Golden sunlight slanted through the jade green canopies, the foggy forest floor illuminated as the morning sun rose slowly over the treetops. The leafy foliage of a holly bush trembled and a fat vole exploded from the underbrush pursued by a rabid hungry fox. It scrambled over a sandy boulder, its squeal ear-splitting as it pushed its way into a narrow cleft. The fox barked, frustrated before turning tail and fleeing into the woods. The foam from its lips dripped onto the ground.
Hazel watched curiously with one slanted eye, perched on a twisted root of an oak tree. Her ash brown fur, messy and spiky in multiple places was now full-grown with new rosettes rustling in the warm breeze. She unsheathed her long black claws and raked them through the bark of the tree, relishing the sound before bringing them back to sparkle in the sunlight.
"Mmm." She yawned, revealing huge pointed canines and rows of razor-sharp teeth. "Almost noontime…? A quick hunt wouldn't hurt."
She leaped down to the base of the tree and padded south, opening her jaws to draw in the scent of prey. The delicious scent of a pheasant wafted more closely through the open woods where no undergrowth remained to cover her. She shrugged and tracked the scent through the thin birch forest. Dry summer leaves crackled under her paws and the sound of a flowing stream nearby stopped her. Just a mouthful. She padded to the stream and dipped her head, letting the cool water bathe her tongue. Tiny droplets sparkled on the tips of her whiskers and she shook her head soon finding the tantalizing scent of the pheasant. It had soon led her to a grassy opening.
Tall stalks of golden gorse wafted in the wind along with clumps of lavender and tansy. The pheasant in question lay at the center of the clearing, searching among the grass for any insects that might suit its appetite. Its golden feathers glinted in the heavy summer sun only broken by its movement as it jumped over a tall stalk of grass. Only then did she notice the size of it. Around three feet with plenty of bulk to spare; a male. She would've loved to find a pregnant female, but this would do for the time being.
Hazel brought herself around to be downwind of her prey, her haunches bunched and ready for the kill. As the quail brought its head down to search another time, she exploded from the shelter of the gorse and closed her strong jaws around her prey's head, crunching its skull easily between her teeth. The sweet taste of warm blood flooded her mouth but she couldn't eat here. The scavengers would find her and the last thing she wanted was rabies.
Soon enough, Hazel had found herself a cozy hollow in a tree trunk to shelter in, ripping the quail apart with present delight. Its flesh was very juicy and tender, a good meal for a predator that hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. The only pickings she found out here in the fields were ground birds and the occasional vole."Man, I kinda wish I hadn't eaten it so fast!" She swiped her tongue around her lips and stretched, picking up the remaining chunks of the bird. It had taken a few scrapes of her paws to bury the mangled corpse just beyond the trunk but with luck, a hungry scavenger would come along and finish it for her. She had other things to worry about.
She had just arrived in the states only a month prior by sneaking into the cargo area of a commercial plane heading for the states. The fat prey around France was to die for but after a few weeks of eating a few goats and cows, Hazel had gotten sick with something that the farmers had fed their cattle to ward off hungry wolves. There was no turning back after biting into that infected hen. They just had to ruin it.
After many hours worrying about the plane crashing into the ocean, she had landed safely south of North Carolina and was heading northwest towards the Pacific. She had already made her plan while she had been sleeping amongst the baggage. "Once I land, head towards the Great Plains. Nobody will be daft enough to find me." She paused, her ears flattening as an aviatress ran through the isles above. She shuddered. "From there, go towards Washington. There should be enough prey there to last me years!"
She had backtracked through the swamplands simply because of the rally that was going through Tennessee at the moment, but now she had managed to get to Kansas and the only bad thing she had presumed about traveling through Kansas was the fact that it was mostly nothing but rolling fields. She should've taken more into account before she had crossed the had taken refuge near the edge of a farmer's fields, peering out of the treeline.
She was getting tired of staying here, afraid of being found by the human owners. The prey around here was always stringy, tasted terrible, or was taken by the humans. She hadn't slept in days, using her strength to move from place to place in search of the perfect hunting ground.
"I'll leave at midnight. Half circle the house and stay clear of the coop, otherwise, the dog will hear." She had to leave Kansas as fast as possible, for there was nothing worse than being followed by a Rottweiler and an angry gun-wielding farmer with chickens to protect. She had found that out when a fox more daring than she had tried to make a snack of the resident chickens. The farmer had sicked his beast of a dog on it and had burned it in the fields. Humans were absolutely terrifying. She had to get through Kansas, then Nebraska and finally the barren state of Wyoming. There, she would be able to rest until it was time to relocate to Idaho. There, she would be free.
Night had fallen. The fields were alive with chirping crickets, owls hooted from far away, and the farmer's house was dead quiet. He had patrolled his territory and had locked everything down for the night. The full moon sat high in the sky, shedding enough light on the land for Hazel to just barely figure out where to put her paws. Now was the time to act. Hazel had stuffed herself with enough prey that morning to lend her energy for three day's worth of traveling. Now, she snuck through the treeline with her head down and her ears pricked. She glanced over the tall grass, her orange eyes glowing faintly in the night. "Better keep moving."
With a reluctant glance over her back, she shot forward from the patch of forest and ran straight through the swaying fields of wheat, careful about not making too much noise. She zigzagged away from a patch of loose gravel but accidentally splashed through a shallow puddle of mud. A loud bark rang eerily through the night which just made Hazel run faster. She skidded once on a patch of dead grass but kept on, her claws digging into the turf. A series of flustered barks sounded but they were many lengths behind her. With them came a loud gunshot. The human had joined in.
Hazel pushed herself harder, her legs aching as she swerved to avoid a small field of broken glass. Too late, as one had pierced one of her paw pads. She snapped her muzzle shut, stopping momentarily to yank out the offending piece of glass. The barking grew even louder. She began moving farther away from the chicken coop until only the rustling grass gave away her position. She had made it halfway across the field when she heard voices following her path. She stopped, flattening herself to the ground.
"Did you hear that?"
"No. Why the hell are we out here, John?" Heavy footfalls walked a few paces east of her followed by the loud squelching noises of boots in watery mud. "I don't hear shit."
"Even Darris heard it! Ain't that right, boy?" Hazel could hear the snuffling sounds of the dog but it hadn't caught her scent. Yet. She quietly crept through the fields, her fur flattened to her spine. All she had to do was get as far away from this farm as possible. No more dogs, no more people, no more danger but nature itself.
"If there's a wolf looking for a snack, Darris would've caught it by now. There's nothing out here boy. Come on. Let's go back inside." The two men and their dog had given up and trailed back slowly towards the big house. When they were ten fox-lengths behind, Hazel gave away all of her camouflage and exploded out of the wheat, her long tail streaming behind her.
"There! There!" The dog barked again and shot forward. She sped up, her paws flying over the mud. A bullet had struck the dirt towards her right. Another had managed to graze her ear. She couldn't help but yelp in pain, feeling the warm blood slip down her cheek.
"You're a terrible shot. Gimme that!" Before he had time to cock the gun again, Hazel had disappeared in the fields. Her breath as coming in ragged gasps long before she had stopped. They won't catch me, she thought. I'm already gone. She had managed to run fifteen miles nonstop before she had to stop and catch her breath. Her paws were bleeding heavily, the skin not used to the tough terrain. The bullet had made a small but burning graze in her ear and she had torn a claw.
The only thing to surround her was open fields and the moonlight. She slowly but surely picked herself up carefully before carrying on at a slow trot. The farmers hadn't come after her but she wanted to be out of range before morning came. She trudged on for an hour, listening to nothing but the sounds of crows calling and perhaps wolves coming to finish the job of getting a midnight snack.
Before long she had come to the end of the golden fields, the lack of cover feeling foreign to her. She glimpsed upwards at the sky, the moon only setting a few inches to the left than it had the night before. She was almost to Nebraska. Almost. Morning was coming. And there was no more tall grass to hide her anymore. It was either prowl in the open or retreat. And she was not one to simply give up.
Sans sat in the backseat next to Papyrus, listening to his own music that deafened him to his brother's raucous calls. His phalanges trailed over the subtle rips in the soft seat covers that Toriel had tried to sew back together. Blunt crayons and crumbs littered the floor of the car so that it looked as though the vehicle had never been cleaned out before. Papyrus seemed to be yelling about something and Undyne shot him a look. He took out his headphones only to be bombarded with noise.
"THE HUMAN CHILD SAYS THEY ARE HUNGRY, ASGORE-CLONE!" Asgore stayed at the wheel, seeming to glance over his shoulder every minute or so as he guided the car down a forlorn highway. The meter never went past sat beside him with a purse full of different maps but a large map of the midwest lay propped up on the dashboard. Her own paws flitted over the surface as if trying to find something among the grids.
"This hotel is only a few minutes away." She pointed out tiredly, still reeling from the night before. Asgore sent her a sympathetic glance and avoided a large pothole in the road. "Fifteen minutes inward from Colorado."
"When did we depart from Utah?" Undyne asked, though she already knew the answer. A never-ending game of 'are we there yet' was still not enough to make Asgore pull out his beard hairs. Toriel answered for him.
"Two hours ago." Toriel chided. "And we're almost there! Settle down!" She called over her shoulder. Sans couldn't help but feel that her old authoritative nature had washed away long ago when the barrier had come down. Papyrus and Undyne were having a thunderous arm-wrestling contest over the backseats. Frisk and Flowey were having a loud game of Pictionary and clue through the huge windows. Alphys was watching a superhero anime in the backseat with a notebook parked near her hip. Everybody was doing their best to keep themselves entertained. In the middle of this fiasco was Sans, who had only come along because Papyrus had begged him to go.
"I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN A WHOLE WEEK SANS!" Papyrus had nearly screeched over the phone. Sans kept the receiver an arm-length away from his skull, while he graded the exams on his desk with the other.
"you'll see me soon enough paps." He replied, grunting as the last pencil he had dropped off the edge of the table.
"BUT TORIEL SAYS THAT SHE IS PLANNING A ROAD TRIP. WON'T YOU PLEASE COME WITH US? PLEASE?!"
Sans grunted. He had had no choice but to agree, seeing as how Papyrus had gotten both Papyrus and Frisk had guilt tripped him from across the world to join in. "hey tori. what's going to be the plan in Colorado?" Sans asked in a mellow voice. At least it was better than grading final exams back in England. He grew tired of listening to the same old news with the same old rain and boggy weather.
"I thought we could explore the national parks!" Toriel trilled, fixing the bedazzled glasses on her snout. "We could visit the botanical gardens and then visit the slopes-" She began but was loudly interrupted.
"CAN WE GO SKIING? HOW ABOUT WE-" Papyrus squealed but Toriel cut him off.
"No Papyrus, we aren't going skiing. We'll be taking tours around the mountains." Toriel paused flashing Sans a prize-winning grin over her shoulder. "Besides, I already planned a helicopter ride and-"
"HELICOPTER RIDE?!" Sans was surprised that the car windows hadn't shattered. "ARE WE REALLY?"
"Yes. We'll be going on tour around the slopes tomorrow. We might be going for a boat ride but that hasn't been decided yet. So we'll be staying in Colorado for at least a week. Then we move to Texas."
"The car needs gas," Asgore announced in a monotone voice. "Toriel, is there a gas station anywhere within five miles?" She brought the map closer before nodding.
"There's one on the right. It should be coming up in five minutes- there it is!" Asgore pulled the giant minivan into the abandoned lot. A dinky building sat in the back of the lot with maybe four gas pumps lined up. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously before unbuckling his seatbelt.
"How does anybody work out here?" Undyne questioned, peering out the window. The only scenery around for miles was nothing but bare grassland and the occasional farm or two.
"I often wonder that myself. I'll be back in a few minutes. Sit tight." Asgore hopped out of the car, using his keys to lock the doors behind him.
"I'm coming with you," Toriel announced. "Does anybody want any snacks? It'll take another hour to reach Denver."
"ME!"
"Me!" Undyne had screeched. Frisk signed from their position next to Sans.
"me." After they had all listed what they wanted, Asgore and Toriel disappeared into the tiny shop with Papyrus and Undyne pausing long enough to join in with Frisk's game of 'I spy'. He popped in this headphones and let his gaze drift up towards the rood of the car. Today was going to be a long day.
Morning had come and gone with no breaks in between to eat or sleep. Hazel had managed to cross the entirety of the Kansas prairie with only one bathroom break. The last time she had gone was seven hours ago. Now she was ambling slowly along a broken down road, grateful that rarely anybody passed by. Just her and the rustling wind in her moist fur.
She could smell the tantalizing scent of pigs just a few blocks away but she couldn't stop or even dare to look in that direction. She had to be passing along the boundary of a farm. It was only recently that she had been met with an impasse. Farms surrounded her at every turn with multiple people working day and night and dogs everywhere. There was no tall grass to hide in and no patches of forest to sleep in. She had no choice but to blend in with society; thank the heavens that she had stolen some clothes from back in Arkansas. It was just a red flannel and a pair of khaki shorts but that was better than nothing, right?
There were two things that bothered her about walking around in the open. The first being that fact that all of the farmers were humans. She hadn't seen a monster in weeks and the time that she had, it had been a prosecution of crime. But she had fled before she could suffer the same fate. She had no idea what to expect here on the edge of Kansas.
The second was the fact that humans were terrifying in general. Giant metal cars that could go faster than a racing cheetah, metal contraptions that could get humans across oceans. The sheer span of technology used for simply getting food. If humans weren't so unpredictable, she would've come to love them. But when you see a live human roasting alive on the side of a road wrapped in plastic bags done by another human, it changes a person.
She had kept along the side road, her paw pads sore and torn from walking over hot concrete and tar. Occasionally, a sharp pebble of a rogue piece of glass would catch in the wound. It would hurt like hell. She could smell it bleeding onto the pavement. Her torn claw was no better, as both her injured paws and her shot ear were swollen and red. She could only hope that they weren't infected but there was only so much she could do now that she had stepped onto human turf.
She was so close to Nebraska, she could almost taste the new prey between her teeth. Sweat dripped through her fur and landed on the pavement with a heavy sizzle. To an outsider, she looked normal from a distance. But once you got close, she looked as though she just dragged herself out of a meat grinder. Her fur was filthy, covered in mud, feathers, torn up grass, bits of gravel, and stained with her own blood and the former crust of her prey from yesterday. Her fur was matted and slick with oil and sweat. She couldn't remember the last time she had groomed properly. She had a few healing scratches from days past and to anybody that didn't know here, she was a like a ravenous and flea-bitten wolf that walked among the complex.
Before she saw it, she heard it. The familiar sound of a car passing in the opposite direction. She saw the long brown hood driving slowly, the driver behind it gripping the steering wheel with frustrated eyes focused on the road. Hazel's red flannel flapped in the wind which at the time was similar to a bright neon sign flashing at night. It had only taken a split second; the driver glanced her way, crimson eyes narrowing in confusion before widening in surprise. He slammed on the breaks resulting in Hazel covering her ears with her paws as the car screeched to a halt.
There was no tall grass to disappear in and the only way was many lengths away. Already, the driver was quickly trying to get out of the car. In her panicked confusion that was her sign to get the hell away from there. She had seen too many things go wrong when people walked through the open country. Abductions, rape, murder, decapitated heads found but never their bodies.
"Hazel?" She turned on her heel, meeting many pairs of eyes. Only one seemed to freeze her to the spot. Burning golden yellow eyes that were full of shock, surprise, and anger that could only belong to one person: Undyne. Hazel drew away slowly, every muscle in her body screaming for her to turn tail and run as far as possible. But that wasn't possible at the moment. Somebody else had found her eyes; tiny pinpricks of light that had pretty much threatened to follow if she tried to make a run for it.
Hazel's throat felt dry and tight, as Asgore, Undyne, and Sans had exited the car. Three people that were each a threat to her. Three familiar and unexpected faces. Out in the middle of the sticks with no way to escape without detection. Three against one, who was famished, severely dehydrated, wounded, and desperately tired. She was sure that their eyes were watching her every movement.
"Hazel!" Undyne had repeated, her voice disbelieving as she easily crossed the thin verge of the road. Her scent was the same as it had been two years prior. Still smelling of sweat and sushi. Hazel could say nothing, her fur bushed out to make her look twice as big. Undyne moved closer, her arms spread out to catch her if she tried to make a run for it.
"...Undyne." She had choked out at last, her eyes relaxing until all of the fear in her body had melted away and replaced with predatory wariness and cunning. She wasn't going to be caught without going down with a fight. She turned to face Asgore and Sans who were slowly approaching on each side of her. "...Asgore? Sans…?" She backed up, her tail lashing behind her. She wasn't used to so many people around her at the same time.
"Where have you been?" Undyne roared, making a swipe for Hazel. She flinched badly and ducked away, almost making it the edge of the verge before the hem of her shirt had been caught. She was roughly pulled back from the verge towards the car, Undyne yanking her with a tight grip on her shirt. Panic made her voice squeak like a kit.
"Let me go!" Hazel almost yelped, using her blunt claws to slice away at the piece that Undyne held in a death grip. Before she could even move, she was involuntarily frozen to the spot.
"where are you trying to escape to kid?" Came an icy cold drawl.
"In particular, anywhere but here!" She retorted, her voice cracking on the last word. Primary fear had gripped her body tightly Hazel watching as Sans held her soul in his hands almost teasingly as if holding it like a trophy. Her instincts forced her to remember when she had been impaled in the stomach, quietly dying as her insides liquefied. "Can I go now? I have somewhere to get to!" She yowled, struggling but to no avail.
"Not a chance," Undyne replied evenly. "Drop her Sans. Papyrus, move back. The kid is sitting between Sans and me." Sans had relinquished his magic with a swipe of his hands, letting Hazel drop back onto the road. At that, Hazel screeched loud enough to crack the windows before putting a great distance between herself and the car. "Try to run again and I will personally impale you to the seats," Undyne growled, a spear appearing in her hands.
"Try me," Hazel replied lowly, her slitted eyes moving from the car to Undyne to Sans and back again. "You're not getting me in that death-contraption!"
"Never been in a car before? Too bad. Sans!" Before he could raise his hand, Hazel created a diversion. She manipulated the heat and increased it, making it so hot and bright that merely standing in the sun hurt and it almost blinded anybody who opened her eyes. Undyne cursed and took shelter but it didn't seem to faze Sans who had no skin or eyes to take the bait. Too late, as Hazel was already many lengths away and was quickly getting harder to see in the burning sunlight.
"Into the car! Quickly!" She heard Undyne yell. Asgore revved the engine and the car doors closed. Hazel could run just a bit faster than a car but when it came to Sans's penchant for soul detection, trying to hide wasn't an option. He would be able to sense and track her soul down easily. She already had plenty of experience with that in the Underground after being speared and stabbed at every turn. She could only hope that she had enough energy and magic to keep them distracted long enough for her to get away.
She pushed hard, her paws flying over the burning turf. Any cut that was gained from walking on the hot tar was immediately open, her bleeding paws leaving splatters in the grass. "Follow the blood stains!" Undyne roared. She could hear the rubber tires squealing against the hot pavement and knew that she had to speed up if she wanted to get away unscathed. She soon gained distance between herself and the road thanks to adrenaline, taking to the fields. If that car wasn't all-terrain, they wouldn't be able to follow her.
She left the verge and crossed a wide water-filled ditch, the sounds of the car growing farther and farther until only the sound of the field and circling blackbirds were present. She skidded to a stop, her legs buckling underneath her as she flopped to the ground. The heavy tang of blood and sweat hung in the air. She had torn another claw, this one bleeding heavily but she had nothing to staunch the bleeding. She could only hope that her body was robust enough to keep her going.
Dark clouds gathered overhead with the promise of rain and maybe a good storm. Hazel breathed heavily, her throat burning and her chest tightened as she tried to regain her breath. Her paws throbbed with hot pain and she gritted her teeth as she pulled out a few pieces of glass from her legs. Her body was reaching its limit. She could feel her energy draining quickly. Four days with no sleep were really taking its toll on her and her body was starting to lose its ability to keep up with its demands and the stress she was putting on it.
She could do nothing but lie there, her dark fur blending in with the grass and mud around her but not for long. The blood from her paws would clearly leave a trail to her. But if it started raining, that track would be washed away. She let herself think about it momentarily before the fear came rushing back. She gasped in pain again. She needed to move, but her body remained still as if defying her wish to live. The grass to her left rustled rapidly and Hazel swung her head to meet it. She would go down swinging.
"hey kit." Of fucking course. Only Sans had emerged from the grass, his eyes not threatening her but wildly worried and curious. But they were focused on her bloody paws, the torn claws, and the bits of broken glass; not her entirety. His hand was raised, threatening to hold her if she tried to run for the third time but the grasp was weak. She knew what he was doing: checking her. Checking her health and resolve. Her stats. All she could do was pant and choke, still trying to breathe evenly.
"something the matter?" Sans spoke after a while. HIs voice was dangerously low and his grip on her soul had tightened.
"Oh, you know," Hazel began sarcastically. "Just trying to get as far away from you as possible. But of course, I'm pursued by the devil himself and a ripped military warrior. Nothing to it." She let her head lay in the grass, drained of all her energy. Now was the time to accept defeat.
"get away from us? you've been avoiding us for two years?" Sans looked genuinely hurt and confused.
"No. I didn't even know you all were on a road trip. But when you're threatened to be stuffed into a moving deathtrap on wheels, it's fight or flight. Do what you want. I'm too exhausted to retaliate." She felt hot pain lance up her paws, only then noticing that two of her claws had been torn and one was a few sinews away from being ripped off of her paws. Sans seemed to have noticed it too.
"you're hurt badly. i'll take you back to tori."
"No thanks," Hazel growled aggressively. "I can take care of it myself. Why don't you just off me and tell the others that you lost me out here in the grass or something like that?"
"you think i'm going to kill you?"
"I don't think. I expect." She grunted out, feeling the claws in her throat ease their grip.
"well, i'm not going to murder you so you're just going to have to deal with it." Hazel laughed and eyed her captor with a glint of dark humor. Sans finally released his grip and squatted down beside her. "so after two long years of hearing nothing from you, you expect us to suddenly find you beat up on the side of the road and just kill you?"
"Pretty much, yeah." The primary fear of being hunted to death left Hazel reeling. It was replaced by confusion and exhaustion. "I mean, i presumed you would think that I would go back to how it was before I fell into the Underground. Makes sense, doesn't it?" Hazel paused, her eyes moving back up towards the sky.
"no. the least you could've done is check in with tori. or paps. they both went crazy looking for you after you disappeared. manhunts around the county and everything. we thought you were dead kid. disappearing off the face of the planet like that." Hazel grunted, rolling her eyes.
"No thanks. I prefer to look after myself, thank you very much. I-" Hazel began to argue but Sans cut her off.
"that's it then. back to tori." Before she could move, Sans had hoisted her into the air with his magic. He floated her back through the grass over the same ditch that she had leaped minutes before. "found her undyne."
"You found her? Bring her over here! And fast! Don't let her go." Undyne scowled, motioning Sans to bring her around the car. She screeched in panic, her fur fluffing up again.
"I am not getting into that human death trap! I'd rather be strapped to the ceiling!"
"That can be arranged." Undyne smiled wickedly, a roll of duct tape in her hands.
Sans smiled. He shot a cheeky smile up at her. "you're still the same, even after two years."
"And you're still as nosy as ever." Hazel sighed, relaxing her fur to lay flat on her body. Undyne had told the others to come around and help secure her paws. Papyrus had eagerly bounced forward while Frisk was peering around the corner, awe in their eyes. Toriel and Asgore had taken one look at her bleeding wounds and had changed seats.
"We don't need another speeding ticket, Toriel." Asgore reasoned but Toriel checked the mirrors and turned the car around."
"Let's get going!" Undyne roared and before Hazel could get free between Sans and Undyne, Toriel had accelerated the car so quickly that Hazel could only screech with terror as they gunned down the road.