Chapter 27: Sneak Attack (Hawkeye)

                                    

                                          
"No, no, no!"
                          
Fulvus thrashed around, his talons stretched out in terror. The needles were not coming for him anymore, they were coming for his mother. He tried to reach out a paw to graze hers but she was too far away. He didn't have a chance. 
                          
"No, please," begged Fulvus as he kept reaching out for her.
                          
"Fulvus!"
                          
Someone grabbed his shoulders and he woke up with a jolt. He realized that blood was oozing from Clint's shoulder. 
                          
"Did I do that," gasped Fulvus as he turned over, not wanting to look at it anymore. What had he done?!
                          
Clint stretched out his good arm and nudged Fulvus. "It wasn't your fault. You were just restless in your nightmare. It's not your fault," Clint kept assuring Fulvus but Fulvus wasn't listening. 
                          
His eyes darted around madly and he looked gingerly to his still bleeding arm. "I'm so sorry."
                          
Clint grasped Fulvus's beak and forced him not to move. "Look, it's not your fault. If anything it's mine. It's okay. It's okay."
                          
Fulvus took in a breath and forced himself to breath. "At least let me help with it," begged Fulvus and Clint nodded. Clint rolled up his arms and Fulvus saw deep talon marks. He lapped at the blood, trying to clean it to the best of his abilities. Clint cringed and Fulvus whimpered. "I'm sorry."
                          
Clint smiled timidly. "It's fine. I said that it's alright. It's not a death defying wound."
                          
Fulvus then pressed part of the blanket against it. "I keep having these nightmares. I don't know why and I know that they keep waking you up and I'm sorry."
                          
Clint pushed his good hand against Fulvus's shoulder. "It's not a problem. We all have nightmares. You just get very er twitching when you sleep."
                          
Fulvus lowered his head in embarrassment, allowing Clint to press the blanket against his shoulder. "I'll work on it." He narrowed his eyes as he looked outside. "It's still dark so I'm guessing it's the middle of the night."
                          
Clint gave a nod as he pushed the blanket away and rolled down his sleeve. "We probably should have had someone watch but it's alright."
                          
"I can do a watch now," offered Fulvus as he darted to his paws, pleased to have something to do. "I'm certainly not going back to sleep."
                          
Clint looked like he wanted to argue but he knew better than to. Fulvus would just argue back and he did seem wide away. Fulvus sat down at the broken window and stuck his neck out. He saw a large rat that was sniffing around some garbage. 
                          
Hunger rumbled in Fulvus's stomach and he stalked forward. The rat never saw it coming. He leaped and sunk his beak into the back of the rat's neck. The rat went limp and Fulvus lifted it up. It was huge for rat standards and Fulvus rumbled. 
                          
"Now that was a nice catch." 
                          
He turned and saw Meda with her tail curled around her paws and muscles bunched. Fulvus dipped his head. "Thanks. Would you like to share?"
                          
Meda nodded and strode over. She really hadn't eaten prey like this in a while but by the look on Fulvus's face neither had he. She lowered down and took a bite. The meat was warm and fresh in her mouth. It was much better than whatever she was fed at her home.
                          
Fulvus then lowered down and took a bite of the flesh, tearing and snapping his beak to chew it. They finished the rest of it rather quickly and Fulvus was hungry for more but he wasn't about to say anything. He had to be thankful for anything that he was able to eat, even if he was still hungry after he ate it.