Extinction (63 page)

The cub in the lead was just running on
instinct; he didn't quite understand what it was telling him but he didn't stop
to argue with it or think about it. He was rewarded with a strong scent of his
pack members who had passed through this area before him. The scent had blood
mixed in it along with another he hadn't smelled before.

His instinct gave him another nudge,
this one in the opposite direction. His instinct told him that the new smell
was bad, something big and strong, something that would surely kill him. This
time he ignored his instinct and listened to his heart instead, that told him
to keep going no matter what.

As the cub closed the distance to her
much larger target, she began to realize that she would have to do something
once she reached it. She faintly heard the barks and howls from the rest of her
pack, so she knew backup was on its way but still not all that close. She would
need to slow the predator down so they could catch up with her. Alone she
wouldn't win, but the pack should be strong enough if they could only get there
in time.

The predator didn't have a tail, so she
was aiming for one of its legs. She just needed to close the gap by a meter and
then she should be able to grab it. The plan was simple: bite and hold, don't
let go no matter what. Her brother, the has-been, was close enough behind her
that he would be able to add his teeth and claws to the fight within seconds as
long as she didn't let go.

She felt the foot of her target graze
her muzzle as she closed the distance. Add just a little more speed, she
wouldn't have to maintain it but for a few meters and she knew she could hold
out that long. The gap was closed and when her head was directly alongside the
striding leg of her opponent, she adjusted to her right and closed her already
gaping jaws around the upper part of the predator's leg.

It took a few strides for the much
larger animal to realize that she wasn't going to be able to shake the cub from
her leg. Those few strides had moved them close to five meters farther and her
passenger was hanging on through the pounding it was taking.

The predator had two choices at this
point: drop her food and run away or stay and fight. Hunger and safety were two
very strong instincts that often conflicted with each other. Both were directly
related to survival, which was the strongest instinct of all and impossible to
fight in and of itself. Hunger was the winner today, even if by only a small
margin.

The predator dropped her food and whipped
her body to the right, nearly avoiding the trunk of a large tree. The cub
attached to her left leg was not so lucky, as planned, and was thrown into the
tree so hard that a piece of its fruit fell from one of the higher branches.
That should take care of her passenger. But to her surprise and regret, it
hadn't.

The has-been saw his sister clamp down
on the beast's leg and a smile crossed his muzzle. He let out a short but
supportive bark to let her know that he was right behind her. When the predator
swung right, the has-been saw her drop the injured cub to the ground in a heap.
The has-been passed over his sister without checking her; she was either dead,
dying, or not and that wasn't going to change so he pushed on towards the known
threat.

As his other sister was slammed into a
tree, he saw the predator look back towards her own leg to look at the clinging
cub. That moment of inattention to the has-been gave him the chance he needed
to choose exactly where he wanted to bite. The neck wasn't an option as it was
turned away from him, so he went for the soft underbelly and bit down. At the
same time, he raked his claws across the animal's chest.

The bite barely broke the skin of his
target and didn't cause nearly as much damage as his instincts told him it
would have. Later in life, the cub would learn that in this particular animal,
females had extra bone structures in the abdomen in order to protect the womb
from attackers. The bone structure did its job well, though the bite did cause
pain and reminded the predator that she needed to divide her attention among
her threats.

The predator reached back with her front
leg and swiped the cub away from her abdomen, causing only minimal damage to
him. She turned and snapped at him but missed. The dazed but ever vigilant cub
on her leg refused to let go and stayed on through all of it. The predator
tried shaking the cub off but that only caused her teeth to do more damage as
she was shaken back and forth.

The predator changed her mind; safety
was now more important than hunger. She might still win against the cubs but
she was definitely going to take more damage in the process and no predator can
afford to take days off from hunting in order to heal. She just needed to get
that damned cub off her leg. She turned to bite the cub anywhere she could get
to.

The pack was arriving with the runt
almost in front now. He could see the has-been circling for an advantage and
his sister hanging on to a leg as she got bit repeatedly by the predator. The
overconfident beast was losing to only two cubs; the runt knew the pack was
going to win this but he wanted to prove himself, prove he had been worth
saving.

The lead cub started to slow so he could
take a more coordinated attack with the has-been, who was reevaluating his
strategy as his instincts had been wrong on his first attack. The runt sped by
the lead cub and barreled full-bore into the predator, using his shoulder to
knock the beast off balance.

As the predator fell, the runt stood
fully on his two hind legs and jumped onto the predator's chest. The beast was
already so much larger than a regular-sized cub that the runt seemed impossibly
small in comparison. The runt yelled out a battle cry, the first semi-sentient
vocalization anyone in the pack had made yet. It was the equivalent of a human
child's first word.

The beast snapped towards the runt's
face so he tucked his head into his opponent's chest. The runt then began using
his hands to swipe at the predator's throat. The Shirka's retractable claws
were a completely voluntary action so they stayed sheathed unless the Shirka
intentionally deployed them. Inexperience and bloodlust kept the runt from
deploying his claws so his slashes did no damage to their target. In hindsight,
if his claws had been out, he probably would've killed the predator in short
order. As it was, that didn't happen and his error would become a lifelong
cause of teasing from the rest of his pack. The teasing was always with the
respect that came from a family's love, but still teasing regardless.

As the alpha approached, he actually
chuckled to himself as he saw the runt uselessly slapping the much larger and
deadlier opponent. By now, most of the pack was tearing into the predator and
the alpha joined in as soon as he was able to find an open spot on the dying
animal.

They tore with teeth and claws, and
blood was flung all around them. When the predator stopped fighting back, the
pack's bloodlust began to slowly ebb away. When it was all over and they stood
back looking at their first pack kill, the alpha looked around the circle at
his siblings and felt pride.

The has-been was the first to go back to
his sister who had originally been the prey in this fight. He found her still
unconscious and bleeding from the face but it wasn't that bad. Her fur had done
its job and matted around the wound while adding its anticoagulant outer cells
to the mixture, helping the healing process.

With help, he brought his sister to the
pack's kill and laid her next to her sister, who was still dazed from being
bashed into the tree trunk more than once. In all, the pack had suffered very
minor damage and achieved a great victory. They were all proud of one another
and exchanging nips of congratulations.

The runt saw the new threat first. Out
of nowhere, two more of the predators emerged from the forest and took up
positions on either flank of the pack. Their kill was either a part of the
newcomers' pack or the two were just opportunists and saw the already dead easy
meal and the other potential meals standing around it.

The alpha was filled with confidence at
their victory but he wasn't going to let that be their downfall. Two skilled
predators with a planned attack could do a lot of damage to his pack. The alpha
moved to stand in front of his two wounded siblings and motioned to the rest of
the pack to do the same.

Shirka cubs used all four limbs as legs
more often than not and as they grew and their structures changed, they would
switch to a more bipedal lifestyle. For now, the pack followed their alpha and
stood as tall as they could and puffed out their chests. The seven cubs seemed more
formidable than they probably were, but they were willing to back it up with
everything they had left in them and that was obvious.

The formation that protected their
injured pack members left their latest kill unprotected and available to take
away. The alpha looked at the predator he assumed was the alpha of the two and
then looked at the carcass.
It's yours, but leave us alone or else.
He
punctuated his offer with the deepest growl he could summon and his pack joined
in.

With the entire pack of cubs growling
and baring their teeth, the alpha predator looked to the fresh kill and decided
that a fight wasn't worth it, especially when at least two days’ worth of food
was waiting to be carried off. The predator shifted towards the offer but never
took his eyes off the pack. When he reached the carcass, he stood by while the
other predator grabbed the prize and dragged it into the forest. The
transaction complete, the alpha predator backed into the shadows and left.

The pack relaxed a little but each one
was arguably a little disappointed that they didn't get to fight a second time.
With the latest threat gone, the pack gathered up their wounded and started
back towards the cave. On the way back, they scented some prey animals and
three cubs broke off to get some food. The small hunt was successful and each
member got a couple more bites to eat before settling down in the cave for the
rest of the night.

The next day, they found water and more
food. Over the course of the next month, they set up a camp around their cave
and made defensible positions that they had to use more than once during that
time.

They increased their size by at least
twenty-five percent each. With a much larger than normal pack size, they were
able to take down much larger game and eat more per cub. Most cubs only gained
fifteen to twenty percent mass before their mother came back for them. The runt
had actually grown to the size of a normal Shirka cub, though he was still much
smaller than the others in the pack.

They also ran into a couple of other new
packs and had the chance to practice their socialization skills. The other
packs were much smaller in number and physical size but they were still doing
well for themselves in the forest. Without the need for the packs to compete
for resources, they got to engage one another in positive ways: wrestling,
racing, climbing, and grooming to name a few. Early socializations such as
these tended to foster lifelong friends and bonds that often led to the pairing
of mates.

~

On a particularly sunny day, the runt
was basking in the sun while lying atop a warm boulder. One of his sisters was
near him, their heads touching at the ears. They still didn't have advanced
language skills and didn't know any words, but each pack developed its own
basic style of growls, grunts, and barks that meant something to them.

The runt grumbled and sighed.
This is
the best
.

His sister silently replied with a smile
and snuggled closer. Pack-mates that stuck together after emerging were almost
always extremely close to one another and absolute best friends for life. The
runt was and always would be closer to his alpha brother than anyone else, but
no one minded their shared bond.

The alpha walked up and took the spot
between his brother and sister. The pack was big enough in number and physical
size that they were almost never bothered anymore by other predators. They
never let their guard down but they did get to enjoy more relaxing times than
most cubs did.

As the three napped in the warm sun, a
new scent floated to their noses. They each stood immediately and inhaled the
deepest breath they could to make sure they got as much of the scent as
possible. They looked at one another in unison and then took off on all fours
towards the scent.

The rest of the pack was already on the
move and the three caught up quickly. The runt was now the fastest in the group
and he passed his brothers and sisters with ease. As they reached the nest they
emerged from over a month ago, the scent became overwhelming.

The runt saw her first and let out an
excited bark as he slid to a stop in front of her. More frantic barking.
Mom!
Mom! Mom! Mom!

The adult Shirka looked down and saw her
first son. “You must be my alpha!” she said with pride. “So big and strong. The
first to come and meet me. Now, where is the rest of your pack?”

No sooner had she finished her sentence
than she heard the trampling of feet coming towards her. A lot of feet. When
the first daughter crested the hill, followed closely by seven siblings, the
mother was shocked to say the least. “Wait until your father sees THIS. We have
a lot of hunting to do.”

She knelt and sniffed each cub to make
sure they were all hers and no strays had entered the pack. Yup, all hers. She wouldn't
be leaving any strays in the forest today.

She looked to her litter and found her alpha.
“You did this to me. So many mouths to feed!” she said with a smile. “You kept
them alive and brought them to me. Only the strongest of alphas could have
accomplished a pack of this size. You will be a great leader someday.”