The Wrath of the Golden Fire [Book 1 of the Fire series]

Chapter 2: Captured?!

"Hey! Get up! Now, Storm!" I blinked. Stripe was batting at my face with her paws. I looked down. I was human. I always did that in my sleep, for some reason.

I sat up. "Hey Stripe, how come you can't change? You look like a fursona with your stripes."

"I just can't," Stripe hissed at me. "It's not your business to talk about my past."

"Maybe it is."

"Shut up!" The fur on my friend's spine was raised, her back was arched, and she was baring her fangs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy," I said, putting my hand on her back. Stripe bit me. "Ow! Hey!" Stripe just replied with an angry hiss. I slapped her. "Calm down!"

"No!" Stripe slashed my throat lightly, and left me bleeding in a tree.

I sat up, and opened my bag, digging around for a bandage. Sharp teeth embedded themselves in my right hand.

I winced, and kept digging. When I found the bandage, I wrapped a little around my neck to stop the bleeding, then I wrapped some around my hands.

I pulled Scratch out by his tail. "Ow! Let go!" He hissed, wriggling around in my grasp.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk, dude," I replied, sitting him on the branch in front of me.

Scratch gave a quick lick to his chest. "F-Fine. What do you want?"

"Well, I want a few things," I explained. "First, why have you been chasing me for the past three years?"

Scratch sighed. "That, my friend, is classified."

I grabbed his throat.

"Okay!" He choked. "The lab wants you, ever since you've escaped! Ever since the caught me for the second time, they've been treating me like their messenger!"

I loosened my grasp. "The second time? You'd escaped before? With who?"

Scratch looked like he instantly regretted the words that slipped out of his mouth. He didn't answer.

"Who. Did. You. Escape. With?"

Scratch kept his jaws clamped tightly shut.

"Fine," I turned away, then quickly grabbed him by the scruff. "I guess you want to meet my little friends then, huh?"

"Hah," Scratch laughed. "I doubt that your little friends will do any more than give me a paper cut."

I whistled long and loud.

"Dude, what was that for?"

I began to hear barking, and claws scrabbling on concrete. Three large dogs ran up to the tree that I was sitting in.

"What now?" One of the dogs -- a black lab with green patches-- groaned. "Is it something stupid again?"

"No," I replied with a grin. "It's actually something you'd like, Bone."

"What is it?" A yellow-spotted golden retriever asked.

"Yeah! What do you have for us?" The blue-striped Shetland sheepdog stepped in front of her friends.

"I have a treat!" I said, holding Scratch out above the heads of the drooling dogs. "Bone, Sun, and Rose, prepare to taste cat tonight!"

"Whaaat?!" Scratch screeched, writhing and struggling in my firm grasp. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I don't want to be breakfast!"

"Stop struggling," I said, carelessly chewing a nail. "You'll just loosen my grip, and down into the dogs you go. Unless, of course, you tell me who you escaped with, and what you remember of your past."