so hungry my belly button's chewing my backbone

OOC: skill point starter; first solo hunt; 800+ words

When land had come into view Sunder had cried with joy. He had been without water for so long no tears actually came, but his eyes had burned all the same and he'd been wracked with relieved sobs. The dog had collapsed on the tangle of trees that had been his lifeboat and prison for what felt like ages. He lay there, too weak to do much else, while the tangle drifted. It took several agonizing hours for the tangle to get close enough for Sunder to make out details on the island. Had circumstances been different he likely would have been disappointed with its apparent barrenness, but it was land and it was dry, and he couldn't afford to be picky.

Few trees grew on the island. From a distance all he could see was a few sad, crooked individuals. They were bent as though a great weight pressed upon them; their malnutrition deforming them and causing their tops to bow towards the earth. Sunder counted five total with several low blobs hinting at what could be up and coming saplings or several particularly gnarled trees. He could see no life, but wouldn't allow himself to be dismayed. Perhaps the other side of the island was better - he would hold onto this hope until it was proven false.

At last the seemingly barren island was within leaping distance. A wiser man would have waited for the logs to make land themselves, but he wasn't thinking clearly and in his desperation to be free Sunder couldn't help but make a leap for it. He didn't make it, of course. The dog had been adrift too long; his legs were weak from lack of use and food. Thankfully the water was shallow and he was able to flounder his way to shore. For the longest time he lay there gasping, unsure of what to do next. Finally the dryness of his mouth pointed in the right direction. Sunder rose and quickly found a puddle of rainwater in one of the craggy rocks. From there he found another and another, and may very well have gone hunting for a fourth had not movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him.

A green lizard perhaps three feet in length had crawled from a crack in a stone outcropping and now lay stretched out in the sun some distance away from him. Sunder licked his lips hungrily, his gaze darting between the lizard and the hole it had come from. He could make it.

Sunder lunged for the iguana, but it was difficult to gain traction on the wet sand and his atrophied legs were about as useful as green beans for running on. He fell flat on his chest and buried his nose in the sand. When he lifted his head the lizard was gone. In despair he dropped his head to the sand and closed his eyes. He couldn't give up now, but he wanted to. He was cold, hungry, and alone. Everyone he knew was probably dead. 

Numbly he got to his paws again and looked around. Moping would get him nowhere. He wanted to survive and to do that he first needed to eat. He could cry some more when he was fed.

He sniffed dejectedly and then noticed that another (much smaller) lizard was inching out onto the black rocks. It would make a meager meal but it was something. The yearling dog had never hunted alone before, but he was going to have to start now, wasn't he? He needed that meat. With his thirst satiated for the time being this was now his highest priority. It had been weeks since he'd had a good meal. His last real one had been back on the island. Sunder hadn't been overweight by any stretch of the imagination, but he'd been a healthy weight and those fat reserves had seen him through the trip to this new island.

Sunder crept along the ground, his belly barely leaving the sand. He tried not to look at the iguana but it was hard to feint disinterest when you were so desperate for success. His desperation was obvious enough that the iguana, unaccustomed to dealing with wolf depredation, had reason to be wary. It watched him out of the corner of its eye; its attention rarely straying.

Somehow he managed to get within lunging distance. Once there he forced himself to lay down his head and be disinterested. He lay like that for an excruciating amount of time. Eventually the young iguana decided he wasn't enough of a threat to require of its full attention always. He slowly faded into the background as birds and other lizards began to catch the iguana's attention. What it didn't notice was that every time it looked elsewhere Sunder got one step closer to lunging. One by one he drew his legs under him. A gull calling overhead gave him the chance to square up with the lizard. 3, 2, 1...

He lunged, his thin bird legs somehow managing to not only support his weight but move him quickly. The lizard was fast too, but Sunder managed to seize it by the base of its tail. He wrest it off the ground and shook it to death. Once it was limp he collapsed to the ground and lay there panting and trembling; unable - at least for now - to eat his hard-earned meal.

INJURY/ILLNESS TALLY
Emaciated
Raw and bleeding patterned cuts up and down his forelegs