The air was cold and breezy as it tickled her whiskers. Esa found the morning pleasantly quiet, well, as far as her twitching nose could tell from peeking out the burrow’s exit. Her body tensed for a second, paws hesitating as she dared to step outside and sit on her hind legs with ears pointed upwards. Good, very good, no sharp-teeth around.
The rabbit walked forward, shoving her nose into the greenery below her, analysing the grasses, her teeth closed around mouthfuls of it and ripped them from their source. Bland, the grass near her burrow tasted flavourless as ever. If she wanted tastier things to savour, she would have to look somewhere else. Her dark brown eyes looked to the line of farthest trees she could see, and a small tremor ran down her spine. Everyone knew how dangerous the woods could be; one day, you might leave your home and never return. However, that was the life of a flat-teeth. Fear keeps you alert and alive.
To be alive, she had to eat, and Esa couldn’t bear to think of eating more of the grass around her burrow. So she slinked forward with the quietest hops she could produce. Every few seconds, her ears twitched, shifting and rotating, trying to listen to anything that could be nearby. Her gaze was nervous as it zipped from spot to spot, fearing the sight of claws and gleaming eyes.
One more step forward, and she froze in place. Esa slowly turned her head down to stare at the ground. Her paw was placed in a still fresh depression in the soil; it had the shape of a paw much bigger than her own. Four beans with claws and a pawpad. A trail of paw prints led forward, in the same direction she planned to follow.