Morva Struggles

Morva- My dark fur is soaked with mud, paws sinking deep into the swamp with every step. I had been here for a short while, but already knew how to wade slowly through the waters without making a sound. On the shore opposite me stood a rare sight- A lithe brown hare. I didn't know where it came from, how it got here, or how it had managed to survive in this territory until now. All I cared about was that it get in my growling stomach. I had eaten only a small frog, which luckily wasn't deadly, since I had gotten lost in this swamp. I could feel it, every time I awoke in the morning (It was much too dark here to wander at night, you might accidentally fall into water and drown), my strength a bit less than the day before. Luckily, most of the water was fresh here, which kept me going. Shaking away these thoughts, I pounced- My paws closed around the little animal's body-
And I crashed to earth. The hare had run into the bushes, and for a split second I didn't know if I had just gotten slow or if the creature was incredibly fast. Then I realized, I was caught by the leg. Some kind of vine or branch closed around my left back foot, and I struggled to climb onto shore. But it's grip held. "Help!" I gasped. Though I knew there was no one there to hear me...

With a sickening feeling, Morva splashed and gasped and tried to pull herself out of the water, but to no avail. Her coat was soaked through, and she was aware that with every move, she sunk ever deeper into the muck. No one will find me, she thought in panic. So much the life of a loner has done for me in the end...

It is not long, however, before the struggling she-wolf finds the ground with her hind legs. With the last of her strength, she pushes- hard. Scrabbling forward, Morva pulls herself, cold and stiff, onto the solid, spongy ground of the swamp. Tired and panting, she shakes. But she is alive.

I am alive.