Somewhere on the East coast, where not sand but rocks and cliffs lined the shore, two large, corpse-like dogs cornered a young woman. She took a step back, and part of the ground behind her gave way. Glancing down, she might as well have been at the edge of the Cliff's of Dover. One dog snapped it's jaws at her, dark saliva spewing from it's mouth, the other staying slightly behind, baring it's teeth no less. The wind was chilling, sending goosebumps up her legs. She had a tattered brown skirt that reached her knees, but was cut on both sides of the legs. Next time she came up here, she would choose a more suitable wardrobe, if she could find anything.

Artemis had been looking for the dogs that ate her bear. She'd figured that she had killed all of the other canines in the area, but apparently not. These were the only two she had seen in a month, and none of the other surviving animals had the strength to carry off a bear carcass by themselves. Plus, nuked canines were the only things that worked in pairs. She wished their meat wasn't tainted, wasn't full of radiation and other chemicals, but it was rare to find pure meat nowadays. Most people had gone farther North to see if the animals were any better there than the canines here. Artemis chose to stay, and hunted the bear and moose. For some reason, not all animals were nuked, leaving a small amount of game for her to hunt and eat. The twelve-inch blade she held sat in her palm against her arm, hidden from the dogs' view. This was her chance. This was her kill.

She stomped her left foot forward, startling the dog closest to her and causing him to leap. One bite from jaws like those and she was gone; infected with whatever chemicals flowed through it's veins. As it lunged at her, she side-stepped it, and slipped her blade between it's ribs before it even landed on the ground. It whined as it slid to the edge of the cliffs, then picked itself back up. It bared it's teeth at her again, but before a growl escaped it's throat, slumped to the ground, bubbling blood from it's mouth. Artemis had a way with extracting the poisons from scorpion sacks, and mixing them with the roots of certain plants. She could put this poison on her knife, but it was cleaned of the toxin now, and she still had one more dog to take down. Turning around, it stood exactly where it had been, baring it's teeth, eyes coolly staring her down. They were dark and glassy, like a frozen thundercloud trapped within it's head. This dog was smart. This dog was going to die.