Sleeping Ishy

[Nucky]

Ishmael's ragged coat hung off his body like a molting bird. Patches stuck up, patches slicked down, patches puffed out. He had more to worry about than his appearance... His entire body was on a mission: Food. He was hungry and needed some life giving goodness to sustain his lithe frame. He didn't need much, but he hated to hunt--it reminded him of the evil he was capable of. He hunted like a cat more than like a wolf and it sickened him... how much of a cheater he was. But at least, he let them die without pain.

And in his line of sight a small hare poked through the rocks and nibbled on a lone patch of grass. Ishy's body moved purposefully and silently. He had the creature in a death trap. The hare turned his ears, a usually reliable radar to protect him from predators, but it was no match for the silent wolf that stalked him. In noiseless movement, almost like a slow dance, Ishy crept up on the creature. And then, in a single instant, the ragged wolf bit down and snapped the hare's neck at the base. The prey animal gave a surprised squeal and kicked before stopping as death took it. Ishy lowered his head, the hare had suffered for a moment. He sighed before taking a large bite in his prey's gut. He rolled the organs out and ate them all up before digging into the muscles. A moment of pain was better than an entire hunt of fear and agony, he concluded. Mostly to make himself feel better.

Happily well fed so that his stomach had rounded contentedly, Ishmael chewed on the hare's femur. His odd eyes shut slowly, but he blinked them open just long enough to find a little cave to rest in until his stomach settled. Ishy's large ears relaxed as he finally drifted to sleep.