Rivals! Rivals in my hunting grounds! So mad! So mad at rivals! Smells like… two rivals! Wait, more smells. Two rival-mates? Strange. Rival-mates never go with rivals when challenging. I start long- jumping to the closest-smelling rival and rival-mate. I stop ahead of him so he knows I'm there. He does not challenge-call. He keeps jumping away. Strange! Rival's smell wakes me up during sun-up and he doesn't challenge me? Mad at him! I mad-call at him. He doesn't stop. I hear him calling as he jumps. Normal call. Not mad-call or challenge-call or even give-up-call. The rival-mate keeps following him, like she didn't know I was there. Very strange.
The other rival and rival-mate are far away now. Out of my hunting grounds. He didn't challenge me either. Strange, strange, strange. My belly makes a loud noise like a quiet-call. I am very hungry. My last meal was many sun-ups-and-downs ago. Not long after my mate won the game. My mate? She will be upset about the rival! I must re-mark her!
I jump back to my den very fast. My mate smelled the rival too. She is sitting on the bed, smelling scared. Just like all mates do during a challenge. If I lose the challenge, she becomes the rival's mate, joining any other mates that the rival has. I have never had more than one mate. I have big hunting grounds, so I never challenge. Lots of mates are good when you have too-big hunting grounds.
I nip the side of her neck, marking her, like I did when she became my mate. That shows her that I won the challenge, and that she is still mine. I didn't win any challenge, but that doesn't matter. She smells happy about this and calls me to bed. The sun is up, and I am still sleepy. I lay down next to her and she wraps her arms around me. She started doing that after she won the game. It felt strange at first, but I didn't stop her. When she does it now, it helps me not feel how hungry I am. Hunger used to stop me from sleeping.
I decide to try something. I wrap my arms around her, like she does to me, and pull her on top of me. She smells very happy now. She moves so that her forehead is on mine. I feel her warm breath on my mouth and her head-fur on my face. She is much lighter from the bad hunting, so her weight on my chest doesn't bother me. I sleep before she does.
I woke up with something warm and wet lying on my mouth. My mate is still asleep, her mouth open and tongue on my face. I'm only getting a little used to some of her touches, so this is too much. I move to push her off of me, and my hand slides underneath her outer fur. I feel the cold flesh of her belly with my hand. She suddenly wakes up jumps off of me. She smells very surprised, but not angry or scared. She lies down again and nuzzles my neck. She never stops acting strangely.
I feel sun-up starting. We are so hungry, we slept longer than normal. We can't go much longer without food. Hunting won't help. There is no prey to hunt. I must get more prey. How can I get more prey? I challenge rivals for hunting grounds that have prey. Were the rivals in my hunting grounds looking for prey? They couldn't have been or they would have challenged me. My hunting grounds are empty, too. They must have known that.
I must find new hunting grounds. If my hunting grounds don't have prey, what grounds will? The rivals were going toward where the sun always is. Warm ones must like the sun; they are always out during sun-up. Maybe if I go toward where the sun always is, I will find more warm ones! I'll have to move during sun-up, so I can follow it. I also have to leave my hunting grounds behind. I will have to take my mate with me, like the rivals.
None of that bothers me. Anything for food at this point. Anything for food, and my mate. She has been my mate for longer than any of the others. She is a good hunter, and is the only reason I can sleep when I'm this hungry. I need her.
I jump to my feet. My mate gets up too, if only to hold onto my arm. I let out a challenge-call. No rivals are around to hear it, but my mate now knows what we're doing. I start to jump away, calling often so my mate can follow easily. I jump toward where the sun always is. We don't find any rivals or warm ones as we go, just a few Small-Stupids.
By sun-down, we are both very tired. We are weak from not eating. My mate is very weak, being smaller than me. I had to slow down a lot recently so she could keep up. We are far from my hunting grounds. It is strange to not smell myself all around, like in my hunting grounds.
It is time to sleep for now. I jump inside an empty warm one den, my mate barely following behind. I lay on the ground, resting on my side. My mate does the same, pressing her back against my belly. I wrap my arms around her like I did last time we slept. She falls asleep quickly. I fall asleep soon after her.
Author's Note
For those of you that are confused, the story starts out in Pennsylvania, the setting of the first game. Since it is in the northern hemisphere, the sun is somewhat in the southern sky. When Apex (my nickname for the protagonist) mentions, "where the sun always is", he means the cardinal direction of south.
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