimming below from the pack. Luna crept cautiously from one bank to the other, looking for any gaps in the ice where a fish might be pulled through. The river, and their only source of food, had frozen over for the winter.
She had hoped that the play in the snow would scare some small game out into the open, but their new world seemed to be completely devoid of life. The pack, and the salmon safely hidden below the ice were the only living things here. The balance was all wrong here. Luna shuddered.
Her sleep was stinted and uneasy that night; Alpha kept slinking out of their new den in search of prey. She yearned for her old home. The familiar territory, the plentiful herds of elk, deer, and caribou. The soothing susurration of the familiar pines speaking to one another as they danced in the wind. The fresh scent of pine, soft dirt, and lush vegetation. It felt so close. So close she could feel it pressing against her snout. She whined softly in longing, nostrils pulling in phantom scents, wondering if she would ever see her old home again.
She opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer in the den. She was back home, in her familiar home. A ray of sunlight pushed through the dense tree cover and warmed her side. The past several weeks was a fading nightmare as her heart filled with joy.
Her ears perked as she heard a twig snapping. She jerked her head toward the sound and saw salvation. An old stag was looking arrogantly into her eyes, as though it was taunting her. A bead of saliva dripped from her jaws. Before it hit the ground, she was off in a blur of deadly motion after her prey.
It turned, as if in slow motion, and began to run. Alpha had picked her for his mate because she was the best hunter of the pack. It had been far too long since she had been on a hunt, and the chase exhilarated her, her paws racing ahead of her hunger until all that existed was her prey.
She was a feather gliding over the landscape, her paws not quite touching the soft, lush ground below. Her world was a blur of green as the forest, the stag standing out in sharp contrast. Nothing else mattered. The old stag was faster than any prey she had hunted before. This was good, it would have been a disappointment if the hunt had been an easy one.
She leapt over a fallen tree, feeling the exhilarating energy of life warming her heart and her legs. She was alive. She was hunting. She would save her cubs. She would save the pack.
So lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that her quarry had stopped in his tracks, frozen by something far more terrible than the wolf perusing him. She barreled right into the large stag, knocking him over. She stumbled through the air, sailing over and past him. The old stag didn’t even try to get up. Something was wrong.
As she regained her feet, she saw that the stag’s eyes were wide with terror. With a jolt, she realized he was looking past her. She turned around, beginning to feel the stag’s fear, knowing the parasite ridden monsters would be behind her. She knew this, didn’t want to look, couldn’t not look. Her head swiveled toward the source of fear as if it was being controlled by mind other than her own. She would be lucky to escape with her sanity, much less her life.
What she saw was worse than she had imagined. The forest was on fire. The foul, unnatural smelling monsters that had driven them from their homes were engulfing the world in flames of fire. One of them locked eyes with hers, opened its mouth wide and showed her his teeth. Its fangs seemed to grow until they were impossibly long, sharp, and deadly. The eyes of the monster glowed red and menacing, the small patch of fur on the top of its head burst into flame. Flames shot from the foul creature’s gaping maw.
As the creature’s flame began to lick her hide, it let out a piercing howl. She recognized the howl coming from the monster. It was her mate’s. It was Alpha’s cry. She collapsed into a shivering heap of saliva and fear; the creature faded as the nightmare of her dream merged into the nightmare of reality.