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This story and all characters are © to me, Whitewolf_Spirit. I should see no one else using them, or this story. Heed this warning and there shall be no problems. Thank you, now sit back relax, and enjoy this story I am about to tell you.
Zay’qua lay on the floor of the Australian cabin, lazily watching the people running around in the TV. When she was a puppy this magic image box had fascinated her so, the loud yelling voice and the bright flash lights, and somehow humans were trapped in it; it seemed. But now she had grown quite accustomed to it, and no longer paid heed.
“Zay’qua dinner!” Immediately she jolted up and raced into the kitchen, waiting patiently for her human John to pour out the dry food.
She sniffed the food over, disappointed at what it was. Aw man, dried lam bits again. She thought indignantly.
But who was she to pass up free food? She began to quickly devour the food as if she had not eaten in weeks, scattering some of the dried food bits across the floor, then lap up the water that was next to the food bowl.
“Well…what’s next?” Zay’qua shrugged and walked back into the living room.
“What are you doing you lazy dog, we’re going out today!” John opened the door for her to dash out and sit in the car seat.
“John stopped being so slow, we have games to play, you know, that ball…or maybe the spinning disk,” there were so many things to play with and Zay’qua was still pretty much a puppy at heart.
“This is not just a game, we are hunting!” John threw a rifle and other equipment into the back of the seat with her.
Hunting, this was a new word to her. Was it a new game, perhaps involving water? But she had seen guns before, they were meant to injure, if not kill animals and even other humans. But John wouldn’t do something like that…would he?
Another dog ran up to the car, panting rapidly. “Hey Zay’qua you’re going hunting? It’s so fun! I do it with my human all the time, though the rifle is a bit hard on the ears. But it’s not safe now days…there are strange things lurking about. I hear they look like a wolf, but with shorter fur, and have stripes! But they can also hop like a kangaroo!” The golden lab seemed quite scared at this thing he was describing.
“Honestly Murph, you listen to elder tales to much. There’s no thing like that, sure they dingoes can be dangerous, but I’ve met some nice ones in my time. This is Tasmania, it’s filled with many legends,” Zay’qua said laughing at the absurd story Murph told her.
“You can play with Murph later Zay’qua, we need to go,” he slammed the car door shut and began to drive off.
Zay’qua could still see Murph’s scared face as she peered out the window in the back of the car. Well, no telling how far the hunting grounds were, the least she could do was get some sleep. Before you could say, “Dingoes dance at dawn” she was asleep.
Zay’qua awoke to John prodding here in the ribs with his finger, she growled slightly and hopped out of the car and began sniffing around.
“Good Zay’qua we’ll making a hunting dog out of you yet,” John said laughing, then responded by scratching her between the ears.
As much as Zay’qua enjoyed being petted, she was excited to experience hunting. She hoped it would be as fun as Murph had described. But the animal he had told her about flashed into her mind. It couldn’t exist, could it?
She began to follow John’s lead, walking at a fast gait, keeping her nose to the ground. Many forest smells flooded her senses, squirrels searching for food, dingoes hunting in the under brush. She could have sworn she scented the faint smell of Tasmanian devil, filthy little devils they were, renowned for their nasty tempers. As far she was concerned, they were they only things to be worried about.
After an hour of searching for some sort of game, she was surprised by the sound of a gunshot.
“Dang it, missed,” John grumbled under his breath.
Another shot sounded, this time she saw what he was shooting at, and there it was a flash of stripes. Zay’qua lifted her muzzle to let out a loud hunting howl and began to pursue it through the brush. It was fast, for whatever it was, but she couldn’t make out its shape as it ran so quickly.
“Give up you fool you can’t escape Zay’qua, I’m a hunting Border collie dog!”
Adrenaline rushed through her, powering every step she took. She was gaining on this creature, almost had gotten it! Zay’qua leapt into the air, and fell hard onto her prey. She shook herself, and stood to her paws, howling in triumph. She placed both front paws on its chest, and its appearance shocked her.
It had an elongated muzzle, but very wolf-like its large brown eyes filled with terror. On its tail started stripes, but faded on its back. Its back legs looked something like a kangaroos, and possible of hopping. But over all it was wolf-like in many aspects.
“I expect you’re going to kill me o great hunting dog,” it spat at her in a mock praise voice, very much unlike what she expected. But its eyes did not disguise the fear it had for you.
“What in the name of all that is good an decent are you?” That was the question that pulsed through her mind, not knowing what to think of it.
“I’m a Thylacine idiot, otherwise known as the Tasmanian Tiger, or Tasmanian Wolf. Humans think we’re extinct, but we’re not. But there are hardly any of us left. I was going back to my pack when your human shot at me, and you chased me,” it pulled pack its lip in a snarl, trying to show dominance over Zay’qua.
“May I ask what your name is? And exactly what gender are you…?” she felt somewhat embarrassed asking this question.
“I’m a female dimwit. And by the scent of you, so are you. My name’s Kanaga, which means ‘swift wind’ in our language,” her voice was still seething with the venom of hate for Zay’qua her captor, “And are you going to let me go, or do I have to bite your paw off?”
Kanaga expended her jaws full length, showing of her impressive set of teeth. Zay’qua rapidly shook her head, and lifted her paws.
The thylacine jolted up, hissing and spitting in anger, but in all that there were words in the mix. “I suppose I owe you my life, so I’m in your debt, though not like I want to be. Just don’t let it go to your head,” Kanaga bounded off through the underbrush, back to her pack.
To be continued….
(Alrighty, if you’d like to know exactly what in the heck a thylacine actually is, here is a link to a site about them: http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/index.htm They are officially extinct, although some people believe there are still small numbers of them surviving.)
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