Scavenger

The sound of rustling could be heard as a small figure darted in and out of the thick forest brush, the color of mixed fur of blacks and browns could be seen but only for a quick second as it kept pace moving fast to not be seen. It was a small predator on the hunt following a scent of blood from miles away of where the kill was but he was honed in , as he kept a quick pace his muzzle to the ground as he sniffed before stopping to make sure the scent didn’t trail off from where he was going. Shepherd was on the trail of a fresh kill as he wasn’t a hunter much himself well at least for big things, with the smell and how strong it was it was a large prey animal that had fallen to the much larger predators that roamed this world which meant good eating for Shepherd but finding it was the task for him. As he trotted through the thick foliage keeping his snout to the ground stopping once and a while to make sure he was continuing to get closer to the smell of the fresh kill, Shepherd knew that scavenging was a great way to get a meal but it came with various dangers. Sometimes the kill was abandoned but sometimes the predator that killed the prey would sometimes still be there feasting. The smell was getting stronger the closer Shepherd got as he spotted fresh blood in the dirt followed by large footprints imprinted into the dirt , he was on the right track and he was getting close as he kept low to the ground keeping quiet due to not knowing what was around the kill he was about to get too.

“I gotta be careful who know’s what killed this thing, but hey free meal” he mumbled to himself, soon coming through the thick foliage spotting a large dead parasaur that was littered with crushing bites into its hide but nothing was around or so Shepherd thought as he scoped out the area on his back legs before sticking close to the ground as he wanted to make sure nothing was lurking around the parasaur but the only thing that had Shepherd on edge is that the kill smelt fresh. The rumbling in his stomach was pushing him to avoid the danger that could be lurking, he stepped forwards as he approached the body sniffing around it as he drooled. Scavenging wasn’t always pretty, usually it was old or leftovers from past carnivores but this one was fresh which Shepherd needed to make quick work , so the quicker he got the best results and safer it was for him. He quickly climbed the parasaur body licking his jaws before taking a large bite pulling and ripping at the hide to tear a large piece of it but the parasaur hide was tough and getting to the juicy meat below was a tough problem he faced. As he was fighting the hide to get to the fresh meat below , Shepherd was unaware of the danger that was making its way back to the kill and it wasn’t going to be happy seeing a scavenger ripping into its kill. The sound of footsteps neared closer and closer as Shepherd stayed oblivious and was too focused on getting the meat from the hide as he chewed, pulling back harder cuffing in annoyance.

“Of course it had to be a parasaur , the hide is always too thick” he mumbled pulling on the hide before hearing a large rip as he looked at the bright red meat below a large smile coming across his jaws, he had done it as he began to dig in. The taste of good food filled his belly as he continued to eat and down meat chunks from the parasaur body , not aware of a large figure standing behind him letting out a low growl as it wasn’t happy to see Shepherd scavenging from his kill.

“Man this is so good, why can’t I find fresh ones? Normally eating those old kills always hurts my stomach” he said, taking another piece before freezing as he heard a low growl from behind him. The growling had gotten much louder as it was closer to him causing Shepherd to turn around seeing a large black headed and green feathered cyro with no eyes to be seen. The large predator stepped forwards letting out a hiss and honed in on Shepherd who was coated in blood and had a meat piece in his jaws , he was caught and the cryo did not look happy to see him eating his kill. The good scavenging was over for Shepherd as he was now in danger as he scurried off the parasaur dodging a swift bite from the cryo just missing Shepherd who still had a large piece of meat in his jaws, a little piece for the road wouldn’t hurt but now it was just getting away with it and him still intact. The thing scavenging was easy but it came with harsh dangers that Shepherd was aware of every time he did it but this was a dangerous one, as the large cryo climbed over the body chasing Shepherd who was keen on getting away with his prize even if he could get killed, food was hard to come by anyways for anteosaurus and he wasn’t going down easy this time.

Luckily for him he was smaller and faster than the overgrown and large cryo who was having a hard time catching up to Shepherd who was using the parasaurs body as a blockade of sorts to keep him and the cryo separated. “Take that, and thanks for the free meal you overgrown bird!” Shepherd shouted as he scurried into the foliage as the cryo who was chasing him off his kill lost sight of him before letting out a shrill of annoyance. But it was a successful scavenge for Shepherd as he trotted away with a piece of meat in his jaws and a smug look on his face, soon heading back the way he came from his den he had hidden further in the forest near a river. He wasn’t always proud of scavenging as some found it dirty or lazy but being a much smaller predator in this world came with its perks , most scavenging came with perks such as not risking getting hurt , and a free meal which Shepherd loved about it and did it often. With a full belly Shepherd came to his well known area that had his den as he walked to the river to get a drink to clean off his snout from the blood as he placed down his prize before taking a drink. Shaking out his fur before picking up his meat chunk and trotting into his den where he would stash his meat for later eating.

“ What a great and successful scavenge, that was too easy for me” Shepherd said laughing to himself as he put the meat chunk in a spot before laying down in his den kicking out his legs before rubbing around in the dirt. With a full belly after a good eating Shepherd would use the rest of his afternoon to take a good nap and later return to his scavenged meat chunk. Ever since Shepherd was young he used scavenging as a method to keep himself fed , not being taught how to hunt at a young age impacted his ability to do so but watching other smaller dinosaurs scavenge from the bigger ones seemed to always work out for them, he was not always successful as some were much dangers our tricky to scavenge from but when it worked out it paid out good for them. It was something he had to learn from with many failed attempts which was a lot but when he learned ways to make it easier it paid out big for him and he was always full without having to hunt.

“ Next time maybe I should check a bit more before taking it. I could've gotten eaten, plus that Cryo was quiet” he mumbled, looking at the meat chunk that was across from him, today wasn’t perfect. He let the scent of fresh food take over his survival instincts a bit. And thinking on how to scavenge better so things like that wouldn’t happen again because it could have gone much worse if he got caught. But those were things to think of next time as being full and the chase had made him tired and rest was needed to scavenge more when he needed too. Shepherd turned around in his burrow to get comfortable before letting out a sigh as he shook out his fur once more and closing his eyes to take a much needed nap, the haunting face of the eyeless cryo stuck in his mind as he shook to get it out before soon falling to sleep as he twitched to get his full belly comfortable