The Roo Collective Snippet 2

 Here is the second snippet:

 

Lop Ear sighed heavily as he checked his zone.Nothing. It was getting near dark; his turn as sentry would end soon.

Mostof the warren was hidden in the shelters in the area and in the thocker andthumper trees. Temporary shelters were to be built in the night by the cutters.But they needed to do something about the food and shelter situation. Hisstomach rumbled.

Hehad given all of his food to his pregnant mate earlier, claiming he wasn'thungry. He didn't regret it; she had a litter in her belly and had to feedthem. If her body did not have enough food, the litter would die. Neither ofthem wanted that, but it might be for the best.

Itwas getting cold. He could feel the heat seeping through his clothes as thesun's warming rays fell lower on the horizon. It was bitter to want somethingthat for his entire life he had feared. To be out exposed was a terrifyingthing for most of the warren. It was no surprise that many of the elderly andeasily frightened had died of heart trouble from the stress and anxiety.

Itwas their second night out of the warren. The meager supplies in the shelterswere about exhausted. Something had to be done.

Helooked over to the warren. It was a crater; the giants had been busy diggingthe main shaft up over the day. He was again bitter, this time in anger at suchdestruction. So many of his kind had died in the attack.

Hefelt a touch and looked to see Shredded Paw. The sentry nodded to him. Henodded back and passed over the spear before he went off to relieve himself andthen head inside.

BlackSpeckle found him almost immediately. She gave him water to drink, which hedid. Once she was satisfied with that, she led him over to a small cove in theroots and pushed him down.

Hehad brought her straw and leaves. The leaves had been dry from the cooling airbut she'd nibbled on some and used the rest as bedding material for herself andsome of the does nearby. Fur lined the improvised nest. She pushed him down andthen climbed on top of him.

Hewordlessly protested and rolled to cover her with his own body for warmth. Shepoked him until he ended up on his side with her nuzzled under his arm. Hegently stroked her head and flat ears.

Shetwitched her nose and then closed her eyes and went to sleep. He soon followed.

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Counternoted the shift change and nodded wearily. He was bone tired. He wasn't gettingmuch sleep, and his thoughts were beginning to slow. It was hard to keep up.There was so much sorrow.

Theystill didn't have a nose count on the losses. They had finally gotten in touchwith the far flung shelters. Some of his people had fled to there, others weresaid to have gone and moved on. They wouldn't know the full death toll for sometime.

Hewas already angry and saddened by it. A lot of his people had ignored thewarnings to head up and had instead followed instincts and burrowed deeper totheir doom. The poison gas that the giants had unleashed had killed them. Evenif they'd found a way to barricade themselves into a tunnel, the fog-like gasseeped through the ground itself.

Theday before they had seen the giants excavate the warren core. They had takenmany things from it. Some things were disdainfully thrown to the side. Bodiesthat were found were sent to the clearing and the Giant's Warren thing.

Hehad watched warily and sadly. It had hurt to see so many snuffed out socallously. Death was not unknown to the Roo and not just in singles. Sometimesfire or flood would take many. Sometimes disease or even fear would. But thiswas different.

Thoseother things he could do little about. A predator could be killed. Thesepredators though, they were too dangerous to fight. Roos survived by hidingfrom such monsters.

Hehad suppressed the urge to hold a memorial for the dead. He knew it hurt oneand all, but the thumping would have attracted the attention of the Giants.They had to be quiet and hope that the enemy stayed occupied with their spoilsand did not go looking for the refugees.

Helooked at the slowly sinking orb in the sky and then around them. This was thelongest he had ever been near the surface, and the tension gnawed at him likemany others. That and the cold, he had some clothing due to his advanced age,one never felt completely warm as you grew older, but this was different. Theydidn't have stout earth around them to keep the warmth in—nor nests, nor food.His stomach gnawed on his insides right on queue.

Hegnawed on his well-gnawed stick to ease the hunger pang for a moment.

Hehad sent out runners to the far-flung communities after Fast Thumper hadthunked out the warning in the tree. There had been muted answers from two oftheir nearest neighbors. Green Painted Rocks had sent a short reply and thenwent silent.

Nodoubt they did not want to give away their position. In a way, he couldn'tblame them.

Theyhad plenty of water. They had temporary shelter, though the trees and hiddenshelters would not last through the long cold. They needed a proper warren.They needed to break the community up and send them in convoys to theirneighbors soon or find a new nesting place.

Itwas already shaping up to be a harsh cold season. All of their supplies were inthe warren's chambers. Those that had been stored in the shelters for emergencyuse had been depleted.

Hunters,Defenders, Breeders, and Gathers had warily gone out to take in what theycould. Cutters had brought in wood but it was too dangerous to burn. They hadshifted their focus to gathering what nesting material they could to insulatethe hollows and roots that were being used as small nesting sites.

Itwasn't enough though. His people were packed into the tree and shelters. Theyhad little room to move within. Worse, some of the younglings were beginning tognaw on the roots out of hunger. The Does were drying up for lack of food toproduce nourishing milk. The younglings had to eat or they too would die.

Ina way it might be for the best,he thought grimly.

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