I threw my body over the edge of the roof as the spear clattered uselessly behind me. I caught a glimpse of blue sky as I tumbled towards the stone street.

I spread my wings as best I could, in a pathetic attempt to level myself out, but my short wing immediately flipped me into a falling spin. Releasing any control over my descent, I curled up for the impact.

Pain seared up through my left shoulder, and my vision fluttered between the grey of the ground and darkness. I rolled onto my stomach and off my shoulder, knives of pain reaching into my chest. Well, it certainly wasn’t the most controlled of dives, but at least the ground had broken my fall. I tried to gently move my short wing, only to be reminded that the ground had probably broken me as well. Standing up, I glanced to see the throng of humans tightly packed and surrounded by Silver Wolves.

I was brought back to my senses as a multitude of heavy footsteps sounded to my right. I scampered in the opposite direction, looking up after putting some distance between myself and the footsteps. I was once again met with that pair of yellow eyes. They stared at me, and seemed almost inviting. The other creatures had all sheathed their weapons, and were waiting patiently behind their leader.

I exhaled violently as my left wing twitched, breaking me out of the creature’s gaze. Looking down, I found that I had taken a step forward. Glancing at the battle raging in the square, I made my decision. I ran away, head to the ground, back to the edge of the village.

It had been a few days since I had fled the village, and my short wing was still unusable. I had run across the ground for a long time, putting distance between myself and the green creatures. Luckily for me, it seemed as though they hadn’t given chase. Not that it mattered much, as I was still screwed.

I had yet to find anything to eat. As far as I was concerned, I was the only creature left in these godforsaken woods. No sounds, no smells, no movement, no nothing. Just me, the snow and the trees. In fact, the snow and the trees had already become my best friends; I spent my time walking and eating snow, giving my body an unsatisfied sense of being full. As for the trees, I had tried to peel off some bark to eat, but that was about as edible as it sounded.

Several freezing nights had passed before my stomach started to complain. Every time I stopped to rest my legs, my stomach would start to gnaw at me. The only respite from everything was that my stomach started to distract me from my shoulder. As nice as this was, however, I knew that I would have to find food soon.

I trudged along, and the trees around me began to blur together. I had little hope of knowing where I had gone since leaving the village, but I doubted that it would matter anyway. Whether I was walking straight or in circles, it didn’t seem to make a difference.

I thought about Crab, Donnie, and the rest of the humans from the village. It seemed so far away now, but I still hoped that they had gotten out all right. Crab and the Elder, they had treated me with care, and given me a way to live. It was all I could do to hope that they had escaped.

My eyelids drooped to dangerous levels as one of my legs started to give out. I was unsure how many days it had been, but it certainly outnumbered how many I had left. I collapsed into the snow, barely noticing the cold through the hunger and the pain. My shoulder stayed at a constant throb now, still refusing to move. I stared down at the white snow, knowing that I needed to eat some but lacking the strength to move.

My head fell lower as I let my body relax. As I was about to fall asleep, an odd color caught my eye. Forcing myself up, I dragged my feet to the discoloration to inspect it more closely. A small speck of red disturbed the sea of white. I stared at it for a long time, unmoving. After a while, it clicked in my mind.

It was blood. It had to be. Nothing else in these woods had that scarlet color. My mind shifting into full gear, I tiredly inspected the clearing around me. It didn’t take long before I found what I was looking for. Faint footprints, leading through a patch of brown bushes. Surprisingly, these footprints were very much human sized.

I approached the bushes carefully, staying as low as I could without toppling over, and glanced through the bushes. On the other side was a small clearing, surrounded by the usual monolithic forest. My attention shot to the center of the clearing, however. Two corpses, both human.

I started to stalk slowly around the perimeter of the opening, trying to check for obvious traps, but my stomach soon took control of my actions. I approached the nearest body, staying outside the faded pool of blood that had blossomed around it. A jagged slash across the human’s neck told me all that had happened.

My stomach growled fiercely, but I managed to keep my impulse in check. Inspecting the large cut that had killed the human, I realized that no animal had done it. The fatal blow had been too clean and precise. Given this realization and the fact that these two corpses hadn’t been eaten, it was obvious no wild animal had been here. The implications of this were frightening, to say the least, but for now I moved on to the next corpse.

The fatal blow was easy to make out on the next corpse as well. A large horizontal gash showed the inner workings of the human who lay crumpled in the snow. My stomach rumbled once again, but I held back and checked the humans face. Dead eyes gazed back at me, and the corpse’s mouth lay agape, teeth protruding wildly. The human’s brown hair seemed familiar to me, but it didn’t matter now.

I went back to his open chest and stuck my beak through the gash. Blood filled my mouth as I tore through muscle and soft organs, occasionally clashing with bone. I didn’t care. Every other feeling left me as I drank in everything my meal had left to offer. I continued noisily, until something unnatural caught my eye. Through the waning light, I saw one green eye inspecting me, hunger rippling underneath a calm facade.

Captain stared at me from across the clearing. He did not look well, to say the least. Mouth hung open and crouched in a defensive stance, he seemed about to fall over. We stared at each other for a few moments, before he started to approach me, circling around the first corpse. I swallowed some human, turned to face him, and stood up as tall as I could. My shoulder screamed in protest, but I paid it no mind.

Captain bared his teeth, letting out a faint hissing noise as he prowled towards me. I could see saliva dropping to the snow, and his eye now looked crazed. He stopped at the feet of my meal, not looking away. I dug my talons into the snow, staring straight back. We were motionless for some time, and the pain in my shoulder felt like a beach being pounded by waves, relentlessly, forever. I tried to think what a beach actually was. I realized I didn’t care. All that mattered was my food.

I took a step forward as the leaves of the brown bush rustled. Captain and I immediately looked over. For the second time tonight, my meal was interrupted. Mouth foaming, a Silver Wolf’s yellow eyes stared ravenously at us, unblinking.