"Hi birdie..."
I said in greeting to a purple bird flying past my head.
Though It just scurried away faster after hearing my growls.
Since I couldn't talk, maybe the bird thought I was going to eat it? (I didn't even want to eat it - too much feathers and too little meat.)
Even if I could talk, it's not like it can understand what I'm saying.
But, What does it mean to talk again?
Ahh... It must be one of those words that would suddenly appear in my mind, but...I don't know what they mean at all.
It's like I already know this from somewhere, but didn't have the brain capacity to remember everything.
But that couldn't be.
I've always been smarter than all my siblings.
My mother even said that I was the smartest black panther she had ever seen in her entire life.
Well, she didn't exactly say it in words. She just let some growls but I was able to understand what she meant.
Since I am the smartest, it should be easy for me to remember everything right?
Then, the problem is definitely with those words. They should have explained their meanings properly before appearing in my head.
Now that I've found the culprit with my genius brain, it's time to focus on other things.
For example... My stomach that was letting out weird noises, since I hadn't eaten in 2 days.
Since I'm such a genius, I never failed in my hunt, not even once.
But my mother is sick for the past 2 days after getting attacked by the hyenas that stole her prey.
Mother always said, we will grow up really strong if we eat a lot of meat.
To help her grow stronger from her weak state, I just gave her all the prey I managed to hunt without eating anything myself.
I'm feeling really hungry now.
As I was thinking how to find better prey that could fill both of our stomachs at the same time, I spotted a big moose walking with unsteady steps in the distance.
My mother already warned about it before saying, that big moose along with it's mate liver nearby and we should be careful not to provoke them.
But now it seems injured.
It was the mating season for the moose. Maybe it got into a fight it couldn't win with another moose, and ended up losing it's mate while suffering multiple injuries.
Normally I would run the moment I saw them, since they are highly territorial and can even kill an adult black panther when provoked. I'm not even an adult yet.
Even though it's injured, it's almost impossible to hunt it with my tiny body. The moose will kick me to death.
But, my mind wasn't thinking straight in my hunger. I also didn't want to hunt another small creature that could only fill one stomach.
O course that will be my mother's.
I wouldn't dream of starving the one who brought me to this world and raised me.
With my mind clouded in hunger, I decided to hunt the damn moose.
***
The forest had tall trees along with various plants around half my height.
I crouched low among the foliage to cover myself, slowly approaching my prey without making a sound.
I only had one shot at this. If I fail, I'll become dead meat.
After coming within 10 meters, in my nervousness, I accidentally stepped on a small twig with my front paw.
Shit...
(what does that mean? Why did I think of that word? Anyway...)
Raising my head, I saw the moose looking straight at me.
Seeing it this close, with its menacing horns it looked really dangerous.
'Maybe trying to hunt this monstrosity was a bad idea's I thought.'
The thought didn't last for long.
"ERRR...OOUGHHhhhh...."
Letting out a guttural sound, followed by a fellow, the moose started chasing me with vengeance.
It seemed like it was also planning to take out all it's anger on me for losing in the fight for finding a mate.
Seeing it's ferocious expression, I was scared out of my wits and started running like crazy in the opposite direction.
I never ran so fast in my entire life. I didn't even know I was capable of running with such speed.
I jumped from trees to trees, changing directions every second, even running through the territories of some other dangerous predators.
But the moose was hot on my heels without even caring that it was crashing into a lot of trees along the way.
'Hey buddy, I wasn't the one to steal your wife you know...,why are you so persistent?'
Thinking along those lines, I ran without looking back. If I did, I would have realised the moose following me casually without much effort, seemingly enjoying my struggle.
My speed had already slowed down a lot. I hadn't eaten in 2 days after all. Even the adrenaline could only push me so far.
But I continued to run.
Even when my legs started cramping in pain and my lungs burning with each breath
Even with my paws bleeding with cuts and bruises and my teetering on the brink of unconsciousness,
I still continued to move forward.
I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.
Because stopping meant death.
I don't even know where I'm going at this point. The forest I recognised was long gone, left behind after all that running.
After jumping over some bushes, I suddenly found myself rolling down a small slope, finally stopping in the middle of the road that was cutting through the forest.
I just lay there without getting up panting for breath. My body was totally spent.
And the Moose slowly emerged from the forest, looking down on me from the top of the slope.
'I already tried my best. If you are going to kill me, just do it already.' thinking that I closed my eyes, waiting for death.
But even after a while, the expected beat down never came. I opened my eyes again with doubt, only to witness the moose looking towards the distance.
With some difficulty, I finally turned my head in the direction it was looking and saw that something was moving towards me with such speed that I didn't even know it was possible for something to move that fast.
Before I could clearly see what it was, one of it's legs (wheels) ran over me, crushing my body below neck to a bloody pulp.
Just before my death, remembering something, I felt like I should really ask this question.
'Truck-kun, Is that you?'