The chirping from behind her was making her more agitated - and fearful. The voice was controlled, but she could feel the panic of its source behind her. The figure behind her bumped her rump again, pushing her forward. She looked ahead to see the other two individuals in front of her; she could see the panic crawling along their skin, causing the muscles beneath the thin surface to ripple and tense in response.

Is there anyplace safe for us anymore?

The baying of hounds closing in smothered that thought instantly. The bumping on her rump ceased; instead, she felt teeth along her neck - tiny pinpricks that held her tight. Immediately, her body went limp, giving into an instinct never quite extinguished. The figure raced between the other two figures, its breathing ragged, agitated. The two smaller figures picked up the pace more, but it wasn't long before the baying was accompanied by the sound of footsteps pounding the earth below.

We're not...gonna get away.

Without another second, she felt her body being thrown; she felt weightless in that moment. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming, and she imagined a haven, a place of safety. They could never touch her -

SPLASH!

Her body collided with the shallow water, and she gasped, the wind knocked out of her briefly. She felt someone tugging on her tail; she turned to see one of the small figures pulling her into a shelf of the river covered by long grass. The two huddled around her, but not before she looked up to see the larger figure being bombarded by the hounds. The figure shrieked and yelped in both pain and sheer aggression. Its body was but a blur as it fought the hounds, blood and fur sailing through the air. One of the figures placed their paw over her eyes, in an attempt to obscure her view.

CRACK!

But it didn't stop her from hearing the deafening roar of a rifle and the thud of a falling body hitting the ground. There was an odd silence in that moment; the kind of silence where you realize everything was about to go horribly wrong.

"This is a rather large female."

"Ugh, look! She managed to take out 3 of our dogs! She ripped out the top of their skulls!"

"Thylacines are scrappy fighters. I told you not to let the dogs get ahead of you."

"Oh, fuck you."

Without warning, one of the small figures dashed out from under the shelf, racing top speed towards the hunters. His attempt at revenge was cut short with another loud crack from the rifle.

"One of her young..."

"Hey, didn't she have three of them?"

"Yes, the other two probably aren't too far away."

A nip from her rump, and the last of the figures dashed out from under the cover of the river; she wasted no time in running after him. But the way he bayed - she realized he wanted her to run away from him, not with him. She dashed off into the long grass.

Her heart pounded, her lungs burned; now she was running on pure adrenaline alone. She kept her panicked yips from erupting, even as she heard another loud crack, and the baying of a single hound behind her.

This will never end, will it?

"Rex, get back!"

The hound's steps stopped, but she kept running; if only a little further, she could hit the woods. She would be safer there; the extra coverage would ensure her freed -

It was never meant to be.

She felt it before she even heard it; but, it didn't hurt. No, it simply felt...uncomfortable. It felt like something was lodged in her chest, and she paused to try and pull it out.

But she didn't get the chance.

Instead, she saw the figures and the hound approach, through blurred eyes as she felt herself falling all over again. She felt her body slam into the ground, but she managed to barely pick her head up. She was greeted with the cold, blank stare of a twin rifle.

She never heard the final crack; all she could even see was the brightest of light.

"These pups are a bit...small, don't you think?"

"They look to be about three months of age; they must have just left their mother's pouch. You've been chasing older pups before."

"Heh! Looks like we finally got them all though! Man, what an effort though!"

"Let's take them and report back to the government. It's about time these damn vermin were extinct."

---

She was livid, outright murderous. Even with her strength sapped, and the cracking of ribs from the slightest of movement hindering her, she managed to spit venomous words at the figure standing before her, smirking in victory.

His response was cold and calm.

"There is a place where you kind has all but died out. May it be so here as well."

She could remember the events from a life before; her mother, her brothers, gone - stolen away from her, before her own life was. And all for what? Were they really the bane of the human world? She doubted it; never once had she wished to do anything to any of them. If anything, she had been more afraid of them than anything.

We didn't do a fucking thing.

With a strained snarl, she locked eyes with him; her right eye was a dark, smokey gray - her fury ignited her blood.

"You will die long before me."