Shela is dead, Silver is lying against a tree unconscious, Sawtooth and Lockjaw are trying to protect the twins as they run away screaming, and I am about to explode from anger. You are probably asking yourself "What is going on?" and "How did all this happen?" well, be patient and it will all make sense.
I hate hunting days. A large group of us goes a long distance to hunt, and it is a very dangerous job. Sometimes we end up battling other wolves, and other times someone slips and falls off a ledge, still other times wolves get hit by stampeding deer or moose. Many don't come back alive. This was my first hunt, but the age requirement to go on hunts is twenty years old and I am only seventeen. Unfortunately there was an incident during the last hunt and some of the wolves were injured, so there weren't enough hunters for the trip. I was forced to go because my Dad is the pack leader and he thought the experience would be good so he bent the rules a bit. One of my best friends was going out too. She had just recently come of age, and was excited about her first hunt. We were going to the eastern forest for the hunt because the nearby forests had been over hunted. It was a 200 mile trek through the mountains to get to the forest, and it was surrounded on all sides by tall, steep ridges. It was also not in any pack's territory, so the prey there was fair game to anyone.
Seventy two boring hours of non stop walking brought us to the base of a mountain, and I saw evidence of land slides. "Hopefully nothing happens while we climb up," I thought.
I was standing in the middle of the group right next to my friend, Silver. She was staring at the ground shivering from the cold. Clearly she was miserable.
"This is soooo exciting" I said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up" She retorted.
Silver was telling me all about the amazing adventures her father had had while hunting before we left and she said we were going have an exciting adventure too, but so far nothing had happened except changes in the weather. It was getting cloudy, the air was becoming humid and sticky, and I felt a drop of water land my snout.
"Rain...thats just what we need" I said to Silver.
"I hope it holds off until we find a cave cuz I don't want to get wet" she replied.
Sawtooth looked back towards us and said, "Would you two please quiet down and focus."
I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was annoyed, but I wasn't sure if it was us or the rain. Either way we stopped talking and began the climb up the mountain. A little under half way up the slope was the cave that would be our first rest stop. About ten minutes later the rain came. It started as a light sprinkle, but soon turned into a heavy down pour. Thirty yards in front of us a lightning bolt struck the ground, and a deafening explosion of thunder came. My white fur was sopping wet and sticking to my body as if it had been glued. Visibility had decreased so much that I couldn't see more than six feet in front of me. Silver looked at me with exhaustion in her eyes.
"Damn this sucks. I can't see anything and my fur is covered in mud" she said.
My own fur had started to blacken from dirt and mud too, and the cave was still four hours of hiking above us.
After an hour and a half of hiking the wind picked up, and the sky filled with flashes of lightning.
"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it got worse" Silver said.
A couple minutes later there was a bright flash to my left and a tree exploded along with roaring thunder.
"Yikes! That was close," I said.
I noticed Shela was beginning to fall behind probably from exhaustion and Lockjaw was trying his best to help her. She wasn't the only one that was tired though. With each passing minute, and every agonizing step we all became more exhausted.
Lockjaw ran to the front of the group to talk to Sawtooth.
"This storm is getting worse by the minute. We need to pick up the pace so we can get to the cave faster," Lockjaw yelled over the thunder.
"It's been about three and a half hours since we started the climb, so we are almost there," Sawtooth yelled back.
There was another bright flash, and a blood curdling scream as thunder exploded overhead. I looked back to see Shela fall to the ground unconscious.
"SHIT" Lockjaw yelled as he ran towards her limp body.
He tried to cary her, but she was too heavy for him to lift. Shela laid on the ground, unmoving.
"Is she...dead?" Silver asked.
"I don't think so," I said, "she is still breathing."
Though she was breathing Shela was out cold so she must have passed out from the pain. There was a patch of charred fur on her back where the lightning bolt had struck her.
Sawtooth came to try to help Lockjaw cary Shela, but she was too hard to lift so they had to drag her through the mud. I noticed tears in Lockjaw's eyes as he walked to the front of the group with Sawtooth. He loved Shela, and he was definitely worried about her.
We trudged on for another long hour before finally reaching the cave. We all huddled inside, cold and wet. Lockjawand Sawtooth laid Shela on the ground and then laid down next to her. Silver shook herself to dry her fur splattering a few wolves near her. They growled a bit and walked away. I sat near the edge of the cave and stared into the gloom.
Sawtooth saw me sitting alone and decided to walk over and talk to me.
"Hey, you alright?" asked Sawtooth, "I know you are young, and I think you joining us was brave."
"I wasn't given a choice, and if you call being cold, wet, and miserable alright, then yea, I guess I'm fine," I said as I put my head on my paws.
"Don't get upset over a little rain, it won't kill you," said Sawtooth.
To my left there was a bright flash and a tree near the mouth of the cave exploded followed by roaring thunder. The tree was turned into a mangled charred mess almost instantly.
"Yea, a little rain," I said sarcastically to Sawtooth.
"Well..." Sawtooth trailed off as he walked away. He understood that I wasn't in the mood for conversation.
We still had 130 miles to go to reach the eastern forest, and I was already exhausted. I looked back into the cave to survey the small group. There were the twins Martha and Maradith, the muscles of the group Lockjaw, the brains of the operation Sawtooth, the quiet and kind one Shela, the observant one Brock, the stubborn one Whinnetuk, the lazy one Carla, the loud one Everest, my friend Silver, and me. Half of the group members were asleep. Shela was sleeping in the corner away from everyone else. She was so shy. I wish Sawtooth hadn't made her come.
"Do you think the storm will let up soon?" asked Silver as she walked towards me.
Her golden fur had been turned brown by the wet mud. The sound of thunder echoed through the cave.
"does that answer your question?" I asked dryly.
"Yea" she replied in a similar tone.
I looked to my left to see Silver and the twins already asleep, huddled together. I walked over and sat down next to Silver. She opened one eye and said "Shadow, you should get some rest". "yea" I agreed as I laid down. Within minutes I was asleep. When we woke up the next morning the rain had stopped and the sun was shining through the trees. Shela was awake and alert, but was unable to do much because she was still in a lot of pain from the previous night. We weren't going to leave her here, so we waited until she had regained enough strength to continue. We came to a clearing and stopped for a moment to look at the view.
"This view is amazing," I said.
"I wish we could just stay here and relax," replied Silver.
"That would be nice, but I doubt mister bossy over there would let us," I said motioning towards Sawtooth.
"Quit gawking, we have work to do" said Sawtooth as he looked back at us.
"He sometimes is too bossy," Silver said.
We continued up the mountain for another twenty minutes until we reached the plateau. In front of us was a large, and very dense forest. We began to work our way into the under brush. There were so many leaves I could barely see in the wolf in front of me and my paws were completely hidden beneath the ferns. It looked like I was floating. We just kept going strait, seemingly endlessly. Sawtooth probably knew where we were going, but I sure as heck didn't. The longer we kept going strait with unchanging scenery, the more I began to think we were lost.
"Where the heck are we going?" asked Silver.
"I don't know, but I hope Sawtooth does, or we're all screwed," I said.
"Don't worry, I know where we are...I think," said Sawtooth.
"That sounded very reassuring," I said sarcastically.
A few minutes later we heard howling and barking, not too far off in the distance.
"Oh crap," said Sawtooth.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Those wolves, the only other ones that hunt here, they belong to the southern pack. The Fang are here on a hunt," said Sawtooth.
"The Fang? You mean the pack that..." I trailed off.
"Yes, the ones that killed your mom. That was a terrible war," said Sawtooth.
"Some day I will avenge her death. I'll slaughter every single one of them if I have to," I said with disdain.
"Shadow, calm down. They don't know we're here," said Sawtooth.
Sawtooth led us onward until we reached a clearing. Silver walked out of the woods to make sure the southern pack hunters weren't there. She turned around to motion for the rest of us to come out. Shela was the first to start walking out when suddenly Silver was jumped. I heard her cry in pain. More southern pack wolves came and they knew we were there so there was no point in trying to hide. So we all ran into the clearing. The wolf that had jumped Silver was still over her, but I couldn't see what he was doing.
One of the southern hunters barked and charged at Shela. She jumped back in defense, but too late. I heard her scream as she was knocked to the ground. I could clearly see the wolf ripping into her side. Within minutes Shela stopped moving, her insides spilling onto the ground in pools of blood. I look away because it was so disgusting and when I did, I finally saw what had happened to Silver. There was a bloody hole in her stomach and her snout was scratched up and bleeding.
Now, Shela is dead, Silver is lying against a tree unconscious, Sawtooth and Lockjaw are trying to protect the twins as they run away screaming, and I am about to explode from anger.
I turned toward the wolf that had attacked Silver.
"Hey, I know you," said the wolf, "You might even know me. I'm the guy that killed your mom, and it was pretty awesome too. Causing your pack to surrender and sign an agreement just by killing one wolf, not many can say they've accomplished that."
"YOU BASTARD!!" I screamed, "First my mom, and now my best friend. I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Then I charged him, and was on him in seconds. I bit into his neck and threw him to the ground. The taste of warm blood filled my mouth as he began clawing at my head trying escape the bite that was crushing his throat. I was so full of rage I couldn't stop myself. I began raking my claws down his snout and body, ripping up fur and skin causing him to bleed from almost everywhere. I released my bite as he screamed in agony. I continued scratching at his body and ripping out internal organs until he finally died. Then I walked over to Silver. She was unconscious, and the puddle of blood beneath her grew larger with every passing second. There were 3 bites on her stomach. All I could do was watch as she bled to death. We already had two casualties, and that battle had just begun. Sawtooth saw me staring at Silver's body and ran over to me. He looked at the bloody remains of the wolf I had killed.
"Jeez, what did you do to this guy?" Sawtooth asked.
"He killed my mom, and my best friend, so I got revenge," I replied with anger in my voice.
"By skinning him and ripping him apart?" Sawtooth asked.
"He murdered my mother," I said, "and my best friend. You can't expect me to do nothing about that."
A southern hunter charged at us and yelled "THE FANG WILL NOT LOSE TO PHANTOM, NOT EVER!!"
He jumped at Sawtooth and before he even came close I sliced through his stomach with my claws. He was dead by the time he hit Sawtooth. My paws were covered with blood.
"HOLY SHIT! How the hell did he..." said Sawtooth.
"Don't worry," I said, "I took good care of him."
"How did you react so fast?" Sawtooth asked.
"No idea," I replied
To my right I saw Whinnetuk running towards the woods, away from one of the southern hunters. I watched as the southern hunter pulled him the ground and started digging at his throat.
"HEY!" I yelled.
The wolf looked up just in time for me to slam into him. We both went flying towards the the edge of a cliff in a tangled up mess. Carla happened to be standing by the cliff directly in front of us, in her own confrontation with a southern wolf. We rolled into her sending all 3 of us over the edge. I managed to bit a tree root to keep from falling. Carla bit onto my tail, and the southern hunter bit onto hers. Carla tried to kick the southern wolf off her, but wasn't succeeding.
"I CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH LONGER," I yelled tightening my bite on the root.
"AH!" Carla screamed, "I CAN'T GET RID OF HIM, AND I'M SLIPPING!"
I began to try to swing my body to throw Carla onto a nearby edge, but at that moment the root cracked and suddenly lowered us about four feet. Carla lost her hold on me due to the sudden jerk and I heard her screaming as she and the southern hunter fell. I looked back and got one last glimpse of her beautiful maroon colored fur before she disappeared into the trees far below. I pulled myself back up on top of the cliff and rejoined the fight. Carla's death was a terrible one, and I new I would never forgive myself for letting her fall.
I looked around at the raging battle trying to decide what to do next. It was chaos. Wolves were either screaming and running, or killing eachother. As I was surveying the field a wolf jumped on me. Claws were flying at each other and jaws snapping, neither one of us willing to give up the fight. It went on like that for around two minutes until I struck his snout. He yelped and jumped back giving me the opportunity to attack. He realized what he had done too late. He tried to run as my teeth sank into his back. He whimpered and fell to the ground. I ripped off a patch of skin on his back creating a big bloody hole. Within seconds there was a puddle of blood around his body, and he stopped moving.
When I stood up I felt pain in my back leg. When I tried to walk it immediately gave out.
"Oh crap," I said when the realization hit me.
I had broken my leg when he attacked me. That made me more vulnerable.
A group of southern hunters noticed and came over to me. I barked and snapped at them.
"Ooh, is the little injured wolfie scared?" asked the leader of the group in a mocking tone.
I growled at them.
"Hahaha, all you can do is growl, you stupid jackass," said the wolf.
That hit a nerve. My body flooded with anger and adrenaline. I jumped up and landed on top of him and started scraping at his stomach as hard as I could with my claws. The others were so startled they didn't move. When they finally did, I had already worked my way into the wolf's stomach. Half of his intestines had fallen out of his body and were lying on the ground. The wolf was howling in pain, but he stopped when he died a few moments later.
The other wolves in his small group tried to attack me, but I managed to outrun them with only three legs into the woods and hide. I knew I couldn't keep fighting in my condition so I yelled for Sawtooth.
"SAWTOOTH, HELP!!" I yelled.
A few minutes later he came through the trees to where I was.
"What's wrong Shadow?" he asked.
"I think I broke my leg," I said, "and I don't know what to do about it."
"Well, first we need to-" Sawtooth started to say, but he was cut off as a southern hunter head butted him sending him flying head first into a tree.
Sawtooth was unconscious, but the southern hunter hadn't noticed me yet so I made my move. I bit into his leg and swung him around, slamming his head into trees until he started bleeding and was out cold. Then I dropped him and half ran, half hopped over to Sawtooth. He was groaning when he came to.
"Wh-what happened?" he asked.
"We were ambushed," I said.
"WHAT! Where'd he go?" asked Sawtooth.
"Right over there," I said motioning to the blood covered unconscious wolf.
Sawtooth walked over to him, and slit his throat with his claw to make sure he would stay asleep. The two of us then walked out of the woods back into the open battlefield. The sun had lowered a bit in the sky. I was trying to calculate the time using the sun when I noticed a group of five southern hunters cornering Lockjaw at the edge of the cliff.
"LOCKJAW!" I yelled as I charged towards the wolves.
They turned to look to see who had yelled just in time for me to crash into the one on the left. I sent him flying into the wolf next to him, and he hit the wolf next to him. I caused them to fall like dominos. Sawtooth came up behind me and joined the fight just as the group of five stood up ready to retaliate. Lockjaw, Sawtooth, and I were ready though, and through a flurry of claws and jaws we pushed all five of them off the edge of the cliff.
After the wolves fell off the cliff I turned around to see what was left. Maradith was unconscious next to Martha who was finishing off the last of the southern hunters. The three of us ran over to them. We got there just as the southern hunter was killed.
"Is she ok?" Sawtooth asked while looking at Maradith.
"I-I don't know, but she's been unconscious for a while," said Martha.
Sawtooth leaned down and listened for a heart beat or breathing, but found none. He rolled her over to face us, and what we saw was horrifying. Her entire side was shedded, even the bones. Upon seeing this Martha burst into tears.
"It's ok," said Sawtooth, "she did not die in vain."
"NOO!! She can't be... she can't be dead," Martha said through sobs.
"There's nothing we can do for her now," said Sawtooth.
As Sawtooth tried to comfort Martha I noticed that Brock was missing.
"Uh, hey Sawtooth, have you seen Brock anywhere?" I asked.
"No, why?" he asked.
"Well, he's not here on the battlefield," I said.
"Perhaps we should look for him," suggested Lockjaw.
"Um, I uh, I think I saw him stumble into the woods over there," said a small voice.
I turned around and saw Everest pointing at the woods opposite the cliff.
"EVEREST!" I said, "you're alright."
"I-I've been better," she stuttered.
Everest's light gray fur had been stained red. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Sawtooth, I think the battle was too much for Everest. She is acting a bit off kilter," I said.
"I noticed that too," said Sawtooth, "Everest, why don't you come sit with me."
Everest walked over to Sawtooth and sat down.
"The battle is over, nothing else can hurt you," said Sawtooth.
Everest almost instantly started crying and talking about how terrified she was through her sobs.
"Shadow, do you think you will be able to mange a small search with you're broken leg?" asked Sawtooth.
"Yes, I'll be fine, but it does hurt," I replied.
"Then I want you and Lockjaw to look for Brock, while I stay here with these two" he said, "oh, also look for a vacant cave if you can. We need some time to recover."
Lockjaw and I started searching for Brock near the trees that Everest pointed to. When we got to the woods Lockjaw helped me wrap a few leaves around some sticks to straiten out my leg. Then we found a small trail of blood leading deep into the woods, we followed it to a river where it stopped.
"Hm," said Lockjaw, "if he were still bleeding the trail would continue on the other side, but it doesn't. Do you think he collapsed in the river?"
"I don't know, maybe...but if he did, then he probably wouldn't be too far down stream, and he probably would've drowned," I said.
We walked down the stream until we got to the waterfall that went over the edge of the cliff.
"Well, if he fell down there he is definitely dead," said Lockjaw.
We turned around and headed back. We searched all the other parts of the eastern forest but found no sign of him. The only good news we had when we went back to Sawtooth was that we found a cave.
We were beat up, and covered in blood, and slowly we made our way to the cave to rest, and recover from the battle.
The next morning we started our journey home. The hunt had failed due to the battle, and my leg hurt even more than it did the day before. With misery and sadness in our hearts we arrived at home.
"Why did only five out of the eleven return, and why are you covered in dried blood?" asked my dad as he walked towards us.
"We were attacked by The Fang," I said, "and I avenged moms death."
"You what?" said my dad flabbergasted.
"The wolf that killed mom, I killed him," I said.
"Are you sure it was The Fang," Dad asked.
"they said it was them," I said
"I'm sorry you through all that," said Dad, "I had no idea there would be a battle."
"None of us did," I said.
"At least you're not hurt," said Dad.
"Well, actually my leg is broken," I said.
"Oh, well, come home and I'll fix you up," Dad said.
"Ok," I said, "and Carla is dead."
I saw tears forming in my Dad's eyes as he turned away from me.
During the next few weeks there was much sadness. I spent most of my time with Silver's family crying, sharing in the sadness of Silver's death. When I wasn't with them all I could think about was Carla's maroon colored fur.
The sadness lasted for over a month before everyone began to move on. A month and a half after we had returned from the failed hunting trip, my dad decided to make a speech.
He said, "I'm sure all of you remember the hunt on July 17th, and how devastating it was. Five young wolves were killed by The Fang, and one went missing. When the rest of their pack learns of the battle, they will surely attack. Phantom will fight back, and this time we will not be defeated. My daughter will be joining us in the battle. She is a skilled assassin, and will cut down any enemy that stands in her way. She killed nine of the fifteen southern warriors on her own during that hunt, and with her on our side we can not lose. Follow her fearlessly. She will forever be known as Shadow: The Angel of Death."
The crowed cheered and went wild as I walked up next to my Dad.
I am Shadow Claw, I am The Angel of Death, and I will avenge the fallen.
Rest in Peace: Carla Claw, Silver Lightning, Whinnetuk Rockheart, Brock Fullbuster, Shela Paw, Maradith Loxar
To be continued...
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