Eight made his way around the herd of mule deer, carefully. To spook them, or make his presence known before he or the other hunt members were ready would be disastrous. He knew what he had to do, it was time to do it, without incident.
He crawled through the tall grass, low as he could get, and as slow and quietly as he could carry himself through. The dry curtain of amber and gold chaffs concealed him very well.
Once in a while he'd peek up, his ears back, green eyes scanning the herd. He was looking for what he was suggested to, any Deer around the outside fringe of the herd. This meant that the deer would be large enough to take care of themselves without needing the support of others, which meant a tricky situation.
'If I take them by surprise,' He thought to himself, 'I shouldn't have any troubles getting a target to run.'
He went through scenarios in his head, picking and choosing, this and that as he rounded the herd to the half way point. He was almost around, so he'd need a solid course of action to follow before he got there.
'Then again.' He thought to himself as he peeked out of the tall grass once again, spotting a huge devil of a deer. 'The element of surprise may be something that shouldn't be looked into so much...'
It was dangerous to go off half-cocked like he was now planning, but this beast was far enough away from the other herd members that Eight could have him on the run before any of the others got the courage up to come to the rescue - if that happened at all.
By this point, Eight was half way around the herd. Down in the grass was sweltering, despite the cool breeze that traveled through the rest of the landscape. Try as it might, the wind just couldn't penetrate the dense rolling grass, and the sun being directly overhead now made it much worse.
'Screw it, this is good a place as any.' He thought, 'Besides, if I get behind the whole damn herd, I could send 50 deer the wrong damn direction...'. He decided it was for the best and commenced with his new favored plan.
Just on the other side of the ever-thinning veil of weed and grass sat the prey, gnawing and chewing away, content with his day so far. He must have weighed 200 pounds. Eight pushed all thoughts of nagging doubt out as he stepped out from the grass making his presence known with a loud growl. He quickly stepped between the Deer and the rest of the herd. Each party startled quickly as Eight snarled and barked stepping in toward the behemoth deer. The rest of the herd did what he hoped they would and ran. Just as the first in the herd did, the rest followed, quickly leaving him with his new potential victim.
The only thing was, this deer seemed very unimpressed as he backed away toward the edge of the trodden down ring where the heard was laying just the night before.
Eight snarled and nipped, keeping a steady and low walk toward the deer, as the deer continued to slowly back into the tall grass.
Eight kept his eyes peeled for the others, and for any signs that this deer was having enough. In truth, it wouldn't take much for this beast to make short work of Eight and send him packing. The thought of this tightened Eights muscles and movements even more. He kept his low stance as he steadily pressed forward.
They made progress through the grass, Eight lost sight of the deer's upper half as he trudged on, but something happened... The deer stopped and with an audible "Hmph." took a step toward Eight instead. This was not favorable. Eight's mind raced as he tried to keep it in check. You could see now by his movements that the deer had sussed him out for what he was, frightened. A little or a lot, the deer now knew that he had little to fear.
The antlered hulk grinned and took another step towards Eight, and Eight obliged him with another step back. No matter how he snarled and barked, he was losing ground quickly, not to mention losing heart.
His mind blurred, his thoughts panned into one another until the only thing making decisions was his body. By the time the Mule Deer took another step, Eight found his teeth nipping at its flanks, surprising it, to say the least. Eight was surprised too, when he figured out what was going on.
It seemed to be doing the trick as the deer receded again, this time, with a different demeanor in his walk - this time, it was HE who was afraid and Eight knew it.
The wolf charged the deer some, nipping here or there, doing his best not to be caught under its hooves, darting this way or that, keeping it moving, this time, much quicker than the first attempt.
Back and through the grass, the deer worked, being bullied and pushed by his aggressor. Eight made as much noise as he could. The deer wasn't running, but he was spooked, they'd be at the rendezvous in a matter of minutes, if Eight gaged correctly.
Only a moment seemed to pass, brushing through the grass, barking, biting and spitting, making a trail all the way back. About that time, Eight was joined by the Alpha leader of the hunt group, also barking and sputtering.
"He's a big one." He congratulated Eight between barks, making sure to keep their attention trained. His words came very serious and very curt, it was almost hard to tell if he was happy or upset at the size of their quarry.
Each wolf took a side, making the Deer the "Point" of their now "V" shape as they pushed him on backwards, all the while making their location known.
"Where are the others?" Eight asked between breaths.
"They'll come when they're needed." Replied the leader, sharply, keeping no air in the conversation and quickly turning back to the Deer.
They had made good ground now, the deer would try to run this way, or escape that way only to be cut off by one of the wolves. At some point, he must have realized his imminent need to fight for life, he turned again into a confident buck and quickly began to turn the tables. He focused his efforts on the larger Alpha of the two wolves as he began, raising his front quarters up and pawing away with his hooves. A few hits made contact with the husky wolf, on his side, and once on his head, causing him to yelp and stagger for a moment before regaining his composure and putting on more pressure with bites, trying to keep the deer on the defensive. Eight Stepped his game up too, however, now intent on watching for those hoof strikes. To be hit by this beast would be like being stricken hard by twin hammers.
The deer would bounce up again, and the wolves would stagger back some, when the deer was on all fours again, the team would push back further, taking a bite here or there where needed.
Their game neared its target area now, it would be over soon, hopefully. The pair had done so well keeping his attention, he hadn't noticed the pending ambush waiting just on either side of him now.
The deer went up once more, focused on Eight this time. If he could take out the weaker of the two, he may be able to make an escape - but his time was up. Just as he began to come down, Eight's eyes went wide with fear and his body tensed and braced for pain, but felt nothing. His fear lingered even after he realized a dark blur moving through the grass, straight into the Hulking Deer's side with enough impact to tear him away from the set of aggressors by 15 feet or more into the tall grass.
The deer made a few shrieks, and there was much growling and rustling, but until Eight came into the vicinity of the kill, nothing else was visible.
Seff and Peace made short work of this brute. There he lay, crimson stained the grass all around, and Peace's light fur.
"Are you two okay?" Seff asked, his deep voice showing some genuine signs of concern, though, probably more for their hunt leader, who'd taken the brunt of the beating.
The leader trailed up behind Eight and grinned at the sight of the kill.
Eight nodded at the question,
"Yeah, but he -"
"I'm fine. I'll just have a limp for a few days." The stout wolf cut through Eight's sentence, though he sounded relieved and much less stark in his speech now.
Seff laughed,
"Oh, listen to you, Connor. Mr. Tough Guy." He teased their leader. Peace chuckled some too.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Connor rebutted, losing his stance a little and showing his hurt more than he was. No sense in hiding it, if everyone knew better.
The group stood around for a moment, gaining their breath and admiring their day's work.
"He's a big one." Peace said, cleaning herself up some. "Nice pick, new guy."
"Yeah, Not bad, Eight." Seff added.
Eight grinned, not one, but TWO compliments. He seemed to have made a couple of believers in his abilities to be a team player.
"You did a fine job." Connor said. "I'd be pleased to have you on our roster any day."
Eight's head was practically swimming, and his ego inflated some, though he had to watch not to get too full of himself around the rest of the pack. 'Modesty.' He thought, 'Modesty.'.
"Well, uh..." He began, searching for the words he wanted, "I aim to please."
"I'll say you do, at that." Connor stated, a smile on his face.
They waited around a little longer before Connor gave more orders.
"Alright, lets make ourselves useful. Peace, you're with me on team 1. Eight, you and Seff will pull second. We'll swap out so we can get this thing back to the den quick as we can."
It was a good plan, The other three acknowledged. Peace and Connor grabbed the antlers of their huge kill and began to drag while Seff and Eight walked behind.
Eight's body felt the breeze for the first time he could remember all day. It was wonderful and relaxing on his muscles and through his fur. He took notice of the world around him too, including the sky, barely past the half way point in the sun, just like Connor had anticipated before the hunt even began.
"Well I'll be damned..." Eight thought out loud, just above an audible whisper. Just as the words slipped from his lips, Seff took note and inquired,
"What?"
"Hmm? Oh... Nothing its just been... Its been a damn fine day." Eight said, a relieved grin stretched wide across his face as he fought back laughter.
Seff laughed and laid a heavy pawed pat on Eights shoulder. "It has, indeed." The wolf's deep voice came, "It has, indeed.