The Hunts
DISCLAIMER: The following FICTIONAL story is intended only for open-minded Adults aged 18 years or older (21 in some jurisdictions), and may contain instances of underage characters depicted performing sexual acts, as well as other content which might be considered objectionable. The author(s) of this work do not advocate or condone any of the acts depicted in the writings present. None of these stories are based on real events in any way, and the author's find it reprehensible to even think of committing the acts in reality. The stories are works of fantasy only and should be considered as such. If you do not wish to view such content, please navigate from the page immediately.
The Last Pack Standing
A Post-Apocalyptic story by: Kosetsu Tsume & Kazimir Dragoslav
Part 1: The Hunts
The sound of rippling water and gentle waves lapping on the rocky shore were all the noises that could be heard in the echoing fog that rolled in during the early morning hours and had yet to lift. Thick tendrils of mist curled and moved lazily above the surface of the water. Slabs of ice, misshapen and jagged, clung to the rocky shoreline, or floated in the gentle movement of the water. A shape drifted slowly along amongst them, grey colored, like the sky above, and so blending in with the waves and sky as it floated. A casual observer, watching from shore, might have taken it for a log, or a piece of cast-off debris floating from one of the desolate cities upstream.
Thick forest rose up on the edge of the nearest shore, bordered by rocks and no beach, right down to the water's edge. A light dusting of snow coated their upper branches, and the exposed rock surfaces. Toward this forlorn coastline the shape floated, and then came to rest, with an inaudible bump, against one large rock.
Out beyond it, in the water, came a splash, a 'plunk', the noise of wood on wood, and wood on ice... followed by rhythmic swishing sounds. The sounds drew nearer, closer. A dark shape loomed out of the fog toward the shore and ground to a halt on the sandy bed of the shore beneath the thin water. Three figures hopped out of what appeared to be a medium sized rowboat. Two of them tugged it solidly into the sand, and all of them moved up toward the shore.
"There he is..." said the largest, pointing one fat, furry finger toward the floating shape, "Looks like you done 'im in after all..." The voice matched the form, deep, booming, heavy with an accent.
"Sssshheems Sooo..." Came a hissing reply as the middle sized of the trio came forward quickly as if eager to lay his hands on the prize first. He stretched out one hand and long claws made to grip hold of the body floating in the water, when suddenly it exploded into motion. The water churned as it rolled, batting away the hand with one arm and slamming the other full force into the center of the large, mottled-skinned lizard's solar plexus.
The big lizard let out a yell of surprise, then doubled over and fell sideways into the water, and immediately began gurgling as he gasped for breath, only to inhale water. Despite being a lizard, he was no water-reptile, but rather a snake. His attacker was moving before he hit the water, vaulting up and spinning, scrambling up the rocks behind him, and dashing into the forest. His opponents, momentarily stunned, followed in pursuit, leaving their companion to gasp air and water for a few minutes.
"Fuck....Damn..." Came the breathless words from the thoroughly soaked, half frozen, and exhausted wolf. Kazimir had been running, hiding, running again for nearly 7 hours now. He was so tired he felt he could have fallen asleep for a week. He was frozen, it felt like ice coated his bones. And he knew he wasn't thinking entirely straight. Sold out...You're dead, you know that? These guys are pros his mind tried to convince him, and he briefly wondered if he was just hallucinating all of this mad rush. They why am I not dead yet? he retorted, skidding around a boulder and diving into the cover of a fallen log. His paw patted his hip to make sure his pistol was still there, and he drug the Smith and Wesson 9mm out of his holster and checked, two bullets. Fuckin great...He slid it back into its holster.
Pausing a moment, he double checked the rest of his equipment. He had an AK, and a bandolier of bullets, but they had been lost the previous night. His clothes right now consisted of a pair of boots, camo pants with pockets by the thighs that were a size too big, held up by a belt. A black t-shirt with a pocket over the left breast. A military web vest, with extra spaces for ammunition (All empty), and two knives. One knife was at his shoulder, easily accessible. The other was in his right boot, concealed for emergencies.
Dragging himself to his feet, he ran further into the forest, military-style boots pounding, the fog swirling around him, hearing the crashing of his pursuers as they plowed through the underbrush, or rather, one of them did. He glanced around the trunk of a large tree and saw the largest, a massive black bear, thrusting aside underbrush and branches of trees, clutching an AK-47 in his paws. The branches cracked and broke as he batted them aside, brittle in the cold air. The smaller, thinner form of the feline was nowhere to be seen. That worried him.
He pressed his back into the tree and breathed slowly, trying to calm his rushing heart. His tail curled and swished, his ears perked to listen for every sound. One paw lifted and pressed to his throat where he felt a thin chain through his clothing. On it was a pendant, and that he touched, taking solace from its presence. "Guide me through this and bring me safely through to the other side..." he whispered.
Glancing down he spotted a smooth stone, and with a smirk curling his features he swiftly clutched it in a paw, then chucked it to his left, listening to it soar and then crack against a tree. The bear halted, looked, and turned to head in that new direction. Kaz darted off, stumbled over a root, got his balance and then plunged ahead. The crunching of the brittle dead leaves and the swish of snow particles followed him.
With the onset of winter, the feral wolf ran through the forest, her nose taking in the usual scents. Then, she stopped abruptly, her nose going into the air, sniffing. New scents on the air. This didn't bode well for the pack. Her pawsteps silent, even in the dead leaves scattered on the forest floor, she slinked forward, following the scents. One scent she recognized, the scent of guns. She swiftly shifted to her anthro form, her grey on grey on white fur blending in with the darkness of the forest to hide her from sight. Pulling the pack off her neck, she pulled out her clothes and dressed swiftly, then pulled out her own arsenal. Two daggers were strapped to her thighs, a Glock 9mm pistol tucked into her jeans (after she made sure the safety was on), magazine clips shoved into the left hand pocket of her hoodie, and shotgun shells into the right hand pocket. The shotgun was already slung over her back and she pulled it forward before moving steadily towards the scents, which were starting to mingle. A few muffled grunts reached her ears, and she paused behind a tree, watching the small clearing in front of her.
The clearing was directly in the line of Kazimir's path, but he didn't even know it was there yet. Soon after he had begun running, he had stumbled head-first into a thicket of brambles that were on the lower slope of a hill that suddenly climbed in front of him. They were treacherous, clawing at his tired limbs, threatening to tear his clothes and catch in the weapon harness that he wore.
He drew a knife, military style, that he had stolen from a guard during his last job, and slashed his way through the thickest branches, finally pushing himself free, now bleeding from cuts on his neck and the side of his head. Ahead was a slope and he struggled up it. At the top he was greeted with bushes and low pine trees. He crouched and walked through and beneath, and as he pushed through the last boughs of the trees, he came to an unsteady halt, crouching. The clearing he was now faced with wasn't very large, but it was conspicuous because of its utter lack of trees for the entirety of the 50 foot diameter. The ground was dry, cracked, and covered in snow, but beneath it was blackened, burned ground, and some of the trees around its ring were entirely dead on the side that faced it. The entire space was covered in what would have been waist-high grass if it was spring or summer. But with winter falling fast and snow already on the ground, it was instead a forest of hard, dead, dry stems. There were criss-crossing paths through it, where animals had clearly walked and broken down the grass. He stood staring for a few long moments, sniffing the air, ears twitching, tail hanging limp. There was another scent here that he had not smelled before. It was stronger, new. Not the bear and not the feline. The scents in the area were all confused though, for he could also detect the lingering smell of deer, rabbit and...metal?
That's when he spotted it. In the center of the clearing, in a depression so that it was almost level with the grass, was the tail-fins of a missile. The faded, scratched yellow fin sticking up the highest bore the number 'R32' for the Rashkov ammunition works back in Moscow. This kind of missile had been used during the latter days of the war, and aside from being explosive, was highly radioactive. It was not nuclear, but it was designed to unleash death in more controlled areas than a high-yield nuke. The fact that it was intact meant that the explosive charge had not gone off on impact, but the radioactive components must have still been active...hence the ring of death around it that was just beginning to grow back in the past couple of seasons.
This was dangerous. The whole clearing was dangerous. Yet to backtrack through the brambles he had just come through would make too much noise and take too long. He pulled out his pistol again. It was mostly dry. He held it in front of him at an angle, showing that he was comfortable with it in his paw and the heft of it. He remained crouched, and moved stealthily out into the clearing, and then to the side, keeping beneath the shadow of the trees. He pawed around in a circle, until he came to one of the paths used by an animal, and began to slowly move along it. He stood, so that only half of his 6'6" frame was visible, and stalked along the path, now moving faster, hoping to get across to the other side. If they caught up to him here, he wanted the advantage.
He was almost to the missile, intent on finding his way around it, when he heard a rustle off to his left. Spinning in that direction, his eyes scanned the brush, his pistol coming up. But he was too late. The feline sprang fully up out of the brush and straight in his direction. He took a step back, and felt his left leg give way instead of supporting him. Perhaps his fatigue was finally catching up. He fell hard onto his back on the ground, the feline on top of him hissing and yowling as he scratched up and down his arms and tried to get a bite in on his neck.
But while Kaz might have been down, he wasn't out. He wrenched his limbs free and grabbed the feline by the head, twisting and throwing him to the side. In the split second that they parted, he reached up and grabbed his military knife from his shoulder. The feline threw himself back, clutching for the knife and rolling with Kaz over and over. They rolled up right to the edge of the impact crater from the missile, and then rolled back again, the knife flashing in the cold light of the sun, now that the fog was lifting.
The feline rolled on top, knocking Kaz's knife free from his grip, and then closing around his throat. He clawed back, trying to tear the flesh from the cat's arm with one paw, while groping for the knife with the other. He was beginning to see black spots before his eyes, when he felt his fingers close on a sharp rock. Seizing it, and the opportunity, he brought it down with all his might on the cat's upper leg. It was jagged, and embedded itself in the flesh there, causing a spurt of blood to land over Kaz's hand. The feline screamed and stumbled off of him.
A fit of coughing took Kaz as he regained the use of his throat for breathing, and turned, putting distance between them by rolling. He got to his knees, and picked up the knife from the grass a few feet away. He hefted it, grabbed it by the blade, and after a split second of hesitation, hurled it at the cat. That moment was a blur. The cat turned, drawing his own sidearm and figuring to finish off his adversary with a bullet to the head. He saw the knife whirling in at him, ducked...and took the razor sharp blade right between the eyes. He fell backward with a 'thumpwhump' onto the dirt.
Kaz panted, out of breath, even more exhausted. He crawled, dragging himself over to the twitching cat. He jerked his blade free, wiping it off on the dirty fur of his fallen enemy, and then sheathing it. Then he began rifling through the cat's pockets. He picked up his pistol from the ground. A full clip... "slava Bogu" he whispered under his breath as he realized that not only was it full, it was 9MM, his own caliber. He patted the cat's pockets and came up with two more clips, transferring them to his own.
From the shadows of the farthest edge of the clearing, the young tundra wolfess watched the male wolf fighting the feline. She barely kept from making a sound as the feline tried to pull his gun on the wolf. But she knew better than to blatantly give away the pack. She would have to keep an eye on him though. Not that she minded. The male wolf was taller than she was by a few inches, and other than her brothers, she hadn't seen any wolves taller than her. And his coloring.... would be perfect to truly blend into his surroundings, if he could. But why was that cat, and the bear she smelled, after him. Crouching further into the shadows, she aimed her pistol in the direction she smelled the bear, keeping the barrel from the sun. It wouldn't do to give away her position, now would it? Her amethyst hues darted to look around, remembering that there had been some hissing noises as well, at least by the beach. But that one might be taken care of? She wasn't sure, so she kept herself on full guard. She was not going to let anyone take her, or harm her pack. Not even the handsome outsider fighting the others. She would have to be doubly on guard against him. She was already feeling strange just watching him from the shadows. And she wasn't sure if she liked the way she was feeling. It was an odd feeling to the young wolfess.
Kaz realized suddenly that all the woods about him had gone silent. No breeze blew, no shifting of the air stirred the grasses around him. He knew that the noises they had made would bring the bear on as quickly as he could come, but for a moment, there was no sound. He sniffed the air, crouching down and going over one last check of the feline's pockets. Coming up clean, he backed away from the rolled, matted and crushed grasses, and dropped, almost to all fours, dipping beneath the line of the grass and stalking once again toward the edge of the ring.
The momentary silence allowed him to gather his wits. He was going to have to kill the bear from a distance. He could not tackle him physically, not in his condition. The fight with the cat had tired him out to the point of near collapse. The other scent he had smelled earlier was stronger now. Not bear, not feline, not even lizard. Much more like his own. Canine at least. Female definitely. The feminine touches threatened to stir something in him, but he pushed it away. Perhaps a wild, feral wolf nearby, hiding until the noise and commotion was past. It was rather stronger than that, but that reasoning would have to do for now. He couldn't expend any more energy on trying to figure out something that might not even be a threat. Who knew?
Said female scent was definitely not feral. But she was a threat, should he threaten her pack. As he moved towards the edge of the clearing, she reached up and pulled herself up into one of the trees, climbing it swiftly and silently, since the way he was moving was towards her. She moved a few trees back from the edge, her eyes on him, even as she moved silently through the trees. She'd been born and raised in this area, and grew up climbing the trees and making herself a path through them to avoid detection after the explosions that changed the world they lived in. Being as close to this bomb as she had over the last ten years may have been what irradiated her to the point of being able to shift. Who knew?
Kaz paid no attention to any sounds that might have been able to be heard, even if the other canine nearby had made them. Right now, he was more concerned with the sudden crashing which had broken out near at hand, at the bottom of the hill, directly opposite him on the ring. The trees shook, and a moment later the bear hulked out of the forrest. He leveled his AK and scanned the area, grunting when he saw no one, and then huffing and puffing as he started to advance into the clearing.
The young male wolf slunk away toward the trees, letting the big bear approach the body of his fallen comrade. He knew this would be the last desperate fight, and then he would be free. He would have to sleep, long and hopefully deep, to recover his strength, then he would have to find food. The only good thing was...if he could kill this bear, he would have his gun and ammunition. And maybe there were supplies in the boat?
Checking his breathing, he closed his eyes for a moment, hefted the fallen feline's pistol, and then jumped to his feet. He lowered and fired the pistol in one clean motion, the bullets flying faster than the eye could see and hitting with muffled thump whump twhump noises into the bear's dense body. For a moment the big beast staggered, then, though bleeding, looked up and let loose a bellow of anger that shook the trees. His gun tracked and he began firing. Bullets ricocheted off of the trees, embedded in the dirt, whizzed over kaz's head and around him as he dove for cover. A blinding pain bloomed in his left arm, but he dared not pause, instead cutting a zigzag path around the missile and trying to close the gap. The pistol wasn't powerful enough at range. He needed to be close, and he needed to hit the bear in the head.
Kosetsu pulled out her Desert Eagle .50 caliber pistol, aimed carefully, and waited to see what happened. She didn't care who was in the right and who in the wrong. No one invaded her pack's territory without repercussions. If that meant she would hold her pistol on the wolf as much as on the bear. She knew that the missile was active, despite having been stuck in the ground for the last decade. Most of the radiation from it had already affected the island and those that lived here, but it could still explode if it was hit wrong. That bear was a total imbecile, threatening countless lives by firing wildly. She even had to plaster herself against the tree trunk again to avoid getting hit by one of the wild shots.
If her brothers were nearby, they'd be here shortly to investigate the shots being fired, and if they found her in range of the guns, there would be hell for her to deal with. Her brothers were overprotective when it came to their baby sister. But they couldn't say anything should she bring in one of the culprits. And bring one of them in, she would. Though she might just bring in one of the dead ones.
Neither of the combatants down in the crater knew about the woman watching them from the treeline. For the wolf, he was focused solely on one objective, to the exclusion of all else around him. The bear was still firing wildly, with a weapon that could easily have gunned down the wolf if he had bothered to actually aim the damn thing.
Kaz dashed around the missile, then darted in toward the bear. He leveled his gun and fired once, hitting the bear in the knee and causing him to yowl in pain and drop to the ground. The wolf's left arm was all but useless now, a bullet having passed through it, probably just a flesh wound, but much too painful to try and use it. He let it hang limp and dropped the pistol, reaching up for his knife. The bear brought his AK up, Kaz drew the blade and leapt toward his opponent.
Time seemed to stand still as he flew through the air. His paw kicked the end of the AK away and his knife plunged into the side of the bear's neck. Blood spurted everywhere, the large animal dropped the AK and began to scratch and claw at the young male, pulling out fur and causing long cuts to appear in his hide. Finally though, he slowed, lurched, and fell, taking Kaz with him to the ground, landing half on top of the smaller male.
Kaz yelped when he landed, the bear's weight having come down on his arm, and he did his best to shove the ursine off of him. He struggled, whimpering as he realized that his ankle was twisted too. Managing to get free, he stood, only to fall to his knees. He could walk, but it was going to be hellishly painful until he could wrap it or something.
Seeing the fight come to an end, she leaped soundlessly from the tree and leveled her gun at him. Walking forward, her pawfalls soundless in the dry, brittle leaves, she got behind him, though just out of his reach, even if he leapt at her. "Ne dvigaysya," (Don't move) she growled at him, the growl making her voice seem much lower and deeper. Her tail flicked behind her, sending her tattered clothes to swirl some around her. Her grey on grey fur blended into the remains she wore, figuring out where the clothes ended and her fur began was hard to do. Ears flicking to see if she heard her brothers or that strange hissing noise again. "Who are you and why are you here?" she demanded.
Kaz was still getting his wits about him when he smelled rather than heard, a presence coming up behind him. Then her voice came out, deep and growling, warning him not to move. He froze and then slowly hung his head. His arm was bleeding, his ankle was twisted. "Kak ya mog poyti kuda-nibud' ..." (Like I could go anywhere). He murmured, not even turning to look at her. He figured she had a gun, and he also figured she was probably with them, "So you wait until your companions are dead to kill me?" He asked, immediately assuming that she had somehow been part of them. Why else was she here?
But then, if she was their ally, why didn't she know who he was? A chill wind suddenly gusted through the area, making him shiver. He glanced down at the knife by his hand briefly, but then gently let it fall from his palm. He lacked the strength or energy to fight. If she was going to kill him, letting her know his name wouldn't hurt, "Kazimir" He murmured, "I was escaping...." He turned his head a little to look back at her, his eyes falling on her feet first, then raising up her shapely form, clad in ragged clothing, but wielding a very dangerous looking .50 caliber pistol. He looked beyond it to her face, focusing for half a moment on her breasts on the way, and then sighed, "Yesli vy sobirayetes' ubit' menya , pokonchim s etim ..." (If you're going to kill me, get it over with...) He felt himself going lightheaded as he looked at her, and he started to lightly sway where he was sitting.
Seeing him sway on his knees, she felt a tug of compassion. He was hurt, he'd been fighting those two, and whatever had been hissing. He was hurt, and she knew who could help him, but she would have to bind him to bring him to the pack's healer. Lowering her gun, she pulled out a set of restraints. "Eto mozhet povredit' nekotoryye," (This might hurt some) she said, pulling his paws in front of him, lashing them together before tying his arms to his torso to prevent him from trying to strangle her. "I know someone who can help you. But you have to be tied up before I can take you to them." Using more restraints, she bound his ankles and thighs, then easily hefted him over her shoulder, the gun still in one paw. If that hissing creature was still out there, she wanted to be able to take him out.
Everything was closing in on him at once. His exhaustion would no longer be denied, his arm was bleeding and his ankle was useless. Were she not there, he would have gathered what he could from the bodies and then tried to stumble off into a valley or some sheltered place where he could rest and bind his wounds. But presented with a gun, his own weakness, his wounds. It was too much. He hated giving up, every fiber of his being told him not to give up. He had survived this long, he could keep going. Yet...something in her voice told him to calm down.
His vision blurred and his eyes unfocused and refocused several times as she bound his paws and then his arms. His head lolled and he suddenly felt himself lifted..and all senses left him.
She didn't take him too far. Not yet. Just into the tree line, then set him against the trunk of a tree before going to search the two dead furs in the clearing before hauling their sorry carcasses further away. She moved all the way to the cliff, darting through the trees with ease. Knowing there were some hungry sharks in the waters, she gave them a few more cuts with her claws, then chucked each one over the cliff and into the water. Their bodies would never be found. But she had more ammo than she'd started with, a new AK-47, some other weapons, and food. Hurrying back to the unconscious wolf, she checked him over, then bundled up the spoils she'd confiscated from the other two, stashing the pack in the tree, out of reach of any others that might come by.
Listening to the woods around her carefully, she decided she had time to check out the shoreline, which wasn't easy to come up on the island at. But she'd heard the thumps of the boat and something else, then the hissing. She had to check it out to make sure her pack was protected. The few true ferals left on the island tended to hide from the predatory pack, so she knew he wouldn't be in any danger from them, but to protect him from any members of the pack that might be out, namely her four older brothers, she took a layer of her outfit, nothing more than a ragged scarf-like layer, and draped it over him, claiming him as her prisoner. Then she shifted to her feral form, her small pack hanging around her neck with her Desert Eagle, and ran to the shoreline.
It didn't take long for her to find the boat, a snake-like being half in and half out of the water, the half that was in looking rather ragged. Almost like one of the sharks had taken a bite of snake. Shifting back, she grabbed the head of the snake creature and threw him out into the water, watching as the sharks swarmed his body, ripping him to shreds. She searched the boat, taking anything that might be of use, then broke the boat, pushing it back into the water, and letting it sink. Shifting back, she ran back to the fallen male, then changed back to her anthro form, all the shifting causing no lingering aftereffects to her. Not like the effects mentioned in those werewolf stories, where they could change once, then wait upwards of twenty-four hours before changing back. Unless it was the full moon. She lifted the wolf again, then headed out with a lope, her strides long and ground-eating as she moved swiftly to her home.
Once she picked him up, Kaz was out cold, and remained that way. He didn't stir when she set him down by the tree and ran off to dispose of the bodies of his fallen enemies, and gather up their weapons and supplies. If he was up and walking around, he would have demanded they were his supplies. He killed them, they were by rights his own. But at that point he was in no way able to enforce that, so he just laid there. He briefly opened his eyes when he felt her tuck something about his shoulders, and the scent of her body filled his nostrils so that he glanced up and then lolled back into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, a mile or two distant, four other wolves were moving quickly but stealthily in their direction. Approaching from the direction of the pack's home ground, they had been out hunting and waiting for their sister to return when they heard gunshots. The four wolves, like and yet unlike her coloration, each being a different combination of mottled colors, were her brothers.
In the lead was Rostislav, the unofficial leader of the band of siblings that included Kosetsu, even though she tried to buck them and get away on her own as much as she could. He and her three other brothers just cared for her, they wanted to protect her from the outside world, and had taught her to protect herself.
He was clutching his own customized AK. He had salvaged a scope from a junk pile, and had put together a small laser with an old laser pointer that they found in an abandoned school.
They were traveling in a loose 'v' formation, with his other brothers fanned out on either side of him. To his right was Miroslav, who had a pistol at his belt and a Drugnov sniper rifle in his paws. He was the sharpest eyed of all of them, and put it to good use, bringing down game or enemies from a long distance whenever possible. Grigori and Makari made up the other 'arm' of the 'V' and were moving swiftly through the trees. A shotgun was Grigori's weapon, and Makari, who preferred the stealthy approach, carried dual silenced pistols and a combat knife.
The shots had brought them running, since they knew their sister was out there in the direction of the shots, and gunfire was unusual when it came in bursts such as they had heard. The sound of an assault rifle firing was odd out here was rare indeed, Kosetsu didn't have one, at least not with her, so that meant there were others, possibly more than one.
The brothers advanced quickly, stopping every once in a while to scent the air and let Makari run forward to scout out the terrain.
While her brothers were heading her way, she was running their way, with a captive thrown over her shoulder, both handpaws and hindpaws bound. She needed to get him to the pack's healer, though she didn't think either injury was too serious. He must have been on the run from those other three for a while. He'd be able to rest and eat in the relative safety of the pack's lands, but she wasn't taking pack safety for granted, since she knew next to nothing about this wolf.
He stirred something inside her, and it freaked her out some. He moved as fluidly as she or her brothers, which was just a bit more than the rest of the pack. She didn't think much of it within the pack, as it was normal, but he was new and moved like 'the Tsume pups', as the pack elders called the five of them. They'd been the only ones affected this way by the explosions a decade before, though the rest of the pack had been affected. Since that explosion, none of the mated pairs in the pack had pups. It was as if those explosions had rendered the elders all sterile.
To rebuild the pack in strength, Kosetsu and her brothers would have to find mates that weren't affected like the elders, but rather like themselves. And being 14, Kosetsu didn't even think of mating yet. But this male had her all twisted up inside, as if fate had decreed it was time for her to find her mate.
Kaz, for his part, had not gotten enough of a glimpse of her, nor enough time conscious to actually make an opinion. However, when he had first smelled her lurking in the trees, he had known right then that she was undeniably female, and, what's more...'free', or unmated. It was a scent born by all unmated females, virgin ones. It was one reason that virgins were rare in these days. Virgins who were found were generally relieved of that shortly afterward.
Not that Kaz had any designs on her. Not yet. There had been a tugging, a draw, in his body when he had smelled her, but being as tired as he was, and in danger to boot, had prevented him from investigating. Now he was being hefted over her shoulder, unconscious, being borne away to who knew where. No, the wounds were not serious, not life threatening, though he was bleeding from his arm still. It was the exhaustion of being on the run for so long that had put him in danger.
When the boys and their sister were little less than a mile apart, Rostislav held up a paw and let out one short back to halt the others. Makari rushed forward and disappeared into the trees, then a short way ahead let out a long howl. It was repeated exactly 5 seconds later in a shorter, higher tone, and then followed by three barks.
Rostislav and the other three moved up to stand near him. Their lanky, lithe brother nodded, "It's Kosetsu, she's coming this way..." He growled, "Someone is with her, or following her..."
Her ears perked as she heard her brother's howl, followed by the higher pitched one and his barks. She knew they were heading her way, and she lengthened her strides as she ran towards them, letting out her own yipping howl, which signaled she was fine, followed by a different toned howl, indicating someone injured.
She kept her pace easy, but her loping stride covered the terrain with ease and it wasn't but a couple minutes later that she came out of the forested area onto rocky terrain, where her brothers were waiting for her. As she neared them, they could see that the scent of who was with (or following) her was the injured wolf over her shoulder. The same wolf who was trussed like the Christmas goose.
The four brothers heard her answering calls, and moved forward out of the trees into a clearing that was rocky, what used to be an old riverbed, lined with smooth stones and jagged rocks. They stood just outside of the forest and waited for her to come free from the other side. As she did so, Makari walked across and past her, into the woods to check her trail and make sure no one followed, Gregori and Miroslav flanked Rostislav as he came forward. All three of them were grinning, though Rostislav looked inquisitive as well.
"We heard the gunfire, Blizz..." he said, calling her by one of her nicknames, "Was he shooting? Is he an enemy or?" He heard her call about there being an injured party. It was likely that the wolf she carried was no enemy, or else she wouldn't be carrying him back for medical, but at the same time, there was no one they knew out there, outside of the pack.
She blew out a soft breath, her enhancements from the radiation from the explosions giving her plenty of stamina to run, even with the added weight of Kaz on her shoulder. "I stayed in the forest, but it was by the clearing. He shot at a bear chasing him, but the AK was the bear's. He also took out a feline with a knife. And down by the shore, I saw evidence of a snake-like being. The boat they used to get here, and I only saw one, has been sunk, and the three bodies went over the cliff into the water to feed the sharks."
She shifted her weight, then continued, "The bear winged him and he twisted his ankle. He was escaping the three trying to kill him and took them out. All weapons are secured and I bound him so he can't hurt anyone in the pack. But he needs help and rest."
Rostislav smirked a little. She wasn't even out of breath. At 14 and already she could go at least as far as they could running at full sprint, and still have the energy. In fact, had he known just what Kaz had been through, that he had been running for 7 days nearly without food or rest, and had still been strong enough to fight...he probably would have been amazed too.
"So he killed three and then you took him captive?" He asked, while Grigori came closer and briefly examined the young, unconscious wolf's arm, "Bullet went through pretty clean, but he's bleeding. His ankle's swollen up pretty bad." Grigori was the medic out in the field, having a little bit of training in healing, "Want one of us to carry him for you?" He asked with a smirk.
Makari returned at that moment and came out of the trees, shaking his head, "No one is following. We're clear to go on in."
Kosetsu playfully snapped her teeth at Grigori, knowing her was joking about her giving up her 'prisoner'. After all, the four of them had taught her to fight with guns, knives, claws and fangs, and her wits. It was only reasonable that they hadn't shirked on the strength training, where she was able to carry the unconscious male wolf on her shoulder with ease. Looking back at the oldest of the quadruplets, she nodded. "I think he was completely exhausted when I came up behind him with my Eagle. He had a knife in his paw, which he dropped, thinking I was about to finish the job that those three hadn't done."
Turning towards the pack's den, she started off at a lope, intending on getting Kaz some treatment for his wounds. "You boys coming or gonna finish hunting?" As she entered the trees on the other side of the riverbed, she slowed just enough to reach up into the cover of one of the trees and pull down the bag of rabbits she'd gotten while in wolf form. "I do have some meat, but it won't be enough for everyone."
Grigori snapped right back, and his paw lightly connected with her free shoulder, but then he jumped out of the way before she could retaliate. They were all playful and extremely close as siblings, they cared for and protected her as best they could, even if they all knew a day was coming when she was going to have to find someone to call a mate...someday.
All four of them started jogging after her, picking up pace as she kept moving. "Miro brought down a bear with his rifle. We were in the middle of getting it ready to bring back when we heard the firing. Makari and Miro can bring it in, Grigori and I will go with you back to the pack," Ros said, then calling out to his brothers what he had just told her. Two of them peeled off and started making their way back to the kill-site for the bear they had brought down. A bear was extremely rare any more. The animals had become increasingly wary, and the elders had begun to talk about having to move the entire pack. It was getting more dangerous and there was less food.
Kosetsu nodded, still heading to the pack's den with the male wolf over her shoulder, pleased with the overall haul of the five of them. A handful of rabbits from her, in her feral form, more than equaled the bear the boys brought in. After all, she wasn't using a gun to hunt, but her natural feral instincts and abilities. Plus she'd caught the intruder on the island, and while he wasn't so threatening right now, she wasn't taking any chances with her family. Her pack meant everything to her, and she hoped that when she found a mate.... later on.... he'd be willing to stay with her pack, and not make her move somewhere else. She knew she belonged on this land, whether it was the island or the wilds of the mainland, she needed the freedom to run as feral as well as walk as anthro.
Thinking about how tall the male was, she smirked to herself, then called over to Ros, "You know, when he's on his feet, he's about the size of you four. And it's not like I'm that much smaller than you. And at only two-thirds your age!!" She loved teasing her brothers, the easy banter between them showing their love for one another. Which was another reason why she wanted her mate to stay here with her. She'd hate being separated from her brothers.
The perspective about who brought in the more valuable game that day would all depend on how you thought of it. Bringing down a feral bear was no easy feat, it had taken them a while to track it and then lure it into the open so that Miro could bring it down with a few well placed shots. It had taken all of them working together to do so. It was impressive. That didn't make her own catches less impressive, since her brothers knew that she did it most of the time in feral form, which in and of itself they found interesting.
They would end up kidding one another and joking and poking fun, but none of them would really mean much by it. Any source of food was valuable in these times. With winter now right on their doorstep, knocking as it were, they had to all work together as much as possible.
Ros raised an eyebrow and glanced at the male slung over her shoulder, but before he could say anything, Grigori chuckled, "Oooh...is little sister falling for the big bad stranger?" He growl-laughed a few times. Ros chuckled as well as they came running over the last hill that led down toward the dens at the bottom of a small valley.