(This is another teaser chapter. I'm not quite ready to put it on a regular update slot yet.) 

The giant round carrier one of the trucks dragged along behind it had Marsh's ears pinning down against his head. He had no interest in getting inside it, no matter how many times Walker took a careful step closer to him with his weapon. 

He had eventually been joined by two of the people that had come with the envoy of vehicles. One was a woman with a catch-pole, which was ignored, and the other had a longer gun than Walker's. Marsh understood after hearing them talk for a few moments that it was a tranquilizer rifle, used specifically for knocking out large, dangerous animals. 

"This is your last chance, kid. None of us want to shoot you, but you aren't listening at all." 

Why should he? There was no positive outcome. Either he was tranquilized and transported to some foreign place, or he was shot with a bullet and died. 

He honestly wanted the second option, but he had a feeling that he'd have to do some actual damage to Walker before he'd dare pull the trigger. The idea of killing, even by mistake, made him unsettled if he knew that he would be unable to consume his target. Wasting food was never appropriate. 

"Why do I feel like you are considering chewing on me to get me to shoot over just getting into the transport container?" Walker muttered, more to himself than to him. 

Marsh gave a snort in response anyways, making the guy scowl at him. 

"Your life isn't over because you're hurt. Come back with us and we'll have a doctor, or if you'd rather, a veterinarian, check you."

Come back to where? There was nowhere else he wanted to be. With that in mind, Marsh turned and started to hobble away, really feeling the ache in his damaged leg as he limped slightly. He could hear several sets of footsteps following him, but they seemed to disappear one at a time over the course of a few minutes. The only remaining set following him already had their sound memorized in Marsh's mind. 

He came to a stop near a small stream to lap at the cold water, ignoring the man as he crept closer. The chill from the water hurt his injured nose, making him retreat a step as he shook his head, then sneezed and grunted. The scent of blood filled his nostrils, making Marsh paw at the injury with his big claws. 

"Hey now, don't do that," Walker chastised as he carefully grasped Marsh's paw, halting it from unintentionally slicing up another bit of his nose. He hadn't meant to hurt himself worse, but it itched and ached. It was a natural reaction to try and scratch at it. 

Walker's sudden interruption did at least take Marsh's attention away from his nose, but now it was on Walker... the man who was not only way too close, but was also grabbing hold of him. The gun was on his hip, not in his hand. 

Marsh took his chance. In one second flat he had the man on his back beneath his massive paw. His added weight kept him there, and when he tried to reach for the gun, Marsh easily pinned his hand at his waist, his fingers less than a inch from having been able to grab the weapon. 

The idea that he might be able to eat him came to mind again, but even if he managed to consume the person beneath him, he had backup. Marsh had no doubt that he'd just told them to wait just out of view. If they heard him scream, they'd definitely come running. 

"I'm not worth it, Bear. Even if they know that I'm instigating this, they won't let you off if you kill me," the man beneath him said quietly, clearly struggling to breath with the weight of Marsh's paw on his chest. 

He knew that he would likely be hunted down if he did kill the guy, even though he wasn't the cause of their close proximity, but his brain was hard-wired to seek food, and there was some right beneath his paw. It would be an easy kill, and he looked like he had a decent amount of meat on him. He wasn't scrawny, but he wasn't built. It would be a reasonable meal. 

Without even thinking about it, he lifted his lip and nudged his nose against the man's neck. He could smell the fear, but it wasn't nearly as pungent as it normally was on his prey. The man didn't think that he would kill him. 

"I'm sorry that I've been bothering you. I'm just worried."

Marsh snorted and leaned away, finally removing his left paw from the man's chest, allowing him to take in several big breaths of air. Seeing him struggling only made Marsh want to attack again, but he managed to hold himself back, barely. He didn't, however, release the man's arm from beneath his other paw. The gun would not be part of this interaction. 

"I can only imagine how hard you've had it out here, and judging from your reactions, you've been fending for yourself for a long time," Walker said, earning no response from Marsh as he tilted his head back slightly and sniffed the air. 

He couldn't make out much with his damaged nose, but it was a habit to scent his environment often. 

Eventually, he relented, resigned that his own blood would be the majority of the smells he'd be able to take in for the time being. 

"Hey Runner!" 

Marsh's head immediately jerked toward the new voice and he bared his teeth, adding a warning growl for good measure. He was getting extremely tired of humans bothering him in his own territory. 

The owner of the voice slid to a stop at the edge of the slope that lead down to the area they were in by the stream. 

"I swear you find the strangest partners when you want to get down and dirty." 

Without warning Marsh charged halfway up the embankment, making the new arrival stumble backwards a good distance and raise his hands up in front of himself. 

"Down boy," he said as he kept backing away, already out of Marsh's vision because of the height difference of the ground they were standing on. 

He heard movement from his right and looked in time to see Walker dust some leaves out of his extra-dirty blond hair, then look up at him with a pained grin. Noticing his discomfort, Marsh swept his eyes over the man's body and immediately found a gash that he must have accidentally left when pinning his arm down so that he couldn't grab for his gun. 

There was no remorse in his mind, but he was a bit surprised. He normally had better control of himself. 

"Don't worry about it. Nothing a few stitches won't take care of," Walker said as he pushed himself back to his feet, coughing a few times before finally straightening up and looking beyond where Marsh was standing. 

Following his gaze, Marsh snorted and growled at the new man who had skulked closer while he'd been distracted. 

"The guys called me to come help you with some crazy bear, but it seems like you guys are doing just fine on your own? Interesting setting for some roleplay, but hey, to each their own," the guy said, making Walker roll his eyes. 

"Your sarcastic jokes aren't going to work on him. He's more animal than anything else," he said, making his friend lift a brow and frown as he turned his attention to Marsh and began truly looking him over. 

"Why not just leave him here? He doesn't seem to want anything to do with you," his friend said, making Marsh actually calm down slightly. He understood. 

Walker hurried up the slope, coming to a stop once he was standing beside the other man. They were similar in height, and build, and now that Marsh could compare them...

"He looks confused, bro," the new man said as he ran a hand through his own dirty blond hair and smirked, tilting his sunglasses the slightest amount. 

Walker didn't seem to have time to deal with the other man and sighed before reaching behind the guy and yanking off a backpack that Marsh hadn't even noticed. It appeared heavy, and when it was set on the ground, Walker only needed a moment to dig through it before he pulled out a large wrapped item. 

A few seconds later and Marsh felt saliva dripping from his jowls. 

"Here bud. I know you're hungry, and lunch meat definitely didn't seem worth it to you... but maybe this is?" Walker said as he tossed the huge chunk of raw beef toward him. 

Marsh attacked it the second it landed before his paws.

"I think there's a lesson somewhere about feeding the wildlife," the new man mumbled as Marsh tore into the meat. He hadn't realized how hungry he'd truly been after the stress of dealing with the humans. 

Right as he was finishing his meal, a second item was thrown at his feet. A whole chicken. He quickly swallowed down the remaining beef and got to work dismantling the chicken carcass. 

"He's almost kind of cute, in a ferocious, I-can-murder-you-in-three-seconds sort of way." 

 Walker pressed a hand over his face and sighed. 

"Like your last ex?" 

Marsh crossed his paws in the leaf litter after having lied down to enjoy his second meal. As he was finishing crunching the remaining bones and morsels from the chicken, his attention rose back to the two men and their banter. 

"Let's not talk about her. That was totally my mistake, for once. She lured me in!" the man yelled, a tinge of red covering his cheeks as he got defensive. 

Walker crossed his arms over his chest and turned half his body toward him, looking completely unimpressed. 

"Your mistake? Like the girl before her? Or what about that single mother you had dated before her? The one who you said was no problem and you could handle her kid... except the kid ended up kicking you between the legs after only dating his mom for a week?"

The guy abruptly reached to block the space in front of his private bits and scowled. 

"Don't you have something to deal with, bro? Enough poking fun at my dating history," he said, his words bringing both their attention back to Marsh. 

Marsh twitched his nose and yawned, then got up and started walking away. 

"Wait!" Walker yelled out as he hurried back down the embankment and promptly face-planted into the leaves with a yelp as he slipped in a deeper pile of litter. 

A slow clapping sound was his earned reward as he pushed himself up, spitting out some damp soil and bits of dead leaves. Marsh grunted and turned back around after a brief glance, clearly intent on leaving this time. 

"Wait, please! You won't be able to survive out here with your current injuries. Just come back so I can at least find someone to treat you?" he asked as he got back to his feet. 

Marsh huffed out a breath and shook his coat as he turned his head to look over his shoulder at the annoying human again. He wasn't interested. 

"You're not saying the right words, bro. He doesn't want help, he wants to survive." 

Walker stared back at his brother, obviously not understanding his meaning. 

"He doesn't want to leave here, but he needs help if he's going to be able to hunt again," Walker said, earning a light chuckle from the other man. 

"Runner, just do what I do. Promise him that you'll always take care of him and he won't have to worry about anything anymore."

Walker's shoulders sagged before he yelled up at the man. "You only say that to get laid!"

The guy laughed out loud as he replied, "and it works every single time!" 

"You're not my brother!" Walker shouted back before returning his attention to an unimpressed Marsh. 

"Sorry bro, you can't get rid of me. We're twins, after all."

"Don't remind me," Walker mumbled as he walked over to Marsh. 

They stared at each other for a good while, neither bothering to move. Walker wasn't messing with the gun at his waist, and Marsh didn't feel the need to threaten him without the option of eating him or the possibility of a threat to his fluffy person. It was an impasse, but oddly enough, it wasn't awkward. 

"Am I missing out on some mental conversation? Did you guys actually somehow form a bond already?" his brother asked as he carefully descended the small hill to stand a few feet away, not quite trusting him. It was a good idea. He was at the very limit of Marsh's safe-zone. 

Although, he wasn't sure why he was even letting Walker so close. He didn't like people, and the guy had a gun on him. It was a double negative. With that thought, he reached up with a paw and promptly shoved the guy over without batting an eyelash. 

"I don't think he's interested in you, bro. Better luck next time?"

Walker was just opening his mouth to respond when Marsh reached over and carefully pushed him farther away along the damp grass and leaf litter. 

That's a reasonable distance. Still a bit too close, but at least the man wasn't right up next to him. 

"Ouch. That's a pretty hard rejection. Don't worry, I'm sure there are other fuzzy-wuzzies out there. One might even be a bear. Although, they might have no hair, so then that would mean that that fuzzy-wuzzy in particular wasn't very fu—""Dammit Ranger, shut up with your stupid jokes!" 

Marsh tilted his head and twitched an ear. After everything the guy had gone through, Walker hadn't yelled or seemed all that angry until his brother started poking fun at him. The human was a weird one. 

"What are you looking at?" Walker grumbled, drawing Marsh's attention away from his brother, only for him to realize that the man had moved closer to him once more. And not only that, he was reaching out toward him!

It was a miracle that Marsh held himself back from biting, but in hindsight, he knew that he shouldn't have. If he had known that Walker was going for his ear, he would have mauled him to death then and there. As it were, he'd made a mistake.

In an instant, fingers tightly grasped his left ear and Marsh felt all of the bones in his body break simultaneously, then resize and realign. The entire process took only seconds, and normally, he would be able to manage it and shift back right away, but after all of the injuries he'd sustained, he was unable to fight any longer. 

"Woah! I-I gotcha." 

Marsh felt arms wrap around his naked human body as he was caught by someone, but after that instance, his mind went completely blank and darkness took over.