Running With Wolves

Two - Attack

     Star flattened her ears against her head. Her tail hung between her legs. "Alpha, that doesn't smell good, we should leave." She whined.

     Alpha Fox glared at her. "Rank, wolf. Rank! You have forgotten your rank. You've no right to speak to me that way." She turned back to the capsule. Pale Bone stepped up beside her.

     "What do think it is?" he asked in a low voice. Alpha Fox snarled and stepped closer. Nothing happened. Star whined. She could smell the foul odor more strongly now. Alpha Fox glared at her again, and walked up to the strange object.

     "It's bad, that's what it is. It will poison us. We need to kill it!" She howled. With a snarl of fury, she reared up on her hind legs and bore down on the object.

     And it exploded.

     Star was thrown back by a blast of air, fire, and smoke, rolling down the hill. She hit her head on a rock at the bottom and the world went black.

*

     Star felt a wet muzzle prod her head. "Shooting Star, please wake up!" With a whine, the she-wolf opened her eyes. Star was laying on her side, a small pool of scarlet blood around her head. Swift was nudging her with his head desperately. When he saw her awake, he yipped gladly. He licked her face in concern "Shooting Star, you need to get up! Alpha is hurt!"

     This news sent her into a panic. Star leapt to her paws clumsily, almost falling down again. Swift let her lean on his shoulder. "She's up at the top of the hill, Pale Bone and Owl are too. Water and I were standing the furthest away so we didn't get affected as much, but I don't know where Roaring Bear is!"

     "I'm here, I'm okay." Called the brown beta. She was struggling up from the heather a few fox-lengths away. "I fell when the capsule exploded."

     Star raised her muzzle and howled, "Alpha!"

     No answer.

     Star shook her head, trying to clear the stench of smoke from her nose, only succeeding in making herself dizzier. She looked at the top of the hill. A cloud of white smoke floated there, the source of the choking smell. "Alpha!" she whined. Star could smell blood. The she-wolf scrambled up to her paws and bounded up the hill, ignoring the calls of her remaining packmates.

     She fell back with a choking gasp. The smoke was poisonous! "Alpha Fox! Pale Bone! Owl! Answer us!" Star heard a small whine in return.

     "Quick! They're not dead!" She yipped in reply. Star tried to rush in but the smoke clung to her nose and throat, making her gag. It stung her eyes, too. She backed out swiftly, pawing at her muzzle and sneezing.

     "Hold your breath," Roaring Bear chided as she ran up the slope beside and plunged into the white haze.

     Star took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and stumbled in after her. She couldn't use scent to find her packmates, and Star knew she couldn't use sight either. Where are they? she thought desperately.

     Just as she thought that, Star tripped over a body.

     She almost inhaled, but Star managed to hold her breath. She nosed her way along the fur and found the wolf's scruff by touch, sinking her fangs in and dragging them out quickly. As soon as she was out of the white smoke, she shook her head and opened her eyes.

     The wolf was Pale Bone. Swift ran up to her and helped her drag him to safety. Water was here now, and she was pulling a body with russet fur. Alpha. Star coughed, trying to hide her fear at seeing her Pack Mother so weak. Then she remembered. Roaring Bear was still in there! Star was about to run in again when a cough directed her to the rear of the hill. The brown beta was dragging Owl out from the bushes.

     "What happened to them?" Asked Water. Owl had a small gray shard from the capsule in his paw, but otherwise seemed fine. Pale Bone had a shard embedded in his left eye and it was leaking blood. Owl whined softly and coughed, leaning toward the injured wolf and sniffing the injury. Hedid not wake, but as Star watched anxiously, she saw the rise and fall of hisflank.

     But Alpha Fox was the worst. Star had to swallow a howl of sadness. The Alpha's face was twisted, white powder all over it. Her muzzle was bloody and her jaw hung at an awkward angle.

     Star couldn't bear it anymore. "Alpha!" she whined, pressing her face into her fur. She had been like a foster mother to her and Snow, but now she was dead.

     Owl finally looked around. "What happened?"

     Water licked her brother's face gently, then drew back at the foul taste. "I don't know! It was the thing the Nofurs put there!"

     Roaring Bear whined softly. "Swift, run back to camp and get reinforcements. We will need help carrying them back. Owl, can you walk?"

     The wolf's yellow eyes shone with determination. "I think so," he replied and stood up. He took a step and limped heavily, keeping his front right paw up, but made no sound. "I think I'll be fine. Pale Bone's injury is worse than mine. We need to get the shard out."

     Meanwhile, Swift had nodded to Roaring Bear and ran away. Star gazed after his retreating shape. "Alpha Wind will be devastated," she whined, "what do we tell him?"

     Roaring Bear shook her head. "The truth."