Millions of years ago, long before our time, the planet was thrust into the frigid, relentless grip of the Ice Age. Sprawling blankets of impenetrable glaciers were spread far and wide, smothering the environment in the throes of a gorgeous yet challenging world of ice and snow. It was uncommon to see any stretch of land that, at the very least, didn’t come within close proximity of such frosty terrain.

How well one could fare in such landscapes was its own tumultuous issue. Many animals were lucky enough to have everything they needed fall into their laps. Others were tough or skilled enough to make it completely on their own, tracking and hunting down resources that made for reliable survival. And then there were those who formed herds, packs, or some other unorthodox groups that drew upon the strengths of each member, as well as bonding them through thick and thin.

Such was the case for the female saber-toothed tiger sleeping underneath a long rock outcropping … somewhat.

The young adult in question, Shira, didn’t sport the typical brown, orange, or tan fur expected from most sabers. Instead, her fur was a rich shade of silver, decorated with dark grey stripes that added to her instantly striking beauty. Though she remained in stable, comfortable sleep, the compact muscles of her back and legs also spoke to the streamlined power this female possessed, power that made her a great asset to her pack.

Although that pack was currently struggling to be appreciative, given she was still asleep with her back facing them, well after they’d all been told to be up and about.

“Um … Maybe we should let her sleep a bit longer …”

This was suggested by Tomar, one of the three saber-toothed tigers hovering over Shira. He was a beige male who looked down on her nervously. On top of the meek demeanor that could clearly be heard through his voice, he was one of the pack’s smallest members, with the shortest tusks to boot.

He stood next to his complete physical opposite: Arez, an orange, stocky, tank-like male with tan rings and patches along his legs and paws. On top of his searing red eyes, his severed, jagged chunk of a missing left tusk gave him a grizzly, intimidating appearance that he often used to his advantage as the pack leader.

Arez growled as he responded unpleasantly. “We’ve already lost an hour of daylight. I say shove her until she wakes up.”

“Go ahead,” a third voice mused. “I’m sure that’ll go smoothly.”

The largest of the three awake tigers was an orange female, Terra. Her somewhat bulky build made her an outlier not just for her gender, but for the malnourished pack as a whole.

Tomar backed up, extremely wary about the prospect of ticking Shira off.

Arez scoffed at his bigger packmate. “Please. Like she’d be a match for me.”

At that moment, Shira chose to finally end her charade of slumber.

“Funny,” she said groggily. “I was thinking the same about you.”

Tomar gasped, making himself small and submissive, while Arez simply gave a light snarl. Terra remained still as Shira groggily rolled herself over, revealing her vivid, exotic, teal eyes that were blinking themselves awake as they looked up at her pack with tired annoyance.

“Ughhh … Can’t a girl get a little extra shut-eye?” she slurred. And a little less time with this creep, she thought regarding Arez.

“It’s past sunrise, Shira,” Terra said. Unlike the crudeness or nervousness of her fellow tigers, she took on a warmer, more levelheaded tone to coax the unfriendly saber up and about. She couldn’t say Shira ever made it easy to get along with her, but … they could try, right?

Thankfully, despite a protracted, throaty groan from Shira, she did ultimately oblige. Getting on all fours, the saber finally rose up to a proper stand. She shook her head, jostling the two makeshift earrings she’d adorned on her right ear – for no particular reason other than she thought they looked cool.

Shira stretched her broad forelegs out in front of her, and Tomar couldn’t help but sneak in a bit of an ogle at her back end that stuck up in the process. When Shira then brought her limber, slim hind legs out behind her for another stretch, the more subtle staring turned into full-on gawking. He thanked his lucky stars he was able to look away just as she turned her head in his direction.

He would unquestionably die of embarrassment if she knew-

“Like something you see, Tomar?”

Shira’s voice carried not an ounce of amusement. Surely her face matched her disapproval, but Tomar didn’t stick around to see it, scurrying out from underneath the rock outcropping. Terra rolled her eyes playfully, while Shira just shook her head, contemplating whether to sock him for that later.

She set it aside for the moment, though, finally stepping out into the open where the rest of her pack was waiting. She looked above her, seeing one of their members still resting atop the large rock, which itself sprouted from the snow-covered ground and extended out, covering a solid chunk of land in its protective shadow. During their expansive, far-reaching travels, such relatively pleasant accommodations were hard to find whenever they sought out a place to stay for the night, but they’d caught a lucky break here.

However, it took very little time for Shira to feel a loud, moaning growl in her stomach. From the pained looks of her packmates, their hunger was comparable as well. It was a feeling they’d all gotten used to by now, but that didn’t quell their increasingly lowering morale.

“Ahhh, there she is!”

One saber, an unhealthily slim, caramel-colored female with half-circle markings on her forehead, called out to Shira. She lay in front of her piece of the lower half of a dead squirrel rat they’d caught a few hours prior. Her heterochromatic eyes – one green, the other blue – shined comfortingly in the morning sun.

Having just finished up her portion of the meat, Aisha bounded over to Shira. “How’d you sleep?” she asked in a friendly manner.

“Mm, fine. Nothing special.” Shira only offered the tiniest glimpse of a half-smile, which vanished with her next words. “Could’ve used a bit more, but Mr. Bigshot wasn’t gonna have it.”

Aisha chuckled, despite Shira’s tone containing no humor, leaving an awkward silence between them.

It was a routine that both sabers had grown used to, unfortunately. Shira may have been a member of the pack, but that didn’t mean she was friendly with most of them. She never really took the time to bond with anyone or even directly interact that much, often going off on her own and staying out of most conversations. It was never personal for the female; she just never felt comfortable socially, nor did she find most of her pack’s unique quirks charming or interesting.

Most of the pack, in turn, chose to ignore her when they could, being put off by her antisocial and occasionally standoffish nature. But Shira was fine with that. She stayed with this pack out of necessity and utility, not friendship.

Aisha was disappointed that Shira didn’t have more to say, but she didn’t push it. “Oh,” she said. “Well … come over! We saved a piece for you!”

Though her mood was no less visibly pouty, Shira joined the thin tiger for breakfast, where two others had just finished their portions. One was a greyish white saber with green eyes, stripes wrapped around her middle, and a build that was once sturdy but now rather wiry. The other was a small male cub with dark orange fur, his tusks still in their early stages of growth. In front of them was the small foot of the dead creature. It was hardly a meal, but it was as good as anyone could hope for.

Especially since Shira wasn’t convinced they would’ve saved it for her had she woken up any later.

Terra came over to nuzzle Aisha, despite them clearly having already greeted each other today. The hardships of the pack simply couldn’t weigh down the love these two mates had for each other. Their union was a breath of fresh air for the struggling sabers.

“Go easy on her, love,” Terra said. “You know Shira’s not a morning person.”

“Or an any-time-of-day person,” Arez whispered to himself from behind.

As she ate her measly food, Shira savored what little flavor she could discern from the foot, chewing slowly until she was forced to swallow. At the same time, she noticed the whitish saber, Sonja, looking at her. The longing stare in her green eyes made it clear that she wasn’t just still hungry; she’d been ready to beg for an extra portion. She then looked down at her belly … the one and only enlarged part of her otherwise undernourished body.

Being reminded of Sonja’s position made Shira consider giving up the rest of her food to her. She was, after all, eating for two now. But Shira ultimately decided against it, leaving Sonja to look disappointed. The pang of guilt hurt Shira mildly … but not as much as the hunger pangs that she was desperate to quiet.

Watching Shira finish and swallow the last of her share sent a spike of agitation through Arez’s veins. It was bad enough the pregnant saber had been denied an extra helping. Having that helping go to Shira, whom he considered less worthy than most in the pack, just added insult to injury in his eyes.

In contrast, the boy was more than willing to chat with her.

“So, how’d ya sleep, Shira?”

Shira chuckled. Though she’d been asked that same question by Aisha moments ago, it was noticeably cuter coming from her adopted son. She ruffled the top of his head. “Already a chip off your parents’ block, ain’tcha, Benji?”

Benji held his head up pridefully, wanting to look as epic as a five-month-old could. “My sleep was great! My moms kept watch overnight, so I knew nothing was gonna come get us! Especially if you had anything to say about it!”

The pack had found Benji almost three months ago, after he’d been abandoned by his real parents and left to die in the snow. Aisha and Terra, having wanted a child to raise for a while, instantly stood firm in taking him in as their own. The subsequent family unit that had formed was enough to melt many a cold heart in the pack. And even Shira, the notoriously distant one in the group, couldn’t help but develop a soft spot for his pure, innocent presence.

“Heh, you know I’d show any troublemakers a thing or two,” Shira assured him. Benji smiled, always happy to get assurance from who he considered the coolest saber in the pack.

“Better be careful, Shira,” Terra said. “Soon you’ll have two little guys fawning over you.”

All eyes went back to Sonja, who knew her child would be due in just a few months.

For the first time that morning, Sonja properly spoke. “Hmm … Yes, they’re certainly putting up a fuss in there … or, at least, they’re trying to …”

She held a paw over her stomach, urgently hoping to feel the cub kicking with greater intensity than it had been lately. Her ears fell when all she got was a couple of light taps, indicating that while her child was still in there and growing, it wasn’t the healthiest it could be. Even Shira’s face softened with sadness at the poor mother-to-be.

It was just another reason why the pack needed to find a home with ample prey.

A search that Arez was determined to get moving again.

“Okay, everyone,” he called out, prompting every tiger to turn and listen to him. “Everyone’s had their fill. Now it’s time to hit the road. We’ve already lost an hour of daylight because some of us couldn’t wake up on their own.”

He eyed Shira with the subtlety of an avalanche, causing her to snort in derision.

“But our new home isn’t going to find itself,” Arez continued. “From what we can see on the horizon, we should be able to get out of this frozen wasteland by the end of the day. After that, there’s no telling how much prey we may find.”

The sabers all nodded in agreement. Their stomachs once again cried out, almost in unison, as if they themselves wanted to make their anticipation known. Benji went up to Terra, nuzzling her leg as Aisha pet him gently. Tomar started licking his chops, and Sonja touched her belly again to soothe her unborn cub.

This saber-toothed pack had once been in better conditions. Their previous territory was about as ideal a home as one could get in the Ice Age, with livable terrain largely unimpeded by excessive snow and plenty of prey living around them. The only reason some of the sabers hadn’t become skin and bones yet is because of how thoroughly nourished they’d been before. But just over a month ago, another pack, with whom they’d had a long-standing rivalry, finally made a move to claim the territory as their own. Several members were outright killed, including the father of Sonja’s child, and the pack was forced to leave.

Ever since, Arez had been leading their travels in search of a new home. Along the way, they were forced to feel the squeeze of the brutal elements as food suddenly became scarily scarce. Not a single pack member wasn’t going hungry. A few of them had already died from pure starvation, and if they didn’t find a proper food source soon, it was looking like more of them may be following.

Some tried to keep spirits high. But tensions between packmates that had existed beforehand were growing even worse as their suffering went on. But those with faith kept the morale going. As did Arez’s strength in never giving up, no matter how bleak things were getting. Enough of them trusted him to lead them to salvation and save not just themselves, but the generation to come after them.

Whatever the case, it was clear that nothing would be solved by just standing around. Thus, Arez made the call.

“So, enough chit-chat,” he stated. “Let’s move out!”

---

Two hours into their journey for the day, the pack of sabers had already come far from the small little corner of safety in which they had woken up. Gone were the little patches of grass and tiny trees that had at least somewhat decorated their surroundings. Now, all that lay around them, as far as their eyes could see, was a monumentally huge desert of snow, under which lay a once-prosperous earth.

And across that desert wandered the travelers.

From a bird’s-eye view, they looked like nothing more than insignificant ants, a patch of sprinkles crawling inch by pathetic inch. The sun served as their guide as they navigated east, while its all-powerful heat tried to permeate this frosty world and provide even a modicum of warmth. They used what few distinct landmarks they saw as markers for where they’d already been or where they hoped to reach, such as the various rock peaks and miniature mountains poking their way out from the snow.

Shira trudged up a large hill with her packmates, its width making it too much of an ordeal to walk around. Her legs rippled and plowed as they carried her up the slope, practically buried underneath nearly a whole foot of snow. She was one of the frontrunners in the race over the peak, having already gotten halfway to the top by the time others even made a few feet’s worth of progress.

She, along with Arez and a few others, finally made it over the hump. Not that there was any surprise waiting to be revealed; just more of these white, fluffy dunes. Outside of the walls and cliffs of ice they could spot in the far distance, there was very little to indicate that proper land was even in sight.

They waited for the others to catch up, much to Shira’s annoyance.

“Can they pick up the pace a little bit?” she said aloud.

“Silence!” Arez scolded. “Whining will get them nowhere.”

“Besides,” another saber chimed in. “Maybe they’d be a bit faster if they got some of that sweet kill you scrounged up the other day.”

Shira narrowed her eyes as she glared at the insolent male. But when she didn’t make some snarky reply or even so much as a growl, he knew she had nothing to counter him with.

It was true that Shira may have sometimes gone off on solo hunts. And maybe she didn’t always share her kills with anyone else. It was partially why she was one of the most physically capable sabers in the hungry pack, though she still couldn’t call herself anywhere close to being in peak form.

She couldn’t help herself sometimes. Having to share her hard-earned prey, when it was nowhere near enough to fully satisfy her already, had never sat well with the female. But she was seeing the consequences of that now, having alleviated her hunger at the cost of being held up by those without the perks.

Thankfully, they were soon grouped back up and continued. But Shira’s thoughts wouldn’t cease as they passed a giant boulder, the top of which was coated with icicles that formed from glossy, reflective ice at the top.

Truth be told, the grey saber had thought about moving on and outright abandoning her pack. But she couldn’t bring herself to take that final step. Little did she care to admit, but there were still some benefits she found in sticking with a group … as well as a select few around whom she could cautiously admit she had a bit of a soft spot for.

Two of those few were currently walking next to her, with another one riding on his mother’s back.

“What’re you thinking about?” Aisha asked.

The question didn’t come as a surprise, considering Aisha and Terra had tried to connect with her before.

“Oh, um … I dunno,” Shira responded. She didn’t want them to know her conflicted feelings regarding her place among them. She glanced around, trying to quickly come up with some response that would satisfy her.

Eventually, she settled on gesturing to the boulder and saying, “How fun it’d be to watch Tomar get pelted with those icicles?”

At that moment, Tomar had been steeling himself to walk up to Shira and try to get a little personal with the beautiful female. But the beige male immediately halted with a sharp, nervous gasp upon hearing what may be a genuine suggestion from his crush.

“Hehe … Wanna try it?” Benji asked.

“Benji! No!” Terra scolded.

At this point, Tomar had chosen to fall back, though he was still forced to listen to the snickers of a few other tigers. Meanwhile, Benji simply pouted, lying down on Terra’s back in disappointment.

“Sorry, squirt,” Shira said, giving him a sly wink. “Maybe some other time.”

Terra tried to keep up the stern face one would expect from a disciplining parent, but she ultimately couldn’t help but snicker a bit. She wouldn’t let Benji become a troublemaker because of Shira, but she was always happy to see the introverted saber have any sort of fun interactions with … well, anyone, but especially her boy.

Around an hour later, the pack was still on the move. However, pretty much everyone had slowed down a fair bit. Not only was the sheer length of their travel really catching up to them, but the path itself had become trickier. Swirling dunes, curvy hills and mesas, and larger heaps of snow were inescapable, impeding the pack’s progress even more.

Not helping was the snowfall that kicked in just before the strike of noon. It peppered the skies in a swirling vortex of beautiful white, dancing gracefully and swiftly in the miles of space around and between them. But it also obstructed their views and only added to the already strenuous mounds they had to cross.

Sonja was starting to heave loudly. She could feel the energy being sapped out of her legs, and what little that remained was being siphoned into the precious baby inside her that she was fighting tooth-and-nail to keep alive. The fatigue was slithering its way through her veins, to her lungs and her heart, tearing her down piece-by-piece as she stubbornly tried to take just one more step forward.

She saw her paw creeping up into her line of sight, just as that line began tilting, giving her a slanted perspective of the frigid hills … making the snow fall sideways to her … it tilted further … further …… further ………

… Until her body went with it.

As Sonja collapsed onto the white beneath her, one of her packmates ran over to check on her. She could barely hear her name being called through the echoing numbness in her head. The whole group stopped as well, taking this as a clear sign that they could all use a rest themselves. They dropped to their stomachs and sides. As Aisha’s frail form finally let itself give out, she leaned against Terra, already feeling better in the embrace of her orange mate.

Arez, through strained breaths, tried to keep his voice loud enough for all to hear.

“Twenty minutes,” he called out. “Then it’s back on the move.”

In between his loving parents, Benji stuck his tongue out at Arez. Shira shared his childishness by faking an overly loud gag, causing the sunset-colored cub to giggle.

They needed the levity. It was in these moments where the weight of her packmates’ troubles truly hit Shira. She may not have liked most of them, but she certainly didn’t enjoy seeing them so close to depletion, trying to accomplish so much with so little. She watched them struggling to keep their heads up. Some didn’t even bother; they just let the ground be their pillow for a bit, feeling the gentle caress of the snowflakes on their fur.

She also looked at the family trio across from her. Clearly tired, clearly feeling miserable … but still trying to keep each other’s spirits full as their stomachs remained empty.

“You, uh … You guys gonna be alright?” she asked.

“Yeah …” Aisha responded heavily. “Yeah, no … no worries … Just gotta recharge, you know?”

“Hmph.” Terra rubbed her nose along the rings atop her love’s head. “Nothing’s going to keep us down for long.”

Arez padded over to check on Sonja, making sure she would be fit to even keep going when the break was up. When she lay still for several minutes, the one-tusked tiger started fearing the absolute worst. But she then slowly moved her legs to push herself into a half-sitting position. Her subsequent coughs filled the whole area, ringing out like distress sirens to the other tigers’ ears.

And yet, when she finally twisted her head to look back at Arez, the male was taken aback by the sheer, unwavering determination lighting up her emerald irises. It was hotter, more intense, than that of any warrior he had ever seen in combat. It could even rival that of her lost mate in the heat of their battle as he gave his very life trying to protect his home.

As her lips curled back into a twitching growl, it was made apparent that though her insides were screaming, she was never going to give up.

“I’ll make it. I swear, I’ll make it,” she whispered.

She looked down at her stomach. “Both of us will.”

---

Two hours later, the pack found a surefire way to keep themselves going through the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, that surefire way was sprinting out of their reach.

A male elk’s legs propelled him away from the mass of starving tigers chasing him down. Had the pack been in top form, this would have been an easy kill. But as they were, they had failed to catch the elk right away.

Instead, their chase had led them out of the seemingly endless tundra and into a spread of low canyons and valleys. The remnants of the land leading up to it came in the form of intermittent snow and ice coated over the harder rocky terrain. A large majority of the snow rested comfortably atop a mountainous plateau, whose peak easily bested that of ever other point in the region.

A subset of the pack split off into groups of two. Aisha and another female ran through one stretch across the high ground, and Shira and a male dashed along one on the opposite side. Arez, Tomar, and Terra ran at the ground level, their eyes all locked onto the elk right in front of them, as unwavering as an inescapable magnet to the prey.

But while they weren’t losing distance from the target, they weren’t gaining any either. In fact, none of the sabers were … except for Shira. The stripped female could feel the wind picking up as she closed in on the elk from above. Her hunger accentuated the racing flare in her teal eyes, her tongue licking her lips with anticipation.

There was a plan made ahead of time, on the spot, as they’d entered this canyon: the sabers with the high ground would trap their prey into a straight path, rendering it unable to waver left or right. This would let them predict its route, with the packmates on the ground being in position to cut it off on all sides.

But Shira was losing faith that they could pull it off! The elk was faster than they’d expected! So much so that, at an upcoming intersection within the grand maze, it had a solid chance to take a right turn and escape their pincer movement! There was a Plan B in place should this happen, Shira knew. But it shouldn’t have come to that in the first place!

If she didn’t act now, their prize could get away!

She would not let that happen. And she would not put the fate of this chase in their paws.

The powerful tiger slid herself to a stop. Her claws scraped the earth until she was at the edge of a tiny cliff, small rocks stumbling off and down below, and she turned to give direct chase.

“Shira!” her partner shouted! “What are you doing?!”

Shira ignored his calls and kept running, a blurry silver bullet across the terrain. Already she was getting closer! And the elk knew it, trying to sprint even faster, desperate to not lose out on its one chance of escape! But Shira could tell he didn’t have it in him to do so. If anything, such exertion was causing him to slow down and finally feel the mounting strain of the seemingly endless pursuit!

So, Shira leapt down. She flew across the gap and grappled onto the opposite chasm wall with impressive athletic skill. She then sprang herself right at the elk, ready to claim victory and bring something home to her pack.

But the herbivore was prepared.

He whipped his neck around, bringing his powerful antlers up as a shield and lunging forward. Just as Shira was prepared to suffer an agonizing, possibly lethal puncture to the neck, the higher powers that be allowed her to fall right in between the deadly antlers, her middle slamming into his skull.

“Oomph!!”

The elk tossed his would-be killer aside, and Shira’s momentary daze allowed him to high-tail it back in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately for him, a certain gruff tiger, on his way to his planned position, happened to catch wind of the elk’s changed route.

“What the-?!” Arez shouted.

What happened?! It shouldn’t have been allowed down this way!!

Nonetheless, his stocky legs shot him into action.

The elk made it to a three-way splitting of paths, with a large patch of three-inch-deep snow spread out over several yards. The elk’s hooves kicked it up, temporarily blinding Arez as he too reached the fork in the road.

Followed by some hard force crashing into the saber.

His body tumbled about, flecks of snow gathering in his pelt as he smacked into the side.

As the snow cleared, Arez not only saw that the elk was now too far away to catch up with … but he also found that he’d crashed into Tomar. The smaller saber lay sprawled out on his back, his limbs sloppily sticking up everywhere. He rubbed his head, having crashed it into his leader’s much firmer side when he’d just been darting around trying to get his bearings.

Though Tomar was clearly still reeling, Arez took no sympathy on the screw-up of a hunter. He crept towards him with a growl, coercing Tomar into a submissive crouching pose.

“I’m sorry! I-I-I didn’t see you!” he whined.

None of the rest of the pack had any better luck.

The elk was out of everyone’s reach by this point. Terra halted, giving up the tiring chase to try and scope out where it could be going. It seemed to be heading towards the mountain-like plateau at the end of the valley … which, as Terra got closer to it, was even bigger than it had looked farther away. It took up so much space that she could no longer see where it started to curve back around, though it grew narrower the higher up she looked.

Taking a closer scan, the large saber could barely make out a narrow opening at its base. Smaller mesas of varying heights surrounded the structure, all of which may or may not have been further branches of the space within.

That isn’t a mountain … she realized. It’s a cave.

Not wanting to take any more chances out here, their succulent elk scurried its way inside, slipping away into the darkness.

Terra lightly jogged over, knowing it was useless to try and catch him. She roared out, summoning the rest of her pack to her location.

“Guys!! Over here!!”

The other tigers gradually converged on her location, with all of them together in front of the cave after a few minutes. As Aisha lightly nuzzled Terra, Arez surveyed what he could see of the cave’s immediate interior.

At the same time, Shira backed herself up subtly, trying to not stick out. She knew she’d partially caused this failure, and the last thing she needed was yet another reason to be disliked. Though Tomar did look her over to make sure she was alright, deeply concerned when he saw traces of a purple bruise under the fur on the side of her neck.

“… Please tell me it didn’t go in there,” Aisha said.

The disgruntled sigh from a tired Terra was the only answer everyone else needed.

“Wonderful …” Arez groaned.

The land around the cave was covered in large, coarse gravel, through which a few sabers nervously sifted their toes. In the temporary silence, their ears twitched at what sounded like the regular crashing of waves a bit further away, making them believe they were on the coast of some nearby ocean.

A little time on the beach certainly sounded more welcoming than venturing inside this strange, dark habitat. The group all looked inside, unable to make anything out through the blackness.

“Well …” Aisha said. “Maybe that means it’s not gone for good! Maybe the cave is a dead end! We could still get it!”

But some, like Tomar, were much more hesitant. “I-I don’t know … Who knows what else is in there?” he worried.

“Plus, there’s a chance we’ll get lost too,” Terra added. The very thought made Benji, who sat with unease between her paws, fidget a bit.

The whole pack exchanged glances with one another. Indistinct murmurs broke out as they held their own separate debates on what to do.

“What do you think Shira?” Sonja asked.

Shira perked up, stepping out from within the crowd. She was surprised that the mother-to-be asked for her input, out of everyone here. But she nonetheless felt compelled to weigh the options.

The stripped saber wasn’t afraid of going inside; surely it was nothing she at least couldn’t handle. But at the same time, was it really worth the effort of searching for just one piece of prey? It would nourish them all for a whole day, if not longer, but the thought of going through the hassle of a wild elk chase didn’t sound at all appealing.

But then she looked over at Sonja.

The white tiger’s face was more than just inquisitive … it was imploring. Bordering on urgent. She stared at Shira as if she was expecting, or hoping, for a specific response. Just as Shira’s stomach started growling again, so too did Sonja’s. So loudly that it caused a few of the sabers to shake their heads in sadness for her.

Sonja tried to suppress a sigh. But it nonetheless slipped out through her nose, practically quivering. A quiet but very unambiguous sign of just how much she wanted that meat.

It reminded Shira that she may have been solely to blame for blowing their chances to get some much-needed food. If anything happened to Sonja or her unborn child because of this, it would likely be on her. Her selfish sight fought for her to say no … but, as was happening a bit more each day, her guilt managed to win out.

With her own sigh, she responded. “At this point, I’ll take any food we can get. Why not?”

“In that case, I’m right behind ya!” Aisha responded, stepping forward.

“We might as well try,” Terra agreed.

“If Shira’s not afraid, I’m not either!” Benji declared.

A few more sabers made a move towards the entrance, indicating that they would join in as well. Even Tomar was willing to take part; she saw him walking up to her, very awkwardly, but with admiration for the brave female. He looked away as soon as he saw she’d caught him again, but Shira wasn’t quite put off this time.

A light grin pulled at her mouth, despite her resistance to it. She could feel a very slight warmth within her upon seeing the boosts of confidence among the group … especially with her being the one to have spurred them on.

Arez didn’t seem quite as happy with the group consensus, eyeing Shira a bit suspiciously. But he didn’t try to argue back or veto the call.

So, Shira faced forward.

“Alright then …” she said. “What’re we waiting for?”

---

As the pack wandered their way into the cave, they discovered that, at least initially, its insides were pretty similar to much of the outside world. Most of the hallway-like road within was adorned with a shiny, slippery coating of white ice, off which the trickles of sunlight could reflect.

The group opted to stay together for now, as unlike the canyon maze outside, there were barely any different branching, winding routes that would require them to spread out. That made this place feel a bit more limiting and claustrophobic, but at least they were unlikely to get lost.

Plus, they could still pick up on the continuous, faint scent of that elk. It was in here. Somewhere.

Shira, Arez, Sonja, and Aisha were among the mid-sized group that had been assigned this task. Much to his own indignation, Benji had been ordered to stay behind with Terra while his other mom helped take care of things. The group tried to slink through quietly so as to not alert their prey, although they also feared they may be going too slowly. Additionally, they noticed the very slight downward slope that most of the cave floor had, to a point where they may even end up underground if they kept going … maybe they already were!

The sabers were grateful they could still see anything at all, such as the distorted reflections that formed from the mirror-like walls of ice. Aisha even found it fitting to play around by making a goofy face and watching the ice expand her dual-colored eyes in ridiculous fashion. Shira didn’t let her see her own unamused eyeroll at the antic.

Navigation became a bit trickier when the subset of the pack found itself in front of a whole floor of ice that separated them from the next stretch. It wasn’t too bad of a slowdown, though, as each of them proceeded to slide across the frozen pond, shakily but successfully.

It was soon Shira’s turn, and the lithe, agile tiger slid across with no issue at all. Her legs never wobbled, her claws effectively gave her traction, and she glided in a clear, straight line to the other side … though she couldn’t say the same for Arez, whose slower speed meant she almost slid face-first into him. Arez whipped his head back with an annoyed look, prompting Shira to huff as the two of them stepped off the ice together.

“Talk about holding us up,” she grumbled, just loudly enough so Arez could hear her as she’d intended.

She looked back at Aisha and Sonja, the last two to go, as Aisha spoke up.

“You doing okay, Sonja?” she asked.

“Yeah … I’m … better now … I think.”

The look on Aisha’s golden-brown face said she wasn’t quite convinced. But, as if to prove a point, Sonja took her turn sliding, with Aisha waiting a moment before following behind.

The sag in her stomach clearly threw Sonja off her balance. Her paws kept needing to reposition themselves, slipping and forcing her into awkward, splayed standing stances as she veered off course. She narrowly stopped herself from crashing into the side by digging her claws into the ice. She then pushed herself away … only to skid and stumble over, sliding into the middle of the “rink.”

Aisha gasped and prepared to throw herself out there to help the white saber.

But, much to her surprise, Shira beat her to it when she walked back onto the ice and slid over to Sonja.

Watching almost anyone else try and fail to keep up with her would have been irritating to Shira. Certainly not something she’d feel compelled to help with. But in Sonja’s case … even the cold and distant Shira couldn’t stop herself from sympathizing with her situation.

That, and her continued guilt from hoarding her portion of food this morning, prompted her to hold out a paw.

“Here,” she said, keeping her face flat.

Sonja’s eyes widened. It took her a few seconds to process the simple aid this younger female was offering. She almost didn’t seem to believe it as she cautiously placed a paw gently atop hers and put pressure on it.

She almost looked … disappointed to do it. No doubt the result of her increasingly wounded pride, Shira thought.

But the two persisted. Shira carefully slid herself backwards, bringing Sonja forward as the latter made light movements with her paws to keep them moving. Shira kept her eyes on their feet, as did Sonja. For Shira, it was equally to maintain coordination and to not risk having some “tender” emotional moment with the other saber. Though Sonja herself didn’t exactly look comfortable with the whole thing either.

Finally, Shira felt her feet touch on stabler ground again. She lay another paw on Sonja as she sloppily scrambled off the ice with her.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Sonja insisted, letting go of Shira and shaking herself off.

Almost instantly, Shira gave her a pained wince as she turned around. “Well geez, you’re welcome,” she snarked. Fat good a little bit of kindness did her after all.

But then she heard the other tiger’s soft voice from behind.

“Thank you.”

It sounded so sincere. So delicate, even. Shira turned back around to see a grateful smile on Sonja’s face, if one laden with strange, subdued sadness.

Shira found herself giving a small grin in return. Never feeling comfortable with these kinds of exchanges – and, frankly, not at all used to them – she just brought herself to give a simple, “Sure,” in return.

The sabers carried on ahead.

And a few minutes later, they got an invaluable clue: a fresh-looking set of hoofprints in an inch-tall line of snow.

They resisted the urge to run ahead, keeping their steady pace as they followed the tracks through a tall but narrow tunnel. The ice walls began thinning out as they went further, and they eventually noticed some abnormal punctures and scrapes in the icy walls and ceiling that, while not enough to shatter them, had definitely not formed naturally.

But the strangest part was the emerging presence of very small shards of purple, crystal-like minerals that were embedded into the ice around them. They provided a decent glow that helped them still see, but their uncanny, inexplicable presence was nonetheless a touch eerie.

Soon, the snow and ice had all but vanished. In their place was an increasing amount of some strange, thick strands of silk dangling limply across the top. Some of it was stretched directly in their path, prompting Shira to swat it away with a grunt of mild disgust.

This is worth it, she had to keep telling herself. C’mon, be a team player for once.

Finally, the pack members found their way to the tunnel’s end.

What waited for them there was a large, sprawling chamber of dark grey. Despite the ice having thinned out earlier, there was somehow now more of it in large patches sparsely spread around its interior. Dangling directly over the center was a set of huge, razor-sharp icicles that almost formed a “chandelier,” except they were all glowing thanks to those same weird purple crystals encased comfortably within them. More of the violet rocks also jutted out all along the edges and surfaces throughout.

A set of naturally formed ledges granted access to the upper levels of many different paths that sprouted from this center. More openings lay on the floor, leaving the sabers with a multitude of options regarding where to go next.

That is, after they were finished being awestruck by what almost looked like a wholly different world. Sonja didn’t say anything or even react to the strangeness. She simply appeared deep in thought, seemingly trying to gauge the details of every inch of this place.

“… Woah …” Aisha gasped.

“What kind of cave is this?” a male beside her wondered.

As if the place didn’t feel alien enough, two large shadows shaped like bugs suddenly shot across the ceiling. The sabers quickly looked around, but they saw nothing to determine the sources.

Shira ignored the shiver that went down her stripped spine. She tapped the fronts of her toes against the ground, feeling that it was as hard and unalterable as it looked.

“Well …” she mused. “We’re not getting any tracks in this place.”

“Everyone spread out!” Arez ordered. “Roar if you see the elk. But if you feel you’re about to get lost, stop and come back here!”

“Roger that!” a tan female shouted back.

The sabers then all agreed to split off into groups of two. Arez and Sonja headed to an upper tunnel, while Shira was joined by Aisha through an entry point below.

The way through was guarded by a curtain of that same silky material that spread across the archway. As Shira barreled through it, a decent amount remained clinging to her fur, in a way that felt oddly … disturbing. Like it wanted her.

On the other side was a steep, sloping slide to the right of the entrance, with a wall of boulders positioned at the top. In front of Shira was a too-foot-tall rise that surrounded her, which she was able to jump in a single bound. Aisha was a bit slower to get up, but once she did, she and Shira saw that this new cavern was really, really tall. Though traces of sunlight could sneak their way through the roof of crystalline purple up top, that must have been at least a mile up.

Either this cave was a lot taller than it looked on the outside … or they had traveled deeper underground than they’d realized.

An entire twenty-foot-long stretch of wall was made of purple ice with a faint glow. Many giant webs of more silk were formed in tiers, sprawling across the entire sector.

Once again, Shira tried to keep a brave face. She braced herself for whatever was in store next, before Aisha’s voice startled her.

“Can I ask you something?”

Shira suppressed a gasp, but Aisha could still tell she’d caught her off-guard. Nonetheless, Shira, unsure of where this was going, simply replied, “Um … sure??”

“Are you happy with us?”

Was she … what kind of question was that? And she was asking it now of all times?!

Aisha saw her fellow saber’s perplexed reaction and elaborated a bit. “Sorry, it’s just … a lot of times, you act like you want nothing to do with us. But then I see you back there with Sonja, or talking with Benji, and … I dunno, it seems like you care at least a bit …”

Oh, how Aisha would feel if she learned just how often Shira had this same back-and-forth in her own mind.

Truthfully … she really didn’t know. She liked her independence – no, she loved it. She loved being able to provide for herself, to not be held back by anything, and to do and take what she wanted … And yet, as she’d grown up as a member of this pack, of course she’d gotten used to having others around. Even if she’d rather not be used to them … but then, she thought, would she really be happy completely by herself?

The constant uncertainty made her want to smack herself upside the head.

But given how foolish that would look, she scrambled through her brain for an answer that could satisfy Aisha without stretching the truth.

“I guess … I’m just complicated?”

“Hmmh.” Aisha gave a single chuckle. “I mean, aren’t we all?”

Shira raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like something Terra would say.” Of the two mates, Terra was definitely the wiser one, and it seemed like that wisdom was rubbing off on the more rambunctious Aisha.

The slim saber let out a lovestruck little laugh. “Hehe … yeah … I guess that’s what happens when you’re with someone long enough.” She took a step towards Shira, her one blue eye narrowing in amusement. “If you hung out with us more, maybe you’d find someone like that for yourself.”

“Pfffft!! You mean like Tomar?” Shira scrunched her face at the thought of being with that little pipsqueak, despite his blatant infatuation with her.

“Hey, come on, he’s a decent guy! He’s just a bit … shy.”

That’s putting it lightly, Shira thought.

“Nnnn … I really don’t think so. That kind of romantic stuff’s not for me.” Not just with Tomar, but with anyone. She already wasn’t a soft person to begin with, and if she was having trouble committing to a group, she didn’t think she’d find any joy being tied down to a commitment with a single male.

Aisha would have taken the time to pry into her potential friend a bit more, but their talk was then abruptly, loudly cut off.

By a wretched, pained cry from higher up.

A cry that Shira recognized as that of an elk.

“Ha!” she exclaimed. “Lunchtime!”

She dashed forward with haste.

Only to be forced to skid herself to a stop several meters ahead. Her teeth were clenched as she backed up a bit, having nearly thrown herself into a giant pit that spanned the vast majority of this cavern.

The saber-toothed feline looked down. She couldn’t even see the bottom. There was nothing but blackness as far as the eye could see … and, surely, eternal blackness for whatever sad soul fell into its inescapable grasp.

As another sharp yet shorter cry rang out above, Aisha slinked up slowly behind Shira. She was suddenly feeling far less bold, her ears folded against her head.

“Shira …” she whimpered. “This is really starting to creep me out …”

But another, even more alarming sound got their attention.

A loud bang slammed against the boulders at the top of the slope.

The females swiftly turned, gazing at the large rocks. Little chunks of rubble were falling, having been jostled by … whatever had caused that sudden impact.

And then it happened again. The boulders clearly shifted as a result. They slipped, just barely, from their already unstable positions nestled into each other.

Another strange slam from behind. Even more movement.

Seconds after, they started slipping on their own.

The sound and sight of rock sliding upon rock filled the two tigers with nervousness, the only audible sound as they both held their breath.

One more large slam came.

And finally, the wall of boulders gave out entirely.

The rocks instantly started sliding down the slope at an alarming rate! And, Shira realized, if enough of them got to the bottom inside that smaller pit, their only way out of this place would be completely blocked! They’d be trapped, with nowhere to go!

“Go, go, go!!” Shira cried!

Aisha was already on it, starting a five-second dash to the exit that felt ten times longer! Having had a head start on Shira, she made it to the other side first before turning around to watch Shira’s attempt. Already the rocks had started piling up, partially obscuring her view of her packmate!

“Hurry!!” she shouted!

“I’m hurrying!!” Shira called back!

Shira reached the pit’s edge! She prepared to leap over the newly formed sheet of boulders before it could double in height, with the archway out of here now halfway blocked!

But just as her back feet left the ground, they were suddenly grabbed.

Something thin and sticky wound around them both, pinning them together.

Shira’s gut smacked into one of the large rocks. And she was forced to watch as the last of them fell over the entrance, sealing it entirely.

“Shira!!” Aisha cried from the other side!

Shira was then inexplicably pulled away, back towards the cavern’s center by that same bizarre, sticky substance that dug into her ankles.

“Nngh!! What the heck is this stuff!?”

She finally managed to flip herself over. Her eyes followed what turned out to be a whole trail of that same kind of silky strand she’d been seeing. It had bound her feet, trailed upwards, and finally stopped at …

… A huge, black spider that was at least five times her size.

Most of its sticklike legs were anchored to the walls above her, while two of them pulled on the strand of webbing binding Shira’s legs. It had twelve legs, with each one possessing three long, retractable “claws.” Its sideways jaws extended out from its face like a set of pinchers. Three sets of tiny red eyes stared at her from the corners of its head, and jagged spikes protruded from the back of its long, single-segmented body.

In other words, it was the single most nightmarish abomination of nature Shira had ever seen. And it nearly caused her heart to stop as it launched up in her chest.

“…… Motherf-”

The spider cut her off with a deafening shriek, one that sounded like three discordant monsters screaming at once! Its hundreds of curved teeth glistened with spittle, and thousands of dark-brown hairs along its “neck” all stood up like frightening frills!

And a horde of many more, identical spiders quickly came crawling out from the various ledges and crevasses of this tall chamber, all of them hissing with delight when they got their first look at their new catch.

As they stomped down, their feet digging into the terrain, the spider holding Shira gave a sharp tug of its webbing, sliding Shira underneath and lifting her off the ground! Shira roared ferociously as she was swung up, her whole body getting flung right at this giant hell spawn! But she took the chance to latch onto its face with her claws, seriously maiming a bunch of its beady little eyes!

“Yaagh!! Think I’m scared of a few oversized freaks!!?” she shouted!

The spider cried out and dropped her … but the saber was immediately scooped back up by the four legs of another spider! She swung at it, swiping with her webbed-up feet, but the spider held her out of reach as it climbed up the cavern to its crawling ilk.

The beast exposed its underside to her, revealing a spike protruding from its gut with a hole at the end. From it came out a mesh of more webbing that coated itself around Shira’s front paws. The tiger swatted some of it away at first, but more just kept spewing out! It was too fast for her to get it all, and thanks to its clingy nature, it quickly managed to overpower her and loosely bind her forepaws together.

“Nnuullgh!!” Shira gagged as she felt the slimy gunk squelch about with every attempt she made to get rid of it! “Get your nasty whatever-this-is off of me!!” She kept her defiant, fighting spirit in high gear, even as it became woefully apparent that she was highly outmatched!

As she and her twelve-legged captor passed over one of the many platforms surrounding the outline of this space, the spider tossed her up to two others above, both of whom were suspended from their own self-made web strands. One of them grabbed her waist in its three-tonged “arms” and worked on further securing her hind legs. The other took the webbing on her forelegs, reinforcing and tightening it with the intricate precision inherent to its species.

Shira bucked and slashed out, fighting against the seemingly infinite number of legs that grabbed her! These demons clearly had no shortage of limbs with which to hold her in place, allowing the webbing to now properly bind her front legs, all the way up to her elbows.

“GET!! OFF!!!” she roared at the top of her lungs! She persistently tried to lunge forward and bite the beast, managing to get a few good gashes and even puncture it with her mighty tusks!

But the spider easily countered her by forcefully slapping her face with another dose of webbing that smothered her lips and sealed them shut!

“NNNUUUMMMERRMFFF!!!”

Shira thrashed her head with muffled screams, while also trying to free her now-secured hind legs! They were coated in much thicker layers of webbing that tightly hugged and bound her feet, ankles, knees, and thighs! While spindly fingers still grasped at them, her upper half was tossed up to a fourth spider, who sharply hissed as its furry catch still refused to stop struggling.

“MUMMPHUUMMPH!!”

The arachnid-like monster slung more webbing over her lips and wound a healthy amount around her jaws, forcing them shut. The durable strands crossed over each other as they were entangled around her tusks. With the aid of another spider, the domineering creature thoroughly wrapped webbing around her chin and neck, under her eyes, and around the back of her head, trapping her whole lower face in a constrictive mess of gagging silk!

“Mmmmwmmmh, MMRRMMMGH!!!” she roared, her rugged voice now barely audible!

The hearty tiger still fought back! She lashed her heavily bound forelegs to strike her far larger abductor in the face! She slammed her paws back down, striking its sideways mouth with an enraged grunt under the webbing! In response, the spider tossed her away, allowing her to be caught by another that was sticking to a wall.

Twisting its head almost a full 180 degrees, the heinous spider grabbed her writhing, twisting middle with four legs and shoved her flailing arms against her chest with four more, still comfortably perched to the cave’s side. Despite Shira’s failed efforts to push back, this let another spider slather a bunch of webbing around her folded legs, chest, and back, ensnaring her front legs in that helpless position. All while even more webbing was applied to her back legs, and the webs gagging her were pulled extra tight. “Mmfff!!”

Shira was then handed back to the previous spider.

At this point, a single one of these predators could carry the bound and gagged saber completely on its own. It didn’t matter how much she fought, thrashed, kicked, and bucked in its grasp; she was reduced to a helpless, screaming bundle! The other spiders clearly knew this, for they then cheered with those same multilayered, warbling shrieks of triumph as she was brought higher and higher up their lair.

Shira watched through green, saucer-wide eyes as the blocked entrance got hopelessly smaller by the second.

“MMMPHMMM!!!”