His mouth was agape, his eyes wide, the depths of the odd colors shining in the clandestine moonlight that filtered through the trees. He could feel the foliage brushing up against his sides, hear the steady crunch of foliage beneath his white feet. The familiar presence of the whittling knife, which acted also as a dagger, was light in his hand as he pursued a flighty doe in the calmness off the night. Helios could smell her fear and see the fleeting image of her hindquarters in the obscure distance. His broad chest expanded and contracted with each bound and leap as he pursued his dinner. Lungs filled with air and expanding all of his pent of energy in this chase. All he needed was one stumble or a moment of hesitation and he would have her. A snarling grin appeared on his narrow muzzle as he pressed forward with an increasing amount of speed.
He could hear the doe's heavy breath and she did not run as lightly as she once had when the hunt began. Though, he cursed his clumsiness at the beginning where his snare trap had malfunctioned and he had lacked enough speed to pounce on her immediately. Helios was an athlete, a bundle of coiled muscles and heavy pistons that were made for survival in the harshest of conditions. He could run for miles before becoming winded and could wrestle a buck to the ground. But this flight was expended energy, an unneeded waste of energy he needed to keep warm with. A growl reverberated in his chest, willing the chase to end quickly, his red merle pelt bristling with anger.
Then, he noticed an almost negligible change in the doe's stride. She had bruised her leg while leaping over a log and a limp deadened her swift pace. Her stride was broken but Helios' was not and he surged forward with the rest of his energy and caught onto her back, using his momentum to drive her bodily into the ground. Through a quick frenzy of movement, he had connected teeth to her throat but had quickly followed by slitting the vein that pumped blood to her brain. The animal quickly in a wave of crimson as her life force pooled around her. Helios fell back, exhausted, red staining his white chest as he regained control of his breath. Despite his exertion, he was satisfied and a smile broke onto his face as his own success.
The chase had been long and the adrenaline of the hunt was draining away from him as he sat with his back against the tree. The Australian Shepherd was tired and in the cool of the night there seemed to be not another life about other than the quiet songs of the crickets. Snuggling his chin into his chest, he meditated on closing his eyes for just a moment before skinning and working with the animals flesh. Just a moment and he would be rested once again. Perhaps he could even bring some of the meat back to the pack, that would make him the happiest in the world. But those things could wait, his lids drooped heavily until they covered his odd eyes and he drifted into a heavy doze.
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