Lonely

 The forest was a collection of smells. Different combinations of metals, wires and organics combined into its own unique smell. The forest was mostly comprised of the smell of trees, dirt and a bit of grass. A large bipedal creature made his way through the forest. He was looking for berries, roots, dead or dying creatures, pretty much anything that could sustain him.

It was a vorox that went by the name Snow Shoe. One of the more primitive species of this planet, but still very intelligent. His face was canine like in shape, but with long backwards facing ears.  They were turned downward so the leathery insides faced the ground.  He had light blue eyes, it appeared to be similar to a computer screen rather than a basic orb shaped eye placed inside of the skull.  There was no whites of his eyes and his pupil was a perfect oval that was a slightly lighter shade of blue than the rest of the eye.

 As he walked through the forest he opened his mouth for a moment every few seconds. It looked as though he were making a short winded sound although no noise could be heard coming from the vorox.  He had a set of sharp carnivorous teeth that were grey in color and had a slight shine when they hit the light. He was covered in a thin layer of tan fur.  He had a deep cut across his muzzle, exposing metal and a bit of his inner workings inside.  His legs faded slowly from tan to white so that half way down his fur had become completely white. His paws sported large silver claws on each toe.  His long thin tail followed along behind him, lifted up just enough so it didn't touch the ground.  It was longer than the whole length of his body and at the tip was a deadly silver point. 

Snow Shoe's nose was working in overdrive, desperate to find something to eat before night fall.  Snow Shoe was a solo vorox, which was not a preferable lifestyle.  Vorox depended on their group for protection, food, land and companionship.  Without a pack Snow Shoe struggled to feed himself, keep himself unharmed and had to be constantly moving because he was unable to hold ownership of any territory on his own.  However the worst part of it all was the loneliness.  Vorox were naturally very social creatures and Snow Shoe was really noticing a drop in mood and motivation ever since he had been left behind by his last group. 

 No group ever wanted him, they always saw him as a hinderance more than anything else. Although many groups will help sick or injured members, they only did with those they had already bonded with and grown attached to.  In Snow Shoe's case, he was the new guy that could possibly endanger the pack in the future. Snow Shoe was not a good fighter, nor was he good at running at high speeds. He could not climb a tree and hop from tree to tree to avoid danger down below.  These were important skills needed to survive. Luckily for him he had enough skills to just barely make it by, but not enough to be viewed as a valuable member of a pack.

Snow Shoe was an excellent gatherer and could locate berry bushes or roots buried deep underground.  He could sniff out the leftovers of a predator's prey and determine if that hunter had left its meal long before he got anywhere near it.  He could quickly and easily pinpoint the perfect trees to create dens in.  All these skills were what was keeping him alive on his own, but the moment he found himself faced with a predator he knew he would be done for. That is if the overpowering weight of loneliness didn't drive him crazy first.

 Snow Shoe did his best to keep that at the back of his mind and to focus on his next meal and resting place. He paused for a moment, focused on a small patch of dirt nearby a large tree, mouth was slightly open the entire time. He went down on one knee and dug into the ground. His hands were clawed just like his paws but these were retractable. They were large, sharp and made of the same material as his teeth and tail tip.  They easily tore away at the packed dirt with ease, revealing a large bulb.  He retrieved it excitedly, pulling on to to rip it from its roots. He brushed it off a little, rubbing off the bits of dirt desperately clinging to the bulb. He placed it in the side of his mouth and unleashed his powerful jaw strength onto the hard outer layer of the bulb.  It split in two, juices flew out of it as it did. Using his tongue and teeth he removed the soft insides before spitting out the uneatable outer layer back into the hole from which it came.  A few more of those and he'd be set.

Throughout the day Snow Shoe was able to find more bulbs and a small berry bush.  However he had been chased off from the bush before he could have more than a single hand full of them by a group of vorox.  There had been no chance of joining them, they came at him with pure hostility and clearly were not looking for a new pack mate.  Snow Shoe made sure he was far out of their territory's reach before he started looking for a place to sleep for the night.

 There were a few different types of trees intermingled with each other throughout the forest and Snow Shoe could tell the difference easily by their smells. He was looking for a rather large tree with rough bark and thick roots.  This tree's roots grew in an odd way, curving outward then inward and causing a large circle opening underneath it. All that needed to be done was to simply dig out the dirt from under it and make a small den.

 These trees where difficult to find due to their rarity and it was typical that any tree found would already be dug out from a past visitor.  So Snow Shoe wasn't surprised to find one already set up.  He got down to the hole and sniffed for any signs that it had been used recently and picked up nothing.  He crawled inside and curled up into a ball.  His tail curled around all the way up to his face.  It was always nerve racking for him to sleep knowing no one would be keeping watch for dangers.  It was always a risk he had to take, he needed sleep and needed to hide from the nocturnal predators. As he slowly dozed off he hoped to wake up again in the morning.