01-19-2020, 02:49 PM
[align=center][div style="width: 60%; line-height: 100%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"]Simply put, Virgil never had to think for herself. So, when she saw the dead body of her matriarch, an obvious self-immolation from the seeds of the castor bean strewn about, she felt that her whole world was crumbling right underneath her paws.
There were roars and barks outside, hideous yipping too -- had a hyena clan joined in on the bloodshed? She didn't know. Maybe she didn't hear them at all. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe she was already dead. Fangs dug into the African wild dog's scruff and she winced. No, not dead. She dangled from a lioness' jaws but was quickly released in favor for the matriarch's body.
Virgil had leapt to her feet then, barking at the lioness to put down her leader's body, but the lioness would not concede. She roared and threw the body on the ground and for a moment there was peace and the fighting stopped. She heard the cries of her clan when they laid their eyes on their fallen leader. Caesar's dead! How could she do this to us?
Virgil felt dizzy.
She didn't know what happened next. She didn't know how to act. The end of the world had never been a concept in her mind. The screams of their second in command, a heavy-set female named Napoleon, rattled in her brains. Bile rose in her throat as she saw a lion take Napoleon's head in its jaws and --
She bolted.
Virgil ran as fast as she could, praying that Caesar would forgive her. Her paws swept across the ground. She didn't even know if she was being followed. She ran to the point of exhaustion and when she stopped, she immediately fell asleep.
-
This had all happened a week from now and during that time period, Virgil had not eaten at all. She was discombobulated and hopeless without her pack mates. They had been a special type of clan, comprised entirely of females, shunning any male wanderer or female unsympathetic to their causes. She and her sisters had been told that they were unique of the African wild dog kind and that they were the chosen population for a new world order. They were all given names by their matriarch, who claimed that they were revealed to her from the universe itself. She was their heart, and Virgil was utterly lost without her and her sisters.
The terrain was becoming more forest-y and had the scent of marsh. Along with it, Virgil could pick out scents of animals. Her satellite-shaped ears caught the sound of something rummaging in the grass. It was some rodent by the scent. If she couldn't catch this, she was done for.
She was tired and malnourished, but her skills didn't seem to dull along with her muscles. After a strategic chase, she had her prey and she devoured it alive within the borders of the marsh. She ate as if she were famished, because she was, and also because she was in a strange territory and wouldn't take any chances for kleptomaniacs.
There were roars and barks outside, hideous yipping too -- had a hyena clan joined in on the bloodshed? She didn't know. Maybe she didn't hear them at all. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe she was already dead. Fangs dug into the African wild dog's scruff and she winced. No, not dead. She dangled from a lioness' jaws but was quickly released in favor for the matriarch's body.
Virgil had leapt to her feet then, barking at the lioness to put down her leader's body, but the lioness would not concede. She roared and threw the body on the ground and for a moment there was peace and the fighting stopped. She heard the cries of her clan when they laid their eyes on their fallen leader. Caesar's dead! How could she do this to us?
Virgil felt dizzy.
She didn't know what happened next. She didn't know how to act. The end of the world had never been a concept in her mind. The screams of their second in command, a heavy-set female named Napoleon, rattled in her brains. Bile rose in her throat as she saw a lion take Napoleon's head in its jaws and --
She bolted.
Virgil ran as fast as she could, praying that Caesar would forgive her. Her paws swept across the ground. She didn't even know if she was being followed. She ran to the point of exhaustion and when she stopped, she immediately fell asleep.
-
This had all happened a week from now and during that time period, Virgil had not eaten at all. She was discombobulated and hopeless without her pack mates. They had been a special type of clan, comprised entirely of females, shunning any male wanderer or female unsympathetic to their causes. She and her sisters had been told that they were unique of the African wild dog kind and that they were the chosen population for a new world order. They were all given names by their matriarch, who claimed that they were revealed to her from the universe itself. She was their heart, and Virgil was utterly lost without her and her sisters.
The terrain was becoming more forest-y and had the scent of marsh. Along with it, Virgil could pick out scents of animals. Her satellite-shaped ears caught the sound of something rummaging in the grass. It was some rodent by the scent. If she couldn't catch this, she was done for.
She was tired and malnourished, but her skills didn't seem to dull along with her muscles. After a strategic chase, she had her prey and she devoured it alive within the borders of the marsh. She ate as if she were famished, because she was, and also because she was in a strange territory and wouldn't take any chances for kleptomaniacs.