Season I Chapter IV
A few hours after he leaves Jahzara, Raza is on his way back to where he started his hunt earlier in the day. With it being later in the day he sees a lot more animals out. In the distance he sees a heard of Ibex grazing on some grass. Knowing he could get hurt by them, he moves on. A few more minutes of searching his patients is rewarded. Standing in a clearing all alone just like before, is a small dik-dik “It’s the same one as before!” he whispers to himself. Moving silently, he makes his way downwind of his prey, this time checking behind himself and his prey, hoping Jahzara wont ruin it again. The young calf looks just a few years younger than Jahzara. Pushing the thoughts of his sister out of his head, Raza focuses on getting his food.
Some pack members have criticized Raza being so emotionless and for going after young prey. When asked about this Raza always replies saying “that’s how life is and you must do what you need to do to survive. Its survival of the fittest and the young ones shouldn’t go out on their own anyway” He doesn’t always go for young animals. Over the years he’s gotten stronger and gained more skills and confidence so when he has the chance, he sometimes brings home an adult animal. When hunting, Raza never lets his emotions get in the way of his job. If he did, he wouldn’t have the skills and drive to do what he needs to do.
Looking around one final time, Raza confirms it’s just the young dik-dik on her own. Crouching down he lowers his body and slowly advances, one paw at a time. Expertly moving silently towards his prey. About 10 feet from the calf, he stops and takes some deep breaths. Preparing for the pounce, his eyes turn to slits and he zones in on his target, focusing on nothing but the calf. Doing one final check, he puts all his power into his back legs and launches himself at the prey. The moment his front paws strikes the calf’s body he bites down. Unfortunately, his is only met with the snap of his own teeth as he misses her neck. The sheer force of his lunge winds the poor calf and they both fly to the floor in a cloud of dust. In a panic the terrified calf attempts to get up but is quickly yanked down by Raza’s much stronger paws. She attempts to scream but that scream never comes as she feels her predators teeth close around her throat, crushing her windpipe. Fearing for her life and feeling herself begin to suffocate, she tries desperately to break free, wriggling her legs and body around, franticly attempting to scratch and claw Raza but the attempt is useless. For Raza, this was easy food. The attempts the calf made had no effect on him. He speeds things up by clamping his jaws tighter around her throat. Her struggle intensifies as she feels herself unable to breath, realising this was the end and there was no way out. No sooner does his bite tighten and his teeth sink into her throat does he pull and blood fills his mouth as her throats rips open. A bloody gurgling sound is heard as the young dik-dik attempts to take her last breath. Seeing the light fade from her eyes, Raza releases his vice like grip on her throat. He watches as she falls to the floor lifeless. Panting, Raza looks to the bloody calf, a pool of blood slowly forming under her throat. “Sorry for killing you but it’s for survival” he gives a short chuckle “Thanks for making the job easier by being alone. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t of been but you’ve helped me, my pack and my species”
Shortly after catching his breath, Raza starts to drag the dead calf away, a dried up pool of blood covers the floor where she once was. His ears perk up and twitch as he thinks he heard something. Shaking his head, he picks up the calf again but this time he definitely hears something.
“Hasana? Hasana? Where are you?” a voice a short distance away calls out, gradually getting louder
“Shit it must be her mother!” Raza whispers to himself as he tries to drag his prey into the long grass. He continues to drag the calf until she’s unexpectedly ripped from his mouth. Looking at the calf he sees her hoof trapped under a root “shit!” Raza growls and attempts to pull the leg free, yanking and pulls but it doesn’t budge. “Wait! I know!” he whispers as an idea forms in his head. Abandoning the calf, he moves downwind of it and waits in the tall grass. The smell of blood fills his nose as he looks to the trail of smudged blood leading from where he first attacked the calf to where he tried to drag it.
After waiting a few moments, he smells an adult dik-dik and hears a horrified scream that pierces the silence.
“HASANA!” An adult Dik-Dik mother screams as she rushes to her fallen daughter. Upon reaching her daughter she breaks down in sobs. “Why?! Why did you have to go!” she cries “first your younger brother and now you!” She continues to cry into her fallen daughters bloodies fur.
Raza on the other paw had his eyes focused solely on the grieving mother, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Sensing the time drawing near his eyes again turned to slits and he zoned in on his next target. Siezing the perfect moment, Raza lunches full force into the female dik-dik, this time Raza biting right on target and both rolling into a cloud of dust.
Just like her daughter, the mother let out a scream as she was slammed into. Once on the dusty ground she kicks and scrambles to get free. Her rear hoof making hard contact with something soft in between her attackers legs causing her him to yelp and release his grip. Seizing the opportunity, she makes a run for it. The attempt is short lived though as she’s tackled to the floor again by Raza. She feels his teeth sink into her rear leg, a loud crack followed by an agonizing pain is felt as Raza bites down hard, breaking her leg and sinking his teeth into her leg. The taste of blood fills Raza’s mouth as he pins the mother down. In an attempt to get free, she kicks him square in the eye but he doesn’t release his grip.
“YOU! YOU KILLED HER!” she shouts at him, seeing the blood on his fur from her daughter “How could you be so evil! What did she ever do to you!”
Raza simply stares blankly at her, showing no emotion towards what she’s saying. Moving further up her body he goes for her neck, attempting to end her as quickly as possible. Before he can do that he’s unexpectedly thrown 5 feet in the air, head over paws, landing on the ground hard on his back, temporarily winding him.
Looking to what thew him, he looks and sees two dik-diks. One on the floor with a broken leg and dirty fur. Another dik-dik, a male, stood over her protectively “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY FAMILY!” he shouts, glaring at Raza “what have we done to you to make you kill our daughter and almost kill my mate!”
Raza again gives an emotionless and blank look to the father of the calf he killed “its nothing personal. Its survival”
With a roar the enraged father rushes towards the Ethiopian wolf that killed his daughter, head down and ready to use his horns. Smirking a little, Raza simply jumps over the smaller antelope making him fall to the ground in a cloud of dust “Is that the best you can do?” he chuckles “I’ve seen better attacks from a mole rat!”
Further enraged, the dik-dik gets up, nostrils flaring in anger and charges at Raza. The Ethiopian Wolf simply moves to the side again “Come on this is getting embarrassing!” he calls out again.
Making one final attempt, the dik-dik runs at Raza again, this time kicking dust up into Raza’s face making the him shut his eyes. Before he knows it, he gets slammed into the floor. He feels a horn on either side of his neck.
“I got you now!” he hears a voice from the horns followed by a sharp bite to his chest.
“Not today!” Raza remarks before using his powerful back legs to kick the dik-dik in the underbelly causing it to fly upwards and two simultaneous cracks to be heard. Getting up, Raza looks back at the male dik-dik before busting out laughing.
“What?!” the male growls. He then feels the top of his head only to feel air. Looking down he sees his two small horns buried in the ground
“You look ridiculous!” Raza laughs before turning his laugh into a growl “Ok funs over” He calls out before launching himself at the hornless male. The male countering the attack by hitting Raza square in the nose. As Raza wrestles with the male dik-dik, he forgets about the other dik-dik across from them. Groaning she stands up on three legs. Giving an enraged scream she rushes towards Raza, attempting to bring him down for good. “THIS IS FOR HASANA!” she cries out and jumps on top of Raza, biting his ear hard
Raza hisses in pain as he is pinned between the two dik-diks. Using his quick thinking he punches the male in the face then elbows the mother in the mouth causing her to stumble off him and to the floor. Before they have a chance to react he lunches for the kill going straight for the males neck, biting hard and quickly ripping his throat open. Raza watches as he makes a gurgling sound, fighting for his last breath. Knowing he wasn’t going to last much longer he turns to the mother to his surprise, is just led there.
“Go on. Kill me. At least I’ll see my daughter and mate again” she whispers in a voice that had lost all will to live.
“Okay you’re the boss!” Raza says before lunging at her once more, biting down on her neck and pulling, ripping her throat out and killing her in a few seconds.
Panting, Raza looks at what’s in front of him, one small calf and two adults. He knows for sure Malik will finally be impressed with him. Now he has to figure out how he’s going to get them all back to the den without any other hungry predators trying to steal it from him. He drags the body of the mother over to the body of the father. Scanning them for a few seconds he then proceeds to slide both fallen parents onto his back. Looking around he then sees the small figure of the fallen daughter. He simply picks her up by the neck in his mouth and starts to drag her back to the den.
About halfway to the den, Raza gets the feeling he is being followed. Slowing down, he strains his ears. Sure enough, he can hear the faint sound of paws behind him. Turning around quickly he’s met with a sight that catches him off guard. There a few meters from him is a female Ethiopian wolf around the same age as him. He looks her over and can see her ribs as she is extremely skinny. She likely hasn’t eaten in days. Looking into her eyes Raza saw fear mixed with pain and exhaustion.
“Who are you?” he calls out, sliding the dik-dik bodies off his back in case he had to fight.
The female speaks quietly and weakly “I am Msaliti”
“I’m Raza. Why were you following me?” Raza asks, giving her a questioning look.
Msaliti looks at the 3 animals next to Raza “Food. I haven’t eaten in days” she starts to cry “My pack are gone and I’m the only one left. When I smelt that food next to you I followed it in hope it would just be some scraps.”
Raza looked at the female in front of him with conflicted opinions. On the one paw, she could be lying just to get the food for herself. On the other paw, her condition and story seemed to line up and like Malik says, Ethiopian wolves are endangered so they need all the resources they can get. In allowing her to come back with him, she would make the pack larger and hopefully one day bring more Ethiopian wolf pups into the world.
“Tell you what” Raza starts, slowly walking towards the female “My pack and den are only a mile from here. You can stay with me and my pack”
The female lunges at Raza, hugging him tight “thank you! thank you! thank you!”
Raza, being unfamiliar to how to react in this situation simply just pats her back “your welcome. Come on let’s get going.”
Both wolves make their way back to the den, slower than Raza is used to because of Msaliti’s condition. By the time they get back its early afternoon. Upon entering the den, Raza is greeted by Malik
“Raza…” Malik stands there unsure what’s more surprising, the underfed female next to him or the three animals on Raza’s back.
“I did more then what you asked and got triple”
For the first time in a long time, Raza could see Malik was genuinely impressed
“Good job Raza. Shows what happens when you don’t be a lazy shit and actually work” he looks at the skinny female next to him “and who might you be?”
“I am Msaliti. My pack is gone and I have been wondering for days in search of food. I found Raza by smelling his catch. I followed the smell in hope it was left overs. He said I could stay and join your pack”
Malik gave a look to Raza “did he now?”
Raza gives a nervous chuckle and runs off
“Well Msaliti, our species is endangered and we must do what we can to survive. Welcome to the pack. I’m Malik by the way. Pack alpha”
Msaliti bows “Thank you Malik. I hope I can help the pack”
“I’m sure you will” the alpha replies before heading over to Raza. Raza stands up and looks slightly nervous
“Yes?” he replies
“Good job finding a mate. I expect pups when she’s in heat next”
“WHAT!? I ONLY JUST MET HER!” Raza cries out
“Raza, She is a female and seems to be the same age as you. The pack is low on numbers and you know exactly the situation our species. If you two don’t mate, you’re out the pack. Got it?!”
Raza gives a frustrated huff “Fine whatever” he gives a smirk.
“Don’t even think about being smart!” Malik growls.
“You’re only wanting us to mate because your jealous and no one wants you”
Malik just stands there glaring at Malik. In the corner of his eye, he sees the newest member of the pack looking around. He knows he can’t beat up Raza in front of her “you better be thankful you bought your new mate into the den or I’d be beating the living shit out of you!”
“Whatever” Raza replies before going to his sleeping spot and lying down and relaxing from a very eventful morning. Suddenly Raza noticed something was off about his situation “Malik where’s Jahzara? I thought she’d be here when I got back”
“Well…” Malik starts.
