ill be just fine pretending im not

Although he was free from the ooze, other animals seemed to be occasionally lingering around with a few remaining symptoms. In this case, there was a small group of coyotes that were chattering near the borders of the armada and one of them had the tell-tale blue glowing ooze dripping of the orifices on the left side of it's face. Its ear, eye, and nostril were all plagued by the ooze, and it seemed some even was mixing in with it's saliva. It was interesting studying the effects of the ooze being on the other end of the infection now, but he certainly wasn't looking to get reinfected. Instead, he was hoping to cull the lands that surrounded the Armada of the infected creatures, both predator and prey alike.

He also wanted to know if the glowing spots on the coyotes coat would continue to glow after death. None of the wolves in the Armada had started to glow like that, but killing them to find out if the glow remained wouldn't be an option and waiting for them to die was, well, not an option. He would be finding out today, however, if he was lucky enough to bring the smaller canid down. The creature was likely half blind and half deaf from the ooze, but he couldn't take any chances. Would the gang of coyotes team up against him or run off and leave their infected friend behind to fend for itself? It was a mystery, but only for another few moments as Grimshaw readied himself to chase down the infected coyote.

After another second, he was off. Long legs carried his heavy body towards the small pack and to his surprise, somewhat, the healthy coyotes fled quickly leaving it's disoriented friend behind to suffer alone. At least this little coyote had something going for it, at least. It wouldn't suffer in life any longer, and it wouldn't suffer in death either. Although it could hear and feel his approach, blinded and deafened on one side allowed the dire wolf to approach quickly and grab a hold of the smaller animal. With a quick flick of his head, the coyote would perish and hang limp in his jaws as it's broken neck immediately ended it's life.

Grimshaw dropped the coyote then, it's body thudding to the ground without life. The glowing on it's pelt would remain glowing, although he could see it beginning to dim slightly. He waited, though, only wanting to go through the effort of skinning the animal if the glow would remain. Though he supposed he could to go work at gutting the animal, if he was careful about the skin anyway. At the very least, he could use this coyote carcass to hang up around the borders as a reminder to the pests to stay away.

472 (half word count seasonal)

"Speech."