The Final Breeze

The Start of The End

"Red, be careful!" I yowled.

"I am, Dance." He replied patiently, his soft blue eyes glittering.

I yelped one more time, stepping back, clutching my front paw to my chest.

Red spat out the thorn that had been troubling me. "You said it was as long as your paw and barbed. Look at this! It's an ordinary rose thorn."

"Well, it certainly felt huge."

Red gave a small smile at that. "Don't you have a hunting patrol or something?"

"You're welcome to come." The words tumble out before I can stop them. I already know his answer.

"No. Dance, you know I'm not-"

"Oh, come on!" I say, feeling unusually stubborn. "Thunder wouldn't mind. You know he's been dying to be on a hunting party with you!"

"But... my rank..."

"Red, we're siblings. Thunder won't mind."

"Dance..." Red said, a hint of warning in his usually passive voice.

I stomped my paw. "Red, it's one hunt! It'll be me, Thunder and Cloud."

Red rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just this once."

"Yay!" I gave him a quick lick on his cheek. I hopped towards the front entrance to camp. Thunder and Cloud were waiting.

Thunder beemed at me. "You got him to come!"

Cloud smiled at me. Butterflies tried to escape my stomach. We'd been friends forever, but recently, I began to ask myself if I... loved him. I am still not sure.

Red gave a sigh. "This isn't a good idea."

"Relax." Thunder said playfully. "I'll protect you!"

Thunder certainly could. He was arguably the strongest wolf in our pack, but that came with the territory. You didn't become alpha if you weren't strong. Red, on the other paw, was thin and wiry. You could even call him bony. But he had always been that way. His rank -omega- hadn't changed that.

And Cloud... Cloud was somewhere in between. Not as muscular as Thunder, not as thin as Red. But he was smart, and brave. He kept a respectable posistion in the pack. His silver fur was long and soft, and his eyes were the color of skies.

We headed out. It was Red who first scented prey- a young fawn, hiding in the bramble. We stealthily surrounded it, never making a sound that could alert it. It was Cloud who pounced, landing on the fawn heavily, and ending it's life with a quick bite to the neck.

By the time we got back to camp, we had a respectable haul. Other patrols had gotten back, making the prey pile pretty big. Life had started out so normal that day.

How did it all go so wrong?

---

That night, there was a sound. Like stones, only... harsher. Colder.

I slowly padded out of my den, into the moonlit camp. I looked around. Nothing. Nothing and no one.

I turned around. It felt like the sky had fallen down on me, trapping me under a heavy mesh of clouds. Strange creatures erupted from the brush, their faces pale, standing on two feet.

A scream tore itself from my throat. I struggled, but the strange mesh held me down. The creatures -humans- grabbed at my limbs. I snapped at them, but they still forced my legs under my body, holding them there with a strange tendril. They forced a cold thing onto my muzzle, trapping my jaws. I could no longer call for help.

But my pack was watching. I could tell by the glowing eyes in the moonlight. But they could not take on so many humans. Even Thunder would not have the pack risk a sucicide mission for me.

So I was helpless and hopeless as the humans bundled me into a den of cold tendrils. I think the word is cage.

I am scared, as they lay a blanket on top of the cage, cutting off light.

I am scared, as the monster I am in the back of roars to life.

I am scared of where they are taking me.

I am scared.

I am scared.