Chapter 4
Tilla has been wandering for nearly a week now and her luck hasn't gotten any better. Either a pair or a single male had already taken every burrow she came across. She was hoping to find at least another single female, as sometimes females group together for the winter to help defend a single burrow from the males, but she hasn't found any of those at all. Plus with her being pregnant, she seriously doubted that any females would let her in, but she had to at least try.
During the nights she made do with what she came across, whether it was in a ditch or in a fallen log. Most of the mornings she woke up with ice in her fur, which she quickly brushed off. At least it was now too cold for the bugs to be out now, it would have been very bad if she got an infestation of parasites; once they are in her winter coat they are near impossible to get all out again until the spring molt, provided she survived the winter.
Food had been rather scarce as well; she has only been able catch rather small prey for the few days and that was barely enough to keep her going. She knew that if she didn't find more food soon she would lose her unborn pup or worse...starve to death herself.
She spotted up in the distance some circling birds and headed toward them. She knew what those birds where and what they meant; they were scavenging birds and them circling like that meant something had died or was about to die.
Soon she came upon a dead arctic scrab; apparently she wasn't the only one that was having a hard time finding food. But this scrabs death meant a feast for her and she didn't hesitate to dig in. She knew the chances of her coming across another intact carcass like this again were slim, so she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity.
She ate as fast as she could…she knew other predators would beeline for this carcass so she had to hurry. Soon she was full and she managed to rip off one of the legs, to save for later. Then, as if on cue, the howl of a living scrab reached her ears, she quickly picked up the leg and ran off…
|