It was as fast as lightning, coming down with terrifying accuracy.
"MEAT!" a woman shouted.
A dogkin woman with wild eyes and sunken cheeks had seen her. She lunged with a speed that made Kitsara's tiny rat body shudder from head to toe.
"FOOD!"
The woman gave chase on all fours like an unhinged predator, but she wasn't fast enough because Kitsara made perfect use of the pen's overcrowded nature: she slipped under a foot, bounced off a curled tail, and leapt into a gap beneath a feeding trough to hide.
From the safety of her cover, she peered out, scanning once more, and suddenly, her breath hitched.
There.
Sitting against the far wall, protecting a younger girl with her arms, was a tall, brown-haired dogkin. Her posture was weary, but she radiated a quiet strength even in filth.
