Chapter II
He was sleeping with the bull elk carcass, its ribcage above him. He heard a muffled walking, like paws padding the leaves. His head snapped up. Wolf. Their blue eyes met, colliding, reflecting each other's being. Rage, hatred flared up inside Noxzo's heart. He knew this wolf; how could he forget him? Tizgone was back, most likely hunting Noxzo down! Everything happened in a flash. Noxzo grabbed Tizgone at the withers, while Tizgone angled his head and bit Noxzo's pastern. Noxzo gripped on harder; blood was drawing now, soaking their fur. Noxzo's pastern was aching to the point of yipping away from the fight. Tizgone latched his jaws on-
Noxzo woke up. His pastern was stuck at a weird angle. He looked around; no wolves were there. It was just a dream. Noxzo fought through the pain and straightened his pastern as normal. The blaze inside his pastern flared. That didn't slow the joy that Noxzo had when he realized that if he could move it, it probably wasn't broken. He couldn't sleep, but he rested until the sun peaked over the mountains.
Noxzo stood up to a stabbing pain. I have to walk some. If I can get to the Grassy Plain, I can find the Slough pack. Whether I find a mate there doesn't matter. All I have to do is conquer a larger Slough male, and then I'll have some dominance on my side. I can continue scanning for a Dispersal Wolf, as most Pack wolves wouldn't leave their pack for me. The Dispersal's will take me. I just have to like them. I could move on back to the Specimen Pack. They're weaker; better chances for me. Noxzo put his pastern down. Tingling throbbed at his front right leg. An inferno raced up his bones. Noxzo had never experienced anything like it. His stifle didn't bother him anymore; the whole thing had scabbed, leaving a large black, brown, and red color on his right hind. Noxzo would need to trust his left side to handle most of the walking. The trees seemed to stay over his head for hours. It took Noxzo forty-five minutes to make a twenty-minute journey to the beginning of the prairies. The only large water source known not to dry up was a small lake above the Dead Tree. Noxzo only knew about all of the landmarks because of his mom. In the Druid Pack, all pups that will for certain leave the pack aren't allowed to know anything about the landmarks. The thing was, his mom knew he would have to leave, having been the smallest and weakest in the pack's pups. So, she told him anyway. Noxzo knew that was one reason she got slaughtered. It was because of him.
The silky grass brushed against all of his scars: the scars on his pastern, on his hind, the scars in his mind. The grass seemed to heal them. So tender were the little wheat seeds. Rolling hills lay before Noxzo. Clouds loomed above him. The sun made the air warm. It would be a tough journey, and Noxzo knew it. He also knew that he would make it. He was stronger than the Specimens now. If he had turned around right now and went back and fought one, he would win. No Specimen would hold up like he was managing currently. The Specimens were warmer than the Druids were when it came to their heart. The Specimens wouldn't be used to the climate, the roughness that Noxzo endured. The Specimens were used to being kicked out with another one. Like two sisters who could manage the distance together. Noxzo had nobody with him. It was just him; just him and his rising spirit.
Noxzo felt no more pain, even though it was still deep inside. He let himself run, let his tail fly high in the breeze. He was free from the agony that no longer enclosed him to his perilous death. If he didn't overcome the pain, he would surely die from lost hope. Noxzo trotted down a slope, where he stopped halfway down. He could see Dry Creek! The earth seemed to flip over, and backwards. Noxzo lost his footing. He tumbled downwards. What had seemed like a dream in Heaven turned into the opposite: a nightmare in the Underworld. Pain seeped into Noxzo. He felt the sprained pastern, the reopened scab. His immorality had vanished. He was a mortal wolf. A mortal wolf feeling the misery of the real world, a world he thought he had conquered. Yet, here he was, bleeding from his stifle up to his flank, favoring his horridly sprained pastern. Within minutes, four coyotes had surrounded Noxzo. His blood stained the grass; it was soaked into the earth. Soon, grizzlies would smell the stench wafting from the blood-soaked ground. Two more coyotes came to watch the wolf. Noxzo looked up at the predators. He shoved his ears forward, lifted up his muzzle, and let out a bone-splitting snarl. The six coyotes backed off, three running away. Noxzo pretended to look fine. He limped across the valley. He was only traveling one yard about every two or three minutes. Coyotes stalked him in the high grass. They yipped, and tormented him.
Noxzo had had enough. He bit a coyote on his right, and sank his teeth into its neck. He leaped onto another coyote behind him, and he tore its back into shreds. He smacked another one on the nose, digging his claws in half an inch. No forgiveness. He wasn't going to die like this, so the coyotes might as well figure it out. Noxzo stopped moving. He raised his head up to the air and howled a rich, strong howl. The coyotes ran off, birds squawked and flew into the sky, and to Noxzo's luck, a grizzly shied off from the sound and ran towards Dry Creek; away from the cow elk carcass. Noxzo ate the carcass until there were only bones. He slept next to the carcass, remembering the bull elk, and how he wished he hadn't challenged that grizzly. It would have saved him days. He could've traveled fast; and lived off of hares and other carcasses, but no, he had to have that bull elk. Everyone makes mistakes, right? Just they make small ones, while I make the big mistakes. I may as well forget about this trek to find a mate. I'm still a day or two from my destination. I could've been there tonight if it weren't for this trouble.
Noxzo continued the next morning. Mid-summer was closing in quickly. The days grew warmer. Noxzo didn't have the cool shade of the cave he was used to. He could only manage a slow jog all day long. The air was clear, and not muggy, which added a grain of happiness his spirit.
Night came before Noxzo knew it. He had managed to get to the far side of Dry Creek. He wandered around; looking for a hare. He stopped and looked at a decent-sized mud puddle. A shape of a bunny lay engraved in the mud. It was a large female, Noxzo guessed. He tracked it down…one hundred and twenty-five yards away; the rabbit was taking a snooze in a thicket of tall grass. Noxzo stalked it, but for no reason. The rabbit, thinking it was safe in the tall grass, lay on its side, careless to the world. Noxzo pounced on it. His canines caught its neck. Within twenty seconds, it was dead. Noxzo bit at the body, tearing large chunks out; he hadn't eaten all day. The bones lay on the grass; a sight Noxzo was used to. Meat clung to the snapped bones. Noxzo licked the meat off, and lapped up the bloody meat in the grass that he had missed. Nothing was going to waste. Noxzo finished up, and traveled a little bit farther until his leg told him enough was enough. He lay down, waiting for the sun to peak above the ridges. Sleep was impossible in these days.
A tender smell of meat drifted to him. Noxzo stretched, trying to ignore his pastern. He continued his pitiful jog again. With his pastern and the heat and dehydration and food to worry about, his scab didn't bother him one tiny bit. Noxzo drew closer to the carcass. It was a fat cow elk. Noxzo yipped with joy! He bounded closer, just to stop in his tracks. A male grizzly stood on two legs; looming above Noxzo. Not this time! Noxzo stood there, hackles raised, a snarl emitting from his mouth, teeth bared, and tail erect. The bear stood for a while; hoping Noxzo would back off. But Noxzo stayed in the same position. The bear slammed his feet back down, and ran off. Noxzo approached the reddened meat. The bear must've been the second visitor, and a while after this elk was originally killed. In the head where the eye used to be, white slimy things crawled around everywhere. They moved up and around each other, nestling into the pit in the head. Noxzo withdrew from the body. He came towards the elk's rump, and ate the meat from the rump to the withers. That would have to do. Noxzo trotted off again.