Unaware Alpha

Chapter 5, Fire

I must have slept a long time, when I woke everything was dry and so was I. The sun was rising and the birds where chirping away. I got up and stretched my aching bones and sore muscles. After stretching I shook out my fur and sniffed the morning air, I wrinkled my nose and sneezed. There was something in air and it wasn't good, it hurt my nose and made it hard to breath. I needed to get away from this place and soon or I wouldn't make it to see my pack again. I did my best to follow my nose but it was to hard with the horrible white mist that smelt so bad my nose started to run. What ever this thing was it wasn't normal. I had to use my eyes but the mist was affecting them as well but no where near as bad as my nose. That's when I hear a crackling sound and it was getting unusually hot and then I turned around and saw it. It was huge and angry, it moved with the wind and ate everything in it's path. I stood before it and growled and yapped at it but it didn't back down and seemed to come closer to me as if I had made it madder. It started to get way to hot and so I turned tail and ran but then I felt pain on the end of my tail, this thing had grabbed onto me.

I howled my angry and pain but it didn't get go. Then I saw something even stranger, every animal was running right past me and not just big animals... I mean like everyone ran. No one tried to stand up against it. The pain in my tail was too much now and so I started to chase my tail trying to get my teeth into this thing but doing so seem to make it bigger and meaner and hurt my tail more. I had to get it off me. I stopped and dropped to the ground and started to roll around and then it was gone but the pain remained in what was left of my tail. I whimpered and stood up and looked at my tail and all my fur was gone! There was only a stump left where my beautiful tail use to be. What ever this thing was it was bad and ate everything including fur... I couldn't take the smell or the heat any more and followed everyone else who was smart enough to run away from it. I saw animals jumping in a lake and swimming to the other side and rather then go up against the hot thing again I followed them. Once in the water, my tail stung but then started to feel better. Hmm I thought to myself. I would need to stay close to water because once I got out of the water it started to hurt again.

Everyone else ran on once out of the water but I stayed and stuck my stub in the water and instantly the pain subsided again. Just great I thought. I snorted loudly and laid down and left my tail in the water. I didn't understand any of this, I had never seen anything like it before now but everyone seemed to know what to do when it came. If I saw it again I too would know just to run. I slept for a long while but the pain in my tail had returned but not the burning feeling like before, now it was cold and so I took my tail out of the water and shook myself. I snorted to myself and looked across the lake as the large orange thing continued to eat anything and everything it could grab onto. As I watched I heard a loud deafening humming sound like a large humming bird. Then water fell from the sky a large shiny bird and the scent of humans were all around. I decided I didn't want anything more to do with humans so I turned on my stub and walked away silently into the sinking sun.

My stomach grumbled and I noticed I was hungry. I needed something to hunt and sink my teeth into to get my mind of my less then perfect tail. I picked up the scent of muddy water and knew it would be the perfect place to find fish. I pricked up my ears and started to run towards the water but when I found where the smell was coming from I found nothing but mud. I hung my head. Great I thought to myself. No water and no fish and I was still hungry. I cocked my head but nothing appeared in front of me that I could eat. I sat down and winced as my tail started to throb. I reached around as far as I could and I licked what I could reach in hope it heal faster and if I was extra lucky my fur would grow back in time. I finished cleaning my stub and stood up and walked on mindlessly. I was starting to think about bunking down for the night when a strange sound came from a tree no far from me. It sounded like a wounded animal and if it was it meant I would be able to eat. But as i got closer I recognised the scent as wolf.

From what I could smell it was an older female who had had pups before but she didn't smell healthy. She smelt dirty and something else like her flesh was rotting away somewhere on her body. Why was she here and where was her pack. She smelt important. An alpha. Before I got any closer I smelt around but didn't detect another wolf for miles. Why was this very important alpha female here and why alone. Had her pack abandoned her or had she driven them away as not to watch her die... so many questions. Since I was the only other wolf here, I might as well check in on this female. I walked around a large rock and what I came upon almost left me breathless. There lay a beautiful dark brown wolf with a cream diamond on her chest. But what drew my eye more then her perfect markings was the large oozing gash all along her body. There was dry blood all over the place but the wound itself looked as bad as it smelt. She must have suddenly noticed I was there as her ears pricked up and she gave a growl. Ok so not the most friendliest of meeting but I’ve had worse. I flipped my own ears back and lowered to the ground to show her I was no threat to her. She snorted loudly and plonked her head down. Ouch that had to hurt.

I walked closer and the smell got worse. Oh my, I think I'm going to be sick. But I held my stomach and approached her as slowly and as carefully as I could. I made sure she could see me the whole time. Up close I could see the wound was way worse than I first thought. It ran from the base of her neck all the way to her tail. Seriously I was surprised she was still alive. I wondered what happened to her, had she been challenged and lost badly or was there something else out there that could inflict this kind of damage to a wolf. I guess I would never know the answer but seeing this great wolf reduced to nothing but skin and bone was horrible. I had to help if I could. I don't know why I wanted to help her so much, I just did and so I would even if she didn't want me too. First I would to clean her wound as she could move enough to reach with out ripping it open more. This was going to hurt her but I had to see if it was worth trying to save her. I whimpered and nudged her side with my nose, I got a moaning growl in reply. I began to lick her clean from the tail end first as it was the safest place right now until she understood I meant her no harm.

She didn't move or make a sound besides a few whimpers when I had to half chew dead fresh from her. It was disgusting but I kept going. As I cleaned her I noticed that some of the wound had started to heal, it was a good sign for her. Although if I hadn't have happened by her, she would have died from not being able to hunt. I made it up to her neck before she got snappy with me. She swing her head around and snapped her jaws at me with a nasty growl. I rolled my eyes and looked her in the eyes and pointed my ears straight up and bore my teeth at her, when this didn't settle her down I nipped the side of her neck not far from her wound. She flinched and whimpered and I suppose if she could roll over she would have. She submitted to my ruling and I continued my work. I really did hate to be forceful with this wolf because I knew if she was healthy, I wouldn't stand a chance against her in a fight. But now her wound was clean she seemed more at ease with me around. I turned around and started to leave and she whimpered and using what must have been the last of her strength she stood behind me. I took a few steps and surprisingly she followed. This was a good sign, this meant she was strong but weakened by her wound. I lead her away from the rock she had being hiding behind and slowly we made our way away from this terrible smelling place.

We made our way through long grass and came upon a large cave close to water. We would stop here and I would see if this she wolf would make it though the night. We both drank and returned to the cave, it was dark but warm and dry. The female whimpered as she laid down and I rushed over to find her bleeding. I quickly licked the wound until it stopped bleeding and for this the female seemed grateful. She put her head on her paws and huffed. She must have been exhausted. I waited only long enough for her to be asleep and then I slipped from the cave and went on the hunt. For her to survive, she would need to eat and for her to eat, I would need to hunt. So I did. I brought back rabbits and other rodents and we both ate until we were full and then I lay behind her and watched the cave entrance as she slept. I was in for a long night.