Dawn

 It was close. The overwhelming scent was through her fur, it felt drenched to her skin, the cloying musk and the overwhelming heat of its breath. Like a poison, it made the very air scrape through her lungs, and the pounding of her paws couldn’t carry her fast enough from the reaching of talons. It fell, a rainbow cascade in the sunlight, a shadow that eclipsed her and squeezed the very breath from her lungs. The whine fell weak off her lolling tongue, and the darkness carried her to the sun drenched heavens.