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All content © 2011 by the author. All rights reserved.
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| Lupa running after Noel |
As the dart pierced my tender skin, I knew it was a trap. My name is Lupa. I am a Timber Wolf and I am six moons old. My father is the leader of the Thunder Clan in a forest in Ohio. I have silver fur and golden eyes. My best friend is Noel, who is only two moons old. We are both captured by our enemy, Hunter. As I slowly lose consciousness, I know that Hunter will take us away and ship us to who knows where. I remember the day I met Noel. I found her wondering around the woods; only less than a moon old. She had her front right leg caught in a bear trap. I knew if my father saw her in our territory, he would kill her on site. I helped her to get out of the wretched trap. I hesitated before I brought her to my den. I took care of her and treated her as an equal. It's my entire fault we're in this mess. One minute, I am jumping over Hunter's snares, underestimating his knowledge. The next, we both get hit by darts. He was obviously hiding behind a tree, watching us.
I wake up in a cage, which is far too small for me. I try getting up, but I hit my head on a roof. Noel is scrunched up by my side, groaning. The only light source I can spot was a slit of sunlight dancing on the floor. I peer through the slit in the wall where the light is generating from and spotted Hunter. He is only a few feet away, hauling crates onto his truck, the same truck that killed my mother many moons ago. I was still staring through the small incision, when Noel nuzzled me. I turn, and she asks, “what’s going to happen to us, Lupa?" She stares at me with those green-hazel eyes of hers, her caramel-colored fur obscured in the darkness. "I'm not sure," I reply, "only time will tell." I nuzzle her back, knowing that she needed comfort. I feel our cage shaking, and I knew Hunter was now hauling us onto his truck. I hear the engine start, and the cage lurches forward. Noel curls up beside me, and starts to fall asleep. I tilt my muzzle back, close my eyes, and howl. I wait for a moment or two for a reply. I howl again, this time much louder, and I wait again. The only sound I can hear is the low buzzing of the truck's engine. I guess we are too far away for my brothers and sisters to hear me. I curl up next to Noel, and doze off.
I wake up in an enclosure. I get up and survey the small arena. There are tall fences that stretch toward the sky. There are fake rocks, I can tell through the feeling of my paws. I sniff the plastic pine trees; I know that they’re false plants from many encounters of human trash in my lake. I turn to Noel, who is sniffing the dirt floor, which was padded down by many wolf tracks. “I think these tracks are from the north, but I can't be sure," she says. I lower my head and nuzzle the cold earth. "Yes, these tracks are from Timber Wolves in the north," I confirm. I looked around and notice there are other animals in many enclosures outside our fence.
A few I recognized, like monkeys and bear cubs, but the rest I have never encountered in my life. “We have to get out of here," says Noel, “I don't like this place, not one little bit!" She starts hitting her head on the fence, making it wiggle back and forth. “Noel, get a hold of yourself. Look, there are some wolves," I nod to three wolves huddled in the corner. "They might know a way out."
We approach the wolves, who are whispering to each other in a foreign language. ”Excuse me," I say. They stop talking and look at me. They all had golden fur with blue eyes. "Do you, by any chance, have any idea of how to get out of here?" I ask. The wolf in the center replies, “No, we have tried for many moons now, but no success." She had a very heavy Russian accent. "I am Katrina, from the Star Clan," the wolf says. "These are my sisters, Kloe and Kiarra." "Nice to meet you," Noel and I say at the same time. "I'm Noel and this is Lupa," says Noel. Just then, we heard the fence rattle and a door opened in a far corner. "Dinner time," says Katrina. Hunter comes in with a trough of slop that makes me shiver with disgust. Noel just stares at it and drools. Hunter is then distracted with a monkey next door, who is making such a fuss over a coconut. Then an idea strikes me. I nudge Noel with my paw, bringing her back to her senses. "I have an idea," I tell her and the others. We group together and I tell them my plan.
A few minutes later, Hunter comes back to our door with the trough. Kiarra, Katrina, Kloe, and I quickly hide behind a few rocks closest to the door. I nod at Noel who pretends to limp into view with a bad leg and starts whimpering. Hunter takes notice of her. “What’s up with you, wolf?" he says. He comes over to examine Noel. He does it rather roughly, because Noel looks uncomfortable and is jerking awkwardly. I sneak out the door and give Katrina a signal. Katrina and her siblings spring from behind the rocks and land on top of Hunter. He screams, and crashes to the ground. Noel rushes to my join me.
I watch as Katrina, Kiarra, and Kloe rip at his clothes, bite his flesh, and scratch his face. All I think at the moment is that he deserves this. I mean seriously, keeping this zoo, unauthorized, with a bunch of animals trapped? Noel and I head for the exit. My head swivels behind me, waiting for them to follow us. I stop and trot back a little. “Katrina? Are you coming?" I holler. She comes out with her sisters. “Hunter’s out cold on the floor. You guys go ahead; we must free these other animals." I bow my muzzle to the floor, and dash after Noel, who is well in front of me. I finally catch up with her, and we rest on the outskirts of a forest nearby. We both watch the zoo, our muscles tensed. Then, a gorilla bursts through the exit door, and many other animals trailing behind him. Katrina, Kiarra, and Kloe are the last ones to come out. They run to us, exhausted. “Hunter woke up when we were about to come out," gasps Kiarra. "Well, we have to keep going! There are woods over there," says Noel, jutting her muzzle toward the woods. “We have to go back to Canada," replies Kloe,”you two better get going. Hunter is furious."
As she says that last part, as if on cue, Hunter bursts through the door. “Run!" yell the triplets. "And don't stop!" yells Katrina, as we bolt towards the forest. I turn my head back, and see them running north, as we sprint east. We keep running as Hunter trails behind us with cuts, bruises, gashes, teeth imprints, and a huge claw mark running down his face. Funny, my dad has the same cut on his face. We keep running, and at the same time Hunter is shooting arrows and yelling at us.
We keep running for days, only to stop to hide and rest for a few minutes. I wake up one morning, to enjoy a breakfast of acorns and berries. Noel and I hid behind a fallen pine tree we found the night before. We gnaw on katniss roots we dug up by a pond. We then hear Hunter a few feet away. “Here, little wolves, come and get it little wolves." We didn't know what he was talking about, but when we peered over the tree, our jaws dropped. He is holding a bucket of freshly killed ground squirrel in his hands. Noel starts to drool again, but I can’t blame her. My stomach starts to rumble of the thought of munching on succulent ground squirrel. Noel is about to approach him, when I get to my senses and pull her back by the ruff of her neck. “Come on, we both can't eat roots and berries forever," she says. A look of pleading fills her eyes, but I resist. “No, he will capture us again and this time he'll be sure to keep us locked up." I say firmly. She gets the idea, and we both sneak off. We are a few yards away, when an arrow whizzes by my ear. It lands into a tree and we both dash away. Two, three, four arrows barely miss us when one finally hits Noel. She crashes down to the dirt, yelping in pain. The arrow is lodged into her right front leg, making it bleed again. Hunter is twenty yards away, with a big grin spreading on his face. Warm heat fills my blood, and I feel so much hatred and envy. I rip the arrow out of Noel's leg, who lets out another yelp, but mixed with a sigh of relief.
I charge toward Hunter, who is startled and fumbles to get his weapon ready, but I am faster. I leap and plants my paws firmly on his chest, claws outstretched. He falls backward and hits the ground hard. I grasp his weapon between my teeth, and throw it a long ways to my left side. I put my face right up to his, seeing the fear in his gray eyes. Something I see in his eyes makes me reconsider the idea of ripping him limb from limb. He probably has a family. I notice that he looks older, about in his early forties. He probably has a kid and a wife back at home. I release my claws from his tattered shirt, and I get off his torso. He gets up really slowly, and backs away a few steps. I lower my head and arch my ears back. I give a deep rumbling growl that shows my razor sharp teeth. He turns on his heel and sprints in the opposite direction.
I dash back to Noel's side, who is lying down on her belly, licking her wound clean. “I can't walk, Lupa, I just can't." There are tears in her eyes. “It’s okay, I can carry you. Maybe we can find a wolf that can help you." I pick her up by the ruff of her neck, and continue walking. A couple of hours past, and we come across an opening where no trees grew. There were dozens of wolves roaming around, obviously guarding their territory. I backed up so we would be hidden in the shadows. “I know this place," says Noel," I don't know what it is, but it seems so familiar."
I hush Noel (which is hard to do if you're holding a two moon old wolf pup in your mouth). She catches the attention of one wolf, but the wolf just walks on. I survey the scene, and my eyes caught on a tree. It has three large claw gashes at the base and four above it. That’s my dad's territory mark, but this wasn't my home. I wonder if he moved to this area because a hunter raided our old one. Noel sneezed, which brought some wolves attention because it was very loud. “Who goes there?" said one wolf closest to us. “Show yourself trespasser, how you dare enter the Ockno Clan's territory," he growls. It looked as if he was the alpha male. That wolf looks so familiar, and I know why. It’s my father, I can see his scar on his face. Wait, the Ockno Clan? We were the Thunder Clan, unless, no, it couldn't have happened.
Another wolf walks up next to him, this one is a she wolf, possibly the same age as my father. ”Mom?" croaked Noel. "Noel?" said the she wolf now looking in our direction. “Mom!" cries Noel. She wriggles out of my grip and falls to the ground. She limps towards her mother, who picks her up by the ruff, throws her in the air, and catches her. She smothers Noel with licks and nuzzles. "Lupa, Is that you?" asks my dad. “Yes, it's me dad." He laughs and runs to me. He smothers me the same way Noel's mother smothers her. “Everyone, our children have returned!" He exclaims. All the wolves cheer and celebrate by dancing. "Lupa, I have very big news," he tells me. “This is Reyna," he points his muzzle toward Noels' mother, who was cleaning Noel's wound. “When I found out you were missing, I chased after Hunter's truck, but I couldn't catch up. I crossed paths with Reyna when we were both chasing after the truck. She introduced herself as the leader of the Ockno Clan and that her pup was kidnapped by Hunter. I told her that you were kidnapped by Hunter too. We both worked together to try and find you, and something happened. We both fell in love." At this I couldn't help but smile. “We set up a new territory here," he continues,” and I brought everyone from our clan and Reyna brought everyone from her clan here. We then mated and now we are part of the Ockno Clan." Noel joins my side and asks,”so, does this mean me and Lupa are sisters?" My dad nods, and she goes all crazy.
We have a huge ceremony for our return. We are showered with pink water lily flowers from a nearby pond. We have a huge feast that includes wild turkey, ground squirrel, and chipmunks. Tonight is a full moon, which means we will have the Full Moon Howl. As night falls, we all gather onto a cliff. We wait for the moon to rise high, and in chorus, we all give a nice loud and long howl. We continue howling for awhile when Noel pats me with her paw. I turn, seeing that her leg is all patched up with moss. ”Promise me something," she says. ”What is it?" I reply.” Promise me we won't ever underestimate humans again.” I laugh. ”Never again," I promise, because I now know to never judge human's knowledge. I tilt my head one last time to howl before the moon comes down from its peak.
All content © 2011 by the author. All rights reserved.
