Zoe didn't stick around. She vanished into the grass, probably headed to the nearest stream to scrub off that single speck of mud before it ruined her social standing. I couldn't help but let out a quiet, feline snicker.
"Your want a makeover kiddo?" I turned my dark, muddy face toward Zack.
"Wu~~"
Zack took one look at my blacked-out grill, shivered like he'd seen a ghost, and bolted in the opposite direction.
"Fine. No visionaries in this family," I muttered.
I spent the next few minutes finishing the job. I avoided the open wounds that hadn't scabbed over yet, but everywhere else got a thick, heavy coating of river silt. By the time I was done, my sleek fur was gone, replaced by a grey, crusty armor of muck. I looked less like an apex predator and more like a garden gnome that had been left in the rain.
But style wasn't the goal—stealth was. Under that layer of mud, the sharp, musky scent of a sabertooth was completely neutralized.
On the way, I found some wild strawberry vines. I picked one and tasted it, but it was awful—slightly acidic and completely bland.
Cats, from house cats to lions, have a genetic trait that prevents them from tasting sweetness. They lack the receptors needed to detect sweet flavors.
I spat out the rest of the strawberry, then glanced back at them before picking them up again to use as bait and limped back to the rabbit hole and set the stage.
I placed few wild strawberry near the entrance which I found and flattened myself into the grass, burying my front paws in the dirt just inches from the bait.
Now, I just had to wait.
One hour. Two. The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long, purple shadows over the plains.
Come on, Thumper. Dinner is served.
Rustle...
A faint sound came from the darkness of the burrow. I tensed my shoulders, feeling the mud crack slightly as my muscles coiled.
Rustle, rustle—
A pair of long, twitchy ears poked out. I almost lunged right then, but I bit back the instinct. Patience, James. One shot. Sure enough, the ears vanished back into the hole.
Ten seconds later, the owner finally committed. It was a plump woodland cottontail, fat enough to have some serious calories in its system. It poked its head out, nose twitching like a radar dish. It didn't smell a tiger; it only smelled the damp, earthy scent of river mud.
The rabbit spotted the out-of-nowhere Strawberries. Its tiny brain couldn't grasp the concept of a trap. To it, this was just a lucky find. It hopped out, cautious, stopping every few chews to stand on its hind legs and scan the horizon.
Almost there...
I didn't have the back-leg strength for a full pounce. I had one move: a short-range, high-speed swipe. If I missed, the rabbit would be back in its hole before I could even reset my balance.
BAM—!
I moved. My front paw exploded out of the dirt like a trap snapping shut. The rabbit's eyes went wide—it literally tried to jump out of its skin—but I was faster. My claws hooked into its fur before it could even turn around.
One quick bite to the neck, and it was over. Sorry, buddy. Nothing personal, I just need the points.
[Ding! Host hunted a woodland cottontail. Gene Points +5.]
Five points? Seriously? I grumbled internally. I've had snacks with more points than this.
I shredded the rabbit and gulped it down in three bites, leaving nothing but a few tufts of fur. I limped back to the spring, washed off the dry mud, and headed back to the den to sleep.
The next morning, my stomach woke me up before the sun did. The elk carcass was a skeleton now. Mom and Dad had to head out for a real hunt, and they took the interns, Zack and Zoe, with them for some field training.
I was the only patient left at home. But I wasn't going to sit around and wait for my leg to rot. I headed back to the rabbit warren.
Five points a pop might be pathetic, but enough of them would pay for my medical bills. I spent the morning playing mud-man again, finding three more burrows and setting strawberries as bait.
One hop at a time, I thought, watching a second rabbit twitch its nose at the entrance. The hospital bill is 100 points. Twenty more of these little guys and I'm back in the game.