Beginings
I wake up to my big brother Prairie whining for our Mom. Annoyed, I clamber out of the den and into the bright sunny meadow. Prairie soon follows me out once he realizes Mom isn’t here. She’s been leaving a lot lately, but coming back early because an enemy is not too far from the pack boundaries. Our parents are currently out with the rest of our pack hunting for food. Since most of the pack can hunt, my siblings and I, including Mist, stay with elder Hannah while we wait for the pack to return. When Dad and Mom leave it’s normally Alice, one of our four deltas, who watches us but she is currently ill. Hannah seems to be the only elder of the three that doesn't just tolerate us.
Narrowing my eyes, I crouch down and sneak up on Moon, my big sister, from behind. I get ready to pounce on her but Mist comes out of nowhere and tackles me. Prairie then tackles my friend Mist to get her off of me. He tells me that I must be vigilant even if I’m about to pounce. Prairie is always helping me when one of the girls pounces on me. I let out a playful growl at Moon and we fight but are interrupted by Hannah who suddenly stands up. Her ears and tail are up and she’s on high alert. Her eyes are sharp as she scans her surroundings and her ears are flicking back and forth, listening to everything around her. A warning howl comes from one of the three delta’s patrolling our border but it’s cut off short. Upon no longer hearing the howl, Hannah roughly pushes us all into the den. I tumble into the den and instantly stand up to shake the dirt out of my fur. We all stand there in confusion, wondering what's going on. I hear Hannah let out a ferocious growl as a new scent enters the area. Then we see her run past the entrance of the den with a wolf right behind her. I listen to them fighting and growling until it goes quiet. We wait silently for Hanah to tell us to come back out. We wait and wait.
Prairie decides to creep closer to the edge of the den, even though we aren't supposed to. My littermates and I tell him to get back because the smell of Blood was faintly wafting into the den but he shrugs us off. I glance at Mist but she's watching Prairie intensely. I turn my head back to watch Prairie. Then It happens too quickly, none of us could even attempt to react. One minute he was there, the next a gray paw shot out and grabbed him! We all stood there frozen in shock, no one daring to move a muscle. Then a gray muscular male wolf appears at the entrance of the den. Without a second thought, the wolf tries to force his way into the den. His mouth and paw come in first and I could count all forty two teeth as he snarls and nips at us. I can’t see my brother but I could smell the iron tang of blood in the air more strongly now. Fear courses through my veins locking me in place. As the wolf manages to get the first half of his body into the den and I feel the graze of his teeth on my fur, my brain suddenly sharpens. I blink then shout at my littermates to scatter. luckily they listen and we all run out the back entrance of the den.
Unfortunately, the wolf realizes where we went and quickly exits our den and chases after us. I am running for my life afraid of getting caught when my ears flick up at the small whimper behind me. I risk a glance backward to see that the wolf was gaining on Mist. Without thinking I spin around and run toward them. I jump at the enemy wolf and bite down on his nose, my tiny, but sharp, teeth break the skin as I bite down. He lets out a growl of pain and smacks me away, his paw scratching me above my eye in the process. I quickly get up and start running away because I have now drawn his attention off of Mist and toward me. He catches up with me in no time and lunges at me but I dodge his attack at the last second. I make an attempt to jump over a log in my path to get away but the wolf catches my back right leg and pulls me down. I cry out in pain as I hit the ground. I can hear the cracking of tiny bones. My bones! Suddenly, the wolf was thrown sideways making him lose his grip on my leg. As he was thrown an excruciating amount of pain laced through my body and I could feel myself getting weak. I lay my head down needing rest but multiple growls and howls of pain force me to open my eyes and see what's happening. I turn my head to see the wolf being attacked by a flurry of brown and gray fur while other colors race around me. I sniff the air to find that it’s Mom and Dad, they had returned from their hunting trip with the other pack members. I could see the deltas that were patrolling the border coming into view with Moon and Mist following them. My body was getting heavier and my eyes slowly closed as my hearing went in and out. With no other options I succumb to the darkness enveloping me.
I don’t remember what happened afterward, mainly because I blacked out from the pain but from what I got from Mom and Dad was they chased the wolf out of our territory. However, there was no sign of Prairie. Mom and Dad looked everywhere for him, but he was just gone. I was later informed that Elder Hannah had died as well as Delta Akila so It was safe to assume that Prairie had also been killed. The pack gave them a proper burial and helped their spirits find their way to the stars by calling out to the moon that night.
I wake up the next morning to find myself back in our den and lying next to my passed-out sibling Moon. Mist is nowhere to be seen. I later found out that due to what happened, her father has decided to have her live with him again since she has recovered from when we first found her. What happened with Mist is that when she was younger my parents went out exploring and found her and her Dad. My parents were out looking for more space that wasn’t already occupied by a pack so we could expand our boundaries and take in more wolves. When my parents found them, they were on the brink of death due to starvation. Mist was so weak she could barely walk. They immediately took them in and Mom has been helping nurse Mist back to health. She has recovered very well and some people mistake us for siblings. Even though her fur is white, I often have to tell people that she’s not related to me and that we just took her in.
I whine for my mother, yearning for her comforting atmosphere. She appears at the edge of the den but doesn't come inside. I attempt to walk over to her but I can’t seem to get up. It’s only after I whine once more that she comes inside and helps me get up. It was then I realized my leg hurt. I lay down and turn my head so I could lick my leg but it’s gone. My leg is gone. All that’s left is a stump. I look up at my mom wondering what happened, the confusion outweighing the pain. She looks back at me with a mixture of pain and sorrow in her eyes. Then it all comes back to me, the attacker, the crunching of bones. I take it all in, the pain, the memory, and what I just lost. I don’t know what my future holds but I knew from that moment on, that my life would never be the same.
