Dark and Dreary

To any sane soul, it would be clear that going North in a blizzard was a dumb idea. Jedrek was perhaps not one of those souls, and here the brown wolf was sitting inside of a cracked redwood tree. In his defense, the storm had appeared not long after arriving in the forest, and although his stomach rumbled loudly, he had taken shelter for the moment. The brutish wolf needed a moment to collect his thoughts and figure a way out of this without losing limb or life. It was proving to be quite a problematic situation, with his stomach throwing out another irritating grumble of hunger.

"Damn." It was a matter of moments until he faced himself with the only solutions, he could either test his hunting skills or wait out the storm, running the risk of going several hours or days without food. As Jed wasn't one to give up without a fight, the male found himself pushing out of the hollow and into the frigid, blustery snow. The wolf's ears cut back against his head, and his golden yellow eyes had to squint to see past his nose, but it was nowhere near as horrible as it could be thanks to the canopy of the towering redwoods. Unsure as to what he could find at such a time, he let his deepest instincts take over his mind to allow him the opportunity and expand his senses. It was something akin to active meditation, although it didn't give him anything he didn't already have.

Jed was able to open his eyes a little wider, could lift his ears slightly off the back of his head, and found it a bit less strenuous pushing through the snow. It would be for nothing if he couldn't find a trace of anything, however, but it wouldn't slow him down now that he had made up his mind. The wolf trudged on, dark brown tail curled against his hind leg until he spotted what looked like fowl tracks being hidden quite swiftly by the blizzard. "Finally.." Jed only just made out which direction the bird had gone and followed after his quarry with haste.

It felt as if time had slowed into hours as he continued after the tracks, his feet becoming numb from the cold before he found respite within another hollowed space beneath a redwood. Jed could easily pick up on the scent here, a ptarmigan that had likely gotten lost as he had. With no time for too long of a rest, the wolf was back into the snow once more charging after his game. He would follow his instinct as the bird had, looking for shelter away from the elements as well as predators. It had occurred to Jed that it was strange to find a ptarmigan that hadn't migrated with this sort of weather coming early, but it wasn't unheard of to him.

When he thought the trail was lost, he doubled back on his own and wandered the area for several minutes, looking for something he must have missed. It struck him after his third pass, and Jed reached to his right foreleg to grab the knife from his leather banding, flicking his tongue to turn it in his teeth before sizing up the mound of snow in front of him. By now the wind had let up just enough so the wolf could poise himself for a leap, and in one swift motion, he brought the knife down sharply into the snowbank. There was a cry of death and then silence. He wrenched his head back and slid the knife back into its band, using numb paws to dig at the mound for his prize.

Once he had dug the ptarmigan from its hole of death, he gathered it in his jaws and set out to find shelter once more. Luckily for him, the snow and ice made it easy to keep the scent of blood from traveling too far, as he knew there to be a pack nearby. After what seemed like another hour of walking, he was able to backtrack to the hollow from before. There he was able to settle down happily, taking the time to clean and warm his aching toes. Afterward, he took the time to pluck his prize, spitting feathers into the wind howling past him. It took a while before he could use his knife to carve the meat in chunks from the carcass, taking care not to lose too much of the organs in the process.

Jed was able to eat his fill at last and was fortunate enough to have brought a worn leather pouch with him where he could store what he had left. Honestly, the tattered thing wouldn't last. He didn't need it to last, anyway, the wolf just needed it to carry the treats back to where he stayed once the storm was past. With his goal accomplished, Jed dug into the wet earth in the hollow to carve out a temporary bed, curling up tight and relaxing into a light sleep.