Is It Worth It

Fire On Fire, Waiting To See Who Burns First.

||1011||

"HE'S sleeping, leave him alone. Why would I let you take him?"

It was mostly silent for a moment, the birds sang their songs cheerfully as the crickets chirped in unison, parts of the world were both slowly waking up and preparing for the night. A growl in annoyance sounded, followed by a sigh and a deep breath.

"You know why. His kind is not allowed here, I told you before he was born that he couldn't stay for long." He paused for a brief moment, thinking of an idea that she would agree to. "Look, you can come back, but he has to leave."

Her ears flattened against her skull, her hackles raised, she was ready to fight or run. Whichever came first. It was decided seconds later, when the other wolf crouched, readied himself to fight and darted towards the she-wolf.

She braced herself, picked up the asleep pup by his scruff and took off as fast as she could. I'm truly sorry, small one, but I have to; it's the only way you'll be safe. I hope, one day, we will meet again. I'll make sure of it. A silent promise that he would never know.

Weaving inbetween the trees, she took her time to avoid slipping and falling, she was mildly surprised he didn't chase her out of their territory.

The she-wolf slowed down a bit, taking a moment to catch her breath, another hour or so at this pace before they would arrive. The time passed too quickly for her liking, she would have to leave him quite soon. The path she was following in the forest slowly shifted to stones, the gravel crunching loudly underneath her heavy paws.

She made her way around the buildings that spread out through the unchanged land, finally spotting the house she was previously looking for. Glancing at the humans who stared at her curiously with a hint of fear but let her be, she lowered the sleeping pup onto the cold ground before clawing the door a few times to make sure she had their attention as she gave him a quick lick on the head and darted back to where she came from.

The payment would come later, a wolf of his kind is the rarest of them all, but he would never know. Or would he? After all, you can change your destiny, it just requires almost impossible work and the strongest of minds.

——————————————————

Loud. One word to describe the place he woke up in. With no memory of how he got here, he doesn't have a way out as far as he know and he's been here for what seems like weeks. He lost his sense of time already, but he is unsure if he wants it back. The sound of someone stomping made him open his eyes, immediately narrowing at the woman who chose to approach. Cheryl. He despised her more than the others, but she's the one who chose his 'name' here: 37.

Seeing the muzzle in her hand, he sat up, lifting his lip to show his teeth as a silent warning. She ignored the obvious threat, opening the cage door with an ominous creak and reached her hand in.

Reacting almost immediately, he snapped his jaws at her, barely missing her hand. The woman turned at the last second, shoving the leather in front of herself, slipping the muzzle onto his face, she tightened it around his head and paused to clip the leash onto the metal collar he was currently wearing.

The wolf started thrashing, trying to make her let go, growling lowly in his throat, claws digging into the cold concrete as she started dragging him forcefully. Feet planted harshly into the ground, refusing to obey, he snarled louder. His paw pads bled steadily, the drops falling in unison to join the puddle around him.

The loss of blood made him weak enough for her to jerk him into the room filled with dozens of seats pushed together to form a loose circle around the chain walls in the center.

He hated this one basement. The place where he often left with no memory and barely standing. The place he was constantly beaten by mutts, the place he left with dozens of newly forming scars. He could already hear another dog being brought in, adding a total of seven, for the amusement of humans. That's all this is to them; a game for them to have a good laugh at. I'll be sure to give them something to laugh over.

The second Cheryl took the metal and leather contraption off, the wolf was ready. Darting away from her, he eyed the slightly scarred one the woman just brought in, a year old mutt he was  supposed to fight. The black and brown canine stood there, littered with scars only weeks old, the monster of a dog crouched and bared her teeth as she circled the larger, slowly coming closer.

Even as a four month old, he was easily twice the size of the newly brought in. Size is barely nothing compared to experience. He had the disadvantage, he couldn't move very well; the metal collar and leash was used to tie him to the wall. The whispers around the room grew louder, cheers shouted from various seats as the eight were a mess of flying fur and blood until one collapsed and the others declared a winner.

This routine went on, him being tied and never given a chance to fight. Most days, too tired to move or eat the little food they gave, he stayed in his cage and earned his place when he was better and healed slightly more. The only acceptable way he did anything was to not fight back, he got worse punishments if he did.

If only he knew how long he would stay there, he definitely would've fought harder in the beginning. The hardest he could. But, however, he was still a malnourished four month old cub, and it showed.

——————————————————

I'm trying for around a thousand words per chapter, but that means slow updates if I do continue this.

I normally lose motivation after the first chapter, but I'll try to continue.

May be edited longer in the future, but this is what I have for now.