Survival of the Wild - New World

Chapter Eight - The Fiery Beast

Ezra gazed around. Standing in the middle of the human street, her paws throbbed. Murphy perched before her, she could tell that he was in the exact same head-space.
They had no idea where to go from here. All they had left after the explosions was a half-dead Doberman and two terrified puppies, one of which had been passed out for who knows how long! Plus the fact that their now former leader more than likely wanted them both dead, so where could they possibly go?

"So what the hell do we do now?" Murphy sighed, looking down at the Doberman with a scrunched nose.
Ezra wanted to answer her grey friend, but she couldn't; she'd been asking the same question in her head for what seemed like hours by now.
Ears pricking upwards, Ezra sensed a new presence. Turning, she saw that she had been right - there indeed was a new presence. 
Two stranger canines appeared from a narrow alley between two of the houses. Glancing over to Murphy, she half expected him to snarl as per usual when meeting someone new, but as of now, his mint eyes seemed as dull as slate.
The dogs stopped a few feet away from the Wolves, panting and urgent.
One was a big fuzzy Golden Retriever. He had a blue collar around his neck with a shiny golden tag jingling from the front, his golden pelt looked unkempt and his fur was jutting out all over his body which was much unlike a usual pet. 
"Hey, you there, survivors!" the Golden retriever barked first, his amber eyes were quivering in urgency. 
The other dog was a huge, muscular, black Cane Corso with a white streak going down his chest. Dark eyes hid underneath this eyebrows and his pelt had been plastered with deep scars. Old bite wounds and claw marks swarmed down his black body. He looked like a stray, especially with no collar, yet he reeked of human stench. His ears had been unnaturally cut down to two stumps on either side of his head, and his tail had been cut too, making yet another stump at his rear end. From his strong jaws hung a tiny brown and white Border Collie puppy. She seemed almost too young to be away from her mother and her little amber eyes darted around as fear glistened in her pupils. 

"Who are you?" Ezra growled with caution. Although she would have liked to be nice to them just like she'd done when she first met the Doberman, she thought back to when she met Mavi. She didn't think it was worth risking letting someone else in before she knew of their intentions.
"I'm Cody, and this is Kobin," the Golden Retriever spoke gently.
"What do you want?" Murphy curled his lip and his mint eyes glimmered in suspicion.
"There's a bunker, it's not far from here. We're heading there now. You must come with us, please!" Cody urged the two Wolves.
The Wolves didn't answer. Noticing the silence, Kobin placed the young puppy down at Cody's paws before padding forward. Ezra felt Murphy tense beside her.

"He looks hurt," the Corso nodded at the Doberman behind the Wolves. "I can help you carry him back if you will let me," the black Mastiff offered. 
Ezra glanced over at Murphy, she could tell the Wolf was doubtful but they both knew they could use the help. Stepping out of the way, the Red she-wolf let the scarred dog past. 
As he padded by her, the stench of old blood stung her glands. What was this dog's story? She was intrigued by him.
He sniffed the black and tan pet and looked up at her. 
"He's weak, but he will survive. One of you take the puppies, one of you help me with the Doberman," he ordered.
Murphy huffed at being ordered around by a stranger dog, but Ezra knew he saw sense in Kobin's words.

"Hey!" a stranger's yap sounded from nearby. 
Suddenly, two more dogs padded towards the group. One had long, shiny fur and she was tall and slender. She was a black Belgian Tervuren with a tan underbelly and legs and she had a mask of tan over her eyes. 
The other was a spotty black and white Dalmatian. He was taller and broader than the Belgian Tervuren.

"You're not part of Ignis, who are you?" Cody growled from nearby.
The two new dogs ignored the Retriever and headed straight for the injured Doberman. 
"Kyoya, check the injured dog, quickly now!" the Belgian Tervuren ordered her Dalmatian friend.
Ezra half expected Kobin to turn around and warn Kyoya off, but instead, he sat and watched the dog check over the Doberman.
"Still alive, just unconscious," the Dalmatian reported.
The Tervuren padded up to Ezra.
"We are part of the Umbra Clan. I must warn you, Ignis is hiding more than you think," she glanced over at Cody with a spark of suspicion in her eyes.
"Ignis? Umbra? We have no idea what on earth you're on about!" Murphy retorted.
"You will soon," the Dalmatian barked. He bent down to one of the puppies, the Pitbull. "Star, he looks strong and he will learn a lot, I think he would be a great Umbra member."
"We're taking both," Star told him.
"No, you're not. Ignis needs youth in our pack. We're taking the puppies, and the dog too," Cody retorted at his seemingly rival pack.
"Hold on, don't we have a say in this? We know these puppies and both of you seem to only want more pack-mates," Murphy snarled, stopping the two bickering dogs.
"Unfortunately nobody has a say in this, so I say we come to a compromise. Kyoya, you find that the Pitbull will be a great Umbra ally, so why don't you take him and we will take the rest," Kobin answered. 
Kyoya and Star looked at each other before looking back at Kobin and nodding. 
"Good, problem solved," Ezra barked.