The sun was high on this day. By the time he woke and caught a little something for breakfast, the breeze had become nice and cool, the day's weather, very mild.
Eight padded down this path or that through the wilderness, sniffing here, looking there, The cool ground under his paws, the crinkle and crackle of leaves as he went along.
He'd been on the move for some time now since he and his siblings left the den. For a while he had a few traveling companions, but they said their goodbyes along the way, promising to meet up again every so often, as family does. Cowboy stayed with him the longest but headed east a few counties back. Off to terrorize someone else, no doubt. He always was the rambunctious sort.
As he traveled, Eight took in all of his surroundings as he felt appropriate. Tree. Tree. Path. Trail. Tree. In this area, there were far more pines along the way. They stretched up as far as the sky, blocking much of the sunlight and creating a very cool climate for his travel. Much preferred to his home of two years, further south. In this area there wasn't much variation in the terrain. He crossed a few territories, probably state lines, and got lucky in a few interstate highway crossings, here it was somehow easier to get turned around or lost.

He was happy to be off on his own. Though his thoughts trailed often back home. His family - his Pack. Til the day came that the wildlife preserve thought it necessary to thin them out. To keep things in balance.

Eight trailed along with his, thankfully, uneventful day, looking and sniffing as the soft dirt padded under his paws. He hummed very lightly to himself as he went, just to break the sound of silence and wind traveling through the upper branches of the trees.
On and on he traveled, maintaining a north-westerly direction, wondering what he may find next.